I have had two kids use my Evenflo carseat. I HATED it. It was like they never even tried it out to see how well its features worked. I finally got so sick of it when my 2nd child was 4 months old that I ordered a Babytrend Flexloc. At first I was seduced by the high safety ratings, but even after that Consumer Reports article was rescinded, I still liked a lot of the features.
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br /Pros:
br /-very comfy seat, good padding
br /-the canopy is twice as long as my Evenflo so it can cover baby almost completely
br /- the canopy stays in place; it doesn't fall forward or backward behind the seat
br /- the tightening mechanism under the baby's feet is easy to reach and VERY easy to adjust to make the straps tighter or looser depending on what baby is wearing
br /- the harness mechanism is very easy to adjust (the shoulder strap height). My Evenflo had to be rethreaded every few months and even my mechanically inclined husband said it was horrible. The Flexloc is just a dial on the back that you turn--it's a breeze.
br /- The seat can be transfered between cars without the base. It can be strapped directly to the car by using a seat belt on the car seat or by using the LATCH system if your car has it.
br /- the triangular handle has a nice grip and is easy to hold in any position
br /- this carseat is lighter than my Evenflo
br /- The cloth is very wipeable, not as absorbant of spills and stains as my Evenflo
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br /Cons:
br /I found a few minor cons that definitely would not deter me from buying this carseat, and one that might (depending on how I can resolve it once I contact Babytrend).
br /- The release button to take the seat off its base is at the toes under the seat. It's a little harder to reach than the ones behind the head if the carseat is backward facing.
br /- As others have said, the buttons to move the handle are a bit stiff, but not horribly so. I was prepared for them to be way worse.
br /- The handle is thinner and doesn't FEEL as sturdy as my Evenflo when carrying baby around, but it hasn't had any problems
br /-This is the one BIG one that I have to check with Babytrend on: Twice when I have turned a corner sharply, the carseat has tipped to a 45 degree angle! I have tightened down the seatbelt as much as I could, putting my full weight on it and using the seatbelt retracting mechanism. But maybe I'm still not doing it right. The base is narrower than my Evenflo's was, so maybe that's why? So I need to contact Babytrend and see if they have any suggestions. Until then, I guess I'll take the corners slower!
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br /Overall, I have felt like this seat was a MAJOR improvement over my Evenflo and even over the Graco Snugrides I checked out at the store. It was intelligently designed to be easy to use and adjust as baby grows. I would recommend it for sure. Just make sure you strap it in tightly or use the LATCH system if you have it.

I love this car seat except for the fact that the one I have is defective. The crotch snap does not work properly. When I contacted Baby Trend, they advised that they do not exchange or repair their products free, even though mine was manufactured in October 2006 I contacted them in December - less than a month after I bought it.
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br /Otherwise, this is a wonderful seat. I love the triangular handle. I use it with the Snap Go and have no trouble at all transferring her. If she falls asleep in it, it is easy to take her wherever I want without disturbing her. She seems very comfortable in it as well. She was born November 12, 2006.
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br /The hood is such that it can block out the sun, no matter from which direction it is shining. And you can still see her face - if you are tall enough.
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br /The product is great - if yours if fully functioning. I'm anxious for her to grow to 20 pounds so I can buy another seat. As it is, I try not to take her in the car any more than I have to because of the defective lock since I can't spring for another seat now. I will never buy another Baby Trend for that reason.

I have been using this seat for a month now. I am mostly pleased with it. I was unsure I'd like the triangle handle but I find it as comfortable to use as any of the other styles, if not better.
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br /I love the covering. It wipes clean pretty easy. It's not like the cloth covered seats where stains soak in.
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br /Very nice sun hood. Almost covers the entire seat.
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br /The few things I'd like changed would be the way you have to put the two strap sections togehter to get them to snap in. It's a little hard to do if the baby is really wiggly.
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br /Also, the handle is pretty stiff to move back.
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br /In all, it's my favorite infant seat we've had and we've had many in the past!

I had another car seat that I was planning on reusing for our second child, but was never VERY fond of. I got this one based on a great customer review and a prayer! :) hehee! I got it, got it into the car with the base...and have never looked back since. I LOVE IT!!!! SOOOO easy to use (in and out of the car from the base), LOVE the design, LOVE the way my little baby fit in it with a kidopotumus insert (just the head one, not the full body), and she was only 5lbs 10oz leaving the hospital! Her head never bobbed forward, and I was VERY comfortable with her in it!!!!!!!! I am SO thrilled with my car seat.....I was surprised to never have heard about it before...esp for the price!!!!!!!!!!

