Poll: seat sightings

[elle7715]

You mean when I actually see seats being used?
Mostly Graco Snugrides, then some Dorel seats. I've never seen a Britax in use here (other than mine).

I have seen lots of Britax seats, though. I even saw a RF toddler once, and I know 2 people who have their toddlers RF (although one doesn't count since she's only 19 pounds at 17 months). Oh and I saw TWO Regents a couple days ago! Within minutes of each other. Oh, and once I was getting on a ferry and saw a woman rubbernecking my RF toddler, and she gave me a thumbs-up which I was assuming was about ERF. She had a son who was definitely too tall & heavy to RF, and he was FF in the cinnabar Marathon (gorgeous btw!).

That's so cool! I think I'd drive off the road if I saw a RF toddler around here. When I was at school yesterday I got *really* excited because I saw an Airbooster in a minivan. It had an infant seat in the other captains chair. My heart dropped when I saw a 2-3 yo climb in that side but come to think of it, I think the booster was buckled in. So maybe she was crawling to her seat in the 2nd row. I have hope LOL.

 

[LeeLi]

Dorels are definitely the most common around her, and I see lots of AOEs in particular.
I also see a number of Triumphs, Comfortsports, TBs, Snugrides, and Cargos(and their clones).

I do see a fair number of MAs though, probably 5-10% of cars I look into.

I also see many old crappy OHS. Yesterday I was in a quite nice part of Portland and saw several clearly expired Century seats in expensive cars. I just don't understand why people will pay for a luxury SUV and then buy a car seat at a yard sale...

The only RFing toddlers I know are ones I convinced their parents to leave RFing.
And then there's a family I babysit for who has a 18mo who bought an MA because it "matched the new car" lol. Well at least they have MAs even if they're not RFing or tethered...

 

[Namegirl]

Graco for infant seats and Cosco (particularly Eddie Bauer) for convertibles.

 

[natysr]

For infant seats I see mostly graco.

For all other seats I would say that the majority of what I see is an equal # of Britax (95% of which I see are forwardfacing), AOE, and OHS seats.

 

[snowbird25ca]

3-in-1 seats win hands down for convertibles - heck, wal-mart has 2 different versions on it's shelf alone.

Infant seats I've seen mostly Graco, 2nd most common is probably designer 22 - another cosco seat - because you can get cheap travel systems with it.

I have seen other seats too, but not as commonly.

here, it's dorel HANDS DOWN!

in fact, in the parking lot at ikea on saturday, i counted 6
alpha whatevers just walking from the car to the door!

the crst instructor i had reccomends those things to parents
at seat checks and the like...she HATES britax.
everytime i'm at the big baby store in town and they're trying to sell
someone a seat i hear "the head of carseats at transport canada
buys these seats for her tests and she says they're the best and they do everything but throw them off the roof...blah, blah, blah"
it drives me insane! i know there's nothing unsafe about the seat
if used properly but too many people use them improperly because it's so easy to do so and they don't fit non-peanuts for near as long
which means they go into booster mode too early.
ok, i'll confess...i hate the things, but they could be better if stupid dorel designed them for bigger kids and made them less easy to misuse. ok, rant over...

Ok, I have to ask where 'bouts in Canada you are. I didn't realize your were another canuck..lol.

And what a load of hooey about the head of transport canada blah blah blah. All the seats are tested the same way. And technically it's not Transport Canada itself that does the compliance testing, but another related department.

I hate the darn things too, but I think it's because of parents being so convinced that the seat will take their kid to 80lbs and how po'ed they sometimes get when I have to tell them their child is too tall for the harness and they have to go buy another seat.

 

[cdncasper]

I mostly see AO/AOEs for FF children and Snugrides for RF children. I haven't seen many boosters yet but the majority of those I have seen are Fisher Price.
I have seen only 2 Britax (Marathons FF for 3 yr old twins) that were not my friends and I have never seen a Radian though.

 

[mominabigtruck]

If we're talking convertibles its cosco all the way. It drives me crazy too because I have to do inspections at the bmv all the time and I see these $40k + cars coming in with these cheap tourivas and aoes and combo boosters. This is a very ritzy area and I have yet to see a britax ever. I do see quite a few peg perego infant seats and I've seen a couple of romers since we have quite the foreign national population.

