Infant Car seat Advice, please

Hello!
Could you please share opinions about your favorite infant carrier-type carseats? I do not need a travel system, and would like to set aside considerations of price for now....am just interested in the safest infant seat I can find. I drive a 2005 Sienna and imagine having the baby in one of the captains chairs in the middle row.
Thanks in advance for any replies.

I personally am looking to get the Graco safeseat that just came out for baby due in july. It has a high height limit of 32 inches and weight limit of 30 pounds. My first baby was about 31 inches and 25 pounds at 1 year, so I know this seat will be able to be used for at least a year. Any other seat would be outgrown well before a year for us. It does not seem to be any heavier than other seats. It has a built in lock off for shoulder belts, you no longer have to use the locking clip. I have not tried it in our 05 Elantra, but am confident it will fit, since our marathon fits rfing. I would guess it would easily fit in a Sienna. This seat is available at BRU for 120 or 150 depending on options.

Another seat we looked at was the Chicco Keyfit. It's limits are 22 pounds and 29 inches. A lot of people like it because it is really easy to install using the built in lockoffs and the latch connectors are good. It is around 150.

For us, if we are going to spend 150 on a seat, we want it to last a while, so that's why we are going for the safeseat. By the time the new baby outgrows it, DS will be 4 and can move full time into out Husky in our main car, leaving our marathon for the baby.

Good luck on your search. Since all seats pass the same standards, any infant seat will be safe. Just look for one that is easy to use right all the time, fits your vehicle, and has eps foam in the head area for side impact protection.

My two top choices are the Britax Companion (I *really* like the anti-rebound feature and additional testing) and the Graco Safe Seat (with the 30 lbs weight limit.)

Look for a 5 point harness and a front harness adjuster (Graco Snugrides are very nice seats, but only some of them have these features...just FYI...).

I am due in February and have a couple seats already... I have a Companion that I absolutely cannot stand.. perhaps it's a lemon, but that thing does not come in and out of the base easily at all, and it's extremely bulky and hard to get the handle down (and it MUST be down when driving). I don't think any other Companion owners hate their seat as much as I do, so mine MUST be a lemon (it installs beautifully, and I LOVE the anti-rebound bar, too, though!). I have a Combi Connection that is light and fairly easy to use (there are a few niggling details with the infant insert and adding a little foam bit to the seat that is required for head protection)...but it's light and you can leave the handle up when driving (have to leave it up, in fact). It is very easy to install without a base, so you can probably save money and not buy a second base if you don't use it in other cars very often.
I have a Chicco Key Fit, which is nice...installs better with the seatbelt in a Sienna than the LATCH, or so I've heard, but that seatbelt install is *awesomely easy* so it's not a big deal. The seat is heavy, but the infant padding is terrific, and the handle is optional to leave up. Overall it's very well engineered, and I couldn't beat the price at one step ahead of $107, even though it's a very drab pattern.
The Graco Snugride is a very nice seat, should install very well, not to heavy to haul around, fits well in lots of strollers, has lots of great cover options...no EPS foam for head protection like the three seats I have, but I've installed hundreds and they are nice and safe and very easy to work with.
The Safeseat is quite nice, but really very large... it's not the last rearfacing seat you'll want (you'll want a nice convertible to rearface taller than 32 inches, because rearfacing to age 2-3 really IS much safer than the bare minimum of 20 pounds and a year), so maybe you don't need such a bulky seat that will be hard to carry when you have a tiny infant. Think about your lifestyle... if you are doing daycare or multiple cars, you might want the convenience of an infant seat as long as possible, but if you are home and mostly use one car, you probably won't want to use an infant seat much longer than 6-8 months, when babies can usually sit up and you don't need an infant seat for going out to eat or whatever, and it's ultra heavy to carry, anyway.

Good luck choosing, there sure are a lot of choices nowadays (I personally don't like the base of the Peg Perego seats, but it should install fine in your van, and the new SIP model is spendy at 229, but also probably quite nice, if you like that one)

I'm having twins in about 6 months (I tend to go into preterm labor so i'm not too interested in my due date )

I like combi seats. The connection so far is my favorite, but i'm looking for the new centre b/c it has a thinner base and i'm going to do a 3 across situation alot.

I used a snugride with my nephew (i'm his nanny) and it was ok (older 20 pound version) but i'm hoping to find something better.

The safeseat is another option i'm considering b/c it goes to 30 pounds but as i drive a 2 door and have a bad back the carrier function is sort of lost on me.

If i thought i was going to have a big baby i would probably forgo the infant seat and get a convertible from the start. But with twins and a history of early labor i know better than to attempt to fit a tiny winy baby in a convertible.

This is a good site for photos of a very small baby in several seats (some no longer made and none of the newest seats but still a good site) http://strollerfreak.itgo.com/carseats/5lbnewborn.html it also has photos of the same baby in some of the seats when she's older. Its a good size comparison.