Jump to content

Car seats and strollers


Lizziedog
 Share

Recommended Posts

Need suggestions for best inexpensive car seat for airplane travel. I think the graco forever will be too cumbersome. Any travel stroller suggestions for ship. Any other tips will be appreciated:cool:

Our grandchild will be one by the time we travel next year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Need suggestions for best inexpensive car seat for airplane travel. I think the graco forever will be too cumbersome. Any travel stroller suggestions for ship. Any other tips will be appreciated:cool:

Our grandchild will be one by the time we travel next year.

 

Our grandson will be 14 months old when we fly in November to our cruise. We decided to not have to lug around a bulky car seat for him and instead have found an FAA approved harness that can be used in a purchased airplane seat. The harness is good for 1 year olds to 4 years old weighing from 22 pounds to 40 pounds. We have hired a car service to pick us up at the airport and they will provide a carseat for the trip from the airport and also for the return trip back to the airport. This item can be found on Amazon or purchased directly from the manufacturer. Child Airplane Travel Harness - Cares Safety Restraint System - The Only FAA Approved Child Flying Safety Device - cost is $69.99.

We are actually looking forward to trying this out as this year we are flying to Fort Lauderdale but next year our cruise is out of Barcelona, Spain.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have a Graco Contender 65 which is pretty light (15 lbs), and we strap it to a roller bag with a strap we bought called the Traveling Toddler. Then you can just let it roll along with the bag and don't have to pick it up and carry it very often. We have an Inglesina Net stroller, which is very light and folds up compactly, but I'm not sure it's worth the price. I see a lot of lightweight strollers online that are $50-60 and I'm sure would be fine.

 

I think the CARES harness is a good option, but so far there's never been a trip where we didn't need the car seat for other reasons.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When we have traveled (fly/cruise) with two toddler grandsons we use the Safety 1st Guide 65 Sport (best priced at Walmart)...very light weight and fits into the airline seat well and is FAA approved. We have tried to use the CARES system but at very young ages (under 2) it didn't work out well.

 

We use the Mountain Buggy Nano stroller...light weight and all the features we have needed. Has it's own carrying case (looks like a small carry on when folded into it's bag) and fits easily into the overhead airlines bins of all the carriers we've flown.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Safety 1st Guide 65 often has installation quirks. So, I wouldn't risk bringing it on a trip to install in unfamiliar cars.

Yes, Graco 4ever will be cumbersome to travel with.

for a 1 yo I'd get Cosco Scenera NEXT. It's a rearfacing seat only, and will rearface an average kiddo to about 2.5-3 years of age. It's outgrown in forward facing mode before rear facing mode, but for $34-40 price it's a great travel seat. Install with seat belt (not latch).

Also great to use on planes. Check the images:

https://community.babycenter.com/post/a57092524/cosco_scenera_next_on_a_chicco_liteway_plus

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Safety 1st Guide 65 often has installation quirks. So, I wouldn't risk bringing it on a trip to install in unfamiliar cars.

Yes, Graco 4ever will be cumbersome to travel with.

for a 1 yo I'd get Cosco Scenera NEXT. It's a rearfacing seat only, and will rearface an average kiddo to about 2.5-3 years of age. It's outgrown in forward facing mode before rear facing mode, but for $34-40 price it's a great travel seat. Install with seat belt (not latch).

Also great to use on planes. Check the images:

https://community.babycenter.com/post/a57092524/cosco_scenera_next_on_a_chicco_liteway_plus

We've installed our Safety 1st Guide 65 (actually two of them traveling with extended family that included two toddler grandsons) on Alaska Air, Jet Blue, Delta & American Airlines and a variety of rental car makes and models with no problems...Sorry you ran into some "installation quirks".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Safety 1st Guide 65 (and its current clone Cosco MIghtyfit) is notorious for needing a pool noodle or a pyramid of three in many vehicles in order to install it securely in a rear facing mode. I am not making it up, and it's not just "my personal experience with installation quirks".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Safety 1st Guide 65 (and its current clone Cosco MIghtyfit) is notorious for needing a pool noodle or a pyramid of three in many vehicles in order to install it securely in a rear facing mode. I am not making it up, and it's not just "my personal experience with installation quirks".

YIKES :eek::eek: Calm down....I was offering our experience with our toddlers...I certainly didn't say you were "making it up"...but glad you have the experience to speak for others...I prefer to give my personal experience only on these boards. Take it or leave it for other's to use or not ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Cosco Scenera NEXT is a very lightweight option.

 

As far as compact strollers, we have a gb Pockit, it folds down to next to nothing, fits under an airline seat, and folds/unfolds really easily. It is a bit spendier than umbrella strollers, but the extra space was worth it to me.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have tried to use the CARES system but at very young ages (under 2) it didn't work out well.

 

I am a big fan of CARES, and we used it dozens of times. In particular on Southwest where we'd not buy tickets for the kids, but almost always could grab them a seat after the door closed.

 

However, we had the same experience when the kids were that small: the harness will only get so small, and even when they get big enough that it's somewhat tight it's nearly parallel to the seat back so it allows for a lot of sideways motion. That said... still much better than having a human try to hold a baby/toddler in a crash of heavy turbulence scenario.

 

Ours were purchased ~7.5 years ago, so it's possible CARES has updated the device.

 

 

A funny tangent: the only time I ever had issues with a car seat in a rental was when I tightened that SOB down and didn't realize the belt was twisted. This was a LATCH system hook up, and I could not get the buckle to release enough slack to get the belt out. I almost got to the point of cutting it out, but then we wouldn't have had a car seat to get home from the airport. After maybe 15 minutes of wrestling with this thing, dripping sweat and swearing (once or twice), I got the inch of slack required to get that thing out. I never made that mistake again. :')

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This was a LATCH system hook up, and I could not get the buckle to release enough slack to get the belt out. I almost got to the point of cutting it out, but then we wouldn't have had a car seat to get home from the airport.
even if you cut the latch belt, you can still install the car seat with a seat belt in any car.

 

Another tangent: many people do not realize that latch anchors have a weight limit. It's car and seat dependent, but in most cars the rule is - once your kid reaches 40# (or the weight of the car seat + child's weight reaches 65#), you must switch to a seat belt install.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

even if you cut the latch belt, you can still install the car seat with a seat belt in any car.

 

Good point, I guess the heat got to me. Over the several years though, I never installed a seat using the belt directly. I did not know about the LATCH weight limit either, though I'm sure the Factor of Safety is very high on those LATCH points.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

latch is just a convenience feature and it has a weight limit, whereas a regular seat belt is designed to keep a 300# person in place. They are equally safe up until that weight limit, but latch is no longer safe to use once the kid + car seat combination exceeds the allowed lower anchor weight limit (usually 65# total).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...