I am a mommy that does ALOT of studying before a purchase for my babies. I have a 5 yr old already and I know that the most expensive doesn't necessarily mean the best. So I went online to review the top rated car seats from mom's all over. There were the Britax (Of course, $300), Evenflo Triumph 5, and the Cosco Alpha Omega Elite 22155 and the Eddie Bauer version 22758, and the Graco Comfortsport. I looked into all of them starting with the lowest price which was the Graco, however, this seat doesn't recline and so I kept on looking. Next, was the Eddie Bauer 3-1 covertible car seat, now this was great and according to my hubby he loved it because our son looked great in it, however, we tried this out in the store and not in our vehicle so we kept this seat in mind and moved on. Next was the Evenflo and Alpha Omega Elite, the Evenflo didn't have any head rest or padding so that my son could get comfy in so I passed on it and moved on to the Alpha Omega Elite. I tried it in the store in Babies R Us where they have an actual car seat in the store so that you can try the seats out and the Alpha Omega looked great but we didn't have our son with us to try it out and so it became a choice between the Eddie Bauer 3-1 and the Alpha Omega Elite and while I was comparing the two I realized that they were both the same from the same maker Cosco. (The Eddie Bauer did look a little nicer though) There was a $20 difference between the two and so I went for the savings. I purchased the Alpha Omega Elite, installed it in my minivan which was easy but when I placed my 6 month old into it and he fell to sleep my 5 yr old and I had a hard time keeping the babies head from falling into his chest. I was very upset. Although this seat does have 3 recline positions it wasn't enough recline to keep my babies head from falling down while he slept. I am going to see if there is any way to make it so that the seat is tilted a bit more for my baby so that he can get comfortable in the rear facing position and I will have to wait till he can go forward facing to enjoy this purchase. To tell you all the truth though, if my husband would not have thrown the box out, I would have immediately took the seat in for an exchange and purcahsed the Evenflo Triupmh 5 or the Evenflo Triumph Premier because when I tried these out in the store they both reclined very well and the Triumph Premier had enough padding to keep any baby comfy but the Triumph 5 you would have to purchase some padding for the head and neck seperate but it is worth the purchase. So as you can see, although Cosco did a great job in the making of this car seat in providing the EPP Foam for babies protecting in case of impact, the seat does grow with your child, and is easy to intall, the seat needs at least 1 more position of recline for newborns and infants to be perfect. So good try Cosco Co.

Don't buy this item before you check out the other offering from Amazon through a seller called BabyAge, a company that has been selling things online since 1999. Do a amazon search for "Cosco Alpha Omega Elite 3-in-1 Car Seat" it will come up for $89.99+$7.95 shipping, considerably less. It is the same seat, and the description proclaims that it is similar in design to the Eddie Bauer seat. It also is the same seat that Babies 'R US is selling for $160.00. Plus, you get Amazon's great guarantee as well.

I've seen a lot of complaints about using this car seat for infants beause it doesn't recline enough, but I'm surprised more people don't know that MANY car seats don't recline enough on their own. It all depends on the incline of your vehicle seat, and many times you need a rolled up towel or pool noodle to help recline the baby's car seat enough. My son outgrew the weight limit on his infant seat around 6 months old, and after a lot of research I replaced it with the Alpha Omega Elite. I've used this seat for 6-7 months and I love it so much I'm about to buy another one. The seat is bulky, especially rear-facing, and doesn't leave much leg room for a passenger in my front seat, but I don't mind that. It is comfortable, my son loves it (hated his Graco infant seat), it's easy to clean, and not too hard to get in and out of the car. What I love most is that at 14 months old, my son is 30 pounds but can still be rear facing in this seat. We were just in a fairly severe accident (rear-ended), and the paramedic/car seat inspector said this seat held up great. He said we didn't need to replace it, but I'm buying another one anyway.

We did so much research and this seat passed all the tests. It's comfy and easy to use.
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br /The reason we had to return it was the short crotch strap. My daughter is 2 1/2 and in the 50% for weight (95% for height) and the center buckle dug into her legs. It was just too short. She is tall and thin! When I called customer service, they said that have had "tons" of complaints about this, but there was "nothing they could do." She said they were "aware of the problem" but overall was quite rude about the entire situation. I would not buy this seat unless your child has VERY skinny thighs.

Wow! What a great car seat! It has everything we wanted +: LATCH, infant head cushion, easy to install, easy to adjust while child is in it, several belt positions, several shoulder belt positions, different positions for the belt that is in the seat too making it a better / safer fit, and it has a cupholder which my daughter adores.. She puts her stuffed friends in it so they have a seat too!
br /We love it so much that we are going to purchase another for our second child. Highly recommend this product.

This car seat has served us well through two toddlers. We bought it when my oldest daughter was 10 months old, but due to the difficulty in getting her in and out of it in the back of our 3 door Focus, we continued to use the infant carrier car seat until she was 12 months and then we fitted the Alpha Omega Elite in the forward facing position. The recline position was great, although sometimes a little "clunky" to get it to move, but she always looked really chilled and would sleep for hours on long journeys. We later removed the base and it is now serving as a high back booster for our youngest, which means we no longer have the recline position, but it is a lot less bulky and easier to move from car to car. I have cleaned the cover in the washing machine countless times, which is great, although the first time taking it to pieces to get the cover off, and then trying to put it back together again was a hilarious challenge! I am now looking to get a replacement cover as the old one is very worn.

