Hello,
I'm a first time mom to an 8 month old baby girl who doesn't like her infant seat anymore and am looking for the best convertible car seat for her. I'll number my priorities from most important to least:
1) High height-limit: I'd like to keep her rear-facing as much as possible. She's 28 in and weighs 17 lbs and seems to have a long torso. Therefore I'm more concerned about her outgrowing her car seats because of height rather than weight.
2) Easy to install correctly (safety always) in different vehicles aka built-in seat belt lock-offs?: Our main car is a 2007 Nissan Versa Hatchback but we find ourselves riding in our families' cars (which range from compact cars to a 12 passenger van) very often so we need a car seat that can be installed correctly in different vehicles and with passengers and/or other car seats around.
2.5) Can be easily installed correctly in center seat of most, if not all vehicles (safest place right?)
3) Budget-friendly: Who doesn't like to save...
4) Narrow and with a long life-span: We do plan on our little family growing and would like to not have to keep purchasing car seats because we find out they don't fit with each other, etc...
So far, the car seats on my radar based on my research are:
Chicco NextFit
Clek Foonf
Clek Fllo
Diono Radian R100
Evenflo SureRide
Graco Head Wise
Graco My Size
Graco Size4Me
Safety 1st Advance 70 Air + (Plus)
Safety 1st Elite Air 80
The First Years True Fit Premier C670
The First Years True Fit SI C680/I-Alert C685
Am I missing any? Which of these or others would you recommend based on my priorities? Should I prioritize something else or not worry so much about something? Any info is appreciated! Thanks so much for reading and for taking the time to help me!