Road Warrior
Written: Apr 02 '02 (Updated Jan 30 '07)
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Pros: UPDATED 1/30/07... Wide comfy seat, 5 point harness, 5 recline positions
Cons: No strap covers, instruction manual is hidden,no car seat for dummies guide.
The Bottom Line: Nice big comfy seat, any baby would be comfortable.
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| katopasna's Full Review: Evenflo Triumph 5 Convertible Car Seat - Everwood ... |
We recently purchased the EvenFlo Triumph 5 car seat for our daughter because like all babies they eventually grow up. My daughter seems to be getting pretty long, her tiny legs were starting to hang over the edge of her infant car seat and that was a sign that an upgrade was needed.
I was so lost when it comes to buying these things because now days they are just so fancy. You should’ve seen me sitting on my butt 9 months pregnant in my driveway trying to open my stroller, that was a sight! When my son was a baby, you didn’t have many choices. I think they were all 3-point harness seats, the kind that have that big arm rest that sits in front of them. You just picked a brand you trusted and you were done.
I did do some research on car seats on Epinions and other sites and pretty much decided on the “Britax Roundabout” but that’s not what we ended up buying. On one of our weekly trips to Toys R’ Us, we looked around at car seats and we started putting her in some of them to see which one she liked and which one we liked. We wanted something that was safe, and easy to use. I was amazed and the different features the car seats have now days. You can recline them with a single lever or tighten the straps with the pull of one harness. Amazing! After about an hour and 5 different seats later we found one we all liked and it was the EvenFlo Triumph 5 . I thought it looked the most comfortable just because the seat itself is so much wider then the average car seat. It came with these neat knobs on the side of seat to tighten the straps. That was nice since her seat was still going to be in the rear facing position. No having to reach in between her seat and the back of my car seat to tighten her up.
Some other features you get with the EvenFlo Triumph 5 are:
5-point harness
Factory installed Tether
3 Position adjustable harness
5 Reclining positions
Tension Right ™ knobs that adjust ALL belts
Memory Harness™ for easier in and out
Belt Trac™ gives your front access to vehicle belt
2-piece chest clip
Seat Guard™ base protects upholstery
When we opened the box… the seat was all ready to go or so we thought (more on that later). We installed the seat into the middle of the back seat. It was real easy to do, it was something we could do without having to fight with the item first. You just lift up the back pad of the seat and you will see the path for the seatbelt. The seat fit nice in my car and it was reclined all the way back and it still didn’t touch the drivers seat. I was worried that we might have a problem with that from reading other reviews on other seats. I wanted to make sure all of us were comfortable when driving.
Problems we encountered… were more or so Operator Error then anything else. Turns out that we had her harness too low. It was on the lowest setting and should have been higher. Adjusting was semi easy. My husband liked the fact that the tracks were in the front but they were hard to slide up. My husband isn’t the mechanically inclined type so it might have been easier for me than him. But you know most men don’t let you try just for the simple fact you might actually do it.With all the problems we were having I almost just wanted to get a 3 point harness with the arm rest, it was so much easier to maneuver. It just seemed my daughter no longer liked her car seat. THEN we found out we were strapping her in wrong.. Before you start laughing, remember that it has been 11 years for me and this is my husbands first child so we are basically newbies. Plus we couldn’t find the instructions because EvenFlo decided to hide them INSIDE the track area. What made it weird was that harness itself has 2 straps on each side and we were putting her arms between those two straps. No wonder my daughter hated it so much. We fixed that problem by purchasing some strap covers and that keeps the 2 straps on each side together. Now taking her in and out is a breeze.
EvenFlo isn’t entirely off the hook… they do get a few complaints. My first complaint was before we got those strap covers on, her straps were twisting which made it even more difficult for us to strap my girl in … I would think that if companies charge you over $100.00 for a car seat they could at least make the strap non twisting. The second thing that we discovered was that her car seat was not secure in the middle of the back seat. The lap belt alone wasn’t enough to secure it in the rear facing position. I think because you slip the seatbelt through the front of the seat there is nothing to hold the back end down. We did move her over to the side position and it is just fine there. My last complaint is the position of the pulley to recline the seat. It is in the front but in the middle so if you have this seat in the rear facing position you might as well forget about changing it until you pull over.
Okay, the part you all have been waiting for….THE GOOD STUFF…. I do like the knobs on both sides of the car seat. You only have to turn on side to tighten the harness, it does take practice to loosen it but it is just as easy once you get the hang of it. We like the front tracks that are easily accessible. That will come in handy when she starts facing in the forward position. We won’t have to take the car seat out to adjust them at all. Behind the buckle there is this big round pad the “Comfort Pad” is what it is called, this keeps that awful buckle off of her and I think any baby would appreciate that in the summer time when it gets nice hot. This car seat is also packed with extra padding and energy absorbing foam for a comfy ride. I just make sure we take a baby pillow since the car seat is wider then most her head tends to fall forward at times when she falls asleep. Here is one all mothers will appreciated; the seat pad removes easy and is machine washable.
Final Opinion… We decided to keep it because once we corrected everything we could (that was our fault) we were satisfied and so was my daughter. She seems so much happier now that we know what we are doing….
This car seat is for use with children weighing between 5-30 lbs in the rear facing position and 20-40lb in the forward facing position.
I also want to point out that there is a recall for EvenFlo Triumph V's. It is models of this car seat that were manufactured between Oct. 20 2001 and January 31 2002 with model numbers having the first three digits 𣽀”. These can be located on the white label on the base of the seat. The recall has to do with the harness and there is a FREE upgrade kit available. For more information their website is http://www.evenflo.com/rs/index.phtml or you can call them at (800) 425-1967
anytime.
**We were lucky enough to find out that ours was not on the recall.
If you would like to find out if you have your car seat installed correctly you can find a Child Safety Seat Inspection Station at this address: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/childps/CPSFitting/Index.cfm
Of if you are interested in locating a Child Passenger Safety Technician you may be able to locate one in your area using this address: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/childps/Contacts/index.cfm
For more information on the EvenFlo Triumph 5 visit www. Evenflo.com.
UPDATE: It has been a couple years since we purchased our first EvenFlo Triumph car seat and the one thing I have noticed with both seats is that the covers fell apart after one washing on delicate cycle. A call to Evenflo and a replacement was sent. We have also had problems with the loosening of the straps on the first seat, it couldn't be done...they were stuck..EvenFlo said it is common and it just takes some fidgeting with both knobs at the same time to get it working again and they were right.
UPDATE as of 1/30/07: We finally have retired our EvenFlo Triumph car seat but not due to any new problems with it but because my youngest has finally outgrown it. I think the only new problem we ever encountered with it had to do withs it size. We tried to put in the back of our dodge dakota extra cab and even though it did fit my daughter was left with literally no leg room as she got older. We eventually bought a new larger truck which has since solved the problem but I do suggest for those with smaller cars to see if the store you are considering buying this from will let you see how it fits in your car first.
Overall I am still very pleased with this seat and bought a second one when Kyla outgrew her infant seat.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 118.00
Age Range of Child: 0 to 12 Months
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Epinions.com ID:
katopasna
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Location: The Coast of Oregon
Reviews written: 288
Trusted by: 78 members
About Me:
Just waiting for the trees to fall...
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