Convertible Carseat Recommendations

If you have access or know some with access, go to ConsumerReports.com. I trust them.
I have a Britax and it is great, but they are on the pricey side.

The Radian carseats made by Sunshine Kids are the safest car seats you can buy b/c they are steel reinforced. They are also pretty narrow and you can fit 3 of them on the back seat of a Honda Civic! But: they are expensive. I just thought I would mention them.
I personally use the Alpha Omega Elite and my son and I LOVE it. It's a little bulky but my son is a big boy and he has plenty of space in it. Also, the buckle between his legs is adjustable - very important if you have boys. BabiesRUs sells this car seat for around $150, Big Lots sells it for around $100.

I know Britax is expensive - but I can't tell you how much they are worth it! We bought a Britax and an Evenflo Triumph (the two highest safety rated seats at the time). The Britax is SO incredibly easy to use and install. We had to go to the hospital to have the Evenflo installed - we just couldn't get it right.

Even though they're expensive, I would buy another Britax in a heartbeat. They're awesome!

we have a Britax roudabout. and LOVE it.
my parents have other carseats in their cars and they are very low and bucket like.
the Britax sits up higher, so the child can look out the window, sit more naturally, and be reached more easily.
Britax is a really great brand, one of the safest out there (its a british company, if i remember right, and is tested not only for front/rear impact, but for side impact too.

they are a bit more expensive, but WORTH it. we are on our second child in this seat and its is still ingreat condition.

good luck!

No matter what car seat you get, the most important part is to make sure they are latched in right. I have a police officer friend who took 4 days of classes on just car seats and he said most people don't do it right. Newer SUV's and Vans have latches under the seats to permentaly hook the carseats to. See if your town has someone who knows how to do this. My town only has a population of 3,500 and has an officer designated for this, so maybe your town does too.

I have 2 seats, one for each of our vehicles for our son. Mine is an even flow that has the little bench that comes over the head and rests in front of him. When he gets older he can rest books and stuff on it. We love it, it costs about $75 at Walmart, it is an Even-flow. The other one we have just has the 5 point harness on it and it is a Graco and cost about $40 or $50 and we also got it at Wal-mart. They do not have a huge selection in the store but we bought ours online and had them shipped to the store for free. THey were there in about 3 days! We researched ours and I didn't feel they had anything less than the more expensive ones.

Now at our local hospital, they have a program run by volunteers and sponsored by the OH State Highway Patrol. It is called KISS (kids in safety seats). They sell car seats and install them. They will install them and show you how to propery do this for free. You just need to make an appointment (and yes they have evening hours!) You should check our your local branch of the State HWy Patrol. Also most fire/police stations usually have someone there that can do that and it is also free.

Britax has the best safety rating, but is more expensive.
We have one, but only have one child.
Make SURE that it has a 5 point harness, regardless of the brand and call your local fire department and have them give you a lesson on install. (it's FREE and SOOOOOOo worth it!!!!!) There should be NO movement in the carseat when you try to wiggle it or move it & it should be tethered in your car in the back.
SAFETY comes first, especially when you consider your children.

Congratulations on your twins. I have 2 year old twin boys. When we made the switch we bought the Evenflo Triumph. It got good reviews with Consumer Reports which is where we go to research all our big purchases. I know many will recommend the Britax, etc but with twins, cost is a big consideration. We bought our seats at the Evenflo warehouse sale so they were considerably less money than in the stores. But remember that Babies R' Us will give you the 10% multiples discount if you purchase the seats with them. We have been very pleased with out seats. We used them first rear facing and now they are forward facing. The boys seem to like them. Best of luck making this choice!

We love the Alpha Omega's because they are the only car seat that you will ever need to buy. My older two daughters used theirs until they were 7 & 5 years old. Then the van was wrecked and we had to get rid of them. We bought another one for our third daughter. The straps adjust from the front, and you can recline it from the front also. you can also adjust the harness height from the front on the new ones. If you use the latch system in your car they are very easy to install forward or rear facing. They also convert into a high back booster, which is the safest thing for an older child. The covers come off and are completely washable. They are roomy enough for bigger children, my oldest daughter weighed almost 70 lbs and still fit comfortably in hers, yet comfy enough for my tiny baby. Check out a Babies 'R Us, you can try them all out and figure out which one you like best. Everyone has different ideas of what is the nicest, and ALL carseats sold in the US are up the the required safety ratings, so they are all safe. Good luch and happy shopping.

