Infant Car Seat

Hello Ladies,
I have been looking for a car seat to purchase and am having some trouble deciding.  I was interested in the Evenflo Discovery Infant seat only to find out the one I wanted is discontinued and these seats had a huge RECALL a year ago.  Now I am undecided between the Graco Snug Ride or the Baby Trend Flex Loc Infant seats.   I am interested in any feed back you may have with either of these car seats.

Thank you.
Nina 

I have the Baby Trend flex-loc. It was great for my son because he was tiny. Now I use it for my daughter & I really wish I had something else. The car seat is heavy & my daughter weighs 20lbs at 6 months old so it makes it extremely heavy. I do love that the straps have a button to raise them up & down also love the triangle handle.

Have you considered the chicco keyfit30? I love this carseat.

The Graco Snugride is also an excellent seat and one of the lighter carseats on the market. I used them for my twins and was very happy with them- However they reached the max height for the seat at 8 months old (well before they reached the max weight.... Graco's seem made for short, fat babies. we had to switch them to convertible car seats ( the First Years True Fit convertible car seat- AWESOME seat).

I suggest you visit a store that will let you try out different car seats in your car before you buy (most Babies R Us will allow you to test seats in the parking lot). Depending on your car, some seats may be easier to install and level than others. As much as I loved the Britax and Graco infant seats, they were extremely difficult to safely level in our Prius and the Britax was so HUGE DH couldn't sit comfortably in the front seat (he's 6'5"). Once you find one you like, you can always search online for a better price (amazon.com and nobetterdeal.com are great places to look).

Also keep in mind that the car seat rating system in the US is a Pass/Fail system. All the infants on the market have passed the same testing so it just comes down to finding one that fits your needs and preferences- what works for one baby/car/family, may not work for you.

I had the baby trend flex loc, very recommended by consumer reports!
I was quite happy with mine. As with all of them, there aren't very comfortable to carry. They seemed to fit well on most grocery carts though and Rowan always seemed pretty comfy in his.

Also, I drive a Corolla and my husband drives a Civic, and we both had plenty of room for the seats.

I would get a convertible car seat to be honest.  I got an infant seat, and now it's time to get her a convertible soon.  You can use the convertible as an infant seat.  I have the Graco myride, holds up to 40 lbs rear facing and i think 65lbs forward facing, it's the only seat you will need until they are in a booster. 

www.walmart.com/ip/Graco-Convertible-Car-Seat-Edgemont/11016 293

We had the BabyTrend.  It worked fine for us but it's the only one we ever used so I don't have anything to compare it to.  I've heard that it's one of the heavier infant seats but, honestly, once the baby starts getting heavier, any seat is going to seem heavy. 

You can get a convertible seat and skip the infant carrier stage all together but the carrier really is handy in the early months before the baby can sit in a high chair, shopping cart, stroller, etc.  You WILL get tired of hauling that thing around, though. 

I don't know the weight limits on the ones you're looking at, but I made sure to get one with a higher weight limit this time around because my first child was a super chunk and outgrew the infant bucket when it was still really cold outside and before she could sit up in a shopping cart.  That sucked.  I liked wearing her in a sling or carrier sometimes, but not while I was grocery shopping.  At any rate, I bought a Safety 1st OnBoard 35 and it's pretty decent.  A plus with it is that it fits even really small babies well.  

 Thank you for all the information and input, I did not know that Babies R Us will let you test out the seats for fit.  I may have to try that to help me decide.  Thank you again, this board is so wonderful to get advice and opinions from.