Evenflo Titan - Use daily, use for grandma or return?

[lady bug]

At my shower (in January) I was given an Evenflo Titan (brand new) as a gift. We are now getting ready to move my son in to a convertible seat - he is 7 months and 28 inches - and are trying to decide what to do with the seat. The debate is to use it in my husbands car, a 2009 Jetta, which he would be in daily and on weekends since we take that car most of the time, use in my car, 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee, which he would be in daily to go to daycare in the morning and occasional other times, give it to grandma to use in her car, which would be a couple times a month or return it and use the credit towards purchasing 2 seats. We have to have seats in both our cars since I drop him off at daycare and my husband picks him up.

What would you do?

[AnnieW625]

Let's see, here are some questions that come to mind.

1. How does the seat install in either car?
2. How will the seat install in Grandma's car?
3. How close are you with the people who gave it to you? Would they notice that you returned it?

We looked at the Titan Elite when we were looking at seats for DD in 2006 and while it wasn't a bad seat we liked the Triumph 5 (now the larger Triumph Advance) a lot more; it was much more padded and we loved everything else about the seat (harness knobs, ease of use for travel, and that all of the straps were contained with in the seat; plus it was super easy to install). The EFTA even has more features now than our T5 did like no rethread harness. DD loved her T5 and never once complained about being in it.

If you have really found seats that you like better than this one then I would try the seat in your mom's car and see how it works in there. It might be a good seat to travel with too so I don't think I would get rid of it right now.

Good luck, and

[lady bug]

1. How does the seat install in either car? - We tried it at BRU in the Jetta and it seems to fit pretty well. We haven't tried it in the Jeep.
2. How will the seat install in Grandma's car?Grandma has a 2008 Fusion but we haven't tried it in her car.
3. How close are you with the people who gave it to you? Would they notice that you returned it?A great aunt gave it to us and we only see her about twice a year. I highly doubt she'd notice.

Thanks for the advice. As I said we haven't tried it in grandmas car so I'm not sure how it would fit. I'd honestly really like to get True Fits for our cars. Rear facing with the top removed I think the TF fits the best out of any in the Jetta and I'd like to have the same type seat in both of our cars.

[jjordan]

I personally wouldn't return a seat that I received in January. So, somehow I would make use of it. If you are pretty sure you want TF's for both of your cars, then it makes sense to me to give the Evenflo to grandma.

If you don't really want to buy 2 convertibles for your two cars, then you can use the Evenflo in one. If is a fine seat, it just won't last as long as other convertibles, which is why it isn't as highly recommended.

[lady bug]

Since it was given to me in January I really didn't want to return it but it is an option since it's still boxed. I guess I'm just unsure about using it since I've heard such mixed reviews about it. Hmm

[AnnieW625]

Are you talking about mixed reviews from websites or people you know? If it's from websites I sometimes have to take the 1 and 2 star reviews with a grain of salt because most of the time they just aren't informative. I looked at the reviews on Amazon and 5 of the 6 were very favorable. Even on BRUS where the seat has 130+ reviews it still averages out to getting a 4 star review. Didn't have time to read all of the reviews, but again unless the 1 and 2 star reviews are really detailed I'd take them with a grain of salt.

I wouldn't return a 8 mos. or older seat (probably made in Nov. or Dec., 2008) because I would hate that it could sit on a store somewhere and the person that really can only spend $100 on a quality carseat is now only able to get maybe 5 years of use out of it once it is sold. I'd sell it on Craigslist and just put the manufacture date loud and clear on the add so someone can't complain about the manufacture date.

[Joolsplus2]

What store would take it back if it was bought 8+ months ago, though? Not BRU, that's for sure, maybe walmart or Target...
I dunno, it's not the worst seat, and it's light for travel, and has EPS foam which makes it better than a Scenera for a cheap seat. The main complaint about it is that it's so small and costs more than other small seats like the Scenera, that it's not worth the money. But if you got it free, know that it will barely make it to maybe age 2 rearfacing and 3 or 4 forward facing, and like Annie said, if it fits in your car (which it does in most...), then use it and don't worry about it.

Oh, the True Fit is great, remember that the top headrest thing can only be off as long as the kiddo is under 22 pounds or the head is within an inch of the top of it, so it won't be topless for too long, but it should fit with the top on after that, I know it's great in my ford escape, takes up very little front-to-back space (the Premier version is a lot easier to reach the harness adjuster, and the anti rebound feature is great for safety, but the regular version is very safe, too).