Travel Systems: Graco vs. Chicco

cuppaco · December 2011

Graco is the recommended car seat in the baby bargains book, but most of the new moms I know have a Chicco travel system.

Help me choose.

sarabrn · December 2011

My SIL and friends have all used Graco- that's what we are going with

SteelCity44 · December 2011

Consumer Reports rates the Chicco car seats much higher, and the stroller the comes with the seat is also rated higher. Plus, according to numerous reviews that I've seen, and from experience of relatives, the car seat base is easier with the Chicco.

Caronl · December 2011

I love the Graco Car Seat! I would get the lighter weight limit one, because I don't think you need the higher limits given that you won't be carrying baby around in it that long- it gets REALLY heavy!

HeatherAA10 · December 2011

DH and I were all set to get a Graco when we went to the store and actually played around with it. The infant car seat/carrier does NOT snap in well to the stroller base - you can simply lift baby and carrier right out with barely any strength needed at all (ie: it seemed like a small child playing around (or an adult who handled it slightly wrong) could tip the baby over 1,2,3). Chicco carrier snapped in and you could literally lift the whole stroller up by the carrier handle (not that you would ever do that, but that's how well it snapped in). Needless to say, we went with Chicco.

reillyroowho · December 2011

Hands down go with the Chicco. It is safer than the Graco and not that much more expensive. A good friend of mine is a firefighter who does free installs of car seats and she said that the Chicco is crash tested at a much higher speed because the laws outside of the US are much stricter (Chicco is an Itallian company). She told me that Chicco, Britax, Peg Perego etc. are required to test above 60mph where Evenflo, Graco and other US companies only have to crash test just above 30mph. After I heard that my decision was an easy one. She also told me that the Chicco is her favorite to install because it is the EASIEST to do correctly. Hope this helps!

MelBelle42 · December 2011

We're going with the Chicco as well. Baby Bargains gave both the Chicco and the Graco an "A," but mentioned that the Chicco ranked higher in Consumer Reports and has extra side impact protection that the Graco does not. So between that and the fact that we liked the Chicco better when we went and played with it in the store, we decided to go with the Chicco!

Rudytudy87 · December 2011

Dh and I played with them monday in the store and both liked Chicco. He was afraid with graco that the seat would not snap in good or could be tipped back towards the floor and might break with weight.

countdowntolockdown · December 2011

We got the Chicco because of its Consumer Reports rating. The stroller is not lightweight though, but I'm not a city Mama.

dojo1 · December 2011

Baby bargains doesn't recommend travel systems, bulky and not great quality. They say you're better off buying a good stroller with an adapter to hold your good quality infant carrier. I bought the City Select and will be pairing it with the peg Perego viaggio sip. The infant carrier will go on the stroller just like a travel system.

greenkitty98 · December 2011

We will be using the Graco car seat that we got with DS, but I will be getting a double stroller (probably the Joovy Caboose) to use it with so DS and baby will both have a ride. The Graco seat was easy to install (the car seat tech wasn't able to move it more than a 1/4" pulling with all his weight), and it always snapped in our stroller very firmly (you could pretty much lift the stroller with it). There were a couple of red tabs near the back of the stroller that went over that side of the seat to hold it in place. I could see how it might look like you could tip it over if those were not used correctly.

SteelCity44 · December 2011

DO-JO:
Baby bargains doesn't recommend travel systems, bulky and not great quality. They say you're better off buying a good stroller with an adapter to hold your good quality infant carrier. I bought the City Select and will be pairing it with the peg Perego viaggio sip. The infant carrier will go on the stroller just like a travel system.

Yeah, that's a $500 stroller with a $300 car seat. Most people that have to buy those crappy travel systems can't afford anything like that. I'm assuming OP is one of those consumers, since she's considering either a Graco or a Chicco, for those of us on a tight budget.

kkfeb04 · December 2011

greenkitty98:
We will be using the Graco car seat that we got with DS, but I will be getting a double stroller (probably the Joovy Caboose) to use it with so DS and baby will both have a ride. The Graco seat was easy to install (the car seat tech wasn't able to move it more than a 1/4" pulling with all his weight), and it always snapped in our stroller very firmly (you could pretty much lift the stroller with it). There were a couple of red tabs near the back of the stroller that went over that side of the seat to hold it in place. I could see how it might look like you could tip it over if those were not used correctly.

I was just going to say this. I loved my Graco Travel system. I never had any issues with it. We are going to be retiring the stroller today though as our new City Select was just delivered with DS's new furniture. We will still use the Graco car seat though. We were going to get the Graco Quattro Tour Duo but it was too tall to fit in our trunk. We also have the Graco My Ride 65 and DS is still RFing at 36" without any issue whatsoever.