Let me start by explaining. This is not the carseat we use on a regular basis. This was purchased while we were out of town traveling and needed a seat for our 3 month son.

About the Seat

Specs from Manufacturer (from website)
-Three-position Adjust-A-Shield® extends use as child grows
-Up-front three-position recline allow easy adjustments
-Seat Guard™ base protects car interior
-Rear-facing 5 to 30 lbs. / Forward-facing 20 to 40 lbs.

Our Experience

There are some good features of this seat. Though - not many. First off, its able to be used rear-facing from 5 to 30 pounds. This is especially good if you have a larger infant. Many rear facing seats can only be used up to 20 or 25 pounds. And "infant only" carseats are mostly up to 20 pounds only. My son, being a larger infant outgrew the infant carrier carseat by the time he was 3 months old.

Also, this seat is relatively inexpensive. Ours cost around $69 dollars at Wal-Mart. Pretty cheap as far as carseats go.

The seatcover on the Evenflo Secure Advantage is a dark greyish/blue/black color. Its almost "velour" in material, which is nice to touch. The seat has a special guard/base that protects your upholstery. The entire seat cushion can be removed and washed in the washing machine. Getting it off and washing it is no big deal, and putting it back on is pretty easy too.

This seat also comes with 3 positions of recline (for front facing). The overhead shield can also be adjusted into 3 different positions. There's also a front belt adjuster to tighten up the harness once your child is already loaded in the seat - all it does is remove any extra slack that is in the straps. While all these adjustable features are nice, please note that used in the rear facing position the seat must be installed at the proper angle of recline and the overhead shielf should not be adjusted or fiddled with.

The negatives outway the positive features, though

This seat was VERY tricky to install in the Ford Explorer rear middle seat. In order to get the seat at the proper recline for rear facing you really had to "fuss". Since we were just going on vacation and not going to be there for more than a week we didn't want to mess with the Tether strap, especially since apparently the Ford Explorer older models don't come equipped with a Tether bolt and we would need to get one from the dealer. So, trying to get this seat secure using just the middle seat belt was an extreme challenge. It was one of those moments that I wish I had 4 or 5 arms.

Once we finally got it in - It looked great, and then we put our baby in. After driving around we noticed that its reclining more and more. If you drive around without your baby in it, when you stop you will notice that the seat has reclined completely back so it is flat. This surely can't be safe or secure. In fact, it really upset me to think how the seat would handle in the case of a quick stop or an accident.

This seat comes with the overhead shield/3 point harness. This is not the safest type of seat to use - really you should use a 5 point harness (which both of our regular seats have) One advantage (usually) of the overhead bar/3 point harness is that its often quicker to buckle than a 5 point harness. Yet this one, you need to press a button and then slide the buckle in. It required 2 hands (at least) for me to get it closed and the button was difficult to press. Another moment that I wish I had 4 or 5 hands.

Well, my child fell asleep in the car (as he often does) in this seat. So it had to have been somewhat comfortable. However, when I got him out of the seat. I noticed that he had a funny shapped "dent/compression" in the back of his head!!! The dent came from the empty seatbelt strap slots (for larger children) pressing into my babie's tender head.
This really upset me.

Note: Maybe I just noticed this because my child is bald, they must have designed this seat for kids with hair.

In conclusion, I don't recommend this seat. Even for use in a pinch or on vacation. Spend a few extra dollars and get a seat with a 5 point harness or bring your own seat with you on vacation. This one, albeit inexpensive, isn't worth the upset.

If you are shopping for a carseat, go for something safe. You can check out reviews I've written as well as others here on some different brands over this one.

Seats I like & use

I have a Britax Roundabout Convertible Carseat that I am quite pleased with. I have written a review on this seat as well. My parents have the Century Bravo 5-point convertible seat, and we're quite pleased with that one as well. For a short time (during infancy), we used the Graco Travel System Infant Carseat .

For more info on Evenflo Seats
http://www.evenflo.com




Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 69
Age Range of Child: 0 to 12 Months

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