Graco snugride 22 vs Graco Snugide 35

Dev80

Sun, May 29 2011, 1:08 pm

I'm having the same dilemma, good thing you posted this.

Not in terms of lifting, but in terms of being able to use it in the car, is anyone happy they ended up getting the 35 because they could use it much longer? (I don't have a car, but for the few times we'll take taxis)

Mommy3.5

Sun, May 29 2011, 1:13 pm

I got rid of my safeseat (up to 30 lbs) and got a snugride 22. One of the reasons was it was just too heavy to schlep. I actually did some damage to my shoulder lifting it. It took months for me to be able to raise my arms, and even now 2 years later it acts up occasionally. If you have a 22 lb baby, you cannot go carrying the seat in and out.

Also while my son fit into his carseat at a year, 22 lbs, he was already 33 inches and outgrew the seat that way. so if you think buying a higher weight carseat will last longer, it is not necessarily going to. Even the safeseat and snugride 35 have small height limits.

And finally, the infant seat angle is at a deeper recline then a convertible seat that rear faces. When my son was a year he was miserable in the deep recline infant seat. A one year old is already a toddler, they want to sit up more, you have that option in a convertible, not in a high weight limit infant seat. The only babies who would be better off in a seat like this is a 30 lb six month old, and most babies are simply not that big. My gigantic nephew is 22 lbs at 8 months, and it would be hard to imagine an 8 month old bigger then he is.

I would say 80% of babies don’t outgrow a 22 lbs limit before a year, I totally would go with the smaller seat.

nylon

Sun, May 29 2011, 3:24 pm

The 22 is very small. If you have big babies, there's an excellent chance baby will outgrow the 22 before you really want them to be out of the bucket. I've known too many babies who outgrew the 22 by 4-6 months. It's not that uncommon. The height limit is 29", but big babies just look cramped in there.

The 35 is huge, and it's heavy, and I think it's a bit of overkill.

FWIW, my seat with my first had a 29 lb limit, and that was about right. She outgrew it at 11 months (I held on to the bitter end, because it was the UK and once she outgrew that seat she had to go forward facing.)

Have you looked at either the 30 or 32? I'm biased because I have behemoth children (#1 outgrew a Boulevard by seated shoulder height at 3.5) but I'm looking at those--I think #2 (already 95th percentile) is just going to outgrow a 22 too quickly.

IMO, there's a reason 22 lbs is fading as the bucket max, and manufacturers are going to 30.

MMCH

Sun, May 29 2011, 3:38 pm

I got teh 35 not even knowing there's a difference!! my first baby, I picked one out online based on the print alone, and my husband went to go get it when we had to come home. I have to admit that it is very heavy..however my baby is 8 months and still fits in very nicely and she wasnt a tiny baby at all. (7'15!!)
soo besides lifting her (which I dont do any more bc she doesnt really sit in it that much I didnt mind it.

mommyhood

Sun, May 29 2011, 4:54 pm

I thought about buying the 35 lb carseat and I'm so happy I didn't. The money was not the deciding factor is was the extra weight. I can barely lift the carseat as it is, there's no way I could shlep the extra 5 pounds. I do have big babies and my baby outgrew the height and weight limit it at about 10 months but I just bought a convertible carseat and used it rear facing until she turned 1.

Hashem_Yaazor

Sun, May 29 2011, 9:18 pm

Go for the smaller one IF you have a car -- as others said you won't want to carry such a heavy one, and you'd end up using it less than the 22 lb one which is much lighter!
(BTW, your baby should be RF WAY past 1. At LEAST till 2. So you need a convertible anyway.)

If you don't have a car, a 35 lb infant seat might do better for you as it's easier to transport (in a snap n go) to bring in and out of taxis instead of carrying a bulky convertible...but then you have to decide if it's worth it for you (how many taxis vs busses, how many times are you by yourself vs with husband, etc).

spring13

Sun, May 29 2011, 11:04 pm

I got the 35 with a 20% off coupon at Babies R Us, and didnt think the price had been so different anyway. I picked it b/c it seemed significantly cushier than the 22. also, convertible seats are a LOT bulkier than infant seats, so I'm glad I was able to have the extra backseat room as long as I did.

honestly, I'm not the type to schlep my baby around in the carseat at all times, until LO outweighs the thing anyway. I don't care how heavy the seat itself is, by the time your kid weighs 20 pounds, it's time to start using a regular stroller/shopping cart anyway, or finding a better/easier mode of transport.

