I've always wanted a Britax car seat or booster but unfortunately no one ever gave me one as a gift. What? Buy one myself? Uh…well, that sounds like a good idea but I've always found that there were too many insurmountable obstacles. First of all, no stores within 100 miles of me carries Britax. Second, I simply can't afford these car seats. And finally, my husband would completely come unglued if I spent that much money (that we don't have) on a car seat when we could always get a perfectly fine one for much less. Still, I find myself itching with envy whenever I see someone using one of these car seats. Most recently, I saw that some good friends of mine had the Britax Star-Riser Comfy booster for their daughter. Of course she loves it. Sigh…

For some reason last month I decide to walk down the car seat isle at Target, a strange thing to do since we don't really need anymore car seats. I suddenly stopped in my tracks when I spotted a seat the looked like the coveted Britax Star-Riser Comfy booster. Wait, that's not a Britax - it's a Graco seat! We love our Graco Cherished CarGo booster so I was immediately intrigued with this one. I then noticed that the Graco TurboBooster youth booster seat was only $56! Without another thought, I stuck one in my cart. I rationalized that I could always return it if I didn't like it - after all, I've returned most of the car seats I've bought.

Out of the Box - Assembly Required

After I patiently endured my husband's groans and eye-rolling at my purchase of yet, ANOTHER car seat, I opened the box (a feat in itself since they use about a gallon of glue to seal the box). I was a bit surprised to see it come out in pieces, but then I guess the smaller than average box should have been a hint that this booster is not assembled. Uncharacteristically, I decide to plunge ahead and assemble this seat without reading the directions (my husband's habits must be rubbing off on me). It turned out to be pretty easy.

The seat comes in three large pieces - the bottom, the lower back, and the upper back. The pieces fit together easily and intuitively, though those who do not have an intuitive sense of these things should be able to follow the directions without any trouble. The hardest step for me was just to pull the elastic for the seat cover across the back of the seat and hook it to the other side. Both arm rests also need to be installed. They can be adjusted to one of two heights and then are screwed in place to make them secure. This is where I finally had to look at the directions because I just couldn't figure out what those two screws were for. In less than 5 minutes I had the seat all put together and ready for a test drive!

The Fit - Both for the Kids and the Cars

First the kids… My youngest son is 40 months and my oldest is quickly approaching 7 years of age. Though he does not legally have to ride in a booster because he is over 6 years old, most child safety experts recommend that kids use belt-positioning boosters until they are big enough for the regular seat belt, usually between ages 8-10. My daughter is almost 5 years old and will soon have to ride in a booster when she weighs 40 lbs. and is too heavy for a harnessed car seat.

This is the only seat I've found that fits all of my kids perfectly! The upper part of the back easily adjusts in height (with just one hand) by pulling in on the red upper handle and then pulling up or pushing down on the head rest. There are a total of 6 different height adjustments possible. My 3 year old needs to have the head rest in the lowest position, my daughter fits best in the 2nd position and my oldest son needs to have the head rest at the 4th position. They all like the arm rests in the higher position, which is good, because I wouldn't want to have to take out a screwdriver and adjust them every time a different kid rode in this seat.

The back and adjustable head rest both have deep side wings to support the child while napping. The side wings have E. P. S. energy absorbing foam for additional side impact protection. The seat also has two recline positions - one upright and the other semi-reclined. However, you do need to have the back of the booster rest firmly against the seat back of the car so the position you chose will have more to do with the shape of the car's seat back than the preference of the child.

Once I confirmed that all three kids could fit in this seat, I tried installing it into both of our cars - Dodge Grand Caravan and Subaru Legacy Wagon. The booster fit easily against both of these types of seats.

Time to Hit the Road!

OK, we're ready to take this booster seat for a spin. My oldest child got first honors. I noticed right away that he was going to have more trouble positioning and fastening the seat belt on his own, compared to our other boosters. The seat belt has to thread through the red open loop belt-positioner on the bottom of the head rest. He's used to bypassing the belt-positioners on our other boosters because they tend to make the seat belt catch and allow too much slack to build up in the seat belt. The open loop belt-positioner on the Graco TurboBooster allows for the belt to move easily back and forth as the child moves and therefore prevents dangerous slack to build up. He also had to make sure the lap belt fit under the arm rests instead of over them (his first attempt). The red panels under the arm rests are a helpful reminder about where the seat belt is supposed to go. My son was mildly annoyed at not being completely independent in this seat his first time through but he was more concerned with the fact that he couldn't use both of the retractable cup holders at the same time because one bumped into the interior side of the car. He got over it quickly, though.

He also mentioned that he felt a little "lower" in this seat, which he is compared to some other boosters. However, the lower height did not seem to bother him. I could see that an older child with wide hips or a huskier build might find this seat to be a tight fit in the seat. However, my son fit fine in the seat and would probably continue to fit for at least another two years. My son quickly fell in love with this booster and tried to claim it as "his." Though I did have him primarily mind when I bought this seat, I insisted that his brother and sister also be able to ride in the booster whenever I wanted them to. Both other kids enjoyed their eventual test drives and lobbied heavily for sole ownership of this seat. I can see that our biggest problem will be deciding which kids get to ride in this booster on each trip to the grocery store, etc.

