Customer Reviews

Baby Trend Flex-Loc Infant Car Seat, Chatham

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I don't generally write reviews but wanted to praise Baby Trend on the design of this car seat. We were directed to it after the January 07 Consumer Reports review showing this as one of only two infant car seats to pass their more stringent crash tests (TV news showed alarming video of various car seats flying around the passenger compartment after being struck by a vehicle).

Compared to our still-new Safety 1st seat, this one is so much better engineered in a number of ways:

1) The base is super easy to install. Click twice into each of the car's two anchor points, then tug on each of the two straps to tighten the base. That's it. Our old seat had paragraphs of confusing directions that didn't leave me as confident as this one.

2) The base has an easily adjustable tilting mechanism and leveling indicator to insure you get the right angle for the baby's head (no flopping). Our old seat had no such system - we used rolled-up towels.

3) The seat has a dial to quickly adjust the seat height as the baby grows. No such system on our old seat.

4) The handle has an ergonomic triangle shape on top for more secure grasp when reaching into the car from the left or right.

5) If the base is not available, the seat can be strapped directly into a car using the car's lap belt.

6) The seat is overall more narrow than our old seat, allowing our two other kids to fit in the back seat with a little more breathing room. Every inch helps.

7) The seat is lighter than our old seat, although it feels just as secure and solid as the old one.

All this, and the seat is the same price as our old one. Unfortunately Amazon/Target was sold out when the Consumer Reports issue came out, but I found them in stock online at Wally World, if you are looking to get one quickly. The one for sale here is a better color combo than Wally's, unless you like lime green - but the seats themselves are all the same superb design.

Summary: super easy to install and adjust, well thought-out features, fair price! Makes me want to have more kids just to buy more of these :)

I have had two kids use my Evenflo carseat. I HATED it. It was like they never even tried it out to see how well its features worked. I finally got so sick of it when my 2nd child was 4 months old that I ordered a Babytrend Flexloc. At first I was seduced by the high safety ratings, but even after that Consumer Reports article was rescinded, I still liked a lot of the features.

Pros:
-very comfy seat, good padding
-the canopy is twice as long as my Evenflo so it can cover baby almost completely
- the canopy stays in place; it doesn't fall forward or backward behind the seat
- the tightening mechanism under the baby's feet is easy to reach and VERY easy to adjust to make the straps tighter or looser depending on what baby is wearing
- the harness mechanism is very easy to adjust (the shoulder strap height). My Evenflo had to be rethreaded every few months and even my mechanically inclined husband said it was horrible. The Flexloc is just a dial on the back that you turn--it's a breeze.
- The seat can be transfered between cars without the base. It can be strapped directly to the car by using a seat belt on the car seat or by using the LATCH system if your car has it.
- the triangular handle has a nice grip and is easy to hold in any position
- this carseat is lighter than my Evenflo
- The cloth is very wipeable, not as absorbant of spills and stains as my Evenflo


Cons:
I found a few minor cons that definitely would not deter me from buying this carseat, and one that might (depending on how I can resolve it once I contact Babytrend).
- The release button to take the seat off its base is at the toes under the seat. It's a little harder to reach than the ones behind the head if the carseat is backward facing.
- As others have said, the buttons to move the handle are a bit stiff, but not horribly so. I was prepared for them to be way worse.
- The handle is thinner and doesn't FEEL as sturdy as my Evenflo when carrying baby around, but it hasn't had any problems
-This is the one BIG one that I have to check with Babytrend on: Twice when I have turned a corner sharply, the carseat has tipped to a 45 degree angle! I have tightened down the seatbelt as much as I could, putting my full weight on it and using the seatbelt retracting mechanism. But maybe I'm still not doing it right. The base is narrower than my Evenflo's was, so maybe that's why? So I need to contact Babytrend and see if they have any suggestions. Until then, I guess I'll take the corners slower!

Overall, I have felt like this seat was a MAJOR improvement over my Evenflo and even over the Graco Snugrides I checked out at the store. It was intelligently designed to be easy to use and adjust as baby grows. I would recommend it for sure. Just make sure you strap it in tightly or use the LATCH system if you have it.

