Top Rated Infant Car SeatsA high-quality infant car seat is a necessity, but not all seats are created to be the same. The top seats come with features that improve crash test performance. For instance, load legs -- shock-absorbing elements which are attached to the base or seat and reduce movement in the event of a collision.
Chicco KeyFit is a favorite of CPST instructors. It has an rear-facing weight, a height limit that is high and a bubble-level indicator and a spring loaded reclined foot that makes it easy to install.
Graco Mesa Max
The Graco Mesa Max is one of the top infant car seats in terms of user-friendliness. It has great fabrics, a simple design, and a convenient feature to connect a child's harness to the headrest to make it easier to tighten. It also has a large hideaway canopy that allows you to keep your baby sheltered when traveling. The only drawback is that it's slightly heavier than the average and could be a problem if you plan to lug it around or want to use it with your award-winning UPPAbaby stroller.
Mesa Max's impressive performance in crash tests show its commitment to safety. It scored well in both frontal and side impact tests, which means that your baby will be protected from both sides of a collision.
The anti-rebound panel is another notable safety feature. It reduces the forces of rebound in a crash, and protects the child's head. This feature is unique among infant car seats, and makes the Mesa Max standout among its peers.
If used with the base when used with the base Graco Mesa Max can be installed easily and securely in your vehicle using LATCH. The load leg and recline angle adjustment and tightness indicator ensure a quick, accurate installation. The base weighs 12.6 lbs, which is slightly heavier than the average car seat for infants, but not enough to be an issue.
Like its predecessor, the UPPAbaby Mesa V2, the Mesa Max uses dual-knit fabric which is free of harmful chemicals. It also features an adjustable headrest that can be adjusted infinitely and an
rotating infant car seat insert that improves the fit and body position of babies weighing between 4 and 11 pounds. The fabrics are GREENGUARD Gold Certified, which tests for low chemical emissions and VOCs.
The UPPAbaby Mesa Max is slightly more expensive than the other alternatives, however it has premium features and advanced safety technologies for an optimal traveling experience. The base is included and comes in a range of stylish colors. This adds to the value proposition. Its thoughtful features and robust design provide parents with peace of mind on every journey.
Britax Boulevard ClickTight
The Britax Blvd ClickTight is a great option for parents who are looking for an automobile seat that they can develop with. Its rear-facing weight limit is 40 pounds, which is more than most
portable infant car seat car seats. It can also be used forward-facing until your child weighs 65 pounds.
The ClickTight Installation System is its biggest selling point. It is the safest most user-friendly and secure system on the market. The seat belt can be tightened by pressing a red release button and pulling the harness strap. This makes it unnecessary to remove and rethread your seatbelt. This minimizes the chance of a mistake when tightening a seat belt which is the main cause of car seat failure.
The EZ-Buckle Pad adds another safety feature that keeps the buckle in place when you put your child in the car seat. This feature together with beltpath cutouts on both sides of the seat makes it simple to get your child into and out of the car.
The three ClickTight convertible seats (Boulevard, Marathon CT, and Advocate CT) have the identical features. These include the ClickTight Installation System, an impact-absorbing base, with seven recline positions as well as a rip-stitch energy absorbing harness pad, a tether that is HUGS as well as a steel reinforced frame and EPP energy-absorbing foam.
The seat is fairly heavy, but you may want to consider a lighter option if intend to use it for frequent swaps of cars. Also, the seat is large, and therefore may not be a good fit in smaller vehicles, especially when it's in the rear of the vehicle.
If you're looking for a budget-friendly option, but with the same quality take a look at the 4Ever DLX by Graco. The seat has lower scores in crash test analysis than the Boulevard, but it's still an excellent seat for your baby.
The Graco also has connectors with push-on connectors for LATCH which makes it easier to take off the seat. Boulevard's LATCH connectors have an alternative release system that requires you to pull on the webbing, then press the gray button. It's not easy to do this if the webbing isn't fitted properly. This seat comes with a convenient storage compartment for the belt straps.
Clek Liing
Clek Liing is the ideal infant
car seats by age seat for you to have it all with style, safety, and convenience. This rear-facing car seat can be easy to put in, has an excellent crash test rating and a variety of features.
The Liing is designed to safeguard newborn darlings with features that meet and surpass both US and Canadian safety standards. It is designed for easy, secure installation in all seating positions. It also has advanced safety features such as an energy-absorbing metal leg as well as two-piece shell that is lined with EPP for increased side impact protection. The base comes with 7 recline positions and a trusty bubble indicator to let you know when the seat is at the right angle for your baby.
Parents love the Liing's modern and sleek design, and its unique safety features like rigid lower anchors that are much easier to connect than hook-and-loop connectors. The Liing also has a handy quick release with a single-handed button that makes it easy to remove it from the base, or to use with various strollers compatible with it. It's also narrow enough to fit three-across several vehicles, and is a good fit in many convertible car seats for an added travel aid.
The Liing infant seat is rated as 1st for its unique rigid-LATCH installation method. The Liing's lower anchors click right into the vehicle's lower seat belt slots. Additionally, the seat's top tether strap snaps onto the vehicle's headrest to create a tight, secure fit that eliminates the possibility of the child being thrown around in an accident.
The base weighs 9 pounds, and the carrier weighs 10.5 lbs. Some other rear-facing only seats are much heavier in weight however if you're planning on schlepping the car seat and its base all over the place the slight difference will not be too obvious (especially when you add a child to the mix! ).
Parents appreciate the Liing's built-in canopy and 100+spf sun-protection with a mesh peekaboo window. Parents love the merino cover that keeps baby cozy and they also love the handle's ability to pivot past the canopy which makes it more comfortable to reach for when they need.
Graco Trio Grow SnugLock LX
The Graco Trio SnugLock is an all-in-one seat that converts from a rear-facing infant into a forward-facing harness and then to an highback booster. It is equipped with the SnugLock installation system that allows for a smooth and simple installation using either a vehicle seat belt or lower anchors. It also offers the option to use the top tether in booster mode (although we recommend using the lower anchors at all times for added security).
We like that this seat can be used by children of different ages. It has an infant insert for smaller infants that can support their backs and necks. As they grow older the insert can be removed and the seat can be used as a normal car seat for toddlers. This is the few car seats that allows the top tether to be used in booster mode. We recommend it.
Its base is fairly compact front to back, so it shouldn't be hard to find a spot for it in most vehicles. The headrest needs to be raised in order for the lower anchor webbing to pass through. There's a convenient knob to adjust the headrest and the display window shows the position of the headrest.
One of the most impressive features about this seat is the SnugLock installation system that is a bar that is located inside the belt path. This makes installing this car seat with the lower anchors an easy task and nearly as simple as using the seat belt of your vehicle.
The manual also provides an excellent diagram of how to properly connect the lower anchor connectors when traversing them along the new belt path, which may be confusing at first. It's crucial to keep them away from the crotch buckle loop, and away from the chest clip, so that they don't hinder the buckling system.
The Graco Trio Grow belongs to the Protect Plus Engineered Family, which means it has been subjected to some of the most rigorous testing in the industry. This includes tests for rear, side and rollover accidents as well as frontal impacts.