Nuts and Bolts Details of the TurboBooster

I have to say that this is the most excited I've been about a car seat in a long time! There are a number of features that make this booster desirable, in my opinion:

~ Fits Ages 3 to 10

It wasn't that long ago that boosters just went up to 60 lbs. (like my old, deceased Cosco High-Back Booster). Then most of them went to 80 lbs. which was a big improvement. This booster goes all the way up to 100 lbs.! The size limits for this seat are 30 to 100 lbs. and between 38 and 57 inches in height. In addition, the child's ear must be below the top of the head rest.

~ Open Loop Belt-Positioners

The open loop belt-positioner is the biggest selling point on this booster for me. Our other boosters (and most boosters on the market) have narrow belt-positioners that keep the seat belt from retracting properly when the child leans forward and then sits back. This excess slack makes these other boosters much less safe in the event of an accident or sudden stop. Because of this weakness in our boosters, we have used the car seat shoulder belt without the belt positioners. This has worked fine for our oldest son because all he really needs is a little boost in height to allow him to fit well in the shoulder belt. However, my younger two kids are not tall enough to use a booster without a seat belt positioner so this large open loop positioner is essential for us.

~ Easy One-Handed Height Adjustment

The easy adjustment of the seat height means we can use this booster for any of our kids without extra effort. If the seat is too hard to adjust, it becomes tempting to go ahead and use it without making sure it fits the child perfectly.

~ Energy Absorbing Foam

This foam is inserted in the side wings and provides extra side-impact protection.

~ Removable Back Rest

This booster can be used with the high back/head rest or with just the base. The base-only booster should only to be used with high backed seats in the car. Graco recommends the base alone for kids ages 4 to 10, weights 40 to 100 lbs. and between 40 to 57 inches in height.

If you elect to use the base by itself, Graco has included a shoulder belt positioning clip. This clip is attached to webbing that is secured on the underside of the booster and holds the shoulder belt at the correct height to fit the child. I haven't used this feature yet because I haven't used the booster without the backrest. However, the clip looks a bit narrow to me and therefore may to prone to the same problems as most belt-positioners mentioned above.

~ Adjustable Arm Rests

The arm rests can adjust easily to one of two heights and then are held in place securely with one Phillips head screw in each arm rest. The fancier models of the TurboBooster have fabric covers that slip over the arm rests but our model just has the hard plastic arm rest - might get a bit sweaty in the summer. My daughter said that she like the arm rests but she wished they would open up like the "ones on the airplanes" so you could pull out a tray to put over your lap. I laughed but I wouldn't be surprised if car seats start offering niceties like that in the near future.

~ Two Retractable Cup Holders

There are two identical cup holders on each side of the seat that can retract into the base or pull out.

~ Deep Side-Wings

The side wings on this booster are more pronounced than most and provide nice support for napping kids. Two of my kids have already fallen asleep in this booster and haven't had the typical "sleeping slump" that you see in napping car seat occupants.

~ Lightweight and Narrow

This booster is remarkably light and easy to carry. My son doesn't have any trouble carrying his own booster. However, you do have to be careful to avoid carrying it from the obvious red handle on the top because this is the release for the head rest and it immediately pulls it into the highest position. This booster is also more narrow than most which is a blessing in small back seats (like our Subaru) where you are trying to fit three kids in boosters. The narrow size could be a disadvantage, though, if you have a husky child.

Though I really like this booster, I can also see some potential problems or disadvantages to this seat. They include:

~ Can't Be Used As a Harnessed Car Seat

Though this booster is fairly versatile, it does NOT have a built-in harness for smaller children. Therefore, parents need to purchase another car seat for the first few years.

~ Can't Be Used With a Lap Belt

Like most boosters, this one can only be used with a lap/shoulder belt combination. It cannot be used with a lap belt alone which means it can't be used in some middle seats, for airplane travel, or in our old work truck.

~ Not Much Padding

The model of TurboBooster that we have (#8495) seems a bit thin on the padding, though the same could be said for many boosters. There are apparently several different models of TurboBoosters, some of which are "deluxe pad" models with an extra pad in the seat and padding on the arm rests. My kids haven't complained about our more "basic" model but then we haven't gone on any extended drives yet that would lead to numb bums. The fabrics and the extra padding appear to be the main differences between the various models. Our seat is a subdued blue and gray check pattern with blue leather patches on the end of the seat and interior part of the side wings. It's not particularly flashy, but it suits me.

~ Sits a Bit Low

The TurboBooster also seems to sit a bit lower than some other boosters, though the problem may not exist for the deluxe pad models. My kids haven't complained about the lower height but I imagine this could be an issue for some people.

~ Shallow Cup Holders

Though the cup holders are retractable, there isn't anything else very special about them. They are round, shallow and not adjustable so that soda cans and sippy cups fit a bit loosely (and are prone to tipping over). Juice boxes don't fit at all.

~ Top Heavy

Part of have a lightweight high back booster is that it tends to be a bit top heavy. This isn't a problem in the car, but when you take the seat out of the car and set it on the ground (like by the computer desk when you are writing up a review), the seat falls over backwards.

Dr_Steph's Recommendation

The Graco TurboBooster is a breath of fresh air and a very welcome addition to the new line of youth booster seats on the market. Though it’s not a Britax, it will go a long way towards curing your "Britax envy", and at half the price!


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 59