Customer Reviews

JL Childress Ultimate Car Seat Travel Bag, Black

5 star:		(151)
4 star:		(51)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

JL Childress Ultimate Car Seat Travel Bag

We love this back pack car seat bag and now own 2 of them. The bags have been through many trips and have held up very well. The bag fits many different types of carseats -- including our Graco infant seat & base and also our Britax car seat for the older child. It's pretty comfortable to carry on your back and wheel the rest of your luggage. When I was pregnant with our 2nd child, my husband put the back pack on and a baby carrier on the front. Both made getting through the airport escalators, etc. very easy. We don't use strollers on trips -- it's easier to travel without them.

Mom tip -- I like to use a clear zip bag (like the one you get when you buy a comforter or similar) to stow all their clothes, diapers, etc. in the same piece of luggage with the car seat. That way if they inspect that piece of luggage, they can see everything through the clear plastic & don't have to go through it quite as much (I also put small stuff in ziploc bags just in case they do so that they won't lose the pacifiers, etc.). Also, if you're going to put clothes in with the carseats, it's a lot easier to use a separate bag that you can quickly throw in on top of the car seat & take out as you're going to/from the airport.

Just make sure the backpack doesn't get too heavy because we've had to repair one of the bags after overloading it on several trips. Now we put anything heavy (like a Costco size can of formula) in our luggage. It's also smart not to weigh yourself down too much since you're carrying it on your back. I agree with one of the other reviewers -- the center of gravity is a little odd because of the car seat so it is possible to get off balance if you bend over to do something with it on your back so be careful!

Our Ultimate bag has survived multiple trans-Atlantic flights and 6+ Caribbean/European/US domestic flights per year since 2004 (it's now Aug. 2008). It has a few rips which are completely the fault of the airline (one looks like an actual knife cut it), which I've mended with duct tape, and still it keeps going. I absolutely cannot recommend it enough for its durability. By comparison, we purchased a 'cheap' alternative last year for our 2nd child. That thing was absolutely destroyed in one single trip overseas. The Ultimate Travel Bag is head and shoulders above its competition. I CANNOT RECOMMEND IT HIGHLY ENOUGH. If you want something with wheels - I see that's an alternate model now. I would warn, however, the "other" bag we bought, it had wheels - and those were the first things the airlines popped off.

This bag is exactly what we needed for our Britax Boulevard. We didn't want wheels since our hands are already full pulling our wheeled luggage and pushing the stroller. So the backpack design was perfect. I wouldn't want to hike the Grand Canyon carrying it on my back, but for the walk to the ticket counter it was fine. Backpacks that are designed to comfortably carry heavy loads long distances are hundreds of dollars. I think this bag strikes a good balance between cost and comfort. Caution - I knelt down to the floor to get something out of my suitcase and almost toppled over like a turtle! The car seat is so large is definately affects your balance.

There is no sign of wear following our first trip with it. Construction seems sturdy and it is well paded.

While we have not yet been able to travel with it...that is still a few weeks away. We really like the sturdy material and padding. The biggest plus we found is that it still fits the Britax Advocate CS car seat...which is a few inches wider than most because of the side impact protection. I wanted to make sure that other people who may have the advocate CS saw this info. I'll update my review after I travel with it.

LOVE this car seat bag!

Fits Britax Marathon convertible seat (which we love) perfectly, plus I can fit a few other items on the seat and still zips up without any problems, which is great for airline travel!

Before, I used it for a rear facing infant seat (baby trend flex-loc) plus the base when traveling by air, and that worked wonderfully as well! With the smaller infant seat, I could actually fit about 60 diapers, plus a small bag for all my baby's clothes for the trip, some toys, blankies AND still had room! I didn't even really need an additional bag for her! I think I may have packed some items in my own suitcase that were hers, but I always pack way more than I ever need.

Also great because airlines do not charge luggage fees for baby items such as car seats or play yards!! Woohoo! A way to beat the system and save some cash while on vaca, folks!

Love that this bag is padded - you spend a lot of money on a good car seat and you want it protected while in the care of luggage handlers.

Straps are easily adjustable.

Never had a problem with the zipper, which surprised me, but it is actually quite sturdy.

Has been through many trips and has zero wear! Tough fabric!

Love the spot on top to put your information on it.

It is a little awkward to have on your back and it does bump you in the back of the legs, but I am also short at 5 feet 2 inches, so maybe a taller person wouldn't have that problem. I thought about getting one with wheels, however, I would already be pushing a stroller with my daughter in it and wheeling a bag or two of my luggage so I didn't want yet another thing to roll around.

It does get a little heavy on your back as well, but once again, I'm short and a very petite weakling so for an average person, I think it'd be fine! Also, keep in mind that you probably won't have it on your back for long if you're checking it with your other luggage. If you plan on gate checking it...Well, I think I would just recommend checking it with your other luggage!!

Would be great if it came in a few other colors, but black is fine, and it doesn't show dirt so that works for me. I just put a bright colored ribbon, bandanna, or unique luggage tag somewhere for easy identification. (Of all luggage, I do not want my child's carseat to be accidentally grabbed by someone else!)

