Note: This is an update of an earlier review. It turns out that Epinions now has a more appropriate category for this review so I'm moving it. My apologies to those of you who have read it before.

I never thought I would find myself in the position of having to buy a new booster seat after my flurry of purchases this fall. However, most of the seats went back to the store for one reason or another, leaving me with my wonderful Graco Cherished CarGo and my not-so-great Cosco High-Back booster. But things change. Recently I was skillful enough to run over our Cosco seat (don't ask, and no, there wasn't any occupant at the time). Sigh… Time to go back and do some more booster shopping.

Initially I was interested in checking out the Fisher Price Safe Embrace booster but there were none to be found in our pitiful little excuse for a shopping area. Therefore, I settled for the next most interesting one (besides the many others I've reeled in and tossed back) - the Eddie Bauer Sport Booster Seat

I know what you're thinking. After all, isn't this just a dressed up and more expensive version of the crummy Cosco seat that I just destroyed? Well, I figured it probably was, but I was intrigued with some of the improved features so I took it home for a lengthy test drive.

Upgraded features compared to the Cosco High-Back Booster

There are a number of improvements and new features on the Eddie Bauer Sport booster, compared to its cheaper cousin, the Cosco booster.

~ Front harness adjuster: One of my major gripes about the Cosco booster was the lack of a front adjuster. The inclusion of one on the Eddie Bauer seat is a definite plus, since it allows you to accommodate for differences in bulky clothing (or different kids) without having to take the whole seat out and adjust from the back.

~ Accommodates heavier children: The Cosco booster that I had could only be used with kids up to 70 lbs. whereas the Eddie Bauer seat supposedly can be used to 80 lbs. I wish I knew exactly how they changed the seat to make it safe for heavier kids. I guess I'm a little skeptical…

~ Cup holder: No, I don’t think that a cup holder should make or break a decision about a car seat. That said, it's nice to have one. This plastic cup holder snaps easily onto the side of the seat, though removing it is a bit of a struggle. It holds a sippy cup and has a very small tray for snacks (like goldfish crackers). By the shape of it, it looks like juice boxes should also fit but the fit is so tight that kids will end up squeezing and tugging on the juice box and causing juice to squirt out everywhere. Not the greatest design, in my opinion. It also seems a bit flimsy. I have a feeling this cup holder would not withstand multiple attempts to attach and remove it without breaking.

~ Cargo net: There is a mesh cargo net on the left side of the seat, which can hold small toys, pacifiers, or other items that you want to keep within your child's reach.

~ Harness retainer: This is the fancy name for the chest clip that holds the harness straps together. The old Cosco seat had the standard style clip where one side of the harness is permanently attached to the clip and the other side threads through after the child is in the seat (known as the "paper clip" style by some).

The Eddie Bauer Sport booster has a clip that snaps together, making it much more difficult for a child to undo their harness. It also, by the way, makes it more difficult for an adult to undo the harness, but I suppose I could learn to adjust.

~ Arm rests: I'm still not convinced that arm rests on boosters are a necessary or even desirable feature, but they are popular and the Eddie Bauer Sport seat reflects this consumer preference. The two arm rests jut out forward six inches past the edge of the seat. They are both covered with removable padded covers. My five-year-old liked the idea of the arm rests because they made him feel grown-up. However, I've noticed that he never uses them because he has to hold his arms out from his body at a weird angle to rest them on these. Now these arm rests just get in his way.

~ Snazzy, colorful fabric: The Eddie Bauer Sport seats come in bright primary colors to match Eddie Bauer duffels and backpacks and such. Bright yellow, red, and royal blue are available - I bought the blue which is all that they had at the store (but would have been my first choice anyway). The fabric has a smooth leathery feel to it.

~ Harness guides: The Cosco seat has only one set of harness guides for the two sets of slots for threading the harness. Therefore, you had to pop them out of one set of slots and put them in the other if you changed the harness height. The Eddie Bauer Sport seat splurges with built-in harness guides for both sets of slots, thereby eliminating this minor but annoying hassle.

~ Padding: This may be a subjective judgment, but the Eddie Bauer seat feels more padded than the Cosco seat, especially on the sides.

~ Pillow: The Eddie Bauer seat has a small removable pillow that attaches to the top of the seat with velcro. This looked like a great idea to me - until my son tried it out. I noticed that the pillow pushed his head forward some so that his head, neck, and spine were not aligned. It didn't take long for him to ride like this before he complained that it bothered his neck.

~ Tether: My Cosco seat didn't come with a tether but the Eddie Bauer Sport seat does. Tethers attach to the top back of the seat and to an anchor in the car. When used correctly, they can be effective at minimizing forward and side-to-side movement of a car seat in a sudden stop, turn, or accident.