N.,
I did a ton of research before we decided to buy a Britax. I LOVE it! In fact we bought 2, one for my car and one for the babysitter. We have an Eddie Bauer in my husbands car and it doesn't even compare. The Britax is taller so Addison can see out. It allows you to tilt the seat so when they fall asleep in the car their little heads aren't flopping. It is very easy to install, the cover comes completely off so washing it is very easy. Plus, there is a button on front that allows for easy lengthening of the straps so it can be easily adjusted depending on their outfit. Many seats have to be adjusted from the back, almost impossible without removing the seat out of the car.

I purchased both of mine from e-bay. They were both brand new but I paid way less. It did take some time on e-bay but i shopped victoriously :)

N.

Fisher Price has a carseat that is made by Britax (hands down the safest/best car seats on the market) that is a little cheaper. I can't remember the name right off, but search BRU and I am sure you will find it.

I agree with the Britax recommendations, although they do not fit your financial requirements.

N. - My youngest daughter just turned one; so we just bought car seats for our oldest daughter (and then the younger will use her old ones). As I was trying to do some research; I found this website: http://www.nhtsa.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/template.MAXIMIZE/.... I thought it was neat how the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, had put out this "Ease of Use" rating system. Not all brands are marked; however, there is still quite a selection. GOOD LUCK!!!!

We really have been happy with the Cosco Alpha Omega seat that we purchased for our daughter. She will be able to use it through the time when she needs to be in a booster. It's a great seat. My sister in law has been happy with her purchase of the same seat also. We purchased ours at Babies R Us. Whatever you decide, at Babies R Us they actually let you try the seats inside the store to make sure that they will work for your child. They have the sample seat so that you can see how the seat will sit, etc. It's actually very helpful.

N.,
Congratulations!! My thoughts based on my situation (a 3 year old daughter who weighs 28 lbs. and a 10 month old son who weighs 17 lbs). If you are planning on have any more children soon, find a carseat that is a booster seat convertable. A carseat that can convert into a seat with arms (no back). When my son is ready to face forward my daughter will not weigh enough to go to this kind of seat so we will have to buy a whole new seat. Some we didn't really plan on. Let me know if you are confused. Good Luck.
L.

We got a car seat from walmart that goes from 20 to 80 pounds. It is a Casco. It has a head rest pillow that is removable. As well as a removable drink holder. The only thing I didn't like about it is that it is brown. I wanted a girly color. And the good thing is they are only around $90 each. It has a 5 point harnes for them when they are small and then you remove that part and just use the car's shoulder strap seatbelt when they are tall enough. We have 3 girls and the 1st 2 are a year apart. We liked it so much we bought one for our 2nd daughter. And now 5 years later our 3rd daughter is using one.

Hi N.,
We're getting ready to do the same with our 7mo old daughter. We use a Cosco booster seat (under $50) for our 5yr old son that we put him in when he was about 3 - it has the 5-point harness and then you can use the seatbelt with it . I really like it so we will probably get the Cosco convertible (still under $50) for her since it can be used rear facing and then forward facing up to 40 lbs. We need seats for both cars or I would have just gotten one that would have taken her from rear facing up to the seatbelt booster - I saw one at Walmart.com under $150. I love how so many of the store websites have reviews - they have really helped in my making (or not making!) some purchases! Good luck with the twins!

Last I checked, Britax ($200 or more) and Evenflo Triumph ($99) were rated the same on Consumers.com. We have the Triumph! Whatever you do, don't trade cost for seats that aren't rated highly for safety.

I really like the Graco Comfortsport. My most recent one is almost 3 years old so I don't know about the current models available - but I've had no complaints - it's easy to install - my sister in law had an Evenflo convertible and it was impossible to install without using the LATCH, which wasn't available on one of her vehicles - the opening to feed the seatbelt through was impossibly small.

Good luck - I recommend trying them out - some stores, especially babies-r-us I think will let you try to install one in your vehicle to make sure it works for your car.

We bought Eddie Bauer convertible carseats at Sam's Club for $67 a piece. They have been a great buy. The convert to a high-back booster and then to a backless booster. They have the 5-point harness and the EPS foam which was a must for safety. We, like you have twin girls and are always looking to save money. :) Good luck!

