Baby Trend Hybrid Plus 3 in 1 Car Seat Reviews

Babe Trend's sleek booster may not be the smart option parents are hoping for.

The Infant Tendency Hybrid Booster 3-in-1 Car Seat is one of the more than attractive car seats that I've seen for kids. Just like the other popular convertible car seats/ booster seats on the market, it claims to assist go on your child safe for many years. While the features are great, it seems that comfort and function may accept been overlooked by Baby Trend when this car seat was designed.

As an alternative bank check out the Britax Skyline two-Stage Belt-Positioning Booster Car Seat.

Hybrid Capabilities

Permit'south talk first about the most desirable selling point of this machine seat- the fact that it's hopefully the concluding seat you'll ever buy for your kid. Since it's front-facing only, y'all have to start that happily e'er after once your child is old enough for a front-facing seat. One time your kiddo is good to go forward, usually at 22-50 pounds, they can use the first stage of the seat: the standard forward-facing motorcar seat, aka harnessed booster.

At thirty to 100 pounds, they can switch the machine seat into a loftier back booster seat. Finally, at l pounds upwards to 100 pounds, the seat morphs into a backless booster chair. This changing capability is music to parents' ears. Any piece of multi-tasking baby gear gets a good class in my book.

Phase to stage is crude. The downside of this detail hybrid car seat is that changing it from one stage to another is a imperial pain. Most convertible car seats or booster seats make it pretty piece of cake to remove a few parts to make it into the booster chair.

This car seat didn't make things and so easy. The instructions look easy, but adjusting the headrest to get it all the way up and removing the rubber harness took manner too long to do. Even a college pedagogy did not aid me to figure out the transition easily, and it took a couple of hours to practice.

Belt guides aren't keen. One time you get it into the 2d stage, the Babe Trend Hybrid Booster iii-in-1 is overnice and all, but the seat chugalug never seemed to sit right. With this stage, the seat belt from the automobile is used to secure your kiddo. There are some belt guides on the shoulder, simply they are really difficult to find and fifty-fifty harder to get the belt through. Plus, this means you have to use to latch system to install the motorcar seat, which is no fun with this model (keep reading to run into why).

How-to & Way Video

Going in the Car

Earlier yous can get the car seat in the automobile and brainstorm your hybrid booster seat journey, you have to put the seat together. Even so again, my college education was of no apply during these efforts. Fifty-fifty my engineer father-in-constabulary had to put some real thought and muscle into putting the seat together.

It was so difficult to get into the base, and it'south pitiful knowing that it'll exist just every bit tough to remove the base when I want to convert the chair to some other stage. Once put together, though, the chair looks really squeamish and has a very modern pattern.

Even worse to install. I have installed my off-white share of car seats. I similar to call up that I've mastered the latching technique at this signal. Boy, did this booster prove me wrong. It had me wondering if I attached the latch belts wrong to the seat, if I attached them wrong to the car tethers, and even if my car tethers were defective.

My final conclusion is that the seat blueprint is the thing that's wrong. The way the latch belts attached to the seat in the first place is a bit wonky, and that makes them actually hard to tighten. The seat, once totally installed to my best power, simply didn't seem very secure.

Lightweight and not bulky. At present to the bully part of the seat going in the car: its size. There was then much legroom for my kid! Information technology wasn't heavy to put in and out of the car since it simply weighs about 18 pounds. Plus, the seat was only about nineteen inches broad, so it doesn't grunter the whole back seat. This was so nice considering once my son was ready to face forward, I was so over those big bulky car seats that accept up the whole automobile and leave everyone squished.

Look here for the top-rated booster seat, where we review all the leading brands.

Comfort Features for Littles

6 Position Headrest. This is 1 of the best features for the kids. The headrest tin can move into dissimilar positions to help suit each child'southward height as they grow. This was nice because I could put the headrest right where I needed information technology for skilful side impact protection and practiced head support during those wonderful car naps.

However, the headrest doesn't just glide up or down. It is so hard to position. I had to accept the seat out of the machine and really musculus information technology into place because I just couldn't get a practiced angle to practice it from the back of my SUV. Once you lot motion it a few times, it does get a little easier, and so future transitions should be alright.

Cup holders. I didn't know how smashing car seat loving cup holders were until I actually had one. My days of passing back a drinkable every 10 minutes were over. The Baby Trend Hybrid has 2 beautiful cup holders, 1 on each side. They are big enough to fit a decent-sized cup (dare I acknowledge to saying a Happy Meal beverage?) or a h2o bottle or a sippy cup. Plus, they tin can put snacks in the other side. No more bugging mommy for each fiddling sip or snack! That makes both of united states more comfy.

