Back by popular demand - another car seat review by Dr_Steph. :)
Well, I've done it. I've purged our house of all the old beat-up hand-me-down car seats that we had lying around. Time to check out what else is on the market. Although I already have two car seats that I am very happy with (Evenflo Medallion and Graco Cherished CarGo), and a booster that is acceptable (the Cosco High-Back Booster), there's always room for another car seat in a household with three little kids and two cars.
I've been very intrigued with the claims of the Cosco Alpha Omega as "the first car seat you'll buy; the last you'll ever need." Pretty big promise, if you ask me. However, Consumer Reports tested this car seat (October 2000) and said that it provided excellent crash protection in the front-facing position with the tether. Therefore, I decided it was worth a look-see…
The Basic Claim of the Cosco Alpha Omega
This car seat is being sold with the claim that it can be used with children from 5 lbs. to 80 lbs., thereby eliminating the need for any other car seat purchases. It's designed to be used as a rear-facing infant seat from 5 to 35 lbs., a front-facing toddler seat from 22 to 40 lbs., and a belt-positioning booster seat from 30 to 80 lbs.
Of course, the immediate question that came to my head is "How can you use this as your ONLY car seat if it expires in 6 years (as all car seats do now)?" This assumes that your child will reach 80 lbs. within 6 years. Most 6 year olds are lighter than 80 lbs. and therefore should be harnessed longer. Is Cosco going to replace it for free if it expires before your child outgrows it?
My First Impression
I must admit, this is a pretty snazzy looking car seat. It has a lot of attractive features, several of which I've never seen on another car seat. It certainly has kid appeal, too. I took it out of the box and all three kids immediately battled for who would get to sit in it. All is not rosy with this car seat, though. I'll outline the features that I found most impressive and those aspects that I found disappointing.
The Attractive Features of the Cosco Alpha Omega
~ No re-threading of harness height adjustment: Truthfully, this was the most intriguing and impressive feature of this car seat. Re-threading a harness is, at the least, a mild annoyance. In some cases, it's a huge hassle. Rather than having to rethread the harness straps through higher slots when your child grows taller, this seat allows you to automatically adjust the height to one of five positions. This seat has a whole harness insert panel that slides up and down as you reposition a metal bar in the back of the seat into one of five slots. The seat belt is looped over this metal bar so it moves up and down with the harness insert. It's a pretty clever and convenient design, though I disagree with the claim that it is a "1-hand" harness height adjuster. It took me awhile to wrestle this bar up and down to accommodate all of my children's heights.
~ Automatic harness width adjustment: The adjuster slots for the metal bar in the back of the seat are slightly flared outward. What this means is that when the harness is raised the straps are further apart in width and when it is lowered the straps are held closer together. This width adjuster is supposed to accommodate the child as they grow.
~ Front harness adjuster: The length of the harness can be easily adjusted from the front of the car seat to accommodate the changing bulk of coats on or off. This is an essential feature of any car seat, in my opinion. I know because I've carelessly bought a few that didn't have this feature and I've hated them. Without the front adjuster, you have to actually take the seat out of the car to adjust the harness. Most people will not want to bother with this on a daily basis so they will end up having a harness that is not adjusted well to their child. Furthermore, every time you remove and reinstall a car seat, you risk making a careless installation error and endangering the safety of your child.
~ 5-point harness: Again, this is an essential feature of any car seat because it is the safest harness system. The 5-pt. harness has two straps that fit over each arm and leg and independently buckle into a crotch buckle. A front harness buckle holds the two straps together across the child's chest. The idea of this is that if any one point fails to restrain the child in an accident, there should be sufficient back-up restraint to keep them in their seat. By the way, this seat also comes with the overhead shield harness system. Don't buy the overhead shield model! It may be slightly more convenient but it is not nearly as safe as the 5-pt. harness.
~ 3-position front recline lever: This seat can be adjusted to recline, semi-recline, or upright by pulling on a red plastic lever on the front of the seat. The seat must be used in a recline position rear-facing and can be used front-facing, too. The recline feature is easy to use but it may not work well in the front-facing position with all automobile seats.
~ Nicely padded: This seems to be a pretty comfortable seat, with ample padding on the seat, back, and sides. It also comes with an infant head support insert and an adjustable toddler pillow.
~ Tether strap: I mention this only because it was supposedly included with this seat. However, the particular seat I bought had obviously been returned and the tether was missing. Therefore, I can't comment on it specifically. However, tethers are standard fare on car seats these days, allowing you to secure the back of the car seat to a bolted anchor in the car. The tether holds the top of the car seat in place in the case of an accident. According to the Consumer Reports article, this seat did very well in an accident test with the tether but only fair without it (the crash dummy's head went too far forward).
The "So What" Features
~ Rear storage compartment: There is a flat, very small storage compartment in the back of the seat which, of course, is only accessible in the rear-facing position. It's big enough to hold a diaper and that's about it. Ho hum. I prefer the storage nets that come on the both sides of my Evenflo seat.
~ Padded harness covers: I was happy to see these harness covers, assuming that they would help keep the straps from twisting. No such luck. Instead, they just make it harder to untwist the straps and they just get in the way. Personally, I would take them off.
~ The instructional video: This seat comes with a 14 minute instructional video. It's OK, but it certainly doesn't replace the need for the manual. Personally, I don't think it's that helpful.
Now For the Problems…
~ NOT a good seat for small infants: Since my kids are all past the rear-facing stage, I tried a few of my friend's babies in this seat (6 weeks and 15 weeks). Neither child fit safely in this seat. The 5 lb. minimum weight limit on this seat is very misleading. In fact, most infants will be too small for this seat for several months after they are born. The lowest harness position is too high for newborns and those less than probably 12-16 lbs., unless they happen to be very tall.
~ NOT a good booster seat for taller children: My son is not even 5 years old and he almost maxs out this seat as a booster. I doubt he could use it for more than a year and then we would have to find a new booster that has a taller back.
~ Base is hard to remove: The base of this seat can be removed (without tools supposedly) so the seat can be used in narrower, bucket seats and airplane seats. After a few minutes of wrestling with this base, I decided to bag it. My arthritic hand couldn't manage to get it off without a lot of pain.
~ Straps twist easily: My seat came with twisted straps (probably from the pervious dissatisfied owner). I find myself constantly battling these straps to keep them straight. No thank you.
~ May not fit in car in rear-facing position: Recline this seat all the way and try to strap it in a car rear-facing and you can run into trouble. This is a longer car seat than most convertibles and therefore it doesn't fit well between the front and rear seat unless the front seat is moved all the way forward (not an option for my tall husband).
Do I Recommend the Cosco Alpha Omega?
No, not really. As much as I initially was attracted to this seat, I have no intention of keeping it (and not just because of the missing tether). I had my doubts that a single seat could meet the safety needs of all babies and kids requiring a car seat or booster. It looks like my doubts were well-founded. For small infants, the lowest harness is too high. For taller kids, the seat is too small. This would probably make a very comfortable toddler seat for someone like my daughter (a petite 3 year old) but it isn't good at either end of the continuum of size. My daughter is quite comfortable in her Graco Cherished CarGo which is MUCH cheaper ($49) than the Cosco Alpha Omega - and will still last her until 80 lbs. For small babies, you are best off with a rear-facing infant seat. If you have money to burn on a toddler seat, you might enjoy the features that come with this one. However, you can find perfectly good car seats and boosters for a lot less than this one.
Equipped for both rear-facing and forward-facing travel, this all-in-one car seat comfortably accommodates a child from birth to age eight and beyond....More at Albee Baby
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