Car Seats
When it comes to buying any product for my little girls I like to do my research; are there harmful chemicals in this product? Has the product passed all safety inspections, etc? I can honestly say that I might have become a bit obsessed when it came to deciding on which convertible car seats we would buy for our daughters.
I had always thought that the Diono’s were amazing car seats, especially with the steel frame and reviews that I had read. But at at least $300 each they seemed a bit unattainable. That’s a whole lot of money to spend and not really in our price range when we need to buy two.
Then I started doing my research.
There are a lot of affordable seats on the market and ones that aren’t so affordable.
If you find yourself researching convertible car seats these are some things you might want to take into consideration:
-What is the safety rating?
-How long is the expiry and the warranty?
-Any recalls and if so are they serious ones? (Some are recalled due to typos, others are recalled due to safety concerns.)
-What degree are you able to recline the seat?
-Does the harness need to be re-thread as your little one grows? (Is that a deal breaker for you?)
-How easy is it to clean?
-Weight and height restrictions?
-Seat depths (i.e. leg room)?
-Does it come with or have the option of cup holders?
These aren’t all of the items that I looked into (as aforementioned I became a bit obsessed), but these are the main ones.
After all of my research was said and done it came down to the Peg Perego vs. the Diono. It turns out that all of the front runners were actually in the same price range, so as unattainable as it initially seemed at over $600 for two seats, it was the reality of the cost no matter which seat we decided on.
We went to a small store near our home and had them install the two front runners, we then tested the girls in each seat. Both were great for a lot of different reasons but as far as roominess goes we decided to go with the…Diono!
No complaints so far, even with the ratchet system that many aren’t fans of.
When it comes buying for our babies I’ve learned that when it comes to the big items that will get the most use, sometimes you get what you pay for. That’s not to say you can’t find some great deals online so be sure to check out sales, websites and flyers and start doing your research well in advance to needing the car seats …mind you that might not be the best advice… with all of that extra time to research you might become just as obsessed as I did.
Note: I was not sponsored by either of these companies for this blog, this is just the decision that we made and this blog was not written to sway others in their decision making process.
