Evenflo Triumph DLX Convertible Car Seat Review

I just had my first baby in March of 2008 and to be honest with you in all the "baby registry frenzy" I did not register for a convertible car seat thinking that I had a few months to wait.  Boy was I wrong.  I gave birth to a healthy and BIG baby who outgrew his infant carrier in 5 months.  So what did I do?  Sat at my laptop and researched, spoke to other moms, checked out reviews of all the seats out there - and let me tell you there are lots.  All the "big box baby stores" were steering me towards this one expensive brand - now granted I will NOT take safety lightly and am willing to pay more for it, but I thought wait a minute... this can't be all that's there.  So I signed in to Consumer Reports, bought a copy of Baby Bargains, logged onto my "mommy site" and did my own reserach.  I saw that the Evenflo Triumph was one of the highest rated in safety AND it holds up to 50 pounds - which is key for me being that my son is a big boy!!  So I took A and we went to the baby store and we tested it out.  Its a big, soft, comfy chair.  He looked like a little king sitting in his thrown!  He has so much room now - and even his own cup holder!  The harness is easy to use, the straps can become looser or tighter with a turn of a knob, and the material is very soft.  I loved it!!!  And what a great price!!!  It was about $130 and I had a 20% coupon AND it was on sale!!!  So what did I do?  I bought TWO and the total cost was less than ONE of the "higher end models".  WHAT A DEAL!!!!  My husband installed it in less than 5 minutes.  It can be rear facing up to 35 pounds, and then forward facing up to 50 pounds so we will get great use out of this seat for a while!  It also uses the LATCH system that I like, and the chair has a great recline for when the baby is younger (and not slumped over in the seat) that can become more upright as he or she gets bigger and looks out the window.   Before, A was crammed into his little infant carrier that he outgrew way to quickly - taking car rides and trips were just terrible because he was so uncomfortable.  Now, he's like a new baby.  He has all this room to spread out, to turn his head, to look out the window.  The seat is made of this plush material so he isn't sweating in that nylon infant carrier.  Plus the Evenflo comes in many different colors too - we picked the beige with the black trim and it fits in perfectly with my car.  It even has what a call a little "piddle pad" in case there are "accidents".  That pad comes out and I can just toss it right into the washing machine without any worries.  When he installed the car seat, I took spray the material with scotch Guard to make any clean ups easier.  And I have to say... the stains (formula, food) come right off.   I cannot rave enough about the Evenflo Triumph.  I am so happy that I didn't follow every-ones lead and get that higher priced chair that is just as good as my Evenflo.  Hey, the economic times are tough - why not see how far you can stretch your dollar?  especially if you aren't sacrificing safety for it?