Graco SnugRide 32 Infant Car Seat
From Graco Baby
Innovative Technology That Keeps Your Baby "Rear To A Year". The Infant SnugRide32Car Seat holds babies up to 32 pounds and 32" tall. That means it fits 97% of one-year-olds and can keep your baby rear-facing for one full year. It's been extensively crash tested to meet or exceed U.S. standards, and engineered for safety. The seat's base stays put in your car for a convenient, 1-time installation. Its seat belt lock design makes it simple to tightly secure the base, and an adjacent dial helps for an easier installation. The seat's patent-pending 5-point harness can also be easily adjusted, thanks to an accessible front strap. The carrier handle is uniquely designed so it's more comfortable for parents to transport. For Baby's comfort, the padded seat has an infant head support plus 180 degrees rotating canopy. All this means you'll enjoy a full year of hassle-free travels with your most precious passenger. In Zurich
The Babies Love It! When we learned we were having twins, and one of each sex, at that, we discovered a dilemma: finding a fairly gender-neutral color scheme/pattern in pretty much everything we would be getting for them. Then, we took a car seat class at the hospital where we were delivering and learned what to look for in a car seat. The Graco SnugRide32 Zurich fulfilled all criteria. The sage/lime green (which later inadvertently became one of the colors of the nursury) and brown fulfilled the gender-neutral criteria, while looking pretty darned classy at the same time. I now feel like I have to dress up when I'm lugging these things around, just to pull it all together. Anyway, the features are what's important: The instructor in the car seat class stated that the American Pediatric Association recommends that an infant remain rear-facing in a car seat until 1 year of age or 30 lbs. The SnugRide32 meets this standard and then some, which was rather attractive and money-saving in the long run, as most of the other car seats we looked at had weight limits that topped out at 20-something pounds. This one rates up to 32 lbs. The SnugRide32 base also has the LATCH system feature, which makes installation a lot easier if your car was made in 2003 or later. If not, as in our case, installation is still really easy, as the base has a built-in clamp that helps hold the seat belt more tightly in place, thus keeping the whole thing locked down more securely. Also, the seat has a five-point, fully adjustable harness system that keeps baby safe and snug as a bug in a rug. Finally, it has the one feature that our instructor said was worth whatever extra it may cost--the front harness adjustor strap. You just put the little one in the seat and put his or her extremities in the harness, click the buckles into place, and pull the strap tight. That's it. No need to turn the seat around and fumble with the tightening straps on the back. With this seat, you can just strap 'em in, pull 'em tight, and go. I love efficiency. And the most important reason of all is that my babies love their car seats and could probably sit in them for days if we let them. Wonderful product. Passable seat....but could be better When we were looking for a car seat, it kind of came down to the Peg Perego or the Graco. I mean, as others have pointed out, there are really only a few manufacturers anyways and most of them are pretty similar. The Graco won out because of a handful of key points: - The Graco was significantly lighter vs. the Peg (and if you don't think so, you must be Superman...) - The mechanism to move the handle out of the way was slightly awkward on the Peg, especially for smaller hands - The Graco was A LOT cheaper. But to be honest, the Graco looks like it. Peg looks like it is a quality design. This Graco model was the best option of the Graco's, the others were so "cheap" looking and the grab handle has sharp edges so you can't hook it on your arm to carry. So after actually _using_ it, what do I think? That maybe I should have gone with the Peg. Here's why: - Even with the latch system, the base of the seat doesn't seem terribly secure. I really tugged on it to tighten the straps as much as I could, but still.... - The sitting position for baby? Not so good. Baby gets really crunched up, which may kind of seem secure, but it crunches up baby's breathing passages and also his stomach so baby tends to throw up milk if put in the seat immediately after feeding - Baby's back gets really sweaty after only short trips in the seat. This never happens in the stroller. - The should strap system is really bad design. They are _just_ too short to hang them off the side or hook them out of the way when putting baby in. It's stupid, a couple more centimetres and it would've been fine. *** Note: I just checked the Peg, and the design here is way better. It doesn't have this problem and the straps stay nicely out of the way. - Due to the crunched up sitting position, we don't actually carry baby in the carrier, so weight doesn't really matter that much. That, and as baby gets heavier, the weight of the car seat becomes less significant. *** Note: Regarding the Peg again, I had another look at one, and yes, the design is way better here too. Baby is not as crunched up. - Also, since we don't carry the car seat out any more, the mechanism to move the handle out of the way, despite not being quite as convenient, is also a moot point. It's surely an okay seat, but if you're in the market for one, I highly recommend you take a seriously look at the useability given how YOU would use it. Basically the only advantages I see are price and lightweight, both of which are negated by how I use it anyways... (Yeah, and regarding the price, the Graco looks really cheap, and not in a good way, next to the Peg). Great Carseat... I ordered this carseat for my baby when I was expecting because it just seemed the smart thing to do with babies coming into this world at 8+ lbs and 19"+ long! Well our little boy came into this world weighing 7.06 lbs and measuring 20" long! Most rear facing carseats only go up to 22 lbs and 22" long, so this was definitely a wise choice. He's only 13 days old and we have used the carseat on 3 occassions and so far so good! It's spacious enough so that he doesn't feel cramped or confined once buckled in. The downfall to that is that his head bobs a bit too much for me because the infant insert is still a little too big. We purchased an additional head support piece (not Graco) to resolve this issue. It works well... He was awake when he was placed in it the second time and he cried a bit but calmed down after he was all tucked in. The other times he was asleep and remained sleeping... The carrier is easy enough to remove from the base which is a huge plus. The colors are rich looking with a baby feel (the green), and can work for either boy or girl (I didn't know what I was having when I ordered it)...The straps are easy enough to adjust once you read the instructions. To date the carrier is not too heavy, but that may change once he puts on some pounds... Overall I love this carseat so far... If that changes I'll add to this later on.
