Customer Reviews

Safety 1st All in One Convertible Car Seat, Stonehenge Gray

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

We got this seat for our son after he started to outgrow our graco snugride infant seat. We've had it just shy of two years and I'm very satisified thus far. I felt it was a reasonable price (I think I got it for around $140 or just under), it had great reviews, and had the safety features I was looking for in a car seat.

Some facts: 5-35 lbs rear facing, 22-40 lbs forward facing, 40-80 lbs Belt Positioning Booster. Has ProTech foam in headrest, QuickFit harness system, Infant head support, Five-point harness, Two-piece front harness retainer, Three-position buckle strap locations, Three-position recline, Up-front harness adjustments, Deluxe removable seat pad, Adjustable/removable pillow, and Removable cup holder.

Pros: Easy to install (does have LATCH system). Well padded and still holding up strong. Cleans up like new! Easy to adjust straps- even if just due to wearing bulky clothing. Very study seat- even with my rowdy near 3 year old. Also the seat sits up high- not really much of a pro for everyone, but my son loves being able to see out the window and look around. Love the optional cup holder (when older) and removable seat pad (great for extra padding and catching potty, snack, and cup messes). Also a big fan of the foam headrest- it makes me feel he's safer and he hasn't complained once about being uncomfortable (and he would!).

Cons: I have an SUV, so the combination of my seats and the base make it difficult for this to be completely flat without a padded seat guard, however once I realized this it was an easy fix (I did read on other sites that some parents resolved similar issues by removing the base and/or reclining the seat to compensate, but I'd rather it be attached and not reclined). It has a larger base and is overall a good size seat and fits fine in our vehicles (Pathfinder and Sports Trac) but it would not be ideal for a 2-door car or smaller sedan in my opinion. And while the seat cleans up well (I wash it every couple of months on gentle cycle in cold and lay flat to dry) and so far has held up great, it is an absolute pain to reassemble- even after doing so numerous times I still end up forgetting a step and having to back track when I'm putting it together. And like others have mentioned the straps do tend to twist easily which is very frustrating when you're trying to strap an unwilling toddler in their seat quickly!

That said, I feel the pros outweigh the cons. After reading lots of reviews on seats and constantly hearing of recalls or other major issues, I'm satified with our choice in this seat. And I can say I would recommend it to a friend or family member.

My kids and I were involved in an accident on Saturday, and my 4-year old (38 lbs) was strapped into this car seat using the 5-point harness. She walked away from the wreckage without a single scratch or bump on her body. It should have been much worse, but she was totally fine. I attribute her lack of injuries to this car seat. The only reason I am giving it 4 stars instead of 5 is because of the difficulty of removing the cover to wash, and then reassemble. It was like rocket science ;)

I tried several brands in the store putting my son in different seats. Then I came up with specific features that I wanted to see in a car seat. This car seat had them all:
looks nice, reasonably priced, easy to install and use,
roomy for my then 1-year-old big boy (I wanted Graco Nautilus, but it wasn't roomy enough and its lower strap was under my son's bottom),
reclines (useless feature in this seat as I found out after using it), cup holder, grows with the child (can be used for up to 80 lb).
It's fine for short distances, when you don't expect your child to sleep in it.

But after using it, I realized that one drawback is bigger than one of those nice features. When my son falls asleep his head does flop around (as the other reviewer said). Reclining doesn't help at all. So when traveling, I have to seat on the back seat to support my son's head. Imagine that! Holding my hand in the air for an hour! Last time we went to Disneyland (45-60 min driving), I hurt muscles in my arm. I tried to put stuff under his head (rolls, blankets)- nothing works. I hate this car seat now! I think the head rest is the problem because it's too upright. I look at this head rest and just want to remove it, spit on it, and trow it out of the window. But unfortunately it is not removable:(

People who wrote nice reviews and had a good experience, please help me to deal with this problem. I can't believe you don't have this issue.
I'm not gonna buy it for my second child. I can't imagine myself squeezed in the back seat between two car seats and supporting heads of my two sleeping children.

