Top Rated Infant Car Seats
A quality infant car seat is a safety requirement, but not all seats are created equal. The best ones have features that improve crash test performance, like load legs, which are shock absorbing components on the base of the seat that help reduce movement during a collision.
A favorite among CPST instructors is the Chicco KeyFit, which has a high rear-facing weight limit and height limit as well as an indicator for the level of bubbles, and a spring-loaded reclining foot that makes it easy to set up.
Graco Mesa Max
The Graco Mesa Max is one of the top infant car seats in terms of convenience of use. It has great fabrics and a simple design and a convenient feature to connect the harness of a child to the headrest to make it easier to tighten. It also comes with an enormous canopy that allows you to keep your baby cool while traveling. The only drawback is that it's slightly heavier than the average and could be an issue if you plan to lug it around or want to use it with your UPPAbaby stroller that has won awards.
Mesa Max's impressive crash test results reflect its dedication to top-tier safety. It scored highly in both the frontal and side impact tests, ensuring that your child will be safe from the two sides of a collision.
Another important safety feature is the Graco's antirebound panel, which helps reduce the force of rebound during the event of a crash, and also protects your child's head. This feature is not common in infant car seats and makes the Mesa Max stand out among its competitors.
When paired with the base When used in conjunction with the base Graco Mesa Max can be installed quickly and safely in your vehicle with LATCH. The load leg, the recline angle adjustment as well as the tightness indicator help ensure a fast, accurate installation. The base weighs 12.6 pounds which is slightly heavier than an average car seat for infants but not enough to cause an issue.
Like its predecessor, UPPAbaby Mesa V2, the Mesa Max uses dual-knit fabric which is free of harmful chemicals. It comes with an infinitely adjustable backrest and an extremely durable insert for infants weighing 4-11 pounds. The fabric is GREENGUARD Gold Certified, which tests for low VOCs and chemical emissions.
The UPPAbaby Mesa Max is slightly more expensive than some other alternatives, however it has top features and modern safety technology to ensure a safe traveling experience. The base is included and is available in a variety of attractive colors. This is a great addition to the value proposition. Its thoughtful design and strong features offer peace of mind for parents on every trip.
Britax Boulevard ClickTight
The Britax Boulevard ClickTight is a great option for those looking for a car seat that can expand with their child. Its rear-facing capacity is 40 pounds, which is greater than most infant car seats. Furthermore, it can also be used as a forward-facing seat until your child is 65 pounds.
The ClickTight Installation System is its most popular selling point. 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 harness strap. This eliminates the need to loosen and rethread the seatbelt. This minimizes the chance of incorrectly tightening a seat belt which is the main cause of car seat failure.
The EZ-Buckle Pad is another safety feature that keeps the buckle away when you put your child in the car seat. This feature, as well as beltpath cutouts along the sides of your child's seat, makes it simple to get them into and out of the vehicle.
The three ClickTight convertible seats (Boulevard, Marathon CT, and Advocate CT) have the same features. ClickTight Installation System is one of them. Also included are an impact-absorbing frame that can accommodate seven recline positions.
It's a heavy seat, and it could be worth looking at a lighter alternative if you intend to use it frequently for car swaps or travel. Also, the seat is large, which means it might not be a good fit in smaller vehicles, particularly in the case of in the rear of the vehicle.
If you're looking for a low-cost seat with the same quality, the Graco 4Ever DLX is a great option. It has lower scores in crash test analysis than the Boulevard but it's a great seat for your child.
The Graco also has connectors that can be pushed on for LATCH, which makes it easier to remove the seat. Boulevard's LATCH connectors have a different release mechanism that requires you to pull on the webbing and press a gray button. It's not easy to do this if your webbing is tight. However this seat comes with a storage cubby for the belt straps when not in use.
Clek Liing
If you're looking for an infant car seat that offers it all -- style, safety as well as convenience and luxuryyou'll love the Clek Liing. This rear-facing car seat comes with a great crash test score, a great variety of features, and is simple to install on most vehicles.
The Liing is designed to protect infants with features that meet or exceed both US and Canadian safety standards. It was designed for easy, secure installation in any seating position. It also features advanced safety features like an energy-absorbing metal leg and a two piece shell lined with EPP for increased side impact protection. The base comes with 7 recline positions, and an indicator bubble that informs you when the seat is at just the right angle for your child.
The Liing is a sleek, modern stroller that parents love. It has innovative safety features such as rigid lower anchors which are much easier to attach than hook-and-loop connectors. The Liing also has a handy one-handed release that makes it easy to remove it from the base or to use with a variety of strollers compatible with it. And at less than 17 inches in width it's just narrow enough for 3-across in most vehicles and is a good fit in many convertible car seats as a travel booster.
The Liing infant seat is rated 1st for its unique rigid-LATCH system of installation. The Liing's lower anchors snap into the lower seat belt slots in the vehicle and the top tether strap snaps onto the vehicle headrest. This results in a secure, secure fit which eliminates the chance that the child will be thrown around during a crash.
The seat is lightweight, with the base weighting 9 lbs, and the car itself at a manageable 10.5 lbs. Other rear-facing seats weigh more, however, the difference isn't noticeable if you plan to transport the car seat and base around. ).
Parents love the Liing's integrated canopy and 100+spf of protection from the sun with the 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 parents to grab the seat whenever they need it.
Graco Trio Grow SnugLock LX
The Graco Trio SnugLock is an all-in-one seat that converts from a rear-facing infant to a forward-facing harness, and then to the highback booster. It features the SnugLock system that allows for a simple and smooth installation using either lower anchors or vehicle seat belts. It has the option of using the top tether when in booster mode. (We suggest using the lower anchors to provide extra security.)
We like that this seat can be used by children of different age groups. It comes with an infant insert designed for younger babies that helps support their backs and necks. As they grow older, the insert can be removed and the seat used as a normal car seat for toddlers. It is one of the only car seats that allow the top tether to be used in booster mode. We highly recommend it.
infant car seat uk is pretty compact from front to rear, so it shouldn't be a problem to find a space for it in most vehicles. The headrest has to be raised to allow for the lower anchor webbing to pass through. Luckily, there's a headrest adjustment knob that allows you to accomplish this, and you can see the headrest position in the display window.
The SnugLock system is one of the coolest features about this seat. It's a bar that's inside the belt path. This makes installing the car seat with the lower anchors a breeze and is almost as easy as using the seat belt of your vehicle.
The manual offers a wonderful illustration on how to route the lower anchor connectors properly through the new belt path which may initially be confusing. Keep them away from the chest clip as well as the crotch loop in order to avoid interfering with the buckle system.
The Graco Trio Grow is part of the Protect Plus Engineered family, which means it's been subjected to some of the most rigorous crash tests in the market. This includes tests for side, rear and rollover accidents and frontal impact.