When I'm not traveling, I use it to store our infant car seat and base, keeping it looking great and protecting it for future use.

Take it from a frequent traveler, the bottom line is this bag is awesome!

*******UPDATE********
We've had this car seat bag for over 2 years now and it's still doing a great job!
Most recently, on a trip to Phoenix from St. Louis, the zipper did pop open very slightly, however no items came out. I was concerned about it for the flight back home, but the zipper stayed shut, so I'm assuming it was an airline personnel grab that popped the zipper.
I'm still amazed at the durability of the fabric and padded sections. Very easy to get seat in and out. My only issue with it is it's very large and since it's padded (which I love), it's hard to get it to a more compact size while on vacation. Usually just leave it in the trunk or stash it in a closet so it's not a huge deal, but just kinda bugs me.
Still HIGHLY RECOMMEND this! LOVE IT!

Our seat (Römer King Plus) fit snugly into the carrier. The carrier held up through the transatlantic flight just fine -- no rips or broken parts. However, I made the HUGE mistake of trying to use it as a backpack (with my baby strapped on in front, like the guy in the picture on the package). Maybe this works well for big burly guys, but for me (petite female) it was way too heavy: I totally messed up my neck doing it. The only reason I did it was that I had too much luggage to fit on the cart ... travelling alone with a baby is tough!

This is the best car seat bag I have owned so far...and I have purchased them all as I constantly travel overseas through the year with my kids and their car seats. So I really put my car seat bags to the test and constantly have to replace them.

I usually purchase the car seat bags with wheels, but decided on this one as it was padded and thought it might last longer. The other car seat bags I have purchased would not even make it one international trip with connecting flights and normally end up ripping.

I fit my son's Britax Frontier Booster car seat (it's huge and very heavy) perfectly in this bag and even had room for coats and things. At the airport I carried the car seat on my back (backpack style), while carrying my infant on my front (in a carrier) and pushing my toddler in a stroller....and I am not a large woman and I did just fine.

After checking the car seat bag and having it gone through many different hands and connecting flights...20 hours later. I was very impressed when I picked it up off the luggage belt. It looked exactly liked it did when I first checked it in...perfect.

My previous experiences of car seat bags after travel have not been good. Normally the bags are scuffed or torn or the wheels have been torn off. While I was worried the straps from the backpack part might be torn or get snagged, they were in perfect condition after traveling.

I highly recommend this car seat bag to anyone who travels with their child's car seat on a regular basis. You will get your money's worth out of it.

I purchased this bag when I was traveling with my infant son. I will start off by saying that I thought the quality of this bag exceeded my expectations. The canvas material is very thick and durable. The zippers are wide and sturdy. The straps are attached very well and have a thick, durable strap material. I purchased a stroller bag from my stroller's manufacturer and was very disappointed in the quality. Based on the quality of this car seat bag, I wish that I would have purchased a stroller bag from this manufacturer as well.

I was able to easily fit my Chicco Key Fit 30 Infant Car Seat and Base into this bag. It seems as though this bag is likely constructed for a convertible or forward facing carseat, but I was able to fit my infant car seat into it without too much of a struggle. I just popped the carseat into the base and then put the entire thing in the bag. I was able to easily carry the carseat on my back and push the stroller or pull the suitcase. The straps make it very manageable. We have a Britax Marathon Convertible Carseat and I tried it out in the bag...fit in easily.

I took a previous reviewers advice and was able to an additional bag in with the carseat in the bag. Even with the carseat in there, I had plenty of room for other items (though I would heed the previous reviewers advice to not overload it, due to weight restrictions). Though it is probably an isolated case, I will tell you that when we went to baggage claim for our trip on the way down, the bag was unzippered and the bag inside was hanging out. Now, I'm not sure if TSA opened the bag to check the carseat and didn't put it back in properly (likely case in my opinion) or someone tried to break into the bag. I really don't see how the bag would have come open otherwise because the zippers are very secure. For that reason, I'm not faulting the bag at all. That said, if you put anything inside, I would highly recommend not leaving it loose. I would put it in a bag and then probably loop the straps of the bag to the carseat somehow (i.e. loop straps through the carseat buckles). I did this and didn't end up with anything missing, but had I put loose items in, I probably would have been missing some stuff.

Of note, at the time of this review, you should not have to pay extra to check a carseat nor does it count towards any free luggage allowance. I will tell you, at different airports it came out at different baggage claims. Once it came out with the normal baggage and once it came out in oversized items. If you can't find it with the regular baggage, check the oversized area.

I will be returning this because the first time we attempted to take it on vacation the zipper broke in the airport- nice start to the vacation
SInce the entire point of the bag goes away with a broken zipper I can only give it 1 star

So this was a GREAT idea, until I had to take it through security. It doesn't fit in the xray machine, so I had to remove the seat from the bag, while holding my one year old and all of our stuff. NOT easy. It's also a HUGE pain in the butt to get down the aisle of the airplane. If you are planning to fly with your carseat? Don't use it. The padding is great for keeping the carseat safe when checking bags, but TERRIBLE for allowing it to fit in tight spaces.