Top Rated Infant Car Seats
Not all infant car seats are created equally. The best seats have features that improve crash test performance. For instance load legs -- shock-absorbing components which are attached to the seat or base and limit movement during the event of a collision.
Chicco KeyFit is a favorite of CPST instructors. It features an upper-right rear-facing weight and a the height limit is high as well as a bubble-level indicator and a spring loaded reclining foot to make it easy to put in.
Graco Mesa Max
The Graco Mesa Max is one of the top-rated infant car seats due to its user-friendliness. It is made of great materials and a simple design and a convenient feature for attaching the harness of a child to the headrest, making it easier to tighten. It also comes with an enormous canopy that allows you to keep your baby cool during travel. The only drawback is that it's a bit heavier than normal, which might be a problem if you are planning to transport it or want to use it with your UPPAbaby stroller, which is a winner.
The Mesa Max's impressive results in crash tests reflect its dedication to safety. It scored highly in both frontal and side impact tests, meaning that your baby will be safe from both sides of a collision.
Another notable safety feature is the Graco's anti-rebound panel, that helps to reduce the forces of rebound in an accident and protects your child's head. This feature is unique in infant car seats and makes the Mesa Max standout among its peers.
Graco Mesa Max can easily and securely be mounted in your vehicle with LATCH used with the base included. The load leg, recline angle adjustment, and the tightness indicator help ensure an accurate, quick installation. The base weighs 12.6, which is slightly higher than the typical infant car seats but not enough to cause an issue.
The UPPAbaby Mesa V2 uses the same dual-knit fabric as its predecessor. It is free of chemical that are fire-proof. It features an infinitely adjustable backrest and a robust insert for infants who weigh between 4 and 11 pounds. The fabric is GREENGUARD Gold Certified, which ensures low emissions of chemicals and VOCs.
The UPPAbaby UPPAmax Mesa Max is a little more expensive than the other options but it offers top features and modern technology for an enjoyable and safe journey. The base is included and comes in a variety of fashionable colors. This adds to the value proposition. Its thoughtful features and sturdy design give parents peace of mind on every excursion.
Britax Boulevard ClickTight
The Britax Blvd ClickTight is a fantastic choice for parents who are looking for a car seat they can expand with. Its rear-facing capacity is 40 pounds, which is greater than the majority of infant car seats. Furthermore, it can be used as a forward-facing seat until your child is 65 pounds.
The ClickTight Installation System is its major selling feature. It is the most secure, most simple and secure system on the market. The seat belt can be tightened by pressing a red release and pulling the strap. This makes it unnecessary to remove and rethread your seat belt. This reduces the risk of a mistake when tightening a seat belt, which is the leading cause of car seat failure.
Another safety feature is the EZ-Buckle Pad, which holds the buckle away from the way when you're placing your child in the car seat. This feature, as well as beltpath cutouts on the sides of the seat, makes it simple to get them in and out of the vehicle.
The three ClickTight convertible seats (Boulevard, Marathon CT, and Advocate CT) have the same features. These include the ClickTight Installation System and an impact-absorbing base that has 7 recline positions and a rip-stitch energy-absorbing harness pad, a tether that is HUGS as well as a steel reinforced frame and EPP energy-absorbing foam.
The seat is quite heavy, but you may want to think about a lighter option if intend to make use of it for travel or frequent swaps of cars. The seat is quite large and could not be suitable for smaller vehicles.
If you're looking for a budget-friendly option with similar quality take a look at the Graco 4Ever DLX. It has lower crash test scores than the Boulevard, but it's still an excellent seat for your little one.
The Graco also has connectors that can be pushed on for LATCH, which makes it easier to take off the seat. The LATCH connectors on the Boulevard have a different release mechanism, which requires the user to press a grey button and pull the webbing to loosen it. It isn't easy to do this if the webbing has a tight fit. car seat for newborn pushchairsandprams has an easy storage compartment for the belt straps.
Clek Liing
If you're looking for an infant car seat that offers all of it -- style, safety as well as convenience and luxuryyou'll be delighted with the Clek Liing. This rear-facing car seat comes with a great crash test score, a wide variety of features, and is simple to install within most vehicles.
The Liing is designed to safeguard newborn darlings with features that meet and exceed both US and Canadian safety standards. It is designed for easy, secure installation in all seating positions. It also has advanced safety features, such as an energy-absorbing metal leg and two-piece shell that is lined with EPP for increased side impact protection. The base has 7 recline positions, and a bubble indicator that informs you whether the seat is just the perfect angle for your child.
Parents love the Liing's sleek and modern design, and also its innovative safety features like rigid lower anchors that are much easier to attach than hook-and-loop connectors. The Liing comes with a single-handed release, making it simple to remove the base and use it with compatible strollers. It's also small enough to fit three-across in several vehicles, and can be easily inserted into a convertible car seats as a travel boost.
The Liing infant seat is rated first for its unique rigid-LATCH installation system. Lower anchors of the Liing snap directly into the lower seat belt slots. Additionally, the seat's top tether strap snaps into the headrest of the vehicle to create an extremely secure, tight fit that eliminates the possibility of the child being thrown around in an accident.
The seat is light with the base weighting 9 lbs, and the car itself coming in at a manageable 10.5 lbs. Other rear-facing seats are heavier but the difference isn't noticeable if you plan to transport the car seat and base around. ).
Parents love the Liing's built-in canopy and 100+spf protection from the sun with mesh peekaboo. Caregivers love the blanket made of merino, which keeps the baby warm and the capacity of the handle to move past the canopy. This makes it easier for them to grab the seat when needed.
Graco Trio Grow SnugLock LX
The Graco Trio GROW SnugLock is an all-in-one seat that converts from rear-facing infant to forward-facing harness, and then to the highback booster. It is equipped with the SnugLock installation system that allows for a smooth and simple installation using either a car seat belts or lower anchors. It also has the option to use the top tether in booster mode (although we recommend using the lower anchors at all times for added security).
We like that this seat does so much for children of different ages. For younger babies it has an infant insert which helps to help support their necks and backs. As they grow older, this insert can be removed and the seat used as a normal car seat for toddlers. This is the few car seats that allows the top tether to be used as a booster. We highly recommend it.
Its base is fairly compact from front to back, which means it shouldn't have a problem fitting in most vehicles. It is required for the headrest to be raised in order to provide an easy route for the lower anchor webbing. There's a handy knob for adjusting the headrest, and the display window shows the position of the headrest.
The SnugLock system is one of the most unique features of this seat. It's a bar that is inside the belt path. This makes installing this car seat using the lower anchors a breeze and almost as easy as using the car seat belt.
The manual also includes an excellent illustration of how to properly connect the lower anchor connectors when traversing them along the new belt path which can be a bit confusing initially. It's important to keep them out of the crotch buckle loop, and away from the chest clip, so that they don't hinder the buckle system.
The Graco Trio Grow is part of the Protect Plus Engineered family, which means it has been subjected to some of the most rigorous crash testing in the world. This includes rear, side and rollover crashes, as in frontal impact tests.