Can you tell me more about these seats?

[TwoBees]

Evenflo Titan Elite
Evenflo Triumph 65
Evenflo Triumph Advance LX
Safety 1st Complete Air 65

I'm trying to determine the pros and cons of these seats and the Britax seats for DD. I'm having a very hard time wrapping my head around all the choices, especially between different models of the same brand. Unfortunately, it will be a while before I get out to BBB to see them in person. The infant seat decision was easy compared to this!

Stats:
DD is 15 lbs, 28 inches tall
Cars: 2008 Honda Civic, 2011 Toyota Rav 4.

Thanks.

[Joolsplus2]

For rearfacing, right? (never mind, I just read your statistics, of course it's for RF! :))
The Titan is miniature, despite the 50lb weight limit, just rule it out entirely (unless you have a need for a very, very small, light travel seat, in which case, the Tribute is a cheaper, longer lasting choice, despite having a 40lb limit, it's taller inside!)
Complete Air may be just plain too big in those cars, unless the front seat passengers are rather petite, or the child doesn't mind sitting super upright (way more than the 'recline to this line' angle indicator says. Plus, the harness pads on the 65lb model are super annoying and required.
Triumph is a great choice, no matter how many words or numbers they throw after it, it's all the same seat, with different levels of padding for more money. Only issue is that the knobs may tend to get jammed in the seatback making harness tightening and loosening difficult.
With a coupon and shopping around, the Britax Roundabout 55 is comparably priced to these, and may fit better, and have slightly better ease of use (and the safety advantage of rearfacing tethering to prevent rebound in a crash), so I wouldn't leave it off the list.

:)

[TwoBees]

Thanks Jools, that was really helpful. I can cross the Safety 1st off the list.

Is the Roundabout 55 different than the Roundabout 50? I didn't realize there was a 55 out now.

How much heavier is the Triumph than the Titan? We may need a travel seat in the future and I'm wondering if it is better to get it at the outset than have to buy another seat later.

[Joolsplus2]

Yeah, the 55 is shorter on the outside, taller on the inside than the old 50 :)
Titan or Tribute weigh about 9 pounds, Triumph weighs almost 20, I think.

[edurnemk]

I have an Evenflo Triumph Advance and we're very happy with it. I have no experience with the others.

I second Jools suggestion to look at the Britax, though, we have a Blvd in my car, and I do prefer it to the Triumph, it's sooooo easy to install! And I find the harness adjustment easier as well. DS is a big car napper, so the headwings make it more comfy for him. DS is still RF in both seats at 3yo! (33.5 lb at his last checkup 3 weeks ago). I drive a Ford Escape (so similar space as your Rav4), and previously we had the Blvd RF in a Sentra, but it was a little tight for the front passenger.

[AnnieW625]

We loved everything about our Evenflo Triumph 5 (the seat that the Advance replaced), except the construction quality was a little sub par compared to the Britax seats, but I believe that they have upgraded the fabrics a lot since we bought our seat in 2006. I still really like the Evenflo 65, but I have yet to try it in our cars (if we got it would be for my Pilot as I can't imagine it fitting well in our 01 Corolla). We never had a problem with the knobs on our seat and I loved that all of the straps were self contained (my DD1 loved to try and loosen her Marathon straps) I would most likely consider the Britax Roundabout 50 Classic (at Target only) or the Britax Roundabout 55 and then you can use that as your travel seat also. If you still want to get the Evenflo TA 65 to use as your main seat then you can also look at a Cosco Scenera as a travel seat.

[TwoBees]

Annie: How does the weight of the Evenflo TA compare with the weight of the Roundabout 50/55?

[edurnemk]

How much heavier is the Triumph than the Titan? We may need a travel seat in the future and I'm wondering if it is better to get it at the outset than have to buy another seat later.

The Triumph is almost as (or just as) heavy and bulky as the Blvd, I would not recommend it as a travel seat.

[AshleyAnn]

My mom has the titan for DD. Its not my favorite seat. The belts constantly twist in the buckles so every time we put her in the seat we have to work to straighten it out. Its also much hard to install than the other seats we own.

[AnnieW625]

Annie: How does the weight of the Evenflo TA compare with the weight of the Roundabout 50/55?

I can pick up the Roundabout 50 Classic with no problem (I haven't tried the RA 55).


The Triumph is almost as (or just as) heavy and bulky as the Blvd, I would not recommend it as a travel seat.

Those two seats at my BRUS are close to each other and they both look really giant. I haven't physically tried to pick them up though.

[TwoBees]

Jools,
I was rereading your post and I have a few questions:


The Titan is miniature, despite the 50lb weight limit, just rule it out entirely (unless you have a need for a very, very small, light travel seat, in which case, the Tribute is a cheaper, longer lasting choice, despite having a 40lb limit, it's taller inside!)

