Review of The First Years Compass Booster Seat

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List Price: $89.99
Sale Price: $66.82
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I purchases The First Years Compass B540 for my grandson for his 4th birthday. He has hip problems and spends a lot of time in the car going to skills training for Autism. I purchased this car seat because it seemed so plush and comfy. With large padded wings so that when he fell asleep he would have a soft place to rest his head. Four months later the vehicle he was in was totaled in an accident. A full size truck broadsided directly into his door, tipping the vehicle. When I arrived on scene my grandson was standing beside the car with only scratch's. From emergency personnel on the scene I was told "Great car seat grandma!" "He's fine, because of his car seat!" "I heard you bought him this car seat, I wish everyone had such a good car seat!" "Awesome car seat, its rare to walk away from an accident like this." I confess that, when I bought it, I did not know what the safety features were. I purchased this car seat because it was heavily padded, I thought for comfort. After the accident I found out it has a special foam to absorb the impact, like what is in a bike helmet. With in days I ordered three car seats for my 3yr old granddaughter, another for her daddy's car, and one for my grandson to replace his. It's rare to be able to say this is a great car seat, we tested it! Even if the price is a little more than you would want to spend... it truly is priceless.

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I purchased this booster for my almost 4 year old son when he hit the 40" limit for his convertible car seat. He is 36 lbs. I researched for hours on the web and decided to try this one. Besides comfort, it was very important for me to have side impact protection. But it was also important to find a booster that worked for sleeping toddlers where his head would not fall forward. We purchased the Graco high back booster for my husband's truck which he rarely rides in. The Graco is VERY flimsy, no side impact protection and his head fell completely forward the one time he did fall asleep in it. When the Compass arrived, I could tell right out of the box how much more substantial it was. The colors are great. We live in Florida and it's NOT black so it doesn't get hot. The side head wings are big but he can still see everything. They are great for resting his head against with lots of padding. The cupholders are great and retractible. We just returned from vacation and he rode happily for 6 hours without a problem each way and he slept comfortably. The seat padding is great and the seat is plenty wide enough. The only thing that was hard was positioning the seat in the center of the back seat of our Pacifica. It worked fine for his seat but because it is so wide, I had trouble buckling my seatbelt next to him because his seat covered my seatbelt latch. It may not be that way on other cars. Still well worth it for his safety to have a little inconvenience. The belt path is fine...no issues with that. I would highly recommend this seat to anyone...it's great! I'm very happy with the purchase and with the fast delivery by Amazon. By the way, no assembly required! I hope this helps other shoppers.

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Getting used with the sturdier carseats for smaller kids, I had a hard time picking a booster. They all looked shaky, lacked LATCH, just didn't feel the same. After some reading I realized that tha LATCH was really needed to hold in place the heavy seats, not the child. With the light booster the seat belt can handle the entire load.

With this worry gone, I started to look around for boosters. I never liked much the Graco ones available in Toys R us. They are very shaky, especially if you lift the headrest. I guess they would do since their only purpose is to lift the child, the rest is jus feel-good for the parent.

I got to see the Compass boosters in a store in Minneapolis once and I liked it better. The back does not move that much, even extended. With the head rest up it still has a full back rest because the whole back moves up. The seat belt guides on the headrest also look sturdier. The side padding for the head and back are also a nice safety addition.

I looked around for a while, but there's really not much other than Graco in regular stores. I decided for the Compass but could not find it anymore until I read on Amazon that it has been renamed to "First Years"

I've been using it for weeks and I'm very happy with it. My daughter loves it too. It is much more stable on the middle seat in the back than I would have expected (though it probably varies from car to car). It stays nicely in place when she gets on and off. It's more comfortable for the child and leaves more room for the others in the car than the bulky hard-back car seat & booster combos.

I am very happy for the purchase and I wish I would have made up my mind faster.

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I was in love with this booster until last week. It is easy to buckle in, has wonderful cupholders, looks and feels wonderful, and folds up easily. Then the IIHS came out with its latest booster seat ratings. Basically, they gave the seat an indeterminate rating: "These seats can provide good protection for some kids in some vehicles, but not in as many cases as top-rated boosters. If you are using one of these seats, make sure that the lap and shoulder belts fit properly. The lap belt should fit flat across a child's upper thighs, not the soft abdomen. The shoulder belt should cross snugly over the middle of the shoulder." I am much more conscious of how I buckle my child in now. Unfortunately for my wallet, I am also considering getting a different booster.

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bought this for my son a year ago at the time he was five, very happy w/ this booster, very comfortable... and most important keeps seat belt in proper position. we were recently involved in a rear end accident hit by an suv going about 45mi, my son was in his booster in far back of the van...he took brunt of impact, his booster did its job, he was shook up but walked away without a scratch!