I had a snap n go, and used it for 6 months, but that was a stretch. and I was wearing DD in a front carrier for shopping trips and lots of walks anyway, and had graduated to a cart seat cover so she could sit up before she outgrew the snugride as well.

I just don't understand why people are so afraid to remove their kid from the carseat. honestly, its much more of a pain now that she's older (and in a convertible), b/c she squirms and fights being buckled down. when she was tiny enough to be carried around in the infant seat, she didn't do that.

I never had a problem with getting a sleeping baby into the front carrier either; she'd go right back sleep once she was cozy in place, if she woke up at all.

skazm, if I remember right, you're interested in soft structured carriers and mei tais. in that case, remember them when you're tempted to haul the carseat (22 or 35!) around all over the place!

skazm

Mon, May 30 2011, 10:31 am

I'm pretty strong so I'm not afraid to shlep... I just don't want to blow money on a 35 carseat if the kid is going to BH outgrow it maybe a month faster... but thanks for all the advice!

the thing is, I'm getting a City Mini IYH and it fits into the stroller (you have to pay for the adapter) so say the kid is sleeping in the carseat and you have to go somewhere you don't have to take him out and deposit him in the stroller - and I didn't think to get a travel system or snap n go bc a City mini is really easy to use and once it starts getting worn u can just change the wheels....

Dev80

Tue, May 31 2011, 6:00 am

I still can't decide what to go with.... the 22 or the 35! I'm not due for a bit but some one is coming who can bring it and we were told by our rav that we can order it, so I need to decide in the next couple of weeks.

I'm pretty small so either way it's going to be heavy for me, but I don't have a car, it's more for the few times we'll take taxis here and there, to bring the baby home from the hospital, iy"H, and I'll probably use it in the beginning with my stroller so my baby can face me. So, for something I won't use so frequently, maybe it would be nice to have up until the 35 so that I can use it until the baby is like 1.5 years even? Or by then maybe the baby will be to long for it anyway? Well, either way, iy"H it'll last through more than one kid so it's an investment either way.

skazm

Tue, May 31 2011, 10:06 am

yeah, spring13, that's me - totally interested in carriers - but if that kid is sleeping I don't want to wake him up is the thing... and I know that the car seat (for actual sitting in the car vs carrying purposes) is supposed to be a good one which is the main point. I will need to shlep him up and down the twenty stairs in the front of my house, which is a consideration ..and yeah, we have a car..

spring13

Tue, May 31 2011, 12:03 pm

I'm a shorty, so carrying the carseat around was a pain b/c I had to hold my arm at an awkward angle to keep it from dragging on the ground. and at the supermarket, putting it on top of the cart means that I can't see where I'm going. don't know how tall you are, but that's a consideration!

for a newborn especially though, transferring to a carrier doesn't bug them so much; seriously, she fell asleep again very quickly. and if you have lots of stairs to go up...I'd want my hands free too.

all of this has nothing to do with which seat is better for you though, its just about my own special brand of laziness. honestly, I don't think either would be a big mistake. if you haven't signed up for Babies R Us rewards though, do it now. you'll start getting coupons in the mail, and can use one to bring down the cost of whichever one you do decide you want.

wifey

Thu, Jun 02 2011, 8:54 pm

I have the 22 and wish I had bought the 32 or 35. My baby is taller and might outgrow the height soon and thats a shame because when he is sleeping I will hate having to wake him just because we got somewhere. He still fits weight wise but especially now that rear facing is advised until age 2 I wish I had gotten the bigger bucket.

Dev80

Fri, Jun 03 2011, 12:39 am

I decided I'm going with the 35...neither my husband and I are particularly tall or large (let's just say we're both well under 5'5...), and one of the big complaints I saw about the 35 on amazon reviews is that the kid reaches 32" way before they hit 35 lbs, and then it's useless. Also, the actual car seat withoutw the base only seems to weigh about 3 lbs more, so that's not SUCH a difference.

Also, here in e"y I'll probably be using it very differently then those in America. The car seat will snap into my stroller, so it'll be the way for my baby to be rear facing in the beginning, and then the few times we will take cabs I'll take it out of the stroller, put it in the cab, and reverse for when we exit the cab. Thank G-d we're on a ground floor, at least for now, so I'll bring baby and stroller and car seat into house, and wallah!

Basically...I've spent way to much time thinking about this...but I'm happy I finally made a decision!