Customer Reviews

Evenflo Triumph Advance LX Convertible Car Seat, Harbortown

5 star:		(161)
4 star:		(90)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

This is a great car seat. I purchased this one about 6 weeks ago when my son (child #3) outgrew his infant car seat at only 9 months old. I had previously purchased an earlier model of this car seat for my first child, and sadly our car was stolen with the car seat inside. I liked the first one I had, and I like this one even more. Here are the key points:

*It seems to be extremely comfortable for the child. It's big and cushy. My son likes it. My daughter did, too.

*It really seems to offer a lot of protection with its big seat that kind of curves around the child. On the down side, if you plan on moving the seat around a lot (as another reviewer mentioned), it is quite heavy. But the truth is, it's not designed to be portable--most convertible car seats are not. And if you have a small car, you might have trouble making it fit (I don't know this for sure because with three preschool children, I have a minivan).

*It is easy to install. I have installed a fair share of car seats, and this one is one of the better ones.

*It is very easy to adjust the straps. You can adjust the height of the shoulder straps from the front. How wonderful is that--it is such a hassle to rethread straps like you need to in many car seats that sometimes you can be tempted to leave them on a setting your child has outgrown for a while. You can also adjust the tension of the straps from the front very easily. You can actually make sure they are tight enough every time regardless of whether your little guy is wearing a sweatshirt and coat or a t-shirt. And if he likes to squirm while you put him in, you can loosen the straps, fasten him up and then tighten it to a safe tension. No problem at all.

*It is not too expensive. I paid $117 for mine, which is no small amount of money, but it is not as expensive as a Britax. I'm sure the Britax is fine, but I think a lot of people buy them because they are trendy or because they think they have to spend a lot to make sure their kids are safe. The evenflo is a great car seat. And it is much better than some of the cheap brands like the Cosco I have to use when visiting my parents (no padding, difficult to adjust straps, difficult to fasten clips, yuck).

All in all, I think it is a great choice for a car seat if you need or want a convertible.

The Evenflo Triumph Advance in my opinion is one of the best convertible car seats available right now. The construction is top-notch (Britax is not the only game in town for picky parents anymore), it's easy to install correctly, and I love how easy it is to adjust every facet of the harness (you tighten the harness with knobs, the shoulder height adjusts by sliding the straps up or down, and the crotch strap easily shifts to one of two positions). My son seems just as comfortable in the Evenflo as he does in his other seat--a Britax Roundabout. The Evenflo is definitely more roomy, which I can see that he likes. I am especially pleased with the placement of the two crotch strap positions. They are perfectly placed--not too shallow and not too deep. We are, by the way, very happy with our two Roundabouts. We needed another set of convertibles because our daughter will outgrow her infant carrier--a 2006 Combi Connection--in a few months. So she will take the Roundabouts (rear-facing up to 35lbs) and our son will be in the Evenflos (we regularly drive two cars). We didn't purchase another set of Roundabouts because they only go up to 40lbs/40 inches and are, well, expensive.

If you are considering the Triumph Advance, you are probably also considering the Graco Nautilus and the Britax Marathon. I think those are great seats too. You just have to see what works for you. I skipped the Marathon because of price and skipped the Nautilus because it's made in China, cannot rear-face at all, is priced too high in my opinion, and lacks the awesome harness adjustability of the Triumph Advance (the 65lbs harness is awesome but the Nautilus only gives you two additional inches for height than the Triumph Advance--50 inches v. 52 inches (most kids outgrow seats by height not by weight)). Other seats you might consider: Safety 1st Complete Air (a great but pricey extended rear-facing seat); Graco My Ride 65 (a favorite of car seat aficionados and rear-faces to 40lbs); Sunshine Kids Radian 65 (recommended by a lot of car seat techs); Britax Frontier (hugely popular harness-to-booster seat (no rear-facing)); and The First Years True Fit (high ratings by NHTSA and very popular with parents).

Rear-facing is truly the safest position for your child. In the event of a high-impact collision from the front or rear, a rear-facing seat will stop your child's head from traveling and allow it to "ramp up" the seat back, minimizing the chance of what is called an internal decapitation (the spinal cord gets stretched to the point of separating from the skull). In contrast, in the forward-facing position the car seat back does not absorb nearly as much of the crash force, which leads to the child's head traveling further and at a higher velocity. This increases the risk of severe spinal cord damage for kids under 4 because their bones are not yet ossified. You Tube features several videos showing how crash forces effect kids differently in the forward-facing position. Because of its tall shell, you will probably actually be able to use the Triumph Advance rear-facing until your child hits the 35lb limit (unlike the Roundabout, which most children outgrow by height long before hitting the 35lb rear-facing limit).

