Product Review: Baby Trend Flex Loc Infant Car Seat

Any parent with an infant knows that purchasing a car seat for your baby can be a daunting task. There are tons of different car seat manufacturers, different styles and types, and different views on which seat is best for baby.

Over the years, I've purchased approximately 10 different car seats from various different manufacturers. I can easily say that the Baby Trend Flex Loc Infant car seat is one of the best I've tried. The car seat is very durable and sturdy. The seat comes in a variety of color patterns so you can choose one that fits your needs. I chose the Jet Black fabric because I thought it would easier to keep clean.

One of the best features of this car seat is the triangle shaped handle. The shape of the carrying handle allows you to have greater control and flexibility when carrying your baby in the car seat. You can grab the handle from virtually any angle, which is very convenient. This is a much needed improvement from the normal straight across handle that most infant seats use.

A major safety feature included is the use of EPS foam in the head area of the seat. This provides extra padding and protection to the baby's head in the event of an accident. This padding protection exceeds federal standards. According to Baby Trend's website, this car seat is the #1 rated infant car seat. When I saw that award, it made the decision to buy this seat very easy.

The seat also comes with a feature known as a height adjustable seat back with no harness rethreading. This allows you to loosen or tighten the straps by turning a knob on the back of the car seat. This is much easier to adjust than with other seats I've used in the past. And, the button to release the seat from the base can be pressed with one hand, making it much easier to get your child in and out of the car. The base is very easy to install in the car, and can easily be properly installed in less than 5 minutes. It simply snaps into place using your vehicle's LATCH restraint system. This seat base was by far the easiest we've ever installed. That makes it much more convenient if you are constantly taking your car seat base in and out of the car. Since some parents switch cars with each other, this easy to install and uninstall car seat base allows you to just swap out the car seat from one car to another without having to purchase an additional base. That will save you money since the base for this car seat will cost approximately $35-$45 depending on what retailer you purchase from.

There are only two drawbacks to this car seat that I've found. The first is that the handle can be stiff and hard to move up and down at times. It's not impossible to do, but I suppose that if you weren't a strong person, or if you had arthritis, you probably wouldn't be able to move the handle up and down. To me, this is only a minor inconvenience, however, because I rarely lower the handle. I can easily put my baby in and take him out of the seat without even having to touch the handle, so I frequently skip lowering the handle anyway to save myself time.

The other drawback to this seat is that it is quite heavy. The manufacturer's website lists the seat as weighing only 9.65 pounds without the base, which is another 6 pounds. However, I think that is wrong. I've weighed the car seat at home and found it to weigh approximately 12 pounds without the base attached. Now, 12 pounds doesn't sound like a lot of weight, but when you add in a 20 pound baby, that means you're carrying 32 pounds of weight, which can be terribly difficult, especially if you have other children like I do. The manufacturer says the seat can be used with children in a weight range of 5 and 30 pounds and up to a height of 30 inches. With a 30 pound child in this seat, I feel it would be nearly impossible to carry for any distance greater than a few feet.

Other than those two drawbacks I described, I think that this seat is a top quality product. If you are in the market for an infant car seat, the Baby Trend Flex Loc car seat is one of the best, and it is priced low enough to not break the bank. This car seat is available at Target, Babies R Us, Amazon.com and other fine retailers for approximately $89-$119 depending on the retailer it's purchased from.

Source:

http://www.babytrend.com/car_seats_flex-loc/CS31085.html