Would a miniature seat really be a bad choice for us? By miniature, do you mean it's outgrown in height fairly quickly? I'm not worried about the upper weight limit as DD is only 15 lbs at 15 mos, and it doesn't look like she's going to plump up any time quickly. She is 28 inches though if that makes a difference.


Triumph is a great choice, no matter how many words or numbers they throw after it, it's all the same seat, with different levels of padding for more money. Only issue is that the knobs may tend to get jammed in the seatback making harness tightening and loosening difficult.

I was looking at pictures of the Triumph online and I don't see any knobs in the front, only on the sides. Can you explain more about this? Is there a knob in the back?

Thanks again.

[Joolsplus2]

No, the knobs on the side can really get jammed into the seatback when the seat is rearfacing, it can be super hard to get your hand in there to push the red tab down if you need to loosen the harness, and I've heard of them actually damaging upholstery. It really depends on the curve of your seatbacks, though, a flat, straight bench-like seat is less likely to be problematic than curvy sculpted/bucket seats.

[TwoBees]

Ok, the Roundabout 55 fabrics are booooring. LOL. DH will be happy at least. I was so looking forward to getting a pink or purple design for DD. Ah, well.

More importantly though, is the cover on the Roundabout 55 removable? I was poking arounf the Britax site and comparing different seats, and in the comparison chart, the 55 is not listed as having a "plush, removable seat cover." So does that mean the 55's cover is not plush, or not removable at all?

ETA: What about the seat covers on the Evenflo seats? Are they removable? I tried pulling up the instruction manual online, but the website is making me enter a model number for the seat, which I obviously don't have.

Removable and easily washable is super important because DD is a reflux kid and throws up often.

[AnnieW625]

Ok, the Roundabout 55 fabrics are booooring. LOL. DH will be happy at least. I was so looking forward to getting a pink or purple design for DD. Ah, well.

More importantly though, is the cover on the Roundabout 55 removable? I was poking arounf the Britax site and comparing different seats, and in the comparison chart, the 55 is not listed as having a "plush, removable seat cover." So does that mean the 55's cover is not plush, or not removable at all?

ETA: What about the seat covers on the Evenflo seats? Are they removable? I tried pulling up the instruction manual online, but the website is making me enter a model number for the seat, which I obviously don't have.

Removable and easily washable is super important because DD is a reflux kid and throws up often.

Yeah not a fan of the RA 55 covers either (and I honestly don't care for many of the girl covers that Britax has had), but the RA 50 Classic from Target for a girl cover is cute.

Our Evenflo seat cover was a pain to remove (I had to unscrew the back of my model), but it was removable, and washable. Some people don't recommend Evenflo seats because you can't buy replacement straps. For DD1 this wasn't much of an issue, but if she spilt some milk on them a little baby wipe cleaned it right up. Baby wipes are great for cleaning up reflux spit up (thanks Jools!). I wouldn't not buy an Evenflo seat just because of that (I think they are really great seats, that are grossly underrated IMHO), but for some it's a big no purchase.

[Joolsplus2]

Marathon and Boulevard seats have covers that can pop off when the seat's installed, but it's very easy to get the cover off the Roundabout, and very easy to reinstall it. Reflux would be a good reason to skip the Evenflo, since those (Triumph/Symphony/Momentum, at least) harnesses are not removable or replaceable (not that you should ever soak/machine wash straps, but rinsing them under running water and rolling dry in a towel and being able to buy a new harness can be invaluable in the case of puke :tongue5:)

[TwoBees]

Marathon and Boulevard seats have covers that can pop off when the seat's installed, but it's very easy to get the cover off the Roundabout, and very easy to reinstall it. Reflux would be a good reason to skip the Evenflo, since those (Triumph/Symphony/Momentum, at least) harnesses are not removable or replaceable (not that you should ever soak/machine wash straps, but rinsing them under running water and rolling dry in a towel and being able to buy a new harness can be invaluable in the case of puke :tongue5:)

Well, that certainly makes my life easier because I can cross the Evenflo seats off my list. I've done the wet towel thing several times already and it would be wonderful to rinse the harness straps under running water. Now I just need to get DD to the store and see how she fits in the Roundabouts. I might as well try her in the next seat up (the Marathon, I think?) while I have her there. Thanks again!

[Joolsplus2]

Forgot to answer about the miniatureness of the Titan...yeah, it's SHORT... I've seen tallish kids outgrow it by height completely at 16 months, though some very petite kids will last till 3 in it.
Marathon is just like the Roundabout but you can grab the headrest and move the harness up and down super-fast. :)