Chicco Keyfit and other infant seat questions.

My best friend and I went to BRU and USA baby today and looked at carseats. We were looking at the keyfits and I was telling her how they are really great and come with a nice head support for babies and not many other seats do. We both really liked them, I think she wants one now, but she was concerned about the sun shade being so short. The other seats have bigger sunshades on them, and the ones that dont, you can pull the whole sunshade forward so it's not attached at the back, but it looks like the keyfit can't do that either.

If you have a keyfit, was the sunshade ever a problem for you?
Did it block the sun enough?
She also liked the Graco Safeseat and the Baby trend infant seat.
I told her the compass infant seat is also said to be a great seat (I have no experience with anything other than a graco snugride, so I was telling her what I've heard from you guys) But none of the stores we went to had one so we couldnt see it in person. Who sells those?
She is in California and doesnt really have many stores near her. She said there is a Target though. And they have a babies r us 45 minutes away. She might also just have to order a seat online too.

What seat would you recomend? She is due in June, and she definetly wants an infant seat not a convertible. I dont remember what they drive, but it has a small backseat, it's some kind of suv I think. I told her whatever she gets will be good as long as she doesnt get an evenflo, but I think she is definetly interested in a keyfit or safe seat so she's up for the pricier seats. I also told her about ERF and HWH too and it looks like she will be following that advice too!

Oh, I also gave her the baby bargains book and she was reading it and was like "It says the keyfit didnt pass the consumer reports test" And I couldnt remember why everyone here doesnt give much thought to consumer reports, so I just told her not to worry about that, and that I knew consumer reports wasn't thought of highly and that I'd ask why again.

I looked a lot at the keyfit but I ended up getting the safe seat, so I can't comment on the canopy issue (except to say that the SS has a huge canopy that you can move in every position). Here's what I think about the two, in general:

1. the keyfit works great for smaller babies, and can be used from 4lbs / the safeseat is a bigger seat but some models come with infant body and head support too

2. on the other hand, the SS will last much longer, it's the only infant seat that goes to 30lbs and 32 inches. The keyfit goes to 22lbs and 29 inches, and the newer keyfit 30 goes to 30lbs but still just 29 (or maybe 30) inches.

3. For the same reason, the ss takes a bit more space front to back in the back seat

4. the SS1 is super easy to install because of the built in lock off, but I recently saw that the keyfit 30 has it too (I don't know about the original keyfit).

5. I think they're both great seats. the biggest drawback of the keyfit in my opinion is that it's not compatible with any stroller frame and I just couldn't live without mine. but if she wasn't planning on getting one then it doesn't matter!

The CR test that failed the SS also failed most of the infant seats on the market. It was a huge scandal and gave CR a lot of publicity. And criticism. They ended up having to withdraw to results and admit the tests were wrong. After new tests all the seats passed, but they ended up still giving the SS a bad grade for poor fit in the vehicle (maybe they thought it was too big) and ease of use (which in my opinion, and many others here, insane as the ss is one of the easiest seats to use). Even before CR withdrew its results the techs here were already critizing them. Someone can explain better, but something about they being notorious for giving bad grades to excellent seats, not saying how they do the tests and not really being car seat experts. For similar reasons I usually they people the baby bargains book is great, except when it comes to car seats. Plenty of wrong info there!

I have to recommend another trip to BRU so she could try some seats in her car, at least the ones they have in stock. Then if she wants to have more options of patterns and specific models she can order only. albeebaby.com is a good site.

I just found out, she drives a Suzuki Grand Vitara.
Does anyone have one and know which seats will fit back there?

Do you know which keyfit model you were looking at? The 22 lb model has a smaller version than the 30 lb version. The only time i use the canopy was when I was trying to keep people from touching the baby. Most are made of thin material that doesnt really do much for the sun.

Minismom---can you post a link to a SS that has a body support? I've never seen one...just a head support that doesn't look very good and the boot.

I have a keyfit, that I haven't been able to use yet. You can move the sunshade more forward...you just have to unvelcro it from where the hook and the top of the seat are.

Can you go to BRU with her...so you can show her how different seats fit?

Steer her away from any seat that you can't leave the handle up in the car.

Susan

First choice is Keyfit hands down!!! Second is SS1 - those are the only 2 infant seats I generally recommend if someone can afford them.

Why Keyfit over SS1-
1. easier to install not by much though (yes there is something easier than the SS1)

2. incredibly smooth harness adjuster

3. infant body support

4. construction (the Keyfit just feels like a more solid seat w/o weighing more - doesn't have the flimsy plastic like the SS1 IMO)

5. chest clip - the SS1 chest clip is huge

6. SS1 is bigger and therefore didn't fit as well in my Audi A4 - so if space is an issue the Keyfit

Okay those are some of the top reasons I like the Keyfit over SS1 - I never had an issue with the canopy it was fine. Ryan would have made it height wise in the Keyfit to about 15-16 months and 18-19 months for the SS1 (he has always been in the 80% plus for height w/ a long torso) - for weight he is just at 30 lbs now.

For an infant seat I just want it to go to 12 months or so - I can't imagine that Ryan would want to be that reclined in the SS1 at 19 months vs a convertable.

