411 on Evenflo??

So, I have repeatedly seen people saying how they hate Evenflo, don't trust them, etc. What's the deal? Is it that you just don't like them & prefer others, or are they bad seats?

The reason I ask, is because when I was first pg. I trusted CR blindly (& yes, now I know to trust them regarding a lawn mower & not a car seat!) & got a travel system made by Evenflo w/the Portabout seat & then when my dd got big enough, got her two Evenflo Triumph's. I liked both the Portabout & the Triumph just fine & had no problems at all.

A close friend of mine is pg. with her first child & money is tight for them. I was going to sell them to her dirt cheap, assuming she wants them & they install good in her & her SO's vehicles. I informed her the Triumphs would expire before she was done harnessing her dd, & she is ok with that & realizes she will need to purchase new seats down the road. She likes the idea of having them for her SO's car & her mom's car (mom will be taking care of dd while my friend works).

So, after all of that, the real question is: Is there a reason I shouldn't let her use the Evenflo seats? Is it more of a "they're ok, but these seats are better" thing? Or is there a valid reason for her not to use the Portabout & the Triumph? If this will work for her it would be a huge financial relief (seriously, I was going to sell her the travel system with extra base & both Triumphs for either $100 or $125). But safety is the most important thing, so if these aren't great options, I'll just tell her that I've learned more about car seat safety & can't recommend them.

Fill me in on these seats please! TIA!

The seats should be just fine for her to use, provided they are not expired, have never been in an accident, etc. And make sure you have the owner's manuals too. Those are important. Otherwise, I don't see the problem with it.

If the seat installs well in her car and she will use it properly every time, then it probably is just fine for her to use (provided it isn't expired or recalled).

My main reasons for not liking the evenflo infant seats are:

The evenflo embrace must be used with a base (I think the other evenflo seats can be used without a base, but please check the directions to make sure). This isn't very practical in some situations where you need to install the seat in another car but don't want to move the base. Most other seats allow you to install a seat without the base.

The evenflo bases are often quite complicated to get installed correctly in a car. They seem to take a lot more effort to get installed correctly then other carseat brands.

All the evenflo infant seats require 1.5 inches of space between the carseat and the seat in front of the carseat. This is very hard to obtain in most vehicles. Also the handle must be installed in the down position in all vehicles. Lots of newer seats made today allow the handle to be installed up while in a moving vehicle, but the evenflo ones require the handle be completely folded down in the vehicle (and of course not touching the seat in front of it and having 1.5" of clearance). Most other carseats allow the carseat to touch the seat in front of it.

Lots of the evenflo seats have rear adjusters (no front strap to tighten or loosten the harness strap). This isn't always difficult to do in some seats, but the evenflo ones aren't really easy to adjust. Some of the newer seats do have the front adjuster though.

Many of the evenflo seats still have the 3-point harness vs the 5-point harness. It has been known for quite a while that the 5-point harness is much safer but they still produced the 3-point harness because it sells.

There have been way to many evenflo recalls on their infant seats. The fix that they just released on the evenflo discovery infant seat is a true mess. They are expecting people to put the seat into the base and then install a strap from the base onto each side of the seat into a tiny flimsy hole. I don't see too many parents using the recall fix due to it being too complicated (what if you have the seat sitting right next to another carseat where you can't reach the strap that must be connected each time), and thus many babies are at risk due to the seat releasing from the seat.

Here is an interesting article regarding evenflo in how they have handled safety concerns with their infant seats: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...ial,1,3472639.story?page=2&cset=true&ctrack=1

Not a fan of the Evenflo infant car seats but do like the ETA. t's a great seat many here do have them. Rear faces to 35lb and goes to 50lb forward facing. Not sure which Evenflo you have.

Katy, the link isn't working. It says page not found?!

I should have mentioned, the seats were never in an accident, & no recalls that I am aware of. I'll doublecheck (but I never got any notices of a recall & the seats were registered).

Yeah, the handle down on the infant seat did kinda suck. Hopefully it will work for her car!

I don't have any reservations about the second hand Triumphs (assuming they are in good working condition, recall-free, never been in a crash, etc) but the Portabout can have issues. Check out this thread for details: http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=38227

If you do give her any of your seats - make sure she registers them in her name with Evenflo and make sure she has the instruction manuals. You can ask Evenflo to send you new manuals if you can't find the originals.

HTH!

Kecia

lorinick said:

Not a fan of the Evenflo infant car seats but do like the ETA. t's a great seat many here do have them. Rear faces to 35lb and goes to 50lb forward facing. Not sure which Evenflo you have.

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Nope, the older Triumphs only went to 40 lbs ff. I don't even remember rf; I'd have to look it up. I did love the Triumph, though!

Heather98012 said:

Nope, the older Triumphs only went to 40 lbs ff. I don't even remember rf; I'd have to look it up. I did love the Triumph, though!

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I meant to say the new ones. Like the new ones much more than the old ones.

Check for recalls... http://www.car-seat.org/showpost.php?p=410905&postcount=33

It's the infant seats that bug me... No EPS foam, handle must be down, and is it a 5 pt harness? Base can be a witch to install... and it's just annoying that the handles keep collapsing and the seats keep flying off the bases (ok, they do keep having fixes and recalls, but it's an image that burns in your brain after awhile ). Triumph just is really bad for rearfacing... most kids are too tall before about 18 months, but otherwise it's fine if people can use the memory harness properly (oh, yeah, there's that huge long distance between the first and second harness slots...so it's vexing to tell people to go ahead and put the harness above their kids shoulders for RF... not that I think it's unsafe, but it's like just another check in the con box, I'm so glad they make the EFTA now!)

Heather98012 said:

Katy, the link isn't working. It says page not found?!

