Easy To Level - Maybe A Must For Jeep And SUV Owners
Written: Sep 27 '01
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Pros: Very adjustable; holds larger babies; reclines.
Cons: Heavy; awkward handle; won't fit in some grocery carts and restaurant baby chairs.
The Bottom Line: A good choice if you have an SUV (or other vehicle with a tilted rear seat) or a large baby.
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| AccessDenied's Full Review: Century Avanta |
Jeep and other SUV owners will discover, when they buy a car seat, that the base of the rear seat of their vehicle tends to be tilted backwards. This makes it next to impossible to get the car seat level, no matter how much you wrestle with it, or how tight you get the seat belt. The result is that the baby's head tends to pitch forward into its chest, or bob about like one of those little doggie things some people have in their dashboards.
Oh, sure, you can try the towel trick (roll up towels and put them under the seat), but this is a pain, uses an incredible number of towels, and isn't very secure. Believe me, we tried - we'd inheirited two car seats, and couldn't get either of them level to the point where our poor baby's head didn't pitch and bob.
Fortunately, the local Babies R Us folks put us on to the Century Avanta, which has two features that may solve this problem for you. First, the base is adjustable, and can make up for most of the tilt.
Second, the base has a recline feature, which lets you tilt the car seat back a bit, making it easier for babies to sit in it comfortably. It's a real plus, especially for newborns with no neck strength.
The Avanta has several other advantages. It has a level indicator, which makes it easy to get the seat level when installing it. It has a 5-point restraint system (safer than the old 3-point). It's adjustable, both at the crotch (2 positions) and shoulders (3 positions), to accommodate your growing baby.
Even better, it holds a larger baby than most seats (up to 22 pounds, as opposed to 20). This is a plus if your child is a whopper like ours is.
You can also buy a spare base for the seat if you own two cars - a real plus, unless you really like wrestling with the car seat every time you want to go somewhere.
Finally, it's fairly easy to take apart (that is, get all of the cloth bits off for washing - a must for those Baby Blowouts).
The Avanta has a few disadvantages, as well. (What seat doesn't?) First, it's fairly heavy (my wife now REFUSES to carry it, although this is related to our little (?) boy's weight, too).
Second, the handle is strangely designed, and makes you twist your wrist to carry it. (This seems to be true of most car seats, though.)
Third, the shade canopy is a bit flimsy - it's plastic, and easily removable, but tends to get knocked loose by the car seat handle.
More seriously, the Avanta is a fairly wide and deep seat, which is nice for the baby, but makes it hard to fit securely (or, in some cases, at all) into some grocery carts and restaurant baby seats. (In fact, it doesn't seem to fit into most restaurant baby seats.)
Finally, the handle itself is fairly heavy, and tends to make the seat tip over when it's put down (as you'd do to put the baby in or take it out). So you pretty much need to leave the handle up when the baby's in the seat. It's also a bit awkward to lock and unlock, especially from the sides.
All in all, though, the Avanta is a safe, secure car seat that works well for us. If you have an SUV (or any vehicle whose back seat tilts) or a large baby, it should be near the top of the list of car seats you consider.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 99
Age Range of Child: 0 to 12 Months
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Epinions.com ID:
AccessDenied
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Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 0 members
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