Finally, car seats "expire." Most expire at the 5-6 year mark. The Triumph Advance in contrast expires at the 8 year mark. Car seats are largely plastic after all and years of hot summers and cold winters in an automobile will take a toll. And so will time spent in a warehouse. That's why the date of manufacture is one of the first things I check when I buy a car seat.

What a great carseat! I bought this for my 9 month old son after he outgrew the Graco Snugride (loved it too!). It is super easy to install and getting him in and out of it is a breeze. You never have to rethread the straps as the child grows taller because they are easily adjusted even with the child sitting in the seat! I love how the straps tighten with the use of a knob at the base of the seat. My 3 year old has the Alpha Omega Elite and you have to pull the strap in between his legs to tighten the straps. I thought really liked the Alpha Omega Elite until we got the Triumph Advance. Also, washing the carseat cover is a snap...a few hooks to loosen and the whole cover comes off and can be thrown in the washing machine. Our other carseat has to be taken out of the car and almost completely taken apart...what a pain. I actually just boght another Triumph Advance for my 3 year old and retired his Alpha Omega Elite...it just didn't compare! All in all, the Evenflo is easier to install, easier to buckle and unbuckle the kids in, easier to clean, and so much more comfortable!

Recently purchased this Evenflo car seat for our 9 month old daughter who is rather long/large for her age, and was rapidly outgrowing our old Graco carrier/traveler system. Did a lot of research, and looked at this and other car seats in person at the store before purchasing. We liked the product features, particularly the harness/belt system. It is easy to use/quick to lock in baby, and the fact that there is an easy to reach knob for loosening/tightening the straps is a big plus. No need to constantly adjust. We are also pleased to be able to get a very tight/locking fit of the seat into our car, something we struggled with when using the base to our Graco infant car carrier.

I was concerned looking at it that the back of the seat was going to be much too high for driver visibility and, indeed, when installed, it seemed quite high. But it was a non-issue (we see the very tip top of the car seat but it doesn't obstruct our view when driving in our Honda Accord...and neither of us is very tall).

Our daughter seems happy in the seat and well supported, but there are two issues I am not 100% happy with....it advertises as having the side wings to support their heads when they want to sleep, but our daughter's head still flops forward in what looks like a neck wrenching position when sleeping. Also, her feet already touch the back of the auto's seat....it feels like the seat part is short in that sense....or else my daughter is just taller than we already noted! My best referral is that we're about to buy a second one for my husband's car, so happy overall.

We recently purchased this carseat since our youngest outgrew her infant seat. I should tell you that our oldest has been happily using an older Evenflo Triumph Advance DLX Convertible Car Seat we bought her about 1.5 years ago. But since then, Evenflo has come out with the "Advance LX" line of seats and it looks like they are replacing the DLX line. We really liked our older DLX seat, and we love this one even more.

It does solve a few of the quirky issues that the older DLX line had: the harness belts no longer run from the seat to the shoulder and then back down to the buckle again - now it's just a single belt that goes from the shoulder to the seat. That makes buckling and adjusting a lot easier! Another new feature is that the shoulder belt height is adjustable without taking the back of the seat off - you simply move it up or down by grabbing the red tabs and moving them. To top it all off, this seat can handle kids weighing up to 50lbs forward-facing - the older DLX line goes up to 40lbs.

Aside from those differences, everything else is pretty much the same as the DLX line, and that's a good thing. The harness is still adjusted very easily by using the two knobs on the front sides, and it's just as comfortable for the kids as the original. I can't tell you how convenient it is to be able to adjust the harness by using those knobs, rather than by pulling a strap in the front.

ONE YEAR UPDATE:

It's been over a year that we've been using this seat and it's still as great as ever. For those who are having little issues with adjusting it while it's installed rear-facing: those issues will become moot once it's installed forward-facing. Since my review, we've installed this seat in 3 different cars - one of which didn't have the Latch system (a 1996 Sunfire). In all 3 cars I was able to get the seat installed tight enough to pass an inspection. The nice thing is that my kids are old enough now to climb into the seats by themselves and put their arms in the straps (they know the routine). Of course, we still need to buckle/adjust them in. I think we'll get at least a few more years of use out of these seats with no problem, then it's onto the next size. But then again, the way that seatbelt laws are going, our kids will probably have to sit in some kind of car seat until they are 16! :P

TWO+ YEAR UPDATE:

Yup, it's been two years and now this seat sits in a new (to us) mini-van. Still going strong and all the belts and buckles are still working as good as ever. The only issue I've encountered is that after a few machine washes of the cover, the foam padding inside the seat cover tends to get jumbled up so it no longer lays flat, but is folded-over inside of the seat cover (our older Advance DLX car seat has this same issue as well). I resolved this by cutting a slit in the bottom of the seat cover and fixing the folded-over padding. No biggie since the slit is not noticeable at all when the cover is installed on the seat. Overall, this was a great purchase. Soon our oldest will need the next size up car seat and that one will likely be an Evenflo.

