Shopping for a car seat these days can feel almost as complicated as buying an actual car. There are a million different options and features to choose from, and then — of course — there's the price tag to consider. For parents looking for an affordable, long-lasting seat from a reliable manufacturer, you might be interested in the new Evenflo EveryFit 4-in-1 Convertible Car Seat.
This shmancy new seat is meant to see a kid through their first decade of automobile travel, from infancy to the tween years. Naturally, the first thing every parent wants to know about a car seat is, is it safe? Well, this baby boasts all the latest in car seat technology. It's built with the SureSafe Installation System, and follows the LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) guidelines. It also has side impact protection, and can be installed in four different ways. It can be rear-facing with a harness, or forward-facing with a harness. It can be used as a backless booster, or as a belt-positioning high-back booster.
In addition, it's covered with a "cooling mesh fabric" that's machine washable, removable cushions and a removable snack tray, and two cup holders — one for the sippy and one for the crayons/crumbs/sticky action figures/acorns that somehow always manage to find their way into the car.
It also claims to have an "easy-to-adjust re-thread harness." Which, if true, is indeed a nice feature, as few things will make you want to shake your fist at the heavens in despair quite like struggling to re-thread a carseat harness through those tiny, GoGo squeeZ-encrusted slits...
"Great!" You say. But... is it stylish? Is it sleek and modern, and when I drive to Target will it make my baby look like a little space explorer starring in Interstellar 2? Yeah, pretty much. It comes in the standard car seat black and gray, but parents do have the option of choosing between teal, pink, and gray accents. (Or "Atlas," "Augusta," and "Olympus.")
But the main draw, really, is the price. While this is certainly not the only 4-in-1 convertible seat on the market, it's certainly one of the most affordable. If you take a quick peek at Amazon, you can see that one of Graco's convertible seats is listed at $229.99, while a Chicco 4-in-1 is $349.99. This makes Evenflo's $189.99 price tag pretty appealing.
The EveryFit is supposedly built to last, made for children weighing from 4 pounds all the way to 120 pounds. Which may be hard to get your head around if you're currently pregnant, or are holding a teeny baby too small to even fill out a onesie. I know it's probably hard to imagine a car seat being there all the way from the gumming-dry-Cheerios-and-reading-Goodnight-Moon phase, all the way to the gobbling-Cheetos-and-reading-Babysitters-Club days.
And then, I mean, when you think about it, once they're finally out of the car seat, they'll only be a few years away from driving themselves! I mean really, you may as well price out their dorm furniture while you're buying the Evenflo, right???
Sorry. Deep breaths. No need to cast one's eyes that far ahead! Just take it one day at a time. And enjoy every second of those car seat days — all of the screams, the drool, the giggles, and the endless, repeated requests for "Old Town Road".