I was using the Chicco Key Fit system for my 10 month old daughter but I am expecting another baby in 2 months and needed a larger stroller and a second carseat. I chose the Baby Trend because 1) it matched the stroller and 2) it was rated #1 by Consumer Reports. Although they are going to be issuing new reports, it still impressed me. It is lightweight for a carseat, easy to use and looks fantastic. I would have bought another Chicco had they made a tandem stroller but I am very happy with the Baby Trend. Also, I placed my order around 1 p.m. and got the very next day at 6 p.m.!

We have overall really liked many things about this seat. The latch system is very easy to install and the release button for taking the seat off the base is easy to get do as well. The material is easy to wipe off and the cover is not to difficult to remove to wash. The triangle handle is easier to carry. I love that you can adjust it without rethreading the straps, great feature!!!
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br /Cons:
br /-I wish there was a safe level indicator on both sides of the seat instead of just one.
br /-Sometime the straps get twisted and it is really annoying to get the buckle back into position.
br /-The strap adjustment pull between the legs isn't as easy to pull as I'd like.
br /-I HATE that the carrying handle is so hard to release to fold down. The buttons require a large amount of force to push both buttons at the same time while crocked in the backseat (this doesn't bother my husband). For this reason I wouldn't buy again but will use for the next kid.
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We bought this carseat based on CR's ratings for safety and the price. It is very "chic" and I get compliments on it all the time. Some reviews I'd read said they were concerned about the material being too scratchy on their baby's head/body, but I have not found that to be an issue in our 6 months of use.
br /I LOVE how easy it is to adjust the straps WHILE she's in it. Hooray---after fighting with previous car seats with my other 2 kids, this is a great thing, as we all know if you don't go anywhere for like 5 days, the baby WILL GROW! LOL!!
br /It is also fairly easy to take in out of the car; the release mechanism is slightly close to the seat so if you have a large hand, you might struggle a bit to release it.
br /Now, for the CAVEAT....I can hardly release the handle to rotate backwards to get my daughter out of it. Really. If I get the R side, I cannot release the L side, or vice versa. I know, maybe I'm a wimp. But my LARGE, STRONG husband has trouble too (although not as much as I do). It is so bad that 95% of the time I grab her by her shoulder thigh and kinda slip her out underneath the handle. She wants to sit up but then she'll bonk her head on the handle. It sucks and I honestly have thought more than once of returning it. Due to the design of the release, its not like you can grease it or something.
br /A friend of mine has an older one, purchased a few years back, and hers doesnt have that problem, so either its this model (grey with the lime green inserts) or just my carseat. Just wanted to share the information.

We were at first excited to get this car seat because it fit into the convenient Baby Trend Snap and Go stroller, which I recommend. However, the car seat itself damaged our baby's head and required trips to the doctor! The seat has absolutely no padding, and our baby got bruises and infections on her head from rubbing against the hard sides. This happened naturally during driving, sitting, or napping, so I do NOT recommend this seat. Yes, you can get your own head support cushion, but these can be dangerous if they do not fit the seat correctly, so it's better to get a seat with cushion built in already.
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br /Also, the straps were very hard to adjust and repeatedly got twisted. They also were too tight after our (small) baby was only 4 months old. We ended up purchasing the Graco pink and brown car seat travel system which has more padding and is much easier to adjust.

We chose this car seat because of the great reviews on other websites as well as the consumer reports ratings. It can be a bit heavy for some people but my daughter is now 7 months and 16lbs and I'm still able to carry her from the car to the house no problem, and sometimes I carry her even farther than that, up stairs, etc. I use it with the Snap n Go stroller as well as the Baby Trend Expedition jogging stroller and I've never had any problems. I like that the headrest is adjustable. The straps are easy to adjust and the carseat itself is easy to get in and out of the car with the base.

I actually hate carseats because they are usually pretty heavy and bulky. This one is pretty nice. Not as heavy as the carseat we originally purchased for our 3.5 month old. I love the triangle handle.
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br /I know that the little buttons on the side are a little hard to press in when you want to move the handle, but I don't think its all that bad.
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br /This carseat has very high safety ratings. The adjustable head cushion is a major plus, super easy to adjust and super easy to loosen and tighten 5-point harness.
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br /I love the handle that unlocks the carseat from the base, very easy and smooth, no more struggling like a mad woman to release the carseat from the car or the stroller.

While this may be a good seat in terms of safety, if your infant is of decent size you will be springing for a new seat very soon. The straps are way too short. Granted, our 2-month old daughter is on the bigger side for her age (12 lbs). Even still, if she is wearing a heavier winter outfit, with the straps on the loosest setting, she barely fits into the seat. I give it another month before we have to get a bigger seat. This seat is rated for up to 22 lbs - what gives? Poor design. When we get our new seat it will not be a Baby Trend.