The evenflo triumph advance is a very nice looking carseat and seems to be comfortable even when the baby falls asleep while riding in it but it is very big and bulky and I would not recommend it for a small car. I drive a BMW 325 and could not fit the carseat behind the driver's seat when in the rear facing position (which is the only position safe for our grandson at 11 months)and had to put it in the middle. It takes two very stong people to make it secure and stable as the instructions (which I had to go online to find since there were none in the packaging)clearly state that the seat, once fastened with the seat belt, should not be able to move side to side more than inch. The carseat is a bit difficult to see around when it's in the rear facing position in the middle of the back seat because the interior of the car is so small. For a larger sedan or SUV this would be a good choice.

This car seat has met our needs very well. Our child became to big for his infant seat at 7 months so we needed a car seat that could still grow with him i.e. front and rear facing. He sustained a neck injury at birth so comfort was also a concern but we didn't have the money to spend on a Britax.

I love this seat because:

* Most everything on the car seat is straightforward and easy to use
* In rear facing there are 3 adjustable recline settings
* In forward facing 2 adjustable recline settings are available. We still use the most recline we can to help with sleeping in the car and all around comfort.
* 5 point harness fits snug and secure
* Harness buckles are not too tight and difficult to use like some cheaper car seat models we have tried.
* Though the built in pillow doesn't prevent his head from slouching to the side during sleep it offers a nice padded and safe wedge to hold his head up when a blanket roll is placed beneath it.
* He is very comfortable in the seat.
* The shoulder straps adjust as needed for the child's growth but also remain snug even though they are adjustable.
* Safe up to 50 Lb.

Improvements could be made on:
* The shoulder straps by the neck have no padding and can become abrasive the the baby's neck.
* Obviously a better instruction manual.
* The cup holder is floppy and kind of worthless.

He is old enough to be forward facing now and the seat provides a nice height for him to enjoy the outside world but also be snug within the car. We drive a Chevy Malibu. This seat is worth the extra $20 to $30 you might spend on a cheaper model.

While we all know that the Britax seats are some of the best, most of us are not able to fork out that kind of cash for a carseat - especially since most of us need more than one. I did weeks of searching, comparing, checking out at the store, shopping around, looking at reviews, etc. trying to find just the right carseat. I wanted something that would keep kiddo safe, be easy to use, look nice, fit in my small car while still rear-facing, and that I wouldn't regret spending my well earned money on.

We absolutely love this seat! It's comfortable for one thing. When I first took it out of the box I had to laugh cuz it looked more comfortable than my recliner in my living room! My daughter was starting to get kinda cramped in the infant seat we had bought for her.

We like the straps in this for two reasons: 1) They don't have to be unthreaded, adjusted and rethreaded through slots that are hard to see, let alone fit a strap through - you simply move them up and down. It's nice since in the summer you can slide them down and in the winter when the child's wearing sweaters & coats and such you just slide them up a little. 2) The straps adjust DOWN. I always felt like I was going to slice into the soft skin on my daughters neck while adjusting the straps up over the shoulders. With this one, you just pull down until all the slack is at the sides on the bottom and then twist the knob until it's tight. Wha-la.

We also like the adjusting knob. It's easy to use and very nice. No more dangling strap between baby's legs. Just twist the knob to tighten. Push the little lever and twist the knob in the opposite direction to loosen. Very easy.

It's also really easy to get the cover off for washing. My daughter recently managed to get a lid off of her cup and poured it all over herself and the seat. I took the cover off, washed it in the washing machine on gentle cycle, dried it in the drier for 15 minutes on low heat and then let it sit out overnight to finish drying. It was dry and ready to be re-installed in the morning.

It's also easy to move this carseat around in the car. The base is very "seat friendly" meaning it fits nicely in the middle of the car. In my car, the middle seat is down a little lower than the two side seats (not as much padding in the middle) and it fits nicely into the little groove without overlapping onto the side seats.

Anyways, if you were on the fence about what convertible seat to buy, I hope I have been able to help you make your decision. We liked this seat so much, we bought a 2nd one for Daddy's car and will be soon purchasing another for Grandma's car.

This seat is very highly rated by car seat techs around the world. It can be comparied to the Britax Marathon without the hefty price point. It is a little wider than most seats, but if you've got the room its no problem. It is very easy to install and is also easy to adjust the harness straps. A great buget-friendly convertible seat!

This seat was very easy to install. It is very comfortable for my 9 month old. Reclined nicely in the rear facing position. It is very nicely padded. The straps adjust so easily! Just turn the knob to accommodate thicker or thinner clothing. Plenty of growing room. Arrived with a manufacture date of just 1 month ago. Cons: This seat is big and heavy. It would be difficult to use if you plan on switching cars a lot.