We got an Alpha Omega Elite by Cosco brand. It goes to like 100 pounds, does backwards, forwards, and converts to a booster. We started using it at around 9 months, as our son was over the weight limit for his infant carrier. We love it, and he loves the cupholder for his drink! Number 2 is on the way, and it is our plan to purchase a second one when the time comes

check out Britax on tinyride.com and save a bundle ($40 cheaper than the stores and they don't charge shipping), I got mine there and love it!

i haven't read the other responses, but if you have a Big Lots near by, check it out. They generally have Eddie Bauer car seats for $80 or so. I have bought all my convertible carsets there and a booster seat (20 - 100lbs) for my two kids.

I absolutely love our Evenflo Triumph DLX, the newer one is called the Evenflo Triumph Advance. Wonderful carseat! My daughter is 3 1/2 years old and still uses hers. She will be moving out of is this fall though, when we move her infant sister into it. At that time, my 3 1/2 year old will go into a Graco Nautilus.

There are several things I love about this Evenflo carseat. #1 it is very comfortable for the children! #2 the harnesses don't have to be fed through to move them into different slots, they are on an infinite slide system that is so easy to use and they lock into place! #3 the side knobs for adjusting the harness (tightness/loosening) is wonderful! Easy to reach on both forward and rear facing positions! #4 they can harness children up to 50 pounds!! (The safest option is to keep your children harnesses as long as possible!) #5 You can keep your children REAR-FACING up to 35 lbs!!! My 3 1/2 year old does not even weight 35 lbs yet! Extended rear-facing (past 1 year and 20 lbs) is the safest option out there!

Here is a link to the Evenflo Triumph Advance LX on the BabiesRUs website!
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3028986

I too have the Evenflo Triumph and am very happy with it. My DS used it for 18 months or so and now my DD has it. It was inexpensive as car seats go and it has functioned well.

As for safety ratings, if you look at them carefully (in Consumer Reports- check the library) you'll notice that one does have the highest rating but the difference in it and the rest is pretty minimal. I can't remember now exactly what the difference is but I thought of it as test scores and asked my self- is there an appreciable difference between a 93% and a 96%? Not really. The 93% isn't unsafe, know what I mean? The year we bought the Evenflo Triumph there was one car seat that was NOT recommended and I looked for it at the store to compare it and see if I could tell what was different and bad about it. I couldn't find one anywhere. So though there is certainly a concern for safety for your child in their car seat, know that it's not as hard as it sounds to find a safe affordable one.

I got my daughters seat at Walmart. It was about $80.00. It was made by Safety 1st and it is a convertible seat (will switch to a booster seat when bigger). I really like hers. It's got a nice cushy seat for her bottom. That was important because we do a lot of driving & I wanted her to be comfy. The belts for buckling her aren't complicated and it seems very safe to me. And, it comes with a removable drink holder... Good luck N.!

I have three different convertible car seats (one for each of our two cars, and one for my mom's car because she watches our daughter several days a week). I have an Evenflo Triumph -- Like a lot of it's features, except it seems like the groin strap is very short and the way it latches together results in the ends of the latch really cutting into my daughter's legs. She's pretty easy going and deals with it, but I wasn't happy with that -- but otherwise like it (it is huge though -- definitely wouldn't work for airplane travel and takes up a lot of room in the back but we make it work in our Honda Civic so it will probably fit in any car). We also have a Priori Maxi-Cosi car seat. We were able to get it on sale for half-price at Target because they were discontinuing carrying it in store (so it was around $90 on sale). It's normally around $200, but I definitely love it the best. It's recline features are by far the best I've seen because the seat is separate from the main frame and swivels on it very conveniently while your child is in the car without any jerking or hard pulling at all. Plus, it's comfy. I will say though that my daughter is very tall so she'll probably out grow it before the other ones we have. Our third car seat is a Safety First we got on amazon for $69.00. Very light weight, will work great on an airplane and overall I'm happy with it, but it does sit pretty upright when it is in forward facing position so not as comfy for sleeping in the car on long car rides. For the low price though I was very happy with it, as it still seems to have a decent amount of cushion. I found some of the cheaper ones were very hard to the touch so that's why I opted for the higher priced ones, but all of them were well under the price range you've given (except for the Priori if we hadn't been so lucky to find it on sale).

Good luck!

All I can tell you is that we were given a tun of stuff when we were have our twins. Greco was the best brand. I have had someone hit my car and those seats did not let the kids move one inch. The strollers are so safe and easy to use. I even figured out how to open and close it one handed. We had a twins stroller. I recently sold it in a yard sale not knowing that I would find my self pregnant now but I have talk several times to the woman who bought it and she loves it and so does her day care kids. She said that she had a elder beerman and she said it pinch the kids legs and was horrible to use.