New Graco Toddler SafeSeat?

[mtvchicken]

Hello!
I have a soon-to-be 1 year old and she's finally out of her SnugRide (live in Manhattan and do not have a car.)
I am looking for a car seat for weekend trips. My priority is safety, comfort (want her to be able to sleep!), and ease of use. Also, since we rent many different types of cars, it would ideally fit in to many cars and have an easy installation. Sometimes it seemed that even the SnugRide was hard to wedge in to some of the cars!

My question is about the new Graco Toddler Safe Seat. Does anyone have it and like it? It claims that "it is one of the only toddler car seats on the market that reclines while installed in your vehicle." Is this really a special feature, and how important is it?

What would be the best car seat for someone in our situation (no car, but lots of weekend road trips)? Thanks!!

[Joolsplus2]

Rearfacing till the limits of a convertible seat (till 30/33/35 pounds and till the head is even with the top of the seat) is actually ideal, and forward facing before 2 is a rather higher risk of head and neck injury, so you'd have to really consider if you are willing to put her at any kind of increased risk that way. It's a super nice seat, but it is incredibly heavy and bulky, too, so you might not want to be hauling it around much. I'd personally be more inclined to look at something like the Britax Roundabout, which is cushy and comfy and small-ish and super duper easy to install in most cars.

The Safeseat 1 might even work for you for up to another year longer, if she's a petite girl (many kids are out of the snugride as young as 4 months, so she can't be *too* big! lol).


Julie CPS Tech and mom to 3 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[kellyotn]

You could look at a Cosco Scenera 5-point version. Its only $50 and a great seat for what you need. Its VERY LIGHT (great for hauling it around w/o the car), narrow, easy to install in lots of cars and is pretty tall (for longevity).

You can use it rear facing (the safest way to go as Julie mentioned) until 35 lbs. And, its actually tall enough that a kid can make it to 35 RF or pretty darn close. Same for FF, lots of FF seats are to 40 lbs in weight, but are so short that they'll not get close to that weight before the child is too tall.

I've only used one in front facing mode, but have been really, really impressed with it overall (not even taking into account how cheap it is!)

I don't think the recline on the fly feature is that big of a deal. :) If a kiddo still needs a recline to be comfy, just keep 'em rear facing (size permitting)! I have heard the Toddler SafeSeat is a very, very nice seat. But, its pretty expensive and doesn't rear face, which is a big strike in my book.

HTH

[mtvchicken]

Thank you both for this info. I'm pretty clueless on the whole rear-facing forward-facing thing since we're hardly ever in a car. I do know that I have LOVED the Snugride/Combi Flash combo for taxis and plane rides and I just drooled when the SafeSeat1 came out. I might just suck it up and buy it so I can extend my piece of travel heaven a few more months. I will also look at the Scenera and the Britax Roundabout since it appears I shouldn't think about the Toddler SafeSeat for a while longer.