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Link fixed in original post. I guess I shouldn't copy and paste links as it usually messes them up. (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...ial,1,3472639.story?page=2&cset=true&ctrack=1)

I had a 5pt portabout infant seat for dd. What I didn't like about it was that the seat stuck in the base a lot. It CAN be installed w/o the base, so that concern isn't one with the portabout. I did have difficulty with the rear adjusters on it, but provided she's going to take the time to do it, you can make it work - you just get used to not loosening & tightening the harness everytime.

As for the triumph, the old ones had 30lb rf'ing limits and 40lb ff'ing limits. They were a really nice seat at the time aside from the overall shorter shell & shorter top harness height when compared to some other seats. They had EPS foam, which makes it sit quite high on my list of seats that were available at the time it was introduced. And as a bonus, it was also quite compact front to back when rf'ing - helpful if she has a small car. :thumbsup:

Being as you know the history of these seats, I think it's perfectly reasonable to pass these on to her and help her out. Her saving some money at this point will allow her to hopefully put together some money for after the triumphs are outgrown. :thumbsup:

I agree that the infant seats are what I dislike. They're not BAD, I helped a friend with hers and it works fine, I am confident that it will protect her son, but their ease of use is not the best and the massive discovery recall after seats detatching from the base in several accidents makes me a bit uneasy. They also have quite a few valid complaints to NHTSA, handles detaching from bases and such, not all of which have turned into recalls.

That said I have two evenflo combination seats to my name. An Evenflo Chase and a Bolero. I LOVE them both, easy to install, easy to use, and they do a good job of keeping my precious cargo safe and secure.

I agree with everyone else about the infant seats. They are usually just awful. I haven't had any experience with the portabout though. One of my favorite seats that I have owned was an evenflo apollo (sniff, sniff, it is expiring in dec :crying. I would use the EFTA in a second. I also know several people with bolero's and they love them.

That is really nice of you to loan out your seats like that. Just make sure she knows how to use them properly.

mish said:

That is really nice of you to loan out your seats like that. Just make sure she knows how to use them properly.

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And just to add to that, if you don't have the owner's manuals anymore, just call Evenflo & they'll mail them out to you for free. :thumbsup:

Ahh, the Portabout. It tends to get stuck on the base and the handle is a PITA to put down. I can deal with the infant seat, but the stroller, ugh. The wheels end up bowed out with very little use and the seat doesn't sit up all the way. Mainly, it's the wheels.
The Triumph is just fine, aside from the short shell. The only thing I would recommend is to have her read the instructions, front to back. I really liked the Triumphs and would use one if I still had one!

But remember, there is a trick! lol

Thanks for all of the input.

Yeah, the Portabout was sticky with the base. I dunno, maybe that would keep it from flying out during a collision (I'm kidding!)?! It was certainly doable, though...maybe just not ideal. The handle having to be down may be a deal breaker. She drives a 2006 Ford Taurus, so we'll have to look at how it fits in her car. Her boyfriend (I hate that term...they've been together 16 years!) drives an older Suburban, so that should be ok. But I doubt he'll be driving the baby around a lot.

Weird, I loved my stroller that came with the Portabout & never had a problem with the wheels. Unless you count the time I ran over the back wheels chasing after my 2 greyhounds who escaped my yard after the landscaper left the gate open. LOL! But, I got a replacement part from Evenflo & all is good.

The Triumphs should work well, assuming they fit in the vehicles. She is well aware that she will need to replace them before her dd outgrows a harness & is cool with that. I think with needing a crib, changing table, swing, etc. (you know the drill) that she is liking the idea of getting some seats for next to nothing & knowing the history of them.

Actually, for a first time mom, she's pretty savvy. When I first mentioned the seats to her she said "When do they expire?" I was so proud....I'm the kind of person who researches everything so I knew about exp. dates when I was pg. too. LOL...I could have hugged her when she asked that question!

Again, thanks for all of your input. As long as we get good installs & she likes the seats, we're good to go. If not, well....then she can register for other options. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't a reason to avoid these seats.

Edited to add: The Portabout is the 5 pt. one. No worries there!

Judi said:

But remember, there is a trick! lol

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Oh, yeah! The trick is just brilliant! Straight from Evenflo, "if the front wheels are wobbly, just push the stroller on carpet." Back story on this: When I worked at BRU I had so many people complaining that the front wheels were wobbly that I called Evenflo. The rep told me to tell my customers to just push the stroller on carpet because the wheels only wobble on hard surfaces. :scratcheshead: I am so not telling people that. I just did my best to talk them out of the Evenflo systems.

cpsaddict said:

Oh, yeah! The trick is just brilliant! Straight from Evenflo, "if the front wheels are wobbly, just push the stroller on carpet." Back story on this: When I worked at BRU I had so many people complaining that the front wheels were wobbly that I called Evenflo. The rep told me to tell my customers to just push the stroller on carpet because the wheels only wobble on hard surfaces. :scratcheshead: I am so not telling people that. I just did my best to talk them out of the Evenflo systems.

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Ok, I almost had iced tea fly out of my nose when I read that! That's hysterical. Seriously.

I had the Portabout 5 (still sitting in my basement) and the stroller. HATE the stroller! It's super hard to steer-the geometry is just wrong. It did have an awesome huge basket though (I really miss that). I never had an issue with the wheels-other than a little squeaking that was quickly fixed with WD-40. The carseat wasn't horrible. Because of the sticking-in-the-base issue I felt uncomfortable using it with the base. Just didn't trust it. So I just installed it without the base and didn't use it as a carrier. Worked fine that way-the seatbelt doesn't get in the way like other infant seats that install with the seatbelt over the child. The padding was actually better that in my snugride and DD1 preferred it. But, the front adjust was just SO much easier to use on the snugride.