This car seat is not bad, but not my favorite. I bought a Britax marathon for my own car and absolutely love it, but I couldn't afford to buy 2 more at $269 each for my mother's and grandmother's vans. They have my daughter in their vehicles often, and the seats take a very long time to install PROPERLY!!

Anyway, my problem with this seat is the buckles, since they are often very difficult to undo. I worry about having to take my daughter out of her seat in an emergency, and not being able to fast enough. I have never had that problem with my Britax seat. Other than that, the seat is fine! Maybe it's better because my daughter won't be able to undo the straps, but I would rather teach her to stay buckled in than struggle to get her out if I had to.

We bought this car seat to keep in my husband's car since we don't use it that often. Originally it was installed rear facing. What a pain!! We could never get it to stay level, first of all. The strap you have to pull to adjust the restraints is on the bottom front of the car seat. So installed rear facing, you have to stuff your hand between the car seat and the rear seat of your vehicle to reach the strap, then pull up on it to tighten the restraints. It was difficult and awkward. The release latch is in the same position and if the car seat is installed correctly, you might not be able to lift it without hurting your fingers.
The seat is safe, affordable, and adequate. It's easy to use forward facing, but it is not good at all when rear facing.

I got my car seat as a shower gift so we just recently opened it. Our son is too big for his infant seat now and we wanted to switch him. The straps are not even so the seat is unsafe. We called Graco and went through everything to try and fix it until we noticed that the slots that the shoulder straps come through are not level. When we told the people at Graco they said not to use it it is unsafe and to return it to the store. The store wont take it back because it was purchased 1 year ago and we have to send it back to graco who will inspect it and either reimburse us or send a new one. In the mean time we have no car seat. This forces us to buy a new one and fight with graco to get a refund on our current seat instead of a new one. They said getting a replacement can take up to 3-4 weeks....his birthday is in 3 weeks and we will be going out. I would never buy this seat again. IT is also very hard to adjust the straps on the child.. Bad carseat!