Mommies With Style

Looking for a new car seat?  Evenflo’s Symphony 65 has been getting great reviews for both safety and ease-of-use.

Some of the specs:
-Evenflo’s SureLatch system, making install incredibly easy
-the Infiniate Slide Harness Adjustment System makes for easy height adjustment without having to rethread the whole strap
-Rear facing 5-35 pounds, forward facing from 20-65 pounds – and you can use it as a booster up to 100 pounds!

Other random notes:  while it has all of the necessary features, it seems a little bit smaller than some of the other 5-point car seats we’ve had in the past – which is really nice when you’re looking for a little extra room in the car. 

The straps also tighten/loosen very easily (a pet peeve of mine when I’m having to dig around to adjust)

Get Evenflo’s Symphony 65 on Amazon for $189 (retails for $199) plus free shipping.

Also – a little bonus for Toyota owners:  launched today from Evenflo, enjoy a $10 discount on Serenade, Triumph Advance, and Generations65 car seats at www.evenflo.com/safecarseat because the last thing you want to be concerned about during all of these crazy car recalls is whether your car seat is safe!
 
To take advantage of the $10 discount offer, Toyota owners should visit Evenflo.com/safecarseat through the end of March and input the model and year of their vehicle. They will then be offered a coupon in order to receive the discount on their purchase at retail. Offer is valid on Evenflo’s line of car seats including: Serenade, Triumph Advance, and Generations65.

A sample of the Evenflo Symphony 65 was provided to assist in this review.

Have a used car seat/stroller/bassinet, etc. lying around? I have a few old car seats that are from my daughter and I don’t think they are safe to use for my 2-year old son. So when I heard about the “Great Trade-In” event, I was thrilled!

Through Saturday, February 20th, Babies “R” Us and Toys “R” Us stores are holding the “Great Trade-In” event providing their customers with the opportunity to trade-in any used car seats, strollers, cribs, bassinets, travel systems, play yards, toddler beds or high chairs in exchange for a 25% off savings on the purchase of a new baby item, in any of the product categories from select manufacturers. Participating brands are: Britax, Babi Italia, Baby Cache, Baby Trend, Bergamo, Bertini, Carter’s, Chicco, Contours by Kolcraft, Cosco, Delta, Eddie Bauer, Evenflo, Graco, Jeep, Little Tikes, Safety 1st, Sorelle and Step2.

The “Great Trade-In” event places an emphasis on specific baby products, that due to safety concerns, may not be the best candidates to be handed down or resold. Beyond recalls, certain older and used baby items can be potentially unsafe for a variety of reasons, including damage or lack of compliance with recent advances in product safety standards.

You don’t need to have purchased the item you want to “trade-in” from TRU or BRU. You can bring in multiple items and you will be given one 25% off discount for each item traded in. The discount must be used that day on another item from the participating categories and manufacturers. Trade-In items and purchased items can be from different categories.

First, a giveaway!  Britax has generously donated a Roundabout 50 car seat to one lucky winner from Mommies with Style.

To enter, visit the Mommies with Style Message Boards and leave a comment in the Britax Giveaway discussion which asks: what car seat are you currently using? (Doesn’t have to be a Britax to enter, just let us know what you use for your kids – we’re curious!)

If you aren’t registered for our boards, you’ll have to register to enter.  One winner will be selected at random from the responses after September 25th.

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And now, onto Julie’s review:
A few months ago, Britax quietly unveiled a new carseat: The Advocate. I’m not sure why it was so quiet, and I haven’t seen or heard much about it. So I’m going to shout out how awesome this seat is. Because I’m extremely impressed, and am very much looking forward to my littlest switching to this pink and brown floral carseat in a few months. (Also available in gray, onyx and tan).

While the seat is all new and great, I really wanted to know why Britax keeps coming out with new options. The company is known to make only the safest caresets. The cream of the crop. They go above and beyond all safety laws. So, why keep creating new ones? Even with the Roundabout nothing was “broke”, so why fix it, right?

So I chatted with Dr. Laura Jana, physician, author and Carseat Protection Technician, a spokesperson for Britax as well as the AAP. I asked Dr. Jana why parents should consider these “better” seats? Afterall, they’ve all passed carseat safety tests, why should we keep upgrading?

Her response put it all in perspective: Is there anything that’s more important than your child’s safety? Probably not. And while all the carseats available may have passed tests, why not go for the one that surpasses tests. A seat that adds safety elements that the carseat techs hadn’t even thought of. For example, the Advocate doesn’t just have padding on the inside of the seat to protect the child riding in it, this is the one seat with padding on the outside as well, to protect the passenger who, in an accident, slams her head against the side.

And why not make life easier for you, the parent? When you consider that you use this seat daily, several times each day, for several years, why not look for amenities like a No Re-thread Adjustment Harness? (If you haven’t had to re-thread, then you don’t realize the value of this. Re-threading is a major PITA).

The Britax Advocate has all the elements of other Britax seats. And as one of the newest in their collection, it features a Flexible Mount System which allows the side impact cushions to move multi-directionally for easy access to the installation and height adjustment.

A convertible seat, the Advocate has been approved for children 5 pounds through 65; and up to 49 inches tall. Parents often wonder, though, which is more important, height or weight when it comes to searching for a carseat. These statistics, according to Dr. Jana, refer to the maximum the seat has been tested for (and passed).  As a parent you’ll need to use your judgement, but generally get a new seat whichever he outgrows first.

