 Better than a BRITAX!! LOVE THE SEAT & THE PRICE!! |
| Review Date: September 19, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Laura Powell, NC |
The First Years True Fit Convertible carseat is the BEST Carseat I have ever seen! If I had seen it when my 3 1/2 year old was growing out of her infant carrier seat, I would have refused my FREE Britax Roundabouts and paid for two True Fits to replace them. I'm so amazed that the seat can go from a tiny infant to a 65 lb. & 50 inch tall child!
I did prefer the infant carseats that detach from a base and have a comfortable carrying handle until my child was too heavy to carry. It's nice to have a safe clean portable "bed" for the very tiny ones, but after that, the True Fit is the safest and best option!
The seat has all the latest safety features plus a plush comfortable cover and padding. I love that the seat has side impact protection and that the company tests their products. My child is tall and very close to 40 inches & 40 lbs. and she loves the seat. We also tried a friends 8 year old in the seat and she works well too! Love the easy adjustable harness! No more removing the seat and rethreading! YIPEE! I also like that the seat reclines a little - great for naps. One of best features is the built-in seatbelt locking clip. I love that it's under the seat and will work with any lap & shoulder combo seatbelt. It was easy to get to thanks to the smart cover design!
I have seen some negative comments about there not being enough crotch space. If you leave the infant padding in the seat and try to put a toddler in the seat, yes, it's tight. The directions weren't very clear about removing it. If you remove the extra pad for a larger child, the space is great, even for an 8 year old.
It does take a few minutes to install the seat and it's heavy, but we have a The First Years Compass Premier Folding Adjustable Booster - Pacific Compass B510 booster seat as a second seat for moving from one vehicle to another for short trips. If we had had this seat as an option earlier, we would have purchased one for each vehicle. Divide the cost by 7 or 8 and compare it to some of your other yearly expenses!
We also love the way that the straps can be pulled around the "wings" of the seat when unbuckling the child. They'll stay there nicely until it's time to get back in. No sticky velcro to rip your delicate tutus! The straps cushions are a nice feature, but would also like a crotch buckle pad.
Don't like: The instructions could be better. Do not like the black area under the infant pad and the buckles. Prefer everything a lighter color, so it doesn't get so hot. We cover our seats with white towels to help. Light shades of tan or gray would be nice.
Love: Comfortable, safe, side-impact tested, soft fabric cover, plush padding. 5 point harness to 50 inches or 65 lbs. Installs tight and works well in small vehicles. Easy to customize the fit without removing and rethreading the harness, multiple crotch strap positions. Built-in locking clip.
Be sure to check out the demo at www.learningcurve.com
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| Review Date: May 5, 2008 |
| Reviewer: momof2, Iowa |
The First Years/Learning Curve Truefit is truly an awesome seat! The harness height goes from 10"-18" (with 4 total slots) and adjusts easily without removing the seat. It rear faces from 5-35lbs, and forward faces to 65lbs. It has lockoffs, so it installs easily with a seatbelt or the lower anchors-the locks offs are easy to use.
The seat has a removeable headrest for infants who are less than 22 lbs (and whose head is 1" from the top of the shell). This makes the seat easier to fit rear-facing. Once the child reaches 22+lbs, the headrest needs to be put on (and the child should be kept rear-facing until s/he reaches 35lbs or is within 1" of the top of the shell). Rear-facing is 4x safer than forward facing. My 2 year old son is still rear-facing and will be until he is either too heavy or too tall.
It's a comfortable seat with lots of EPP foam and padding. The Misty Morning pattern is very soft and cozy. My daughter, at 44", 42lbs, and a 16" torso, still fits, height wise, in this seat. She really liked it.
I have (or have had) lots of carseats. Among them, the Evenflo Triumph Advance, the Radian65, Evenflo Triumph V, Britax Regent, and Fisher Price Safe Voyage Deluxe (Britax Marathon clone). The Truefit is easily one of my favorites.
The best carseat is one that fits your child, fits your budget, fits your vehicle, and will be installed correctly EVERY SINGLE TIME! Make sure to read the manual for any seat purchased and know how to install it correctly. And go to a seat check/call a tech if you have any questions.
My children's safety, in the car, is of prime importance to me. I can keep them safer by keeping them harnessed, in the safest seat/s I can afford, for as long as possible. |
Great seat once you figure out how to install it...