We bought two of these seats about 2 years ago when it was time for my daughter to move out of her infant seat. We still use them, but I don't think they'll stay in good enough condition for her to continue to use them all the way up through the belt positioning booster stage and we are looking for something else now that my second child needs a bigger carseat.

pros:
COST and VERSATILITY -- if you are on a budget, you can use this 1 carseat for your child's entire carseat riding life. in theory.
easy to install -- once you know how
easy to adjust the harness straps as your child grows. no taking them out and rethreading them like in some seats.

cons:
while everything IS machine washable, putting it all back together afterwords is nearly impossible (I think i was only able to do this because we had two, so I used the one that was already put together as a guide.)
it does start to seem old and less safe after a few years of use and a few times taking it apart and putting back together.
it does not convert to a backless booster so it always takes up more space.
all the extra stuff (cup holder, extra head padding) falls off easily and most of ours is now lost.

also, i would not suggest actually using this seat for a newborn because, even fully reclined, it leaves your child more in a sitting up position than laying down.

I will say that a friend of ours bought the britax version (so she spent $200 more) of this seat and had all the same problems we did, except hers didn't come with a cupholder to lose.

This car seat is very nice. I liked the way it looked and my son likes it. The second day we installed it we took a 10hr trip and he did great in the new seat. I will say that our Mazda 6 has very slanted back seats so it makes the car seat sit at an angle instead of the level to ground that it is supposed to. So we have the seat reclined all the way back, and that makes it sit level to ground. I think once we turn the seat facing forward it will be better. Overall i would recommend the seat.

I have a big 8 month old who out grew his Chicco key fit at 7 months. I needed a seat that would take me from rear facing to belt positoning booster that was safe, comfortable and REASONABLY priced. This is it. I hope they never stop making this product. I will use this seat for all of my children as they come along. It is easy to install, simple to fasten him into and get him out of. He loves how he sits up and is able to look out.

Couple of draw backs, but not nearly big enough to make me rate this less than 5. I can't keep my son in the middle of the car in this seat. If I did my huband would never be able to drive the car as he could not put the driver seat back. Once I turn it around I think he can go back in the middle seat of the back row. I don't think that is as much of a product problem as it is a vehicle problem. I have been in plenty of cars where he could be in the middle in that seat. My car just so happens to not be one of those. I also had to place a 2x4 under the front ledge of the seat while rear facing to make it level. I wish they might install a wedge that can fold up or down depending on the slant of the vehicle's seat. I can't imagine my car is the only one that does that.

This is the best car seat ever. I have grown children, and I bought this car seat for transporting my granddaughter. I wish I'd had this car seat when my kids were little. It's so easy to use and adjust to make the proper fit, and I feel she's safe and secure while in our vehicle.

I got this as an early X-Mas gift from my FiL. While our daughter hasn't arrived quite yet, we've taken full advantage of trying it out with the other kids and testing out it's features.

I didn't want a convertible car seat, but he definitely changed my mind when he showed up with this one!

It reclines back far enough to suit an newborn, the back panel slides up and down to adjust the straps without having to take the whole thing apart and it can accommodate up to 80 lbs.

We won't need another car seat.

The only con is not being able to take it in and out of the car easily, like an infant seat that snaps into a base. However, I still think all the features make up for that.

I highly recommend this product to anyone in need of a good seat, though it is cheaper elsewhere!

The straps are easy to use, easy to adjust, and our granddaughter is comfy. I am dissapointed that the recline function doesn't work as discribed. It won't recline in our vehicle or her mother's vehicle (not enough room and it has to be unstraped and adjusted to do it). We have used it for over a year and overall it's a great seat.

This car seat is very comfortable, easy to buckle, easy to install, and very cute. However, I'm not sure I would recommend it as a rear-facing seat. We bought this when my son out-grew his infant seat, but he's not quite a year old so we need to keep him rear-facing. And it was REALLY difficult to get this seat to recline enough to be safe as a rear facing seat. Maybe our back seats are unusually slanted...(we drive a 2010 Outback). As a forward-facing seat, this will be perfect for years to come. In the mean time, we had to do some rigging using some hooks & chains & ingenuity in order to keep it from flopping around & leaning our son way too far forward. So maybe keep that in mind...