I hardly write reviews, maybe once before, but I just had to write this one because it was a tough and long ordeal until I found the right convertible car seat for my daughter. I ordered four convertible car seats before I chose the right one. I wish someone had made it as easy as I'm about to make it for you. This is out of pure empathy for all other parents out there searching for the right seat. This is the absolute best convertible car seat and here are the reasons why (btw, my infant is 32inches long and 19lbs:
1. My daughter is very secure and safe in it, the seat does not move around at all and she is completely secure when fastened in
2. Her head NEVER hangs! Big issue with almost every convertable (How do people let their poor baby's heads hang?)
3. She falls asleep in it everytime and never once cried while being in it
4 At 32 inches she still faces backwards
5. Not big and bulky, but made of quality and is very sturdy...MADE IN ITALY not CHINA!!
6. Fabric is quality and thickly cushioned = VERY comfortable
7. Stylish and affordable, yes more expensive then some but very much worth it
8. SIP, protects her but does not block her view to the outside world.
9. Easy to clean! just wipe
Overall my baby is Happy, safe and comfortable in this car seat and you will not be dissapointed.
The previous seats tried and returned (thank God for Amazon!) were:
Maxi Cosi Pria 70
Huge, bulky made in China! My child was absolutely uncomfortable and overwhelmed by the huge wings around her head (SIP). I'm sure she felt closteraphobic because she cried as soon and we buckled her in. I don't know how it was a top mothers choice in so many magazines. I returned it right away. It also made her head lean forward as the back is not flat. How uncomfortable for our poor little ones.
Britax Marathon 70
Made in China! Head hanging issue!! Not to mention the seat belt cut into my daughters legs and she is a petite baby! Plus no matter how we anchored it in the car it moved around a lot. Just did not seem safe. How this seat got so many great reviews, I have no idea but I tried it and returned it asap.
Finally the First Years C670 True Fit
Ok, made in China again although I think it was assembled in the US. NO thanks. It got great Highway safety reviews, but this thing is humungous and is made for those who drive a mini van or a huge SUV. Nice if you want a couch in your back seat. I don't, I have a Kia Sorento.
So there you have it. THank you Peg Perego for making an awesome seat all the way around. Couldn't be happier.
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My wife and I drive a '09 Toyota corolla and we have been trying to find a seat that fit well. Our son still needs to be rear facing so we wanted a car seat that didn't take up too much room. We first bought the Graco my ride 65, this fit in our back seat rear facing but it was not comfortable for our son and was very difficult to install. We then were interested in the Britax marathon 70, we tried it at a local store to see how it fit in our car. It fit really well but we then did more research and found that it was one of the more toxic seats. We also tried the Maxi Cosi 70 it seems nice but was much too big to fit in our car.
We then ordered this car seat, we didn't have too much to go off of but the reviews were so good we thought we would give it a try. Right when we opened the box we knew this car seat was going to be great.
Pro
-Easy to install, probably one of the easiest I've installed
-Fabric is nice and not hot
-easy to adjust seat to fit my son
-engineered well, everything seems to be in the right place
-Very long straps
-light
-comfortable
Con
-Strap pads are a little big and stiff (we are going to get after market ones that will fit better)
-with the large strap pads it's hard to tell if the straps are tight enough.
-doesn't have a cup holder
-expensive
Best Deals for Peg Perego Convertible Premium Infant to Toddler Car Seat
I bought this for a 12 month old outgrowing her infant seat and have used it for a couple of months. I don't know how it will be with a larger child. It is nicely enclosing for a small child, and the higher base makes it easier for a baby to see out the windows. Both of these benefits could end up being drawbacks with a bigger kid. I like the headwings for comfort and possible increased safety. The cover has the feel of an upholstered seat, rather than just a car seat cover. The harness/headrest adjustment is ridiculously easy, just pull up on a headrest tab, and everything moves up, and there is a pad covering any openings in the back, so there are no temptations for little fingers to dig into the mechanism or seat foam. Installation is also very easy. I switch this car seat to a caregiver's car once a week, and it is just a matter of loosening straps, undoing the latch, and then redoing it. I haven't tried a seat belt install. The crotch strap has two positions, but the padding flap is sewn on, so it is not clear how it would work with the outer strap position. I chose this seat over passing on an old Radian in use by an older child because it seemed cushier and cozier for an infant and better for sleeping in, and, even though it was expensive, I will be OK with moving my child to a dedicated forward facing harnessed seat or a Radian when she is older if this seat isn't working well. I hope that its extra safety features add something, but as we all know, even the least expensive seats pass the same safety tests.
I'm editing this review to highlight a limitation of the seat. It does not seem to be good for tall babies. You can only use the lowest 7 harness positions for rear facing, and my daughter has been at the top one since about 15 months. I'm not sure how far I can let her shoulders get above the harness slots, but she is basically outgrowing this seat with its 45 lb RFing weight limit when she weighs about 25 lbs. She is longer than most (100th percentile), but I still figured I could RF her till at least 2 without worrying that she was outgrowing the seat. For my daughter, this seat turns out to have not been a good purchase.
Honest reviews on Peg Perego Convertible Premium Infant to Toddler Car Seat
Beautiful, slim, and looks super comphy for the little one! And.... For all you small car owners out there, don't worry this carseat fits in a Mini Cooper (even rear facing!).
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I LOVE this car seat. Love love love. It is worth every penny. Maybe even more. Everything about it looks and feels like a high-quality product and I can easily trust it with my daughter's life.
After my daughter outgrew her Peg-Perego SIP 30-30 Infant Car Seat I struggled for a while to find an affordable, extended rear-facing car seat. After reading way too many reviews online (as I'm sure you're doing now... just stop, buy the Peg Perego, you won't be sorry) I just said, "whatever" and bought the only available car seat that they had at Costco while I was doing my usual grocery shopping. That car seat was the Safety 1st Alpha Elite Convertible Car Seat. Man that thing sucked. Not only was it way way way too big for my car ('02 Lexus IS300...not tiny, but not too spacious either), it just felt cheap. It looked cheap, it felt cheap, it operated cheaply. Tightening and loosening the straps was a workout, I had to have my passenger seat moved so far up that no normal sized human could sit there, and no matter how tight I got the LATCH straps, it wiggled. I put up with that thing for about a week, while sorting through more reviews on Amazon for a better car seat.
See, I knew from the very beginning that the PP was the way to go... they're just the best. Plain and simple. But I'm also on a budget, and a bit of a penny-pincher and didn't want to pay this much for another car seat, even though my infant PP car seat was a gift. However, a car seat is not the place to be saving money. A car seat is the place to apply the golden rule of, "You get what you pay for." With your child's life on the line, and the obnoxious number of times that you're going to be taking your kid in and out of their car seat (SO many times... probably a million. At least) do yourself a favor and find somewhere else to save a buck.
Oh, and for comparison's sake tightening and loosening the straps to get my daughter in and out of the car seat are like BUTTER. Smooth, creamy, easy to maneuver butter. Lovely. Also, I was able to return my front passenger seat to the comfortable position that it resided in when I was using the infant car seat. I'd pay the big bucks just for those two things, and this car seat goes above and beyond that.
If I had to do it over again I probably would have just bought this seat from the get-go and skipped the SIP 30-30... but at the same time, I loved that seat, and I'm glad that I have it in case baby #2 comes along before baby #1 outgrows the Convertible seat. Either way, everything Peg Perego makes is gold in my eyes.