The Advocate, with its 5-point harness (check out you-tube if you aren’t convinced your child needs a 5-point harness, I don’t care how hip it is to use a booster with a regular strap, the 5-point harness is so much safer!), and push-button LATCH Connectors and Tethers for easy installation, this carseat is safe, secure, and simple. Whether you’re shopping for a seat for your newborn or a replacement for a soon-to-expire seat (seats expire 6 years after date of manufacture), the Britax Advocate is one worth the money.

The First Years’ latest booster, the B540, is a somewhat new and reasonable choice on the booster seat market.

For starters, it folds in half, making it appealing from a storage perspective.  With a quick fold, you can have it in the trunk of your car for those days you’re carpooling or taking an extra kid home with you.  (I only have two kids but I always have seating for at least three kids in my car at any given time with an extra booster in my third row.)

The B540 has a color-coded seat belt that eases installation worries and according to my son it’s “really comfy!”  When I asked him what else he likes about the booster, he reminded me of the “cool cupholders” on either side of the booster that allow the kids to have easy access to a sippy cup or other extras they may be carrying with them in the car.  (We’ve used it for the traditional cup, but also as a McDonald’s French Fries holder, toy holder and as a convenient spot to pop a Nintendo DS when not in use.)

This booster is intended to fit kids from 30-100 lbs who are 38″-57″ tall (around ages 3-10).  Retails for $99.99 but it’s currently on sale on Amazon for  $83-$87 depending on the color you pick and ships for free.

Evenflo's Big Kid DLX

So we took the dreaded minivan plunge earlier this summer.  My husband’s older car got swapped out a Honda Odyssey, while he now drives my old car – the Honda Pilot. During the process of this family car-shuffling, I decided we needed to update both car seats and boosters – at least one of our car seats was just over five years old and over the expiration.

One of the boosters we swapped in was the Evenflo Big Kid LX. I’m all about finding a combination of convenience, comfort and safety in a booster or car seat these days. Safety’s obviously our main concern but as we’re also on the road a ton (especially in the summer), I wanted something that my tall five-year-old would also be comfortable in for long stretches of time on the road.

Straight from the Evenflo site, here of the basics about this booster:

• designed for kids forward-facing, 30-100 lbs.
• Full body adjustment with easy one-hand pull handle adjusts height and seat depth quickly
• Pivoting arm rests allow for ease of entry and buckling
• Drink, snack and activity area are retractable for quick access to drinks, snacks, and games
• 2 boosters in 1 – removable back for easy conversion to a no-back booster for 40 – 100 lb child
• Deep head supports for napping child
• 6-position height and seat depth adjustment
• Removable, washable full wrap cloth pad
• Meets or exceeds all applicable U.S. safety standards

Evenflo's Big Kid Amp

We’re not yet using the removable back feature, although we could at his age and weight.  But the snack/activity area is key – especially on a longer drive when I’m the only adult in the car.  The price is right for a booster – it retails for $59.99 (currently, you can get it on Amazon for $10 off at $49.99)

And if you’re looking for backless or something for an older child, they also have the Evenflo Big Kid Amp. It’s $29.99 on Amazon and is great for storage (it’s small) or to have for carpooling. The older my kids get, the more kids seem to pile into my car at any given times – it’s always good to have an extra booster on hand so having one of these in the back of the car can be handy.

My infant carseat expires in about 3 months… not quite enough time to use the old seat for my new baby. So I’ve been surveying the aisles of Babies R Us, Target, and the like for a new seat.

And, really, if I’m going to get a new seat, I might as well get a travel system to make life easier, right? The Bertini B5 catches my eye time and again at BRU, and not just because its also in my garage. With its sharp-looking fabric of black and white with yellow piping, its certain to be a set you give a second look to as well. (Please, go to the store and take a look yourself, or see my image of the stroller here. Its so much a sharper look in person.)

We’ve tested out the B5 carseat in 3 cars, making sure it fits with ease. (According to Car Passenger Seat Tech Dr. Laura Jana, this is extremely important when selecting a carseat. Always ask to take it outside to your car(s) and make sure its a comfortable fit.) Surprisingly, I could fit the Bertini, a Britax Roundabout and a Britax Marathon 3-across in the second row of my Honda Pilot. The squeeze was extremely tight, but it was doable.  In the VW Routan (image here) which I recently tested, I found it difficult to install, but not so much because of the B5’s LATCHs, more because the LATCHes are difficult to access in the Routan. It also fit nicely in our Honda Accord, though only 2 seats will fit in there.

A feature I love in the B5 is the ability to keep the handle in the upright position. This isn’t something all seats do (read your instruction guide because all seats are different) and with 3 kids any little step you can avoid (like clicking the handle down) is a bonus.

The seat features EPP ProTech foam (energy absorbing) and adjustable stay in car base which uses either LATCH and tether. As well you can strap the seat directly into the car. And while it provides more legroom than the average seat (allowing for longer babies and longer use than many seats), it also comes with an insert for smaller babies. The seat has been tested and approved for babies 4 to 35 pounds.

The stroller, which is approved up to 50 pounds, offers a large seat base, huge basket, and an easy-to-collapse one handed release. The highlight to the stroller? It stands upright and clips in the baby seat simply by placing the carrier onto the stroller.