The Evenflo Triumph convertible car seat isn’t a new name in the Evenflo family of car seats — it was discontinued for a time and is now back on the market. The Triumph has a couple of unusual features that many families were quite fond of — the knob harness tension adjuster and the Infinite
The KidsEmbrace slogan is “making safety fun”, and they do! What could be more fun than riding in a Batman car seat? How about Cinderella? KidsEmbrace has a stunningly large number of car seats with characters on the cover, and they’re adding more all the time.
Meeting with representatives is always a fantastic opportunity for us to ask the technical questions our readers expect us to answer. Of course, part of the fun of these events is seeing one another and working together to make the show a productive one. Our expectations were definitely exceeded this year on that note!
Sunshine Kids first released the Radian convertible car seats in November 2005, and some of the oldest CSFTL kiddos rode in those seats! Since that time, Sunshine Kids became Diono, and the Radian has gone through a few sets of changes. Recently, Diono has revamped the Radian family of products once again, introducing a new take on these familiar seats. The updated radian 3RXT multimode car seat loses a capital R in the name and adds some interesting new features.
Our challenges with installing the seat lead us to assert that the Recline N’ Ride could be a good choice for children with special needs who require a deep recline when forward facing but it may not work well in some vehicles. It’s also quite limited in booster mode since our models struggled to buckle themselves into the seat.
While the ABC Kids Expo was smaller than in past years, we were fortunate to see the debut of two brand new car seats and to be some of the first to learn about some other new car seats and booster seats! We look forward to giving these seats an in-depth look and review in the near future.
We’re always impressed by the number of great car seats and booster seats that our friends at Graco and Baby Jogger have to offer. After a year where they’ve introduced a number of great options, we are so impressed that even here at the year’s end, they’ve got more tricks up their sleeve!
We learned very quickly that the SnugRide SnugLock Extend2Fit 35 – or SnugLock E2F 35 for short – is a valuable car seat in its own right, filling a need for a rear facing only seat that fits newborns well yet can be used comfortably for longer than a year. The tall shell height, extra legroom, and 35 inch height limit all add up to a long-lasting option for families on the go.
We maintain that age is the best determinant of when a child is ready to move to a booster seat, not weight. We stand by the industry standards. NHTSA requires that today’s car seats meet or exceed Federal Safety Standard 213 and all car seats, including the ones mentioned in the Consumer Reports article, meet or exceed that standard.
We absolutely respect what Consumer Reports is trying to do with this reporting but we’re not so fond of the fear-provoking headlines.
The Magellan has a lot of interesting features and is so well-padded that even the pickiest of passengers should find it comfortable. Unfortunately, the number of installation challenges we faced along the way don’t put the Magellan at the top of our list for easy to use car seats. Families who are looking for a very plush car seat, have a roomy vehicle and are willing to be extremely patient while installing the Magellan may find it exactly what they need.
