safety first guide 65

TiffanyT85

Has anyone used the safety first guide65 convertible carseat?

I went to bru on the weekend and measured carseat depth at an angle, i.e. how much room it will take in the backseat. It is much smaller than the other seats I was looking at, and still has a 65 lb limit and pretty tall harnesses. It also rear faces to 36inches, so we should be able to rear face past a year which I like.

It seems like a great deal at 135 canadian, but I'm just wondering if anyone has experience with it.

Thanks in advance!

lancyjo

We have this seat (the pink one, Lydia) in my hubs' truck. We're happy with it so far. (we've been using it about 8 months)

It was easy to install, and the cover is easy to clean. Hubs had his rear windshield shattered a few months ago while helping my mom with a project. We took the cover off and machine washed it twice in a row, and it came out looking as good as new. I let it air dry. I didn't trust it in the dryer. The material seems comfy, and I've never pulled Aria out of it sweaty. (which is a big plus. She was always sweaty in the infant seat)

I love the side-impact head wings. (That's just a must on any car seat we have.)

My only two complaints? I don't like the continuous harness on the bottom. The Britax in my car doesn't have this, and I think it makes the Britax easier to use. Hubs, however prefers the continuous harness, so I guess this is personal preference. My other complaint is that the latches twist on the straps pretty much every time we get Aria out of it. It only takes about 3 seconds to straighten them though.

All in all, it's a nice seat, especially for the price. We're happy with it.

TiffanyT85

Thanks lancyjo,

I Really appreciate all the info.  Our infant seat has the continuous harness, and that doesn't really bother me since I'm used to it now.

Do you find the seat to be smaller rear facing than your britax? 

lancyjo

Yes and no.

It is actually smaller rear facing, but I have more room in my car (2011 Chevy Malibu) to move my seat back with the Britax. -we put it behind the driver's seat- I think this is because the Britax is up on a base, so the tallest point of the shell hits above the back of the driver's seat, right at the headrest. This let my hubs (who is 6'3") still be able to move the seat back as far as he needed it, as long as he bumped the driver's seat headrest up. (which he has to do anyway, since he's so much taller than me)

The Safety First isn't on a base, so its tallest shell point hit right in the middle of the back of the driver's seat. It didn't let us move the driver's seat back very far at all. That's why we put it in my hubs' truck (2011 Toyota Tundra CrewMax). The truck has a ton of cabin room, so car seat size didn't matter. Anything will fit in the back seat of that truck.

(I'm sorry if absolutely none of that made sense!)

I think that BRU would let you take it out to your car and test it for fit. That might be your best option.

TiffanyT85

That does make sense to me, I was wondering if that would be the case when I was measuring the seats in bru.  I drive a mazda3, and the snugride35 we have right now is pretty tight so I don't want to have to move the passenger seat up any more than it is right now.  Thanks!

cyprissa

I have the pink one as my travel seat. We have a Radian and a Roundabout 55 in our regular cars but they are too heavy to tote through an airport.

The seat seems really comfortable and the shell, while not extremely tall does still work rearfacing for my 22 month old who is generally between the 60-80% percentiles.

FmrAFBrat

We have one in my DHs BWM 328xi (08) rear facing with no problems.  I really should get a picture, because when it's angled for over 22 lbs-they passenger seat can still go all the way back-not the back rest part of course.  It fits really nicely in small cars.  More so than any infant seat we tried. (We actually were looking at Maxi Cosi-bc a lot of BMW people like them, however this is made by the same company, it just doesn't have a base which IMO is fine because the BMW seat is at an angle anyways & makes installing any car seat a PITA, esp with a base. Plus this is a car DS doesn't ride in everyday).

The only thing is like PP said-the straps twist sometimes if you are not careful.  I have the onBoard Air 65 for my car & it doesn't twist like that.

The seat is really padded & is really roomy for DS....even though it takes up minimal backseat space.  We have another one I got for my mom's car.

 

TiffanyT85

Thanks for all the info.  I think we will probably get it, but were going to wait until DS has outgrown his infant seat.