Brycen'sMommy
New member
I bought a Safety 1st Avenue while they were on sale at Kmart this week. I was really excited and thought this was going to be the perfect seat for us after seeing everyone rave about how great the Uptown is. But I had to return it. Here's why:
First, I'll start with the good points. The cover was nicely padded and I loved all the EPP foam. It fit both my 4 month old DD and freakishly tall 2 year old really well. My 2 year old still had about 2-3 inches to grow and he has already outgrown the Scenera, Titan, and Comfortsport just for comparison. I also liked that it was lightweight and easy to carry. I also liked the price. It was a decent, nicely padded seat with high top slots for $72.
Now for the reasons I returned it. When I first pulled it out of the bag I noticed some weird cutouts on the bottom of the shell. After looking at some pictures of the Uptown on this site I believe that the bottom of the Uptown is flat. So I have no idea what the purpose of the cutouts are. So when I tried to install the Avenue rear facing with noodles the noodles would slip away from the seat bight and bunch up in the cut outs and I wasn't able to get a decent recline angle. I tried three of the huge noodles in a pyramid and I was still unable to get a decent recline. If the bottom was flat then it would have been fine.
Then, the harness adjuster is absolutely terrible. The adjuster is very low on the shell but the hole in the cover is much higher making it almost impossible to reach. So once you fish around in the cover and finally find the button and push it the adjuster strap gets caught between the cover and your finger making it extremely difficult to loosen the straps. The first time my husband tried to get the baby out of the seat he got very annoyed said that it was ridiculous how they designed it and he's not dealing with this on a daily basis. I had to agree with him. It was a pain. If they just made the hole in the cover match up with the button then it would have been much better. But the best thing for them to do would be to move the adjuster up.
Another thing I noticed was that the bottom slots are very high. My 4 month old was just barely even with them and she is using the top slots of her Snugride. There is no way this seat would fit a newborn.
Overall, I'm really disappointed we had to take it back because now we are back to square one on finding a seat that fits our needs.
First, I'll start with the good points. The cover was nicely padded and I loved all the EPP foam. It fit both my 4 month old DD and freakishly tall 2 year old really well. My 2 year old still had about 2-3 inches to grow and he has already outgrown the Scenera, Titan, and Comfortsport just for comparison. I also liked that it was lightweight and easy to carry. I also liked the price. It was a decent, nicely padded seat with high top slots for $72.
Now for the reasons I returned it. When I first pulled it out of the bag I noticed some weird cutouts on the bottom of the shell. After looking at some pictures of the Uptown on this site I believe that the bottom of the Uptown is flat. So I have no idea what the purpose of the cutouts are. So when I tried to install the Avenue rear facing with noodles the noodles would slip away from the seat bight and bunch up in the cut outs and I wasn't able to get a decent recline angle. I tried three of the huge noodles in a pyramid and I was still unable to get a decent recline. If the bottom was flat then it would have been fine.
Then, the harness adjuster is absolutely terrible. The adjuster is very low on the shell but the hole in the cover is much higher making it almost impossible to reach. So once you fish around in the cover and finally find the button and push it the adjuster strap gets caught between the cover and your finger making it extremely difficult to loosen the straps. The first time my husband tried to get the baby out of the seat he got very annoyed said that it was ridiculous how they designed it and he's not dealing with this on a daily basis. I had to agree with him. It was a pain. If they just made the hole in the cover match up with the button then it would have been much better. But the best thing for them to do would be to move the adjuster up.
Another thing I noticed was that the bottom slots are very high. My 4 month old was just barely even with them and she is using the top slots of her Snugride. There is no way this seat would fit a newborn.
Overall, I'm really disappointed we had to take it back because now we are back to square one on finding a seat that fits our needs.