Which carseats to buy for each car?

[Jennifer626]

I want to keep DD rear facing for 2~ years. She's in a Snugride right now, so it's really easy to bounce her from my car, to husband's car, to grandma's car. She's 5 months old, and short, at 23 inches right now. I'm leaning towards a Britax, but are they worth "the hype"? Also, which model?

My car= '07 Honda CRV(buying a '10 Toyota Highlander in a few months). Have her in the middle seat in CRV, will have to put her on one side in Highlander. This seat doesn't need to be easy to install, because it will be in there all the time, never take it out. She is in my car 80% of the time, so an easy harness system is a plus for me.

DH's car changes, he has a company car. Seat needs to have foolproof, easy, quick installation. She's in DH's car about 15% of the time.

Grandma's car= '05 Toyota Camry. Seat needs to be VERY easy to install/remove, as Grandma isn't the most detailed person. Only using this seat one day a week. Would like a good, safe, cheaper seat.

Thanks so much for your help!!!

[GraceH]

the under $100 'budget seats' would be the Cosco Scenera or Safety 1st Uptown
the recommended seats in the $150-$200 range are First Years TruFit, Evenflo Triumph Advance, Britax Roundabout50, or Graco MyRide65
many ppl here do love their Britaxes (I personally couldn't fit one in my budget...) -- I believe AlbeeBaby is a great place to check for great deals on them (I believe there's a girl floral print Marathon for $180 there?)

I highly recommend a trip out to BRU or whatnot to play with them before deciding, after you narrow your choices here...

ETA: here's the girly Marathon for $179.99 at Albee - http://www.albeebaby.com/britax-marathon-convertible-car-seat-in-ashley-floral.html

For the others (shop around for prices/patterns, of course - but this should give you an overview):
Scenera - http://www.albeebaby.com/cosco-scenera-convertible-car-seat-22160cad.html
Uptown - http://www.albeebaby.com/sa1stupcocar.html
Triumph Advance - http://www.albeebaby.com/evenflo-triumph-advance-lx-convertible-car-seat-ashburn.html
MyRide65 - http://www.albeebaby.com/graco-my-ride-65-convertible-car-seat-1757974-patina-bloom.html
Roundabout50 - http://www.albeebaby.com/britax-roundabout-50-convertible-car-seat-pistachio.html
TruFit - http://www.albeebaby.com/the-first-years-true-fit-convertible-car-seat-in-aurora.html

[AnnieW625]

I don't particularly like the Britax Marathon, but that's just me, it's really expensive, and I think you can do just as good with the Roundabout 50. The Marathon is heavy and not a good seat for travel. The RA 50 is lighter even though it's the same size. We bought an Evenflo Triumph 5 (now that Truiumph Advance) and we were super happy with that seat (we used that seat in DH's Corolla). If I had to do it all over again and wanted another Britax convertable I probably would get the BLVD, which has a no rethread harness, and extra side impact wings, plus you can find nice gender neutral prints often on sale at a number of websites like Diapers.com, or AlbeeBaby.com .

If I was shopping for a seat these days the seats that would be on my short list would be:
Evenflo Triumph Advance Premier (supposedly has the best LATCH connectors, and I love that everything is contained; and the harness knob is great! The install on our Triumph 5 was super easy and uncomplicated)
Britax BLVD
The First Years True Fit

Good luck!