Similar features to Cosco High Back Booster

~ 5-point harness: A 5-point harness is by far the safest harness system for a car seat. This harness system has two straps that fit over each arm and leg and independently buckle into a crotch buckle. A front clip 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. I would never recommend buying a car seat that does not have a 5-point harness system.

~ Used as a car seat or booster: Both seats can be used as harnessed car seats with kids that weigh between 22 and 40 lbs. They can also be used as belt-positioning boosters for bigger kids (30 to 70 lbs. on the Cosco and 30 to 80 lbs. on the Eddie Bauer).

~ Belt-positioning guides: Both boosters have shoulder belt positioning guides on both sides of the seat so they can be used with shoulder belts coming from either direction. Each guide has three separate slots in it so we could pick the one that positions the shoulder strap across our son's chest rather than across his throat. These guides are very easy to use.

One thing you should be aware of, though, is that the shoulder belt will not retract all the way once unbuckled if it is threaded through one of these guides. No big deal - it just means you have a length of seat belt lying around when it is not in use. This could conceivably trip someone who is climbing in or out of the car so if it is a problem, just pull the seatbelt out of the guide and it will retract. However, this CAN be a big deal if the child is buckled into the seat and leans WAY forward and then back. The seat belt might not cinch back up when the child leans back and this leaves you with a dangerously loose and ineffective seatbelt.

~ Lap belt guide: Both boosters have a section on each side of the seat near the bottom where the fabric cover is cut away to reveal a smooth indented notch in the seat for positioning the lap portion of the seatbelt. This notch ensures that the lap portion of the belt is low across the child's hips, rather than higher over their tummies. This is a convenient and easy-to-use safety feature.

~ Two sets of harness slots: The car seat harness on both of these seats can be adjusted to one of two heights. The top slot is still a bit low for the taller toddler.

~ Same basic shape: Sitting side by side, both seats have the identical shape and appear to have the same width and height.

~ Same twisty straps: Some things never change. To be fair, the "twisty strap" headache is one we've had with most of our car seats at one time or another.


Poorer features compared to the Cosco High-Back Booster

There really aren't many significant disadvantages of this seat, compared to the Cosco High-Back booster. However, these are some differences that I don't care for.

~ Seat height: The seat on the Eddie Bauer Sport booster seems to be slightly lower than the Cosco seat on a side-by-side comparison. Actually, the main difference is that the Cosco seat has a slight rise in the front that is missing on the Eddie Bauer seat. If this results in a less elevated child, then this could be a disadvantage, both in terms of ability to see out the windows and comfort of the shoulder/lap belt.

~ Easy to stain fabric: My theory of washing car seat covers is to do it as infrequently as possible, to avoid the inevitable shrinkage that occurs. I only wash car seat covers when a sticky drink has been poured on them, or if the child has leaked noxious bodily fluids on it (name it, we've had it). However, 10 minutes after getting the Eddie Bauer Sport seat, there was a big white smear on the smooth blue fabric from my youngest son's perpetually runny nose. Spot cleaning with a wet cloth helped, but did not eliminate the marks. In the two weeks that we had this seat, it looked MUCH dirtier than the Cosco seat which was used daily for several years and only washed once.

~ Price: This is still basically a Cosco seat in disguise, though it costs a good $40 to $50 more than the Cosco High-Back seat.

~ Manual: The instruction manual for the Eddie Bauer Sport Booster is unnecessarily complicated and confusing. It appears that Cosco was lazy and developed one instruction manual to fit all their car seats/boosters. What this means is that the manual has multiple instructions, depending on the model, but they don’t tell you which model has what, so you have to search through all the examples to find the one that fits the features of your particular seat. I was unimpressed and irritated by this manual.

Final Recommendation on the Eddie Bauer Sport Booster

At first glance, this is an attractive car seat booster with some appealing features. However, after more experience with this seat, I've come to the conclusion that many of these so-called improvements are little more than unnecessary glitz with limited utility. The front harness adjuster, tether, and the added padding are the best of the upgrade features, in my opinion. However, I'm not sure if those features are worth the hefty additional price.

Underneath the catchy name, fancy color, cup holder, and pillow is still a Cosco car seat. Another car seat/booster of comparable price and features to the Eddie Bauer Sport is the Century Breverra Ascend which I think is a better choice. Of course, MY favorite car seat/booster, in terms of price and fit, is still the Graco Cherished CarGo. It may not have a cup holder, but it has my respect, which is more than I can say for this seat. Back to the store…



Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 79