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We liked all of the padding in the seat and felt that it was safe and secure. The fabric, while not incredibly luxurious, is soft and comfortable enough, and also easy to clean, with a removable seat pad. There’s no need to buy two car seats when you could just buy one that will grow with your child. We’ve been using the seat for 2.5 years, and it has held up great. Bulky but wonderful I’m thankful that we haven’t gotten into any car accidents so I have been able to keep the same car seat that I bought for them when they were just a few months old. My oldest has always been off the charts in her height for her age, so the extend to fit really helped give her leg room when she still was rear-facing.
We liked how easy it was to adjust once installed, and found most of the installation process to be simple. Scanning a QR code on the car seat leads to a set of simple instructions that are easy to follow, and the whole setup was fairly straightforward. The one thing our tester had trouble with was threading the seat belt through the seat, saying it felt a bit tedious. Fortunately, adjusting the buckle is easy, as is converting the seat from rear- to forward-facing position, and indicators show whether the recline position is safe. Overall, the seat has a really durable feel to it, with our tester noting that even after their daughter has kicked it multiple times, it doesn’t seem to be affected at all.
Yes, the used car seat on Facebook Marketplace might be significantly cheaper than the brand-new one you’ve been eyeing, but Dr. Hoffman doesn’t recommend buying it. “Car seats are designed to withstand a crash, so a car seat that has been in a significant crash should not be used subsequently,” he says. Moriarty also notes that you never want the seat to touch the vehicle seat in front of it. So, if your seat is in rear-facing mode, be sure the front passenger seat does not touch the car seat.
The narrowest are the Clek options at 16.9 inches, and the widest are the Cybex Eternis S and the Evenflo Gold Revolve360 both at 19.6 inches. We measure the weight and width of each car seat we test, including the forward-facing and rear-facing configuration weight and the width at the widest point (which can vary). While the convertible seat weight is likely not as important as the carrier weight of an infant seat, it can be a consideration if you travel frequently or use public transportation and need to carry it. If your seat will remain in your car most of the time, then how much it weighs might be less of a concern. The Evenflo Tribute 5 at 9.4 lbs is the highest option, while the heaviest is the Clek Foonf at over 33 lbs. We prefer the non-rethread style because it is simple, and we think busy parents will be more likely to keep the harness adequately fitted if they can accomplish this quickly without removing their child from the seat.
Given the higher price of this Graco over the others, we would have expected a little more for comfort and quality, but it is the lowest-scoring Graco in this review metric. However, it is close to the average for the group, suffering a big loss for the roughness of the fabric. There are hooks and loops to remove, and putting it back on was a chore as we couldn’t remember which one went where. Some components come off easily for quicker messes, but until you have a mess, it is hard to say how helpful this design will be. Releasing the buckle from the car is the best way to ease tension on the lock-off for trouble-free removal. The lower LATCH connectors on the Extend2Fit are the deluxe push-on style, called the InRight LATCH system by Graco, which easily snap onto the vehicle’s anchors and remove with the push of a button.
However, if you have a petite child, neither the 3-in-1’s rear-facing LATCH limit nor its harness limit are likely to become an issue. The Extend2Fit 3-in-1 is similar in appearance to the graco turbobooster Convertible; it’s not going to win any design awards, but it’s not offensive. The cover is a polyester blend that’s available in dark colors (black and dark gray) with lighter accents.
Because the seat has numerous recline angles, it can get very upright which lessens the footprint of the seat from front to back. If you have a tall driver or passenger or are just really tight on that legroom in the second or third graco convertible car seat row of your vehicle this seat is one of your best bets. Each seat has a harness tightening strap and a harness release button to loosen the straps. Some of these were harder to pull, and the buttons varied in style and ease of use.
My only tip is to get a crochet hook before attempting to put the cover on. The only slight negative about this seat is it is a little difficult to get it tight enough, so it is not great if you have to take it out of your car frequently. However, since it was less and 1/4 the price of the first car seat I purchased, I ended up buying three for the multiple vehicles my little one frequently rides in and still ended up saving money. Your child can start using a convertible car seat in the rear-facing position from the day they are born, as many convertible car seats offer weight limits that start at just 4 pounds. The AAP recommends infants and toddlers use rear-facing seats until they reach the maximum height or weight requirement, then switch to forward-facing.
Overall, it was a positive experience, but we weren’t super impressed by the final stability. Forward-facing lacks an indicator and lock-off, but it does have color coding. The pathway for forward-facing is different than rear-facing, so you need to move the strap with forward-facing being orange, blue for rear-facing, and yellow for booster mode.