 

[smurf]

Actually here in Canada the AO is about $200 depending on how many bells and whistles it has, so it's not a cheap seat but people fall for the "it's the only car seat you'll ever need" line (I know, I fell for it, twice!). For a Britax you have to fork out another $100.

But I agree with your point mominabigtruck, I regularly see expensive cars with 10+ year old seats. Makes me cringe...

 

[3acorns4Christy]

Around here I see mainly Graco for infant seat. Cosco for the AO and actually a TON of people have Britax here, not many in the area I live in but total what I see when I go places that is a huge market too.

 

[jaded]

I also see many old crappy OHS. Yesterday I was in a quite nice part of Portland and saw several clearly expired Century seats in expensive cars. I just don't understand why people will pay for a luxury SUV and then buy a car seat at a yard sale...

Not necessarily garage sales, but hand me downs from relatives or older children. Some people just don't care to spend more money when they think they have a perfectly good carseat to use.

Around here, a lot of Graco boosters, and Cosco seats. Have seen a few Britax(besides my own) But again, many AO's.

 

[flipper68]

So I'm wondering which car seats do you see most often installed in cars. Techs will have lots of sightings I'm sure.

Mostly Graco IO's, although there were 2 Keyfits at the last checkup and 1 the previous month - we do tons of expectant parents.

Britax is making strides and I'm seeing more and more come through events.

Cosco/Dorel is HUGE when I walk through the parking lots, though.

 

[BudgieStew]

Every car I glance in has the A/O and its clones.
I have never seen another Britax installed and only meet one person IRL that went out and bought one shortly after I met her(not because of me).
I met a lady the other day that just bought a Radian. Neither of these people live in the same province I do though.

In our group of friend's, most that I know are well off enough to afford new seats if even the more pricey ones buy used and often expired hand me downs.


The thing that makes me roll my eyes is friend's that don't think twice about spending 100,00 on a 3 year old childs outfit or 1000,00 for a hand made amoire for a nursery but cringe after asking how much our Marathon cost. DH has to hold me back after I see some of their seats.

 

[jen_nah]

Really it's a toss up here. If it is a infant seat it's going to be most likely a Graco here. If it is going to be convertible it most likely will be a Britax.

We see a LOT of Snugrides and a LOT of the Britax convertibles.

 

[StarrNanny]

In my neighborhood I see alot of Britax seats, I don't think I have ever seen a Radian. I see a fair few Keyfits , but mostly for infant seats it's Graco and Peg Perego. But overall I think I see mostly Graco and Cosco seats around here.

 

[Shaunam]

I'm in Ohio and I see lots and lots of cosco seats. Mostly sceneras and aoe's. And lots of cosco harnessed boosters. If I occasionally see a booster, it's always a turbobooster. And infant seats are always snugrides or evenflos. I've seen one safeseat 1. Lots of my friends have britax seats, but I've only ever seen two britaxes besides my friends.

But to be quite honest, MOST of the seats I see are old, expired, century OHS. TONS of them. And the health dept here gives out free NEW seats so I don't understand this.

 

[MagnificentMama]

I'm in IL and when i'm up working in L&D the 3 point Evenflo's win HANDS DOWN. They're what the health department gives away and that's all that the parents use. I see the actual seat and the base too Parents don't even attempt to install them prior to coming to the hospital

Covertables would have to be along the lines of any type of Alpha Crapmega. Crapmega Elite, Crapmega pleather, Crapmega 40 armrests and 30 cupholders edition, Crapmega with the straps so twisty you wonder if the kiddo was ever properly harnessed in the first place, etc.

I saw another mom with a Regent at Target a few nights ago and I wanted to give her a big high 5 but I had DD's Turbobooster b/c i was playing musical cars so I thought i'd be silly if I went up to her telling her that I have a Regent too but DD isn't in it right now. That's honestly one of the few Britaxes i've ever seen in my town.

 

[Jordynsmama]

You know I actually have seen so many Britaxes-yesterday just driving and going to the store i saw about 5 MA's or RA's....so I think Britax for convertible seats only- might be tied with Graco's....
ETA this is in La Costa area of SD

 

[stayinhomewithmy6]

For infant seats, I see just as many Evenflos as Gracos. For convertibles, I see lots of ComfortSports and lots of Dorel 3 in 1's. And I rarely see boosters, but when I do, it's almost always backless boosters or the Chase or CarGo. The other day I saw grandparents with 2 girls in HB Cosco Protek boosters and I was actually impressed by that because I see so few booster seats being used around here.