Chicco KeyFit

[mimieliza]

I am in love with this seat! I've been reviewing it online - they have a great little demo and pictures about it on the BRU website. It just seems so advanced and easy to use.

Does anyone have it? What do you think? I read a little mini-review, but I was wondering if anyone had started using it day-in, day-out with their baby.

Weight limit is 22 lbs, height is 29" - how long will this seat last? About a year, maybe? Would most kids be comfortable/satisfied in an infant seat for that long?

What about safety? It looks very safe, and so easy to install. But I'm a little nervous about a brand new seat - are there any safety issues that could come to light as the seat get used more widely in the general public?

(I also posted in strollers to ask about the Chicco C1 stroller that can go with this seat, so if anyone has this, I would be interested in your opinions about that as well.)

Thank you!

[Joolsplus2]

I don't know anyone who is using it yet...except my cousin that I bought one for, and she said it was great, but no other comment yet (shucks! she lives FAR from me, lol).
One latest review does find it's kind of hard to install with the LATCH, so it may not be perfectly compatible with all cars, but she was *amazed* at how well it installs with a lap/shoulderbelt!

It's at the top of my wish list (I'm due February and don't want to use the Companion I already have sitting in my garage...I might use it, it installs beautifully, but I'm always on the hunt for new things!)

Hopefully some newbie will pop in with more of a review!

:)
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[kphil]

I just got mine yesterday, and wrote a mini-review on another site, so not sure if that's the one you already saw. My baby isn't here yet, so I can't tell you about day-in, day-out, but I did try installing it in our van today, so I can give you my run-down so far:

Things I like:
-The harness adjuster is sooooooo smooth and easy. Really a dream to adjust.
-It's really easy to lock the seat in and out of the base
-The single pull LATCH adjuster is really cool
-The recline adjustment on the base is nice, and works well
-A 19" newborn doll fits really nicely in it with the padding in there
-The built-in shoulder belt lockoff is a great feature to prevent base tilt
-I like the storage compartment they put in the base

Things I'm not sure about:
-The fabric isn't soft to the touch (though I expect it will wipe up very nicely)
-The back of the seat doesn't have any padding--it's just the cover, then the styrofoam shell. Not sure how that will be for the baby once the infant insert comes out (at 11lbs--which won't likely take long for my kiddo)
-Without the infant pad, there's a lot of space between the crotch strap and a newborn-sized doll. Not sure what this will mean with a real-life baby who is over 11 lbs.

Now that I've installed it, I can add that the latch install was super easy, though I felt like I wished I could pull that adjuster strap to get it just a smidge tighter than I could, kwim? But, I'm also 27 weeks pg, and I think with my husband doing the install, he'd be able to get it a bit tighter. I had less than an inch movement at the belt path, but it wasn't the rock-the-whole-car kind of tight install I have with my Marathon and Boulevard. I tried it again with the shoulder belt, and was suprised to find that I wasn't able to get it tight enough that way. Again, I think it might be different with someone else installing it right now. When I snapped the seat into the base after it was installed, there was a lot less movement of the seat on the base than with our old Snugride. I do miss the stability of a rear-facing tether like with our Britax convertibles.

Overall, I'm really thrilled with this seat. I used a SnugRide with my two girls, which was pretty nice, but I think I'm going to like this much more. For one, it's much easier to get this securely in the base than our SnugRide was (had to really make sure with the SR, and sometimes we'd think we had it in, then we'd pull on it to test, and it wasn't actually locked in there).

From the weight and height limits, that would last us about a year with our kids, but we never use the infant seat anywhere near that long. I don't like to carry them around in it, and my girls both seemed to prefer the Roundabout a lot over the Snugride--they stopped screaming in the car. Hopefully this seat will be more comfortable for this baby, but I still don't see myself using it for a whole year. If it had a tether, yes, but without, I'll probably want to get them in a tethered seat before then. OTOH, the harness adjuster is so smooth, I probably won't be feeling excited about going to the terrible Marathon adjuster I have after using this one.

Hope this helps!
Kirsten

[Joolsplus2]

Ah hah, that's who you are! <waving hi> :D
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[kphil]

LOL, Hi Julie! :D I didn't realize I have different user names here vs there. You've been helpful to me on oodles of occasions! :)

Kirsten

[Joolsplus2]

And this board format is so much nicer, isn't it? :)
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx