Customer Reviews

Evenflo Momentum 65 DLX E3 Convertible Car Seat, Static

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My wife was driving our 2011 Ford Expedition with our 21 month old, 28 pound son forward facing in this car seat mounted in the captain's seat behind her. They were struck head on by a car estimated to be traveling 75 miles per hour at the time of impact. The seat was secured using the SureLatch system. The impact destroyed the front end of our truck, but the child seat did not move, and my son's only injury was bruising on his shoulders and chest where the straps held him in the seat. The driver of the car that struck them was killed.

I know that this seat will work as designed, and have no hesitation in replacing his seat with another Evenflo Symphony 65.

I wish this car seat had 10 stars available because I would fill them all!

After using cheap-o carseats with the 5 point harness system for several years I just figured that there really wasn't much out there that was much better. Boy was I wrong!

We decided to look for a carseat because our older seats were set to expire. This prompted me into a whirlwind of comparing feature for feature with several different appealing seats on the market. We settled on 2 car seats: the Alpha Omega Deluxe Elite and the Evenflo Symphony. We purchased both and here is what we found: <drumroll please>

The Evenflo Symphony was a dream to install. The ease of use is exactly what we expect out of a car seat--after all it shouldn't be rocket science. Everything - including the seatbelt adjustment, and the recline is completely intuitive. The parts adjusted effortlessly and I was impressed with the comfort of the seat. The seat has enough padding to make even long car rides very pleasurable. My child LOVED the fact that her head could rest on the sides and not flop forward when she wanted to sleep. I love looking in the rear view mirror and seeing her sitting there so happily!

Now onto the other car seat. The Alpha Omega Deluxe Elite car seat was very difficult to use even with the manual. I had to read and REread to figure out how to remove the all of the padding to wash it. The seatbelt was better than most threading models, however, I liked the way the Evenflo model ajusted a little bit better. The side bars on the head rest ajustment were awkward and required much more force to move into a new position. Overall, we were not happy with this seat.

We eventually sold the Alpha Omega and will be purchasing another Evenflo. To us, it's worth every penny to have safety and ease of use combined with comfort! The Evenflo has it all and I'm happy to recommend it.

My eleven month old son has been using The Evenflo Symphony 65 car seat for a month and a half and we both love it! I had to remove it and reinstall it a few times and it has been a cinch, especially compared to the car seat in our second vehicle. It takes a minute or two to click it into place and push down on the seat to tighten it. We currently are using it rear-facing and since it reclines on it's axis it fits fairly well in my Toyota Corolla. This was a relief since we found that the first car seat we purchased didn't fit rear-facing in my car. Please note, however, that the space for the front passenger is fairly limited. My son is very content in the seat and I am happy with my purchase, despite the higher price. On a side note, the cup holder seems a little flimsy, but I don't use it anyway.

UPDATE 1/17/11
My son is now 17 months old, we've been using the car seat for over 6 months and I am very happy with it. He is now 31" long and about 23 pounds and we still have him rear facing. He fits very comfortably and I am pleased that he will be able to remain rear-facing for quite awhile longer. He falls asleep a lot in the car and his head doesn't flop forward (we don't use the additional pillow that came with the seat because he tends to sweat easily). I purchased JJ Cole strap covers to prevent the straps from digging into his neck and they seem to work well. It is nice that the harness adjuster is easy to access and tighten even when the seat is rear facing as my other car seat doesn't allow this easily.

UPDATE 1/6/12
I originally reviewed the Evenflo Symphony 65 however it appears that the listing may have been switched out (although the photo appears to be an Evenflo Symphony seat still). I was looking to purchase a second Symphony however find it unclear as to what seat is being sold here. I have contacted Amazon for a resolution.

After trying several different car seats out and looking at them in the stores, we decided on the Evenflo Symphony. The reason is it has been reviewed by consumer reports as one of the safest seats, it has superior padding to any of the Britax models and we found that our son is really comfortable and happy in it. We love the reclining feature, but it cannot be adjusted once the seat is in the rear facing position, but the directions tell you this when you are installing it. The top tether can only be used in the rear facing position, but again if you read the reports, it is not necessary in the rear position because of how the seat is secured. But other seats you look at are the same way, so it is not as if you are missing anything. I firmly believe that when people complain about any seat moving from side to side after installing it...obviously did NOT install it correctly. There are wonderful, complete instructions which I admit I had to read for my hubby, as of course he felt he did not need them. You DO need them, they have great information on how to adjust the seats, the belts, everything.... At this time, I do not have anything bad to say about the car seat and we have been using it for almost 6 months. Our son is in the 95% for his age of 8 months in both height and weight, which hopefully will give you some reference point for your own child and he fits in it well. Some of the Britax models i felt he was a giant in. The evenflo also comes with the newborn padding which was GREAT, and he still uses the padding under his butt because I feel like I would be more comfortable with it so why wouldn't he be??? That is usually how I make decisions for him :-) Also I am not sure yet about cleaning the padding but it seems like it would be easy to clean, remove from the seat and wash in the washer. I really believe you will love this car seat, but do your own research and you will see too that this seat really does have it all.

