Graco Infant Car Seat - Platinum vs regular

questioner

Thu, Oct 14 2010, 4:37 pm

I see regular Graco carseats going for the $99 range (and if I buy on diapers.com I can get 15% back)
I also am seeing a "Graco Platinum" car seat for $130-150 in stores / online that is supposed to have more padding / better foam and a better quality material.

Anyone have any idea if this is something worth spending the extra money on or is it just a marketing thing to try and upscale it?

Hashem_Yaazor

Thu, Oct 14 2010, 9:24 pm

1. Some of them in the $99 range do not have front adjusting harnesses. Do NOT buy those.

2. There are some in the $110 range that have front adjusting harnesses and they are perfectly adequate.

3. The more expensive ones are nice, but not necessary. The extra headrest isn't even so great; you can roll up receiving blankets for a snugger newborn head support. The boot is nice, but not necessary. On some of the fabrics, there is more pilling than on the cheaper ones...Up to you if you want to spend $25 extra.

seeker

Mon, Oct 18 2010, 2:50 pm

No personal experience yet, but I've been reading the reviews around the internet...

The Graco (22-lb) carseats seem to come in 2 main varieties, one which ranges from $80-$100 (depending on store and style) and one which ranges from $130-160 or more (again, depending on store and style).

The cheaper ones generally don't seem to come with front-adjust harnesses. People are very annoyed about this, you have to somehow reach around the back of the carseat with the baby in it to get the straps right?! Pain in the neck. The front adjust has a strap you just tug from the front to fit your baby when they're in the seat.

Some reviewers complain about the fabric not being breathable, that their kid gets sweaty and uncomfortable very fast in any weather. Not sure exactly whether this correlates with price or just depends on the fabric of the individual seat, probably best bet is to go into a store with a big selection if there's one in your area (like buy buy baby) and touch to see what seems comfortable. WORST case scenario, if you're very uncomfortable with what you end up with, you can buy switchable fabric covers.

The more expensive ones have an extra layer of padding ("gracopedic"?). Some reviewers of the cheaper ones say they don't seem padded enough for comfort , their babies don't seem comfortable, they can feel the hard plastic bumps right through the padding... whatever.

Platinum is just one design, and it tends to be pretty pricey. But you can get the higher-end ones in different patterns, the prices vary. Cheapest I have seen for a higher-end one online is $110 at albeebaby.com, if you wait and compare and stuff you can find other "metziahs." but anyway $110 is only $30-40 more than the CHEAPEST of the cheap, so may be worth it for the full set of premium features.

Safety-wise I believe they're all equivalent, and top of the line too.

Also note the bigger-capacity car seats (snugride 30, 32, 35) seem to all come with the higher end features. They are all of the more expensive variety though and if your baby is petite you probably don't need the extra capacity, it'll just weigh you down.

seeker

Mon, Oct 18 2010, 9:35 pm

Hm. So I guess you need to examine the features on each individual car seat. Look, I know Graco is supposed to have great products but frankly I think this company is WEIRD; instead of having a normal amount of product lines it seems like each piece is a different permutation of designs and features. Not just the car seats, either - they have 50 different types of pack-n-plays and strollers too (like car seats, they claim to be about 3 types but each one is different somehow)

Makes shopping difficult...

seeker

Mon, Oct 18 2010, 9:56 pm

Yeah but the car seat with the front adjust harness has stripes, and the pack n play with the changing station has dots... what to do?!?! lol I am just waiting to see what goes on sale until I need it... Like I said above albeebaby has a really nice looking car seat for a great price but they have a rotten return policy and I don't see the same car seat at any place that does price matching. So for now I am waiting it out. Especially since I happen to know a certain relative gave a different relative a car seat as a baby gift... not counting on anything here but like I said I want to leave return options open.

Anyway we are so guilty of hijacking here. We may as well go back to my carseat thread. To OP's question, I think the answer was: Platinum? Why not Betsey? or Milan? or Toffee? or Dots? or Iman? or Brentwood? or (can you tell who has spent too much time looking at baby products online?)

questioner

Sun, Oct 24 2010, 7:10 pm

seeker wrote:

Anyway we are so guilty of hijacking here. We may as well go back to my carseat thread. To OP's question, I think the answer was: Platinum? Why not Betsey? or Milan? or Toffee? or Dots? or Iman? or Brentwood? or (can you tell who has spent too much time looking at baby products online?)

I don't know, why not? I thought platinum was dif. then the rest of them, just tried navigating Graco's website and can't figure out the features there either. Do all of those have front latches? What abt the extra padding?

mamaleh

Sun, Oct 24 2010, 8:40 pm

BTW I have had 2 graco infant car seats. My DD#1 is 4 and hers had front adjust. DD#2 is almost 3 weeks and has rear adjust. Personally, as annoying as the rear one can be I think it's safer. I'm less likely to loosen it to put her in (it's really not neccesary) and I often forgot to re-tighten my front adjust one. This way, if I NEED to adjust (like when she grows, IY"H) I will, but I'm not constantly playing with it.