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| Review Date: January 17, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Nathan C, Los Angeles, CA |
First let me say that this is a great seat. It's padded, comes with several inserts to support different size babies. The optional headrest is nice. I have now installed two of these seats, one into a new Volkswagen Jetta, and one into the previous model Jetta (which has a slightly smaller backseat). There are a few inconveniences, but once you figure it out, the seat does exactly what it's supposed to.
The biggest problem, and this took me over an hour to figure out, is that the seat comes ready for a forward facing installation. I installed both of my seats rear-facing, and I was going NUTS figuring out how to get the latch belt/system to look like it did in the pictures. If only they would have mentioned in the directions that of the box, the latch belt comes set in the forward facing position, it would have saved me a lot of time. You actually have to reposition the belt to make it look like the poorly worded pictures. Once I figured that out, installing seat two took less than 20 minutes. Now that I understand all this it makes sense. The latches themselves are made to go on in a certain way, and by default in rear-facing they were backwards. That makes sense now because it came ready for a forward-facing install.
Another problem I faced was achieving the proper incline. Coming from a chicco infant base that had easy to read bubble levels, the true fit simply has a skinny red sticker on the side that is supposed to be parallel to the floor. I'll tell you right now, in the backseats of both jettas, getting the line parallel isn't feasible. First of all, I had to wedge something underneath to give it more incline (like a pool noodle). The problem with this is that my son is over 22 lbs, so I have to have the headrest installed. At this incline, I would have to put it behind the passenger seat, and move that front seat up so far that no one could sit in it. If you're looking to get this seat for a small child that has very little neck control, you might look elsewhere. My son is over 10 months old and about 25 lbs, and installing the carseat with no type of wedge probably puts the red line about 15-20 degrees higher than parallel. For him it's fine, but for younger babies be careful. I know this is a problem in almost all convertible car seats and small backseats, but you can never have enough info on how these things will probably fit in your car. My last complaint about the incline is that one of my red stickers is already falling off and I had to put tape over it. I wants a bubble level!
My last comment is about the 5-point latch. Overall it's very easy to use. I had problems with it getting twisted the first couple times I used it, but now that I know what I'm doing I haven't had any problems. My other initial problem was that the strap you pull to cinch it all down onto the baby was never explained. In my old chicco you simply pulled on it, and the harder you pulled the more it cinched. The true fit doesn't work that way. You actually have to pull, release, pull, release, and it sort of works like a "pump" system. Everytime you pull, it will only cinch a little, and to get it to cinch more, you have to release slightly and tug again. Once you figure it out it works great and helps you to not crush your child, but again, it was never explained anywhere that I could see.
I hope no one takes the above as reasons not to buy this car seat. I detail the above only to save other people the headache of figuring out a manual that is poorly worded at times. There's lots of pictures which is nice, but car seat makers don't need to assume we're all illiterate. Put a paragraph or two in the manual that explains how your car seat works. Really, it would be fine.
Highly recommended! |
A must have car seat - best of everything
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| Review Date: February 28, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Dixie DeBrunce, Missouri |
I just received our seat yesterday and I LOVE IT!! has everything and it has a latch system that can even be used for rear-facing. My 4.5 month old smiled and was happy when we put her in it and my 4 year old sat in it to see how it would be for when she is older and she said it was very comfortable! I love everything about this seat.
I encourage you though to read the instructions before trying to figure out where they store the latch system out and how to install the seat. It is an easy install and directions are great just make sure you read first! :)
Since the headrest comes off for rear-facing it fits great in a backseat!! |
My only regret....
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| Review Date: September 13, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Jacob I. Torres, Appleton, WI USA |
..... was not having discovered this carseat in the first place. My wife and I did not realize that this would have been the only seat we ever needed. We started off with a Graco seat from the Meridian Collection. Positive side is that we had all matching gear. Negative side is that we had to go out and buy another seat. All in all this was easy to install and I am absolutely confident in it's security. Do not be dissuaded by a previous users post that she could push the seat up and back against the backseat of the car. Making mention that she thought the baby's face would get slammed into it in a head-on collision (she went with a different brand). Shoddy physics aside, she either installed the seat incorrectly or has stock in the brand she is claiming to have switched to, because I checked on this claim and it is completely false.
Lots of easy to use adjsutments... I especially liked the idiot-proof harness strap adjustment that the aforementioned poster/reviewer also could not get to work correctly :)
Great seat, great value... make it your first and last purchase. |
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