Well, it was time for yet another carseat for my soon to be six year old son. Of course it came at an inconvenient time, as always. Of all things, his favorite booster seat (which was less than 2 years old) from Graco broke. Yes, it broke, and no accidents were involved. But, that is another review.

Off I went to Target to see if I could get another booster for him. Because, while I actually have a few other seats that he could ride in including a Britax Husky, and a Graco Backless TurboBooster, my autistic child would have no part of it - he wanted another booster with a back on it and neither of these fit the bill. Hoping I'd find something at Target that he'd ride in, I met with frustration. They only had 2 booster seats in stock and one was a Disney Princess pink seat (my six year old son would love that one!), and the other was a seat that had a built in 5 point harness for a younger child that could also be used for a larger child but the belt path was more of the closed-loop type. Striking out, off I headed to Wal-mart, where surprisingly I met with more options. It was here that I found the Evenflo Big Kid Deluxe Booster in the Fairbanks pattern, for just $59.

As I mentioned previously, my son happens to be autistic - which means that he tends to get very stuck in routines. One thing that he fixates on happens to be his carseat and the color of his carseat - making a marked preference for seats that are red. We have a red Nania seat and 2 other Graco seats (including the one that broke) in red to show for this! The Evenflo Big Kid Deluxe Booster doesn't come in a red seatcover, but it had lots of other features that I was pretty certain that my son would approve of. So I took the "gamble" and got him the black and grey one (Fairbanks). Its also available in 2 different tan seat covers if that is your preference.

What's the Deluxe all about?

This seat is the step up from the Evenflo Big Kid Booster which sells for $20 less. The differences appear to be 2 things:
1. The Big Kid Deluxe has more padding and a slightly different seat-back shape to make it more comfortable/and adjustable.
2. The Big Kid Deluxe has built in lighting on it.

Its my feeling that if your child is going to be spending any long amount of time in the car, and/or doing a lot of riding in the car when its dark out - then opt for the Big Kid Deluxe model over the basic "Evenflo Big Kid" seat.

Features of the Evenflo Big Kid Deluxe Booster

The Evenflo Big Kid Deluxe Booster is a forward-facing only booster type carseat. Its meant to be used with your cars lap/shoulder belt only, and its recommended for kids that are 30-100 pounds with the back on, or 40-100 pounds in backless mode. The upper height limit is 57" tall. This is a booster seat that can be used two ways, with the back on - sliding the shoulder belt through one of the open loop guides on the seatback. Or, with the back off (and using the optional loop and strap to help position the shoulder strap). Older and taller children will be able to ride in the seat without the seat back on Smaller kids, or kids who sleep in the car often - will be better suited for keeping the seatback in place. My six year old can actually ride safely without the seatback on but at this time he is still within the size and height limits to have the seatback attached. He falls asleep in the car quite a bit, and doesn't like the seats without backs on them at this time.

A nice feature of the the Evenflo Big Kid Deluxe Booster has a one-hand pull handle that you can use to adjust the height of the seatback. This means that you can use the seat with the back on for a longer lifespan than one with a fixed back. This seat has 5 positions of varying height and depth so you can fit your child and your seat style for a safe and comfy ride.

The Evenflo Big Kid Deluxe Booster definitely has some nice extras. First of all, the padding is super cushy including a headrest, headwings, padded seatback and a cushy spot for their tushies too. It has armrests that are height adjustable (at the time of installation) with two positions. The armrests also flip up and out of the way. This makes things a bit easier for loading and unloading in my minivan. My son also likes the option of pushing the armrest up out of the way if he doesn't want to use it. On each side of the seat there are built in combo drink-holder/snack trays that slide in and out. When they aren't in use they are hidden underneath the seat. Best of all, and why I knew my son would love this seat, it comes with built in lighting. On each side of the headrest there are teeny tiny bulbs that can be turned on individually by pressing the button right there. You'll need to install 3 AAA batteries in each side if you want the lights to work. When I first got the seat my son was turning on the lights even in the daytime, which was a bit annoying. The lights don't have any sort of auto-shut off so they'll stay on until the batteries go bad if you aren't careful about it. Now that the novelty of the lights has worn off my son just uses them for when riding in the car when its dark out. Since it gets dark so early, that seems like a lot of the time. My son likes to either read or play his Leapster in the car, so the lights are great to have for him. Otherwise, he is often insistent about wanting us to turn on the map-lights which I'd rather not do.

Assembly, Installation & Care
Putting together this seat was a cinch for my husband who put it together in probably about 5 minutes with the help of a screwdriver. The seat is a belt positioning booster that requires the use of a car lap/shoulder belt to hold it in place. For safety reasons, you should also buckle this seat in when your child isn't seated in it. To care for the seatcover you can machine wash it, and then air dry it. We've not yet needed this, but since my son is a bit of a puker, I know that the time will come.

Overall
We are very pleased with this Evenflo Big Kid Deluxe booster. I'm happy with the ease of use and my son finds it comfortable and loves the "extras". If you are looking for a belt posititioning booster for your child, this one is pretty darn good for just $60.

www.evenflo.com


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 59
Age Range of Child: 6 to 8 Years