Graco SnugRide Review

As a mother to five children, safety is very important to me. That's why for my last child, born in 2007, I chose the Graco Snugride. It was a great price, and came with many great features, including a cover for my baby's feet(which I ended up not needing in Maryland in May) and a detachable head rest(I loved this head rest, it matched and was very secure, no sliding around like ones we had purchased previously to add on to the other car seats). We had purchased other car seats for our previous children, including an evenflo car seat and even one of the more expensive brands(I don't recall the brand now, it's been a while and this old computer doesn't recall like it used to lol). I did alot of research and read ALOT of reviews. Upon viewing the car seat, it didn't seem to be any better than any of the others we had used previously, but while using it, I discovered many features that the other models either didn't offer, or didn't work as well. The most important feature was the five point harness that I was able to work using only one hand to get the baby out. It was a bit trickier to get the baby in and impossible to buckle one handed, but I was ok with that since the model we had used previously had the three point harness and I didn't like that at all. It just felt unsafe to me. It also has the level on the side of the seat, so you can make sure that the seat is going in properly, although I would recommend going to one of those safety things where they check to make sure your car seat is installed properly. I went for every car seat I had and the SnugRide was the only one that I had installed perfectly and the guy told me that most car seats are installed improperly, resulting in preventable deaths and injuries. The sun shade was easy to use and saved us from wake ups due to sun quite a few times. Another thing I like about the SnugRide was the base. No more buckling and unbuckling, the seat just snapped on and off the base no problem. We used this car seat in conjunction with a Graco double stroller that we had and the seat just snapped right into the stroller no problem, so we didn't even have to buy a new stroller, perfect since I am not married to Daddy Warbucks lol. I actually looked into it and found out that Graco started manufacturing their car seats and strollers so that pretty much any infant car seat they sell can fit pretty much any stroller they sell.  A couple of things that I didn't like? Well, the first was that I didn't have much choice in the pattern department at the babies r us. I guess I could have ordered online, but I foolishly waited until the last minute, thinking that I had a seat already, forgetting that I had given it away as soon as my other child had outgrown it, in a sort of no more babies protest lol. The only other thing that I didn't like was that it didn't fit on grocery carts. I guess I'm probably dating myself by saying this, but when we had our first child his infant seat fit on all the grocery carts and was so much more convenient than trying to get him out of his seat and into that germ laden seat that is built into the cart. Maybe there were too many accidents with fools not securing the seat, or they changed the dimensions on the carts, but it proved to be pretty inconvenient that the seat didn't fit on the top of the cart and I had to fill up the basket with my baby. And, for the record, it is not cute to ask someone where the baby display is so you can get one too. I figure though that if that's all I have to complain about, then it's a darn good seat. As an aside, though, if you know that you have tall babies you may want to buy a convertible seat instead. My son was on the tall side at 21" and he outgrew this seat by the time he was five months old. I then bought the Graco convertible seat and he's been in that ever since. He's now 2 and I don't think we'll need another seat for at least another year. If you are unsure of what seat to buy, I would definitely say buy the Graco SnugRide. If you are looking for a certain color scheme, start looking early and your best bet is probably online. They told me at babies r us that they only stock the most popular colors or patterns. My husband actually bought ours three days before our scheduled birth at walmart. I'm not sure how much he paid, but I'm pretty sure it was less than $100. I generally don't like walmart, believing their products to be subpar since I've had alot of problems. I even yelled at him for going to walmart for it, but it turned out to be fine, no problems and the best infant car seat we've owned. I am glad that we are done having children, but if it is still available I will probably be buying this car seat for my grandchildren, if we are lucky enough to get any.