Graco Smart seat All-in-one

[hines9905]

Anyone have any reviews on the Graco Smart Seat all-in-one? I'm looking to buy a convertible car seat; ds is 8.5 mo and getting a little uncomfortable in his infant carrier. This seat intrigued me because it has a base that can stay in the car (we'd get another base for my husbands car and one for my parents car too) and it can be used rear and forward facing and as a booster. I am wary though because it is so new and I'm having a difficult time finding a lot of reviews on it. I have a nissan altima and am worried as to how it will fit also; most of the reviews I have found people have suv's. Anyway, any reviews or comments would be appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[lhafer]

While the concept is cool...it weighs a TON.

[hines9905]

Yeah I looked at it briefly at BRB today and it was a bit heavy; my husband & I were also looking at a britax, however we would need to buy 2 of them (one for each car since one of usually drops ds off at daycare and the other picks him up) So the idea that we would only need to buy an additional base is really nice and it would save us some money too.

[o_mom]

Yeah I looked at it briefly at BRB today and it was a bit heavy; my husband & I were also looking at a britax, however we would need to buy 2 of them (one for each car since one of usually drops ds off at daycare and the other picks him up) So the idea that we would only need to buy an additional base is really nice and it would save us some money too.

Where would you leave the seat during the day? Many daycares will not keep seats during the day after the infant room. It is also much bigger than an infant seat and I can't see being able to carry that seat into or out of daycare while also holding the baby.

At $299 for the seat and $99 for each additional base, I just don't see you saving much over two Roundabout 55's full price, let alone with a decent sale.

[o_mom]

OK - now that I'm on a full keyboard. I think that you should look around a bit more at the options before going with that.

This review from carseatblog has lots of good info: http://carseatblog.com/8834/the-ultimate-graco-smart-seat-review-with-tons-of-pics/

They installed in a 2000 Honda Accord and had trouble fitting it in, so I'm not sure that it would fit well in the Altima. The Britax convertibles are surprisingly compact front to back, so try one in your car (you can take them out of BRU if you leave your driver's license).

The Graco MyRide is another nice seat that is much less expensive and you could buy two of those plus a couple of good boosters later for less than the SmartSeat plus an extra base.

Try out the SmartSeat at BRU, but really think about how you would use it every day and if it really is a good fit for your car(s) and lifestyle.

[mom2binsd]

Yeah I looked at it briefly at BRB today and it was a bit heavy; my husband & I were also looking at a britax, however we would need to buy 2 of them (one for each car since one of usually drops ds off at daycare and the other picks him up) So the idea that we would only need to buy an additional base is really nice and it would save us some money too.

Never buy a seat at a store unless you've got a coupon to stack or smokin deal, online is usually much cheaper!

[AshleyAnn]

I go to play with it at BRU and I was not impressed. The base/seat idea is not nearly as convenient as an infant seat. Between the cost of the seat and the spare bases you could get three seats that are just as good and save yourself a lot of trouble and probably cost about the same.

[Joolsplus2]

Never buy a seat at a store unless you've got a coupon to stack or smokin deal, online is usually much cheaper!
It's a BRU exclusive, so no finding it online yet anywhere else (good advice about the coupons, though, at least BRU has one or two floating around all the time).

That said, meh, it's a huge pain to install, not the base, that's easy, but you really can't move the seat from car to car, it's heavy (I beg to differ with the other poster, it's TWO tons, hehehehe), and HARD to lock it into the base. It's not very comfy or tall as a booster.
I guess I'd just skip it and look at two good convertibles now that will last 4-5 years, and look at good boosters later to last the next 3-5 years after that.

[hines9905]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I will definitely keep shopping around. I guess the concept just sounded too good to be true lol or maybe I just hate the idea of giving up the infant carrier!

[jjordan]

What year altima do you have? If it's an older (smaller) one then most convertibles will require the front seat to be pushed up a little bit - BUT the new Britax convertibles (roundabout55, marathon70, boulevard70, advocate70) will fit RF with the front seats all the way back AND some space between the front seat and the car seat! It's truly amazing! :D

If you have a newer Altima then there are lots of convertibles that should fit in there just fine. :)