Customer Reviews

Combi Connection Infant Car Seat Night Rider

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was expecting my 2nd child and needed a double stroller. After doing a lot of research I decided to go with the Combi Twin Savvy Stroller (which I have nothing but GREAT things to say about). Well the obvious choice to go with it was the Combi Connections infant car seat, since this can be attached to the stroller. When my son was born he was 2 weeks early and weighed 9 pounds 2 ounces. I really liked this car seat at first but I noticed right off the bat that it was cut a lot smaller then my daughter's (who is now 2) infant Graco seat. Before we even left the hospital I had to adjust the seat to all the larger settings. My son is now 4 1/2 months old (he is 27 inches and 19 pounds) and has completely outgrown it. The shoulder straps exit the seat well below where his shoulders sit and we have the straps extended as far as they will go. I am sure it would fit better if it were summer time. I really wish I never would have purchased it. With my daughter we were able to use her infant carrier until she was about 10 months old. I do feel the combi car seat is safe, worth the money and would recommend it to someone, but just not to someone with chunky babies like me.

UPDATE: To the other posters regarding using common sense with this seat and large babies not fitting. Well duh....of course the padding was removed, practically from day 1. Also we never had a snowsuit or heavy coat, thank god I had a car seat cover in which I was able to use or else I wouldn't have gotten the 4 months worth of use I did. My babies are always 90-95%+ so obviously with your 50% or less babies you guys couldn't understand ;)

I had a Graco car seat for my first son. He was always uncomfortable in it and he outgrew it by the time he was four months old. He was also uncomfortable in the accompanying stroller and I hated trying to get this heavy stroller in and out of my car. The whole travel system was a waste of money.

After a lot of research I bought the Combi Connection car seat with the Flash EX Universal Car Seat Carrier for my second son. I have been very happy with both. My second son is almost 10 months old and I'm still using this car seat. He has been very comfortable in it, and I'm dreading having to give up the convenience of having him in an infant carrier.

My son isn't exceptionally small. He is light for his age - he's in the 25th percentile for weight, but he's tall - 90th for height.

I am completely shocked by the previous reviewer who thought this car seat was too small.

The only reason I gave this car seat 4 stars instead of 5 is because the canopy isn't very sturdy. Other than that it is highly recommended.

this seat caught my attention because of the higher weight and height capacity, 29 inches and 22lbs but this seat is also very well made the padding is exceptional compared to evenflo and graco every where is padded the head rest has additional egg shock support and it comes with an additional body pillow for newborns ,until the pillow gets snug and you have to remove it.my daughter was 13lbs and 8 ounces and 25 inches at her 4 month old wellbaby check up in june ,now six months old she still fits and is not hanging out at all.i have to wonder if the previous reviewer removed the body pillow .it does get snug and then you have to use the seat without the pillow.why not five stars ?the instructions are bad the seat is much easier to install without the base.but a good seat overall.

We have this seat and love it. I don't know what is going on with the previous reviewers complaining about outgrowing it, we have an average 50th percentile baby, and she will easily fit in this seat until she is sitting up on her own, at which point we'll move her to a Britax and sit her directly in the stroller. I think a little common sense goes a long way, remove the extra padding once your infant is too big for it, don't try to put your 6 month old in the seat wearing a snowsuit, and if your baby is extra tall for their age then yeah, they are going to outgrow it sooner. I had a Graco seat with my first daughter 3 years ago and she outgrew the thing at 4 months old, she was really tall and that seat had a low height max, but I know that was not Graco's fault, all they can do is build to averages and accommodate the majority, every child will not fit in an infant seat until their first birthday!

Overal the car seat is nice, light weight but I agree with other buyers that it is too small for some babies. I used mine only for 3 months, because I have a tall baby and his feet were outside the car seat. I was a pretty big investment for only 3 months of use, not to mention that I have purchased the stroler frame too.Combi Connection LX Infant Car Seat Black

I got this infant car seat for my first daughter who was 8 lbs and 19 inches at birth. It was really too big for her and I had to use the infant positioning support and the additional GoldBug 2 in 1 infant head support when we took her home from the hospital. Our car was latch compatible so installation was easy. She grew quickly and we eventually bought a Britax Decathalon (the best convertible ever!) and I loaned it to my friend who had twins. She already had a Graco Snugride from her first child. Anyways, I noticed a lot of differences between the two carseats:

Pros:
Very well padded and washable cover. There was an extreme difference between the Snugride and the Connection padding and overall quality.

Security straps are well-constructed and didn't twist at all.

Seat is deep and narrow, which is good for small infants and somehow seems safer.

Installation of the base using LATCH in the bucket seats in the outboard (as opposed to the center) position was super easy and very secure. My husband and my friend's husband struggled with the Snugride base which didn't fit well except in the center position of the backseat. It kept tipping up and seemed loose. I think it was because of the bucket seats since they didn't have that problem with the first child and it was the same car (Acura TL).

Putting the carrier in the base and removing it was super easy.

Carrier has shorter handle which is a plus for shorter parents.


Cons:

Connection doesn't fit in the shopping cart upper area.

It's a bit expensive.

If you have the Combi Savvy Soho stroller, it was often difficult to tell if you snapped on the carrier since it would "snap on" and the carrier would indicate it was locked, but then one side wasn't attached. We usually would lift up on the carrier handle to check and then really push down hard to get it locked on.

The canopy is a bit small and doesn't provide enough sun protection in the stroller...it was also confusing to remove it to get the seat cover off.



All in all, I loved this car seat and felt it was safe and good enough for my friend's babies. She also informed me that she uses it a lot and puts the smaller twin in it since it was deeper.

My husband and I did a lot of research on car seats/strollers prior to our son being born. The City Saavy Stroller & Connection Infant Seat Travel Package seemed the way to go. The stroller is great, however, our son has outgrown the car seat and he is only 4 months old (this item is listed as accommodating 29" babies, our baby is 26" and is completely hanging out of the seat).

We are now in the process of researching new car seats and are realizing we will also have to purchase a new stroller as well in order to have the ability to stroll him around. He is not old enough to hold his head up in the City Saavy stroller. I contacted Combi direct and they don't offer any accommodations for the time period of now until he is able to actually sit up in the stroller.

Additionally, my husband and I were very frustrated with the straps on this seat, they are constantly getting twisted and very difficult to adjust to our growing baby. The seat does have significant cushioning which was definitely a feature we liked. It is also pretty light to carry around, compared to other car seats offered. All in all, this was a big investment for only 4 months of use.

My child seat comfortably and sleeps pretty well. So, I assume it is a comfortable seat for children. It has lots of cushions. The cat seat sits very easily on the base. Lightweight.

It's very difficult to use seat belt with the base. The path of seat belt is very complicated (it has to go underneath the base). Probably this car seat is mainly designed for for LATCH system or without-base.

The canopy is very flimsy. I always thought that apart from providing shade, car seat canopy provides some kind of protection in accidents too. But I doubt this one does.

The base recline foot does not rest well on my Honda Accord - even after using towels. When I showed it to car seat inspector at my local police station, he recommanded me to get a different model of car seat. He told me that all the car seats are not going to fit with all types of cars. Therefore, better to check and find out the suitable car seat for your car.

Instruction manual is pathetic. Very unorganized, no index table, no technical specification. Some of the parts in pictures do not match with the actual car seat parts (hence makes it very confusing). In many places the instructions mention some part names, but they are not shown in any pictures in the manual (you got to be wondering what is this part anyway). Overall, it's very difficult to make anything head or tail out of the instructions.

Instruction manual does not mention compatible stroller(s). So, either you have to call Combi for compatibility or you have rely on vendor's word.