I purchased this seat last week after much research and debate. I have a 1 year old who I am bumping out of her infant seat. I was torn between the Graco Safe Seat Step 2 and this Alpha Omega Elite. After comparing the 2 side by side in the store, the Graco seat was HUGE and had a wierd shape to it. I wasn't sure how it would fit in my car, so I bought the Alpha. I brought it home and installed it rear facing. It fit well, was easy to install and my baby had no problems with her head flopping. This seat actually reclined more than her infant seat. And if the recline is not enough the instructions tell you how to put a rolled towel underneath. Most convertible seats do not have a recline feature at all! I then turned the seat forward-facing. It was equally easy to install. It fits great in my Jeep SUV. My little girl has no problem sleeping in it seems really comfortable and safe. I was wondering how happy this purchase would make me, I am not dissappointed at all. Plus since this seat accomodates to 100 lbs, she can use it well into her childhood. I think this is one of the most versatile, safe, inepensive seats on the market today.I would recommend it.

I bought this seat for my son when he outgrew the Evenflo Truimph (which I loved). He was over 2 years old, so I don't know about the infant issues other say they had. This has been a great seat for my toddler, who is about ready to use it as a booster now. It's roomy enough for him to bring things in with him, easy to get him in and out of, and still looks good (a miracle in my van of boys) after a couple of years of use.

My 9 month old weighs 24lbs so it was time for a new car seat. I found this one and decided, after reading reviews and comparing it to other convertible car seats, that this was the one for us. What made this even more special was that it shipped to my APO address! I received it 6 business days after ordering it. After struggling for 20 min to install it rear facing in my 2 door Honda, I decided to give it a test run with my son. I popped him in there and he LOVED IT! It was the first time he didn't struggle or cry while I put him in his seat. He sits up high so he can actually look out the windows. His feet don't reach the back seat either. I only had to drive around for 10 minutes when I realized that he was passed out back there and his head did NOT slump forward even though we were only in the 2nd recline position. Now, this has to be a great seat because my son Never and I mean never sleeps in his seat. The arm rests are great and the cup holder is good too. Ours clips on either side of the seat so I'm not sure why another review posted differently.
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br /Overall, GREAT buy!!!! I will buy one again once we have another child. :D

I liked the earlier version of this seat so I purchased this new one for our youngest. That makes four of these car seats in our two cars. I like that this new one has the removable head rest. I am glad they fixed that. I don't know how wide other seats are, but with two in the backseat of a 4Runner there is no room for another person or another car seat to fit. If we have another kid we will have to move into a minivan. Also with two there is no way to put the cup holder on the seat next to the door since they are right next to each other. We don't use it anyway, but if you wanted to. Everything is easily adjustable: height, arm rests, tilt, harness,...
br /With both of my kids I have always used the crotch buckle in the outermost position. Even when my second moved into this seat at about 4 months old she was already big enough fit that position.
br /We used the infant car seat that detaches from the base before moving into this one. I like that because when they are really small it is very convenient to take the whole set-up in. As they start sitting up and weighing more it can be more convenient to go to the convertible seat. Hope this helps!

I really like this seat but I can't figure out for the life of me why they designed it so the cup holder only goes on one side. I have 2 of these in different colors and only one of my kids can use a cup holder because the other one is against the door and can't be used. My husband said he might drill a hold in it for my son to be able to use his cup holder, but I don't know if I want to mess with the structure of the car seat. I also HATE the pull strap to tighten the straps. I have another kind that has a twisty knob that is wonderful!

After doing plenty of research about car seats I found this one to be the best buy.
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br /Installation was easy with the Lacht system and my 5 month baby fits great on it.
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We are very pleased with this car seat. We began using it when our daughter turned 1. She is very comfortable in the seat. However, the seat is very large and bulky and doesn't work well in small cars. Also, it doesn't recline back much so I can't see it working well for an infant. I gave it a good review based on the fact that we've only used it as a toddler seat.

For all of the reviews that said this car seat was a pain to work with, we thought we'd give it a try. After all, it is very highly rated for safety. Well, believe those reviews. I would rather have spent the extra money for an easier car seat to deal with.
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br /We should have known better when the fireman at the free car seat check-up/installation took one look and groaned.

The car seat I had registered for was out of stock, so a family friend selected this one. What a happy accident! This car seat is wonderful. My son has been using it since he was 5 months old, and he is 3 now! It's super easy to use. And he says it's comfortable. I love that you don't have to take the whole thing out to adjust the straps. An excellent design!

I too, like most mothers did a lot of on line research. I searched for the perfect seat to accommodate my second child of 6 months. I ordered the Alpha Omega on line and was very disappointed upon receipt. The new EPP Foam head rest is a huge improvement however the padding behind baby's back leaves very little space for baby's behind even with the crotch strap in the 3 slot. How this ever got passed the QA Engineers is mind blowing! And as one of the othe mother's pointed out, the baby's head in the recline position still flops forward. I am taking mine back to the store today. Still searching for the perfect seat. Do be cogniscent of the fact that yes Eddie Bauer and Alpha Omega are the same car seat made by the same maker (Cosco) just another way to charge more money for the same seat! Pretty funny hu?

After reading tons of reviews I purchased this chair and I think is excellent the price is reasonable , the materials are soft and sturdy I totally recommend it.

My son is 10 months old, but i recieved the car seat last June, as a shower gift. At the time i was like mom y did u buy such a huge seat. I finally put it in the car last week and its going to b great. It has a lot of space, I think I may can sit in it:) It was much easier than i thought to attach to my seats in the car. Im a new mommy so if anyone reads this can u help me figure out the best neck pillow for my son, im afraid his neck is going to get stiff when he falls asleep!!! I think he needs the neck pillow like on the airplanes!