Proper padding. This machine seat is padded in all the correct places. The Hybrid has padded armrests, a padded seat, a reversible comfort padding insert, and shoulder/chest padding for the safe harness. I similar this characteristic considering it means that those younger kids who are just starting out in the booster seat tin be comfortable. I would accept this seat on a long trip and not worry virtually my infant being comfy.

My complaint about the padding is that information technology made the fitting the child into the car seat awkward. The padding insert took up a lot of space in the seat, which is modest from the showtime. As well, the harness padding fabricated the harness non fit correct and made the chest buckle sit at a too-depression-for-safe position. And so, while it seems comfy, I fearfulness that the condolement might interfere with the safety of the seat.

Sit-in Video

The Best Parent Feature

WASHABLE. Yup, that's correct, all the padding inserts, armrests, and seat embrace are machine washable. Those are glorious words to hear for a make clean-freak mom like me. Car seats can become really nasty, especially during long car trips or during those risky outings during potty grooming.

Luckily, the textile is pretty stain and water-resistant from the kickoff. Anything that does set in tin exist washed out subsequently. The simply trouble here is that y'all have to accept autonomously the motorcar seat to get the washable parts off. This ways a major headache and a good clamper of time.

Safety Features

This automobile seat meets all safety requirements in the U.s.a., and then it's pretty safe. The padded headrest gives information technology skilful side impact protection for those smaller kids. It has the v betoken safety harness for that commencement stage of the convertible car seat. This is the worst function of the car seat. It might be designed to keep the child safe, but information technology falls short of that calling. Here's what I don't like about the harness:

• Moving and removing is so complicated! There is this strap holder in the dorsum that looks like a torture device (and it kind of is). You have to really principal the art of removing it earlier you tin can adjust or remove the harness. It literally takes almost xx minutes merely to remove the device. Not at all convenient!
• Bottom buckle is bad. There is only well-nigh half-dozen inches from the back of the seat to where the bottom buckle emerges from the seat. That means for well-nigh bigger and older toddlers, they'll be sitting correct on the buckle. That's especially bad news for piffling boys who are a fleck more sensitive in that region. Plus, try buckling the straps in when you lot kid is sitting on the buckle. Rough.
• Chest buckle breaks. This seat is notorious for having the chest clip break in one-half. In. Half. If that's happening during getting the kid in and out of the seat, what would happen during an accident? That's bad and unsafe quality, if you ask me.
• Hard to buckle and unbuckle. The plastic is clearly cheap and doesn't like to cooperate. You can't buckle any role of the harness with simply one hand. That makes it harder on moms and older toddlers learning to assist out. I had to use both thumbs to press hard on the lesser buckle to release the strap buckles, and the breast clip is so hard to clip together or unclip. Another design flaw.
• Thin straps seem flimsy. This might seem nit-picky, but the straps aren't high quality. They're very thin, and that makes it easy for the buckles to slide around. They are and so thin that they get easily pinched in different areas of the car seat, and it seems to me like they could wearable and tear easily. Not comforting when you're talking most a safety harness.

Customer Reviews

• 2.v stars, 11 reviews- Walmart
• iii stars, 46 reviews- Target
• 2.7 stars, 7 reviews- Kohl'southward

Pros

• Lightweight and not bulky
• Sleek pattern
• Peachy moveable headrest
• Cup and snack holders for kiddo
• Nice padding in the seat and arms
• Washable seat cover!

Cons

• Tough to transition from stage to stage
• Hard to put together
• Hard to install in vehicle
• Extra padding makes kids fit bad-mannered
• Prophylactic harness is flimsy and hard to buckle
• Bottom buckle sits in an uncomfortable spot

Ease of Use Ratings

When it comes to safety, installation, and ease of use are incredibly important. While all car seats are required to pass federal safety testing, some are easier to apply than others. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration computes an ease of employ rating for every car seat in several categories. See the ratings below.

Overall, thebooster seatreceived a rating of 4 stars,as shown in the table below, while theforward-facing mode received a rating of iii stars.

Credit: NHTSA

Conclusion

I like Baby Trend, and I really want to similar the Infant Trend Hybrid Booster 3-in-1 Car Seat. The convertible machine seat has a beautiful and modern design and has all the promise you could want in a hybrid booster seat. It has iii stages to fit kids up to 100 pounds, extra padding, moveable harness and headrest, cup and snack holders, and washable seat covers.

Nevertheless, the functionality of the seat is terrible. It is a nightmare to put together and install into the machine. Switching from one stage to another is much harder than it needs to exist and is actually fourth dimension-consuming. The five point safety harness is terrible and neither parent nor child-friendly. For a few extra dollars, I'd say go with a Graco or Evenflo convertible automobile seat and you'll be much happier.

templetonealiche.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.experiencedmommy.com/baby-trend-hybrid-booster-3-1-car-seat-review-real-life-look/

Share this post