1. The look - this is a nice looking seat. I thought the black/white/grey theme was kind of nice and the material is a faux suede kind of fiber.
2. The shade - it's HUGE! I love that it covers a large portion of the seat for maximum sun protection. It's also made of a heavy canvas-like material that blocks wind well.
3. Great for small babies - I always felt like my kids' heads were flopping around in classic car seats but with this seat and even with a preemie that doesn't happen. It leaves enough head room for them to grow but not so much that they can get whiplash!
4. The strap-height adjustment dial - why isn't this standard in ALL car seats??? This is one of the main reasons that I bought this seat - you never have to re-thread the straps as your baby gets taller, you just turn the handy dial in the back - GENIUS!!!
5. The easily adjustable base - to change the tilt of the base all you have to do is push in the bar/button and voila, you're done! I never actually had occasion to use this since my backseat is already at a steep angle but I tried it out and it IS easy to use!
Okay...now on to the not-so-great things about the Baby Trend Flex-Loc Infant Car Seat - Elite. Unfortunately all of these together might have been a deal-breaker if I had known about them before I bought it.
1. The buckle - UGH! I totally don't understand the purpose of making it more difficult for a child to get INTO their carseat! It's like a mini jigsaw puzzle because the two pieces have to be fit together JUST RIGHT before they will snap into the other part! There is virtually no way to do this one-handed because I've tried...many times. Just when I think they're fit together perfectly I try to insert them into the base piece and - NADA, no dice, not happening. So if you ever have a squirmy kid (and who doesn't?) you will want to scream and throw this seat into the driveway and run over it. Repeatedly.
2. This is perhaps the DUMBEST thing I've ever heard of and I know that once I tell you, you will be sitting there saying, "WHA???" The pad/cover on this seat is NOT Have you ever tried "blotting" puke, pee, food? Some of you might be saying, "oh I bet it's fine, just throw it in the wash!" I will warn you to do this at your own peril and certanly NOT with anything else! Within the first couple of months of having this, my baby peed all over it (don't ask...)and I took a wet wash cloth and some dish soap and went at some pretty aggressive "blotting". Well, within a couple of seconds the washrag was black and the white piping on the seat was a dingy grey. :(
2.5) I'm not making this a number 3 because I didnt' feel that it necessarily detracted from the seat all that much, but the "Baby Boot" cover that goes over the end of the seat is useless. It came off the seat immediately. I have short kids and it wasn't very long at all before her feet were hitting it and it attaches so loosely that it practically falls off on it's own. The seat covers you can buy seperately are MUCH more useful!
Even though there are 5 pros and only 2 cons, I feel that the 2 cons are SO detrimental as to render this carseat a 2 out of 5 stars. So if you are seriously considering buying the Baby Trend Flex-Loc Infant Car Seat - Elite, you should decide if washability and ease of use are important to you! That being said, it IS safe, it fits the baby well and it does look nice so it's not a horrible seat!
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