Convertible options for twins

[TwoBees]

Posting for a friend. She has 12 month old twins who will be maxing out of their infant seats by length soon. What are some good suggestions for convertible seats for her? She needs to buy 4 so please keep price in mind, although she did not specify a budget. Thanks!

[gymnbomb]

Graco Contender tends to be the longest lasting easiest to use lower price seat (goes on sale for around $100 fairly frequently). Next step up price wise would be a Graco Extend2Fit or Milestone ($200-230, on sale a lot for $150-180), followed by Chicco NextFit and Britax Marathon and Boulevard ClickTights ($300+). Diono Radians are highly recommended if she needs to get 3 seats across or if she has a smaller back seat and is trying to save room for another passenger. Of course there are tons of other options if she wants special features, but those seem to be very popular and well liked seats.

If she wants to splurge a bit on seats for primary vehicle and get cheap ones for a lesser used vehicle, Cosco Scenera Next ($45 at Walmart) is a very popular budget option. We have one that we purchased just for travel because it weighs 8 pounds and is super easy to lug through airports and install in rental cars. But definitely not as cushy as the more expensive seats and no extra features.

[abh5e8]

Any idea what the milestone and extend to fit have, that the contender does not?

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[gymnbomb]

Any idea what the milestone and extend to fit have, that the contender does not?

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They have the premium push on LATCH connectors. Milestone is a 3 in 1, so it converts to a high back booster seat later on (we have one of these and love it, but have only used it rear facing so far. It is super easy to install and adjust the harness). Extend2Fit rear faces to 50 pounds, most of the others I mentioned only rear face to 40 pounds. It also has a little pull out extension panel that can provide several extra inches of leg room while rear facing. I'm sure there are other differences, but those are the key features. The Milestone and Extend2Fit are also known for being pretty compact front to back when rear facing, so they fit well in smaller cars as long as you don't need 3 across.

The Fit4Me/Size4Me/Headwise seats are all different names for basically the same seat, and are like a Contender with a couple of extra features like the premium LATCH connectors.

Here are a couple of Graco comparison charts that highlight the differences.

Graco3in1s.jpgGracoClones.jpg

[TwoBees]

Thank you! Those comparison charts are really helpful! I had been thinking of suggesting a Graco seat so I am going to pass along this info. Any feedback on the new Graco slim fit convertible? I was also going to suggest this because it might allow a third person to fit between the two seats if necessary.

[gymnbomb]

Thank you! Those comparison charts are really helpful! I had been thinking of suggesting a Graco seat so I am going to pass along this info. Any feedback on the new Graco slim fit convertible? I was also going to suggest this because it might allow a third person to fit between the two seats if necessary.

I think it's kind of like a narrower version of the Milestone? I haven't heard anything bad about it, but haven't really looked at one. Here's a review: http://csftl.org/graco-slimfit-review/

Also, I will say that when I was researching our infant seat I was one of those people who kind of looked down on Graco car seats. It was not an option I considered. But after having Chicco KeyFit (which I loved!) and NextFit (which I hated and moved to my husband's car) I started looking at some of the newer Graco seats and realized they have some good stuff. We have had both a 4Ever and a Milestone and been very happy with both of them. And now when we get a van I'm thinking I'd like to get an Extend2Fit 3 in 1.