First Impressions

The Graco Snugsafe Carseat was one of the first high value items that we bought for Cotswold Kid and one of the most important as he was collected from the hospital in it. We chose the Graco Snugsafe as it complemented the Graco Evo XT Pushchair which we fell in love with after seeing it in action in Mothercare. I was given a demonstration of the pushchair with the car seat and loved the simple ‘click in’ mechanisms to mount the car seat into the pushchair and felt certain that this was the right travel system for us – I just had to get my partner (who was not with me) and my mum (who was buying the pushchair ) to agree!

Having seen the travel system in Mothercare, I went home and scoured the internet for reviews. I was instantly disappointed, there were very few reviews available as it was relatively new at the time and those I could find were negative. We went ahead with the pushchair purchase but delayed on buying the car seat, I was hoping more reviews would pop up and I was right but more and more negative reviews appeared which cast some doubt in my mind.

Issues raised in the Early Reviews

I visited our local Mothercare store again to look at the specific issues addressed in the negative reviews:

1. Angle of the car seat in the car meaning baby has little neck support due to upright position.

2. Tightness of straps – particularly across the legs - some reviews said straps were too tight others that it was too loose.

I saw for myself that the straps could be re-positioned in the car seat at different levels based on babies size – also further research online showed that the angle of the car seat was only an issue when used with the isofix base but this wouldn’t affect us as we would not be purchasing the base intending to use the seatbelt instead. In the end we went ahead with the purchase.

REVIEW

(Disclaimer - please note this is an independent review - I have no affiliations with Graco or its subsidiaries.)

We’ve been using the car seat for approximately 10 weeks now, CK weighs 13lbs 8oz and still fits in the car seat with no problems – he also regularly falls asleep in it. Threading the shoulder straps though the unit is a bit fiddly but not impossible and you get better with practice. To make life easier, the first thing I did when I purchased the car seat was to fully extend all straps. The straps are easily tightened once baby is strapped in by pulling the cord hanging between his legs until he is appropriately secured.

One issue I did have was the position of the buckle for the 5 point harness – further research revealed additional instructions could be obtained from Graco to move this to a different position and after emailing Graco requesting this I received them within the hour (very impressive customer service). The buckle does not extend but can be moved to a slot further forward but you have to remove it from the car seat completely and re-thread in the other slot. Once done, there is a lot more space for baby to sit and no risk of the strap cutting into his legs.

Please click the following link for instructions on adjusting this: Adjusting Graco snugsafe crotch buckle

We were satisfied with the newborn insert and the support it provided but only used this for a month due to CK's size and length. Otherwise the deep wings on the sides provide sufficient support for CK when I’m driving and I have had no issues with strapping him in the car (even 4 weeks after a c-section when I started driving).

Conclusion

To conclude – We have both been very happy with the car seat and are glad we purchased this. The car seat looks very comfortable and CK still has more growing space in the car seat (however he is a very long baby (like his parents!) so I’m not sure how much longer he will be able to continue using the car seat safely). The car seat is also smaller than the others that my friends have which also means it is lighter to carry and manoeuvre in and out of the car. The straps are very secure and CK’s head is adequately supported when he is in transit. I really do not feel the online reviews do the car seat any justice and the comments I have read are from parents who perhaps were not fully aware of how to adjust the car seat harness or who spoke to untrained staff in the stores where the seat was purchased. The only negatives are that relocating the straps can be fiddly, the instructions for this are not clear and in the case of the harness buckle are altogether missing,  once these issues have been resolved I feel this is an excellent car seat.

 Baby J at 10 weeks old in his car seat (on our sofa)

Cotswold Mum's rating (out of 5) 4/5