Convertible car seats are very popular because they can serve as your child’s car seat from birth to around 70 pounds. The best of these seats are rear facing up to a maximum of 40 pounds and this is a safety feature also as the rear facing position is much safer for your child.
So, which convertible car seats are the best? Consumer Reports, the highly respected testing company that rates consumer products and makes recommendations, ranked 4 seats at the top.
The Evenflo Momentum 65 DLX
Consumer Reports (CR) rated the Evenflo Momentum 65 DLX convertible seat near the top. It’s a solid seat that’s rear facing from 5-40 pounds and then faces forward until a child reaches a weight of approximately 65 pounds.
CR gave the Momentum high marks in safety and how easy the seat is to use. I also like to use Amazon.com to read owner reviews as this is very important feedback.
The Evenflo Momentum Scored Low with Owners
The Evenflo seat scores very low on these customer ratings. There are only 14 reviews and the average review is 2.5 stars out of 5 stars possible.
The negatives that owners mention are that the straps are not user friendly, the seat seems to be made cheaply and that their children don’t seem comfortable.
The advantage to this seat is the price. It’s selling for around $125 and this may be why it was rated so high by Consumer Reports. CR gives a lot of weight to price in their rankings.
Britax Convertible Car Seats
The other three seats that scored at the top of the list by Consumer Reports were all Britax seats. The seats were the Britax Boulevard 70, the Britax Boulevard 70 CS and the Britax Advocate 70 CS.
The fact that these 3 highly rated seats are all made by Britax isn’t a surprise. Britax makes some of the safest and best convertible car seats on the market today. All of these seats are designed to be rear facing from 5-40 pounds and front facing up to 70 pounds. They have many safety features such as their extra side impact protection benefits.
Along with a high rating by Consumer Reports, Amazon owners gave all 3 Britax seats at least a rating of 4.5 stars out of 5 stars possible.
The Britax seats are all over $200 so they are a step up in price compared to the Evenflo Momentum car seat. If your budget will allow it, the best convertible car seats made now are undoubtedly any of the Britax convertible car seats.
Jerry Patterson is a retired teacher, a grandfather and creator of the Car Seats Reviews site at http://www.carseats-reviews.com. He has done a detailed review in the car seat reviews section of his site on the Britax Boulevard car seat.
