Question for Joolplus2 or anyone else

[mary ba.]

Hi, my 4 month old is outgrowing her Snugride so we will probably be putting her in our 2 1/2year old's Triumph and getting a booster/combo for Noelle. The Evenflo Chase is on sale at Target this week and I have a 10% off coupon so my question for you, do you think this is a good seat for a 2 1/2 year 34lber?
Are the Gracos (Ultra and Platium Cargo) worth the differnce in price? I need to buy 2 but I don't want to be ultra cheap since we will be using these seats for years!


Thanks very much for your help!
Mary

[Joolsplus2]

I think the chase is a great seat if it fits your child and your car :)
I have a sightseer (same shell, no harness) and find the lapbelt tends to ride a little high on my dd's abdomen, but she's only 31 pounds. If you use the harness to the full 40 pounds, then move to the booster, it should be fine (it fits my 40 pound and taller ds just fine). It has decent sleep support, as well. It won't last quite as long as a booster since the back is a bit shorter, but you may want to move up to a dedicated booster then, like a $20 backless booster, when she's too tall for the Chase.
All in all, if you like it, it's a good seat for the money, IMO.

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

[John Thomas]

I am getting ready to purchase a booster/combo as well and have researched extensively. Consumer reports only gave one seat a positive vote- see their site for details. Note: there are two pages on the CReports site to view...one is descriptions and the other is ratings grid of all seats tested. Note: Almost all the seats tested are discontinued depsite a recent test by CR. Uggg. Very frustrating none the less. I am not buying the highly rated one since my son is 2 1/2 and very tall and he would be having to use the reg. seatbelt almost immediately and he is only 34lbs. I am leaning towards the Graco Cargo ultra due to it fitting his height much better. The drawback to this seat is when it is used as a booster only the seatbelts don't retract properly according to the CR website report.

Amazon.com has a great feedback section for all these car seats. Just do a search for the seat and scroll down and view dozens of buyer feedback notes. Please remember that there is always a chance someone from the company is putting a very positive spin on their own product and also remember someone from another company could be putting a negative spin on a competitor product. Also, people are stupid sometimes and don't read directions and compain on Amazon.com about a product that would have performed as stated if they had only read something in the directions. (I have noticed this several times and usually someone puts in a review to tell that person they did something wrong installing it, etc.

good luck,