My son is 4 months old, 16lbs and average height.
br /The straps - even when he's wearing nothing but a romper - are so short that I cannot get it around him without feeling like I'm going to break his shoulders. He actually cries.
br /I purchased the seat for the safety rating and the triangular handle.
br /I emailed BabyTrend directly to try to figure out what was wrong with the seat, and they really didn't give me an answer except to quote that they meet safety regulations.
br /Unless you have a preemie, I wouldn't bother ordering this item. There has to be something better out there. My daughter had a Graco and we loved it, I just liked the colors of this one better.
br /Should have purchased something else.

I have 3 kids and I got this car seat for my youngest, cause it was cute. Overall, it is good, nice fabric, easy to clean, and it is pretty light compared to others. The latches on the handle to release it are very difficult to push. If you pull muscles easy, like I do, I do not recommend it. It is seriously very stiff, even my friends pointed that out right away. And also the straps that hold baby in seat are rather short so it does not last the first years, I had to get a new one when my daughter was 6 months old, she would not fit in it with a sweatshirt or jacket on.

This is my first baby, so not much to compare it to...but there are a few annoyances with this carseat. 1. the straps are constantly getting twisted. 2. The handle release buttons are very tight and hard to move back easily to get baby out. 3. the handle doesn't lend itself well to attaching/dangling toys. 4. Wish the canopy was slightly larger to cover baby more efficiently when it's raining or for filtering out sunlight. 5. the adjustibility of the straps is not as easy as it should be.
br /On a more positive note...I like that it's lightweight, easy to carry, easy to snap onto it's base and install base into car, easy to snap onto the snap n go stroller that BabyTrend makes. The upholstery is nice looking and wipes off easily. Many people have remarked they think it looks like a Chicco carseat.
br /But I can't help but wonder if there might be a better carseat out there.

I purchased two of these because I had twins and they have been good car seats. The one thing that frustrated me was that the handles are very difficult to release so that you can get the babies out.

CONS:
br /handle is hard to release even for husband
br /not as well padded as others
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br /PROS:
br /is lighter than some others
br /got it because i needed a double stroller
br /easy to install in car with latch system
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I love the triangular handle on this car seat. Only down side is the buttons on the side of the handle are a little hard to push when you want to slide the handle back to put baby in/take baby out. But it snaps into the car in a flash and my little guy is very comfortable in it.

Being the dad, I was the only one strong enough to put the handle up and down. My wife, grandparents, friends, and babysitter couldn't do it. We returned it for a second and had the same problem. It was so bad we ended up eating the cost and buying a Graco Snug ride which worked just fine. Also this seat does not come with head insert for infants and the strap is very short and as a result is hard to use. Buyer beware.

This is our first and only child seat and has worked quite well for us. We do need to put in a specialized cushon for our baby's head. There have been recent articles warning against letting your baby sleep in a child seat and sine babies' head muscles aren't very strong, the support is a good addition. I find the triangle grip excellent but even with a small baby in the seat, you will not want to cary this very far at all. My wife in fact had a back injury carying our son in this seat and that was just from the car to our house ! Some day, these seats may come with some other innovation making them more ergonomic for parents. I don't know that it would have been different in another seat, but be warned, these things are not meant to actually carry a child by hand and women have weakened muscles after giving birth. It's a terrible combination. Carying the baby in this seat should be a task for husbands for several months as I found out too late.
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br /Back to the seat, it works quite well in the car and with the baby trend snap-n-go. We use the snap-n-go quite often and it prevents you from repeatedly removing your child from the seat and snapping him back in (which can be trying for you and your kid).
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br /I was disappointed the unit had no SPF rating for the sun shade. That feature may not have made it to child seats but sun protection is extremely important for babies and it wouldn't be difficult to use a protective fabric. I called Baby Trend and they had no idea if and how well the shade actually blocked harmful UV rays. Other seats may not have this feature either but we will look closely for it in the future after being sternly warned by the child safety class at the hospital. Babies have super sensitive skin and it's important to avoid any direct sunlight if possible. I know it sounds extreme and alarmist but it also should be very easy to do and is recommended by the American Adadamy of Pediatrics ([...]). For now, you would need an additional cover on top of the included cover.
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br /Pros: Consumer report top pick, not as expensive as some
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br /Cons: No SPF rating or sun UV protection listed for sun shade. Heavy and non ergonimic to cary by hand (not a complaint specific to this particular seat, they probably all are).

I HATE it. I hate the car seat because its WAY too heavy. And I hate the stroller that goes with it. It is sooo hard to move and steer, the wheels have NO traction. I have had it for 9 months now, and I am ready to toss it and get another one.