"best" favorite infant seat?

[lmh2402]

need a seat reco for my sister - due with her first in March. thanks!

[flashy09]

The latest and greatest seats are the Cybex Aton Q and the Nuna Pipa.

[Zukini]

Cybex Aton Q. We got it, used it for 4 months but have now moved onto the Britax Clicktight convertibles. Our squish arrived at 7.5 lbs but at barely 4 months is a hefty 18lbs and at the top harness position. He was squished! And I could no longer lift both him and the seat in and out of the car due to the hefty combined weight.

Very very sturdy seat, compact size, relatively easy and tight install with the locking belt feature on the base, well padded and worked with maxi Cosi adaptors on our stroller. We also liked that it would be great to travel with as car installs with the belt only are easy too. It's a pretty seat (got it in autumn gold/orange) and very modern looking - I would get bombarded with questions by strangers who saw it in on the stroller out and about.

Would I buy it again despite the higher price and the knowledge of how short a time I would use it? Yup! Really nice sturdy feeling seat, advanced safety features.

[lmh2402]

thank you!

[Philly Mom]

If she is going to be in NYC, she will probably want the car seat that can click into her stroller and easily be installed with a seat belt install in a cab. I would probably pick a stroller first and work backwards. Infant car seats don't last that long, though NYC people try to make it last as long as possible because they are easier to put in cabs

[lmh2402]

Yes she will definitely need something that is compatible with whatever stroller she gets, and able to install easily with a seatbelt on the fly

[lmh2402]

so, it seems like the cybex aton is not compatible with many strollers, is this true?

[Zukini]

Our Aton Q worked perfectly with the Maxi cosi adaptors for the Bugaboo Cameleon 3. We also have a 2013 BJ City Mini as our travel stroller and intended to use their maxi cosi adaptor setup (they have some type of universal adaptor kit that you customize to fit whichever bucket seat you own) to attach the seat as well. So to narrow down compatible strollers, check to see if they have a maxi cosi adaptor available...

I think(!) the Nuna infant seat also uses the maxi cosi compatible adaptors.

[Joolsplus2]

So is she a city dweller? What will be the next seat up? Life is going to be orders of magnitude more difficult when the infant seat is outgrown (installing convertibles that don't fit on strollers? Uh...yuck?), so I'd personally go with the seat that will last the longest, like the Graco Click Connect 40 with the 35" height limit. Or just get an Orbit system.
Can't argue that Cybex and Nuna aren't utterly awesome, though

[AnnieW625]

I haven't bought a new infant seat since 2006 (had a really basic Snugride 22), but we absolutely loved the Graco Safe Seat we had for Dd2 (bought it used from a friend), which morphed into the Snugride 35, and is now the Click Connect 35 so I would probably go with that because I don't think you can go wrong with a Graco infant seat. They may not be the fanciest or most hip looking seats on the block, but they work, have the best features, and work with the most strollers.