Picking the right convertible car seat may be an overwhelming task for parents. With so many models, features, brands and manufacturers to choose from, it is easy to get disoriented. That’s why we at Convertible Car Seat Guide try to help you make that important decision with convertible car seat reviews, price comparison charts, useful how-to guides and new from the industry.

With that goal in mind, we have created this short guide for choosing the right convertible car seat for your family. This article will give you some basic tips about car seats, models, types, price ranges, brands and various technical features. While it won’t give you a definite answer to which exact model to choose, it will help you narrow down the choices. After that, you can always refer to our in-depth car seat reviews for more information. There you will find everything you need to know about each car seat model and make the final decision. If that is not enough, we even featured customer reviews so you can read what other parents think about specific car seat.

This guide for choosing the best car seat will start with an overview of most important convertible car seat features such as safety, comfort, adjustability and installation. Then we will give you some general tip for picking the right car seat and finally, we will talk about where and how to buy a car seat once you decide which model to go with. While we prefer online shopping for several key reasons, we are aware that price may vary greatly. That’s why we created a short buying guide and presented the best online stores for car seats.

Most Important Convertible Car Seat Features

Safety is arguably the most important issue for every parent. Keeping your child safe is the top priority so naturally, safety features are most analyzed when it comes to car seats. There are numerous safety features that may be included in a car seat. More expensive, or premium car seats are extremely safe, but even the cheaper car seats are pretty safe today. Some of the safety features are:

• 5-point harness – usually gives the best fir and reduces the chances of ejection in case of a car crash.
• Twist-free strap – reduces the area that restrains the child in case of a crash and prevents burns or other sever injuries.
• Front harness adjustment – reduces the overall risk of injury in case of a crash, by reducing the forward movement of the head.
• Built-in locking clips – they enable a tighter fit when attaching the car seat to a car seat.
• Seat belt routing path – in addition to built-in locking clips, they can ease the installation in some vehicles, also make it easier to actually route the belt from one side to the other with openings in the fabric cover for your hands.
• Infant carriers with bases – most carriers can be installed in the vehicles without the base, but it really increases the overall safety of an infant as well as helps with the installation immensely.
• Head impact protection – child’s head is extremely vurnerable during the crash, so extra head protection is always more than welcome. Some car seats have the EPS foam laye added into the head area. It is usually recessed into the plastic shell of the seat around the head and drasticly improves the safety in side impacts, rear impacts and rebounds in frontal crashes.
• Wings for sleeping and protection – Some models have wide, padded wings on each side of the head.  These are not only helpful to keep a child’s head upright while sleeping, but they can also help to keep the child’s head from hitting hard objects during a rebound in a side or rear impact.

While the safety is an absolute priority when it comes to car seats, you really want your child to feel comfortable in it, especially on longer trips. Otherwise children become irritated and then you usually don’t have a good time. Always try to pick a model that has some extra comfort features such as head rest, additional padding, quality fabrics, arm rest etc.

Easy installation is also more than welcome when it comes to car seats. Chances are you won’t just install the car seat once. So you really should check out what other customers say about a specific car seat model. Most car seats have LATCH system which really makes it easy to install car seats in any newer car model. But still, there are some other minor details that you should take into consideration, such as size, base, connectors etc.

General Tips For Convertible Car Seats

Always read your car seat manual and vehicle owner’s manual. Not only will the car seat manual help you to install your seat correctly, it will give you height and weight guidelines that must be followed for that particular seat. The vehicle owner’s manual will assist you in locating the proper tether/UAS points in your vehicle as well as where you can or cannot install a car seat.

Never use aftermarket products in your car seats. This includes replacement seat covers, head huggers and cuddle bags that have not been provided by the manufacturer. If you want to keep your baby warm in their infant seat, a shower cap style cover is considered a safe option, but not anything that goes behind babies back. These items may interfere with the way your car seat functions in a collision.

Best Place To Buy Convertible Car Seats

As we mentioned before, we really prefer the online shopping and there are few very good reasons for that. First one is the fact that it is so accessible and fast. With just a couple of clicks you are in the store browsing the products. It is a great time saver. Second, you can see what other parents say about each model while in the local store, salesman will always try to sell whatever he/she can.

However, we strongly suggest you watch out where you are shopping. Prices may vary greatly depending on the store. So far, Amazon.com showed the best deals and prices overall, so we suggest you check them out first.