I have a 12 week old and in that short time, the mechanism that allows the handle to rotate forward and back (carrying position to "in the car" position) has failed. Since the product is under warranty I called Baby Trend and they would only help me if I sent the car seat back to them for repair. Obviously, if I do that, I will have no means of transportation for my baby. I would need to buy a new car seat, which defeats the purpose of having it repaired! I spoke with the head of the customer service department who refused to send a replacement. I do not advise buying this or any other Baby Trend product that you cannot afford to lose for a few weeks to have repaired.

We love the handle on this car seat. I owned a Graco Snug Ride and HATED it---it does not snap into a supermarket shopping cart. The handle is a triangle shape and you can carry it forward, backward, or against your hip. Love it, bought one with my second child and again for my last child when the first one expired.

This car seat is very nice looking, it is also one of the sturdiest seats I have seen looking through all of the stores, and the price is not all that steep. If you are considering this seat just do it! I got the seat and an extra base for the price you would spend at some stores for just the car seat. My opinion... much Better than Graco, and Evenflow.

Great seat. We read reviews somewhere complaining that their infant's head flopped forward in this seat. I installed it so that it was in a more reclining position while still being within the range- per the level indicator. We have had no trouble although we always support his head in the car seat so it cant flop around.

We bought this because of the good safety reveiws. We also liked it because it is nice looking. We get comments on how nice it looks. I don't recommend it to people because of the handle. It's VERY hard to put up and down. You have to crawl in the car and grab the release with both hands while pulling back and wrestling with it to get it to go down. Not very easy if you have small hands. My husband even has trouble with it sometimes. Also if it is raining and you are trying to get the baby in the car and the handle down you will get soaked. It's not a fast chore. Other than that it looks nice but I probably would get something different.

This seat is BY FAR the easiest and most secure infant seat to install with any latch system. I have used it for both of my children and it still looks brand new. The canopy is huge and can easily cover the baby from almost all angles. (I had the expensive Peg Perego and hated the handle and canopy) The only thing I didn't like about this car seat had nothing to do with the car seat itself, but that my babies were so big so quick, that I didn't use it very long with either one. I absolutely recommend it.

Overall, this is a very good carseat. Yes, the handle is difficult... but we rarely take ours out of the car anyway, so it doesn't matter to us. (We wear our baby when out and about). I love the turn-knob harness height adjuster, and I love how safe and comfy my babe looked in it-- until recently. This is the bad part: the straps are way too short! My 7-month-old is in the 50th %ile for height and weight, but if he's wearing a sweatshirt or even thick pants, I can barely buckle him in! Granted, his bum is a little fluffier than average since we cloth diaper, but still... the buckle strap is ridiculously short (and yes, I have let it out all the way). If it weren't for that, this seat would definitely get 5 stars from me.

I bought this car seat after trying it out at a local retailer. By trying it out, I mean I carried it around and found that I liked the triangular handle (very ergonomic) and saw that the height could be adjusted with the turn of a knob. I kept it in the box until the day came that I had to bring my new son home from the hospital. It was then that I found some fatal flaws in the engineering of this product that prompted me to return it the next day
The LATCH clips were easy to use, but the strap to tighten them comes out at a right angle compared to the way it goes in. What this means is, that a point comes where you can't tighten them any more even though you can see the slack that is still present on the strap. If you ignore that fact, you will find your base is still rather loose, enough that with the car seat attached, the whole thing can tip with almost no pressure.
Once attached snugly, the seat clips in easily. Taking the seat out exposes the other engineering defect. In a rear facing seat, why would you put the base release in the front of the seat (aka the side where the baby's feet stick out)? If the base is properly attached (which read above and you realize that most people are not able to install this base properly, then that means the front of the car seat (where the feet are) is right up against the car's seat leaving little to no room. To release the infant carried, you have to snake your hand into the very small crevice separating the car seat from the Car's seat. the base release(used everyday) was moved to make room for the harness height adjusitng dial (used once every 6 months))...