I have had this car seat for some time and when I first used it on my daughter she was rear-facing. It fits perfect in my Toyota Corolla which is surprising because it looks pretty big coming out the box. The Sure-Latch system made it even more of a breeze to install which is really good when you want to switch cars and that is what sold me to buy the carseat in the beginning. My daughter just went to forward facing and it fits even better in my car. I love this carseat and my son will be using when he gets out of the infant carrier.

Recieved this seat today, and am totally impressed with it. We did a lot of reasearch and saw this one in a store out of town (they don't have a whole lot of selection around where we live, and we really like to be able to handle the products we buy ahead of time) We liked this one, it reclined (although you have to set the recline BEFORE you latch it, but so what? it is so easy to do and undo the latches anyway), straps can be tightened from the front,the headrest slides up and down only using one hand, and you can adjust the height of the straps VERY easily! I read all the instructions, then installed it in, uh, I don't know, maybe three minutes, and that could be pushing it by 30 seconds. The SureLatch system is very simple and really takes all the work out of it (just make sure they are in the right position depending on which way you are installing the seat, front facing or rear facing). My son will get to sit and ride in it today, and I know he will just LOVE it! The fabric is great, not sandpapery AT ALL (like a previous review had said). I had it sent from Amazon, it arrived on time, and was in spic and span condition. I would recommend that everyone to do their reasearch, but this seat sold me!

As other reviewers have already noted, this car seat somehow manages to fit great rear-facing in smaller cars (like my '05 civic). My son is very tall for his age and had to be turned front facing at about 14 months, and the seat is amazingly easy to uninstall and reinstall with the sure latch. Since my DS is growing like a weed I've already taken advantage of the ability to adjust the harness from the front which is a HUGE benefit over my old Graco seat. And after an unexpected bout of car sickness, I was also extremely happy that the seat cover was so easy to get off and clean. All in all a fantastic seat, I absolutely recommend it.

This seat is very well designed and quite easily installed in one's car. It is also easily adjustable for the baby and provides good support for infants.

It fits well on the seat of our small station wagon (BMW 325) and the color design and textile choice is both subtle and pleasing.

The build quality seems quite high, both by appearance and feel.

I looked at many carseats before choosing this option. I chose it mainly because it can be adjusted with ease, the sure latch system allows me to quickly and easily trasfer the seat from my vehicle to grandma's vehicle as needed. The straps adjust without having to remove the whole cover which is a huge time saver. We put our daughter in this seat when she was 8 months old and she loves it.

With regards to what the previous poster said about the "plastic" parts by the neck on the straps, this is easily taken care of with pads velcroed around the straps. We don't have anything on our straps and it hasn't bothered our daughter at all.

You can't ask for an easier carseat to handle. We bought the first one for my car (a stratus and it fits great in there)and a different one for my husbands truck. Needless to say, we ended up purchasing a second one for his truck because it fit better and we liked the ease of this carseat. It is also a carseat that can be used for quite awhile because of its design.

I started using the Evenflo Symphony 65 seat after my baby outgrew our Graco infant carseat at 11 months. She is now 14 months and we just started turning the seat around from rear to forward facing.

We really loved the seat while it was rear facing - such a breeze to install compared to the Graco Snugride. Simply click the two connectors onto the latches in the car, push on the seat and we were ready to go!

However there are a few major drawbacks, specially while the seat is forward facing:

*Biggest complain is the crotch strap of the 5-point harness (between baby's leg, where the shoulder straps would buckle onto) cannot be adjusted closer and farther away from the seat back. This is a car seat good to use from 5-65 lbs (newborn to 7 years old?) using the 5-point harness. A crotch buckle that has only one position, really? Even when my 14-month-old was tightly strapped into the seat, there is still lots of room in between her and the crotch buckle, causing her to slip down very uncomfortably after a longer car ride or after a squirm. I have used the infant body insert that came with the seat but it was not very helpful. Very frustrating!

*There are two recline positions while the seat is forward facing (3rd position is only used while rear facing). Even the 2nd position does not lay that far back. My baby's head is still bobbing forward uncomfortably while sleeping. However this is the first convertible car seat I ever owned, so not sure if this is the way it is supposed to be.

*It is difficult to recline the seat. The recline red tab in the front is VERY stiff and I would have to use both hands to compress it, then use my whole body to press on top of the seat back to recline so it would click in. The same to adjust the seat back up.

I have read many reviews on this car seat and was surprised none mentioned the problems I have above. I can live with problem #2 & 3 but the first problem really bothers me (and my baby). I would appreciate if someone can tell me this is user's error, since I love all the other features, like the easily adjustable shoulder straps and the high safety ratings. I was planning to use it for many years to come!