I am really bias to the Keyfit though but I feel like overall it is just a nicer seat. It is nicer made, like the appearance more and seems more solid :twocents:

However, she can't go wrong with the Keyfit or the SS1 - the handle can be left up on both of those seats so that is a plus in my book

saa2006 said:

Why Keyfit over SS1-
1. easier to install not by much though
2. incredibly smooth harness adjuster
3. infant body support
4. construction (the Keyfit just feels like a more solid seat w/o weighing more)

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All true, in my limited KeyFit experience....

5. chest clip - the SS1 chest clip is huge

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I easily got around this by simply loosening the harness to get baby out and/or put baby in: easily tightens with front adjust.

handle can be left up on both of those seats so that is a plus in my book

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I forget now (I get so few nice infant seats ) but is the Keyfit the one that requires the bar to be up SS1 allows either up or down.

P.S. is the Suzuki Vitara like the Chevy Tracker? If so, then I never had any problems fitting any seats in that vehicle (other than the belt being too short for Husky/Regent via long path + recline bar)

papooses said:

I forget now (I get so few nice infant seats ) but is the Keyfit the one that requires the bar to be up

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I think the Connection is the only one that requires the handle to be up, although many others allow it to be up.

Right, Joy, Combi seats are required to be up, Graco and Chicco are optional to be up, and other seats must be down. Both Chiccos (22 and 30) are the same size, one just has a higher weight limit.

I could fit all my seats comfortably in the back of my Ford Escape (see the link in my siggy...I had a few...)

Baby Bargains published right after the completely flawed CR testing, and right before they retracted everything they said.... BAD timing on BB's part, so good to tell her to ignore it

Oh...yeah...I noticed the canopy wasn't as great on the Key Fit, but it never was a big problem for me...If baby was sleeping I'd hang a blanket or close the stroller canopy over her to keep the sun off.

joolsplus3 said:

Right, Joy, Combi seats are required to be up, Graco and Chicco are optional to be up, and other seats must be down.

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:thanx!: Not having an infant myself anymore (& only having cheap seats at my disposal through the program I volunteer with) I'm constantly confusing the Keyfit & Connection -- I'll probably ask the same question again....

Yeah, once the seats I OWNED are all off the market, I'm probably going to be clueless! ROFL!

joolsplus3 said:

Right, Joy, Combi seats are required to be up, Graco and Chicco are optional to be up, and other seats must be down. Both Chiccos (22 and 30) are the same size, one just has a higher weight limit.

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Doesn't the Primo Viaggio also have to have it up? IIRC, it actually has to be one notch past vertical, angled toward the back of the vehicle.

edit: nope, it's down. . what was I looking it before? Maybe I went in through the wrong site and it was an international version.

It was down last I checked, maybe something changed? No one's corrected me yet, so who knows (kicking self for not ordering new manual disk yet...)... (it has to be up on EU versions, however...if you've been checking out crash tests, they are to EU specs, not US specs)

joolsplus3 said:

It was down last I checked, maybe something changed? No one's corrected me yet, so who knows (kicking self for not ordering new manual disk yet...)... (it has to be up on EU versions, however...if you've been checking out crash tests, they are to EU specs, not US specs)

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You're correct. I was editing as you were posting. Now I need to find what I was looking at last time.

SusanMae said:

Minismom---can you post a link to a SS that has a body support? I've never seen one...just a head support that doesn't look very good and the boot.

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Susan,
This is the SS1 I have and it came with a body support. I think it's the top of the line of the SS1. I have to admitt, my dd was born at 5lbs 14oz and even with the body and head support looked very small in it. I had to roll towels to keep her head from moving too much. But now at 10mo she's still in the middle slot with lots of room to grow. We travel a lot and it's priceless having her still fit in her infant seat as opposed to carrying around a convertible. I'll enjoy it as long as I can.
http://www.gracobaby.com/catalog/product.aspx?modelNumber=8A02CNP&CategoryID=1

minismom said:

This is the SS1 I have and it came with a body support.

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I have heard that some of the SS1's with the boot come with a head/body support but have never seen what the support looks like. Would you be able to take a picture of the insert in the seat

Is this what the support looks like? If so, did it work well?

I'm pretty much this is it. i was looking on the graco website and I can see the difference between the one that comes with the body support and the one with the head support. The head support looks better, more like a kidoppotamus kinda of insert while the body support is nice but doesn't really have that u shaped thing to hold the head. i had to use towels around her head at first cause the support the seat came with wasn't enough. I actually ended up removing the body support at first cause I wanted her to recline as much as possible and the padding made her more upright (my fault though, cause my installation was too upright at first). Then she used it for a while but now it's off again. I can post a picture on Sunday, I'm abroad now and the body support is back home.

Jewels said:

I have heard that some of the SS1's with the boot come with a head/body support but have never seen what the support looks like. Would you be able to take a picture of the insert in the seat

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btw, on the graco website they have all the choices and in the seat description it tells you what it comes with: boot, head support, body support etc

saa2006 said:

For an infant seat I just want it to go to 12 months or so - I can't imagine that Ryan would want to be that reclined in the SS1 at 19 months vs a convertable.

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You can install an infant seat like the SS1 as upright as 30 degrees, so the child doens't necessarily have to be upright just because it's an infant seat