Graco Nautilus 3-in 1 Car Seat

Graco Nautilus

Strengths: Good colors, sturdy, adjusts easily, will be able to use through booster stage

Weakness: recline feature doesn't really work

Our son was approaching one year old and was ready for a front-facing car seat. My husband and I shopped around a lot and read loads of reviews and did a lot of price comparisons both online and in stores. We decided on this car seat because it will hopefully be the last one we'll need and was a reasonable price (normally $150, but on sale at the time through Amazon for $127). It can accommodate...
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Our son was approaching one year old and was ready for a front-facing car seat. My husband and I shopped around a lot and read loads of reviews and did a lot of price comparisons both online and in stores. We decided on this car seat because it will hopefully be the last one we'll need and was a reasonable price (normally $150, but on sale at the time through Amazon for $127). It can accommodate a child up to 100 pounds as a booster. The entire back comes off for when a child is big enough and old enough, so it will not be too cumbersome as a booster. The buckle configuration is nearly the same as the one we had on his Graco rear facing infant seat and works easily and quickly. The shoulder straps have nice covers so they won't cut into our son's neck as he rides. I assembled (very easy, only a couple of small things to do) and installed this car seat in our minivan quite quickly. We do not have the LATCH system, so we have to use the little metal clip on the seat belt, which absolutely stinks to try to wrap around the belt, but once it's done it's quite snug and secure. It's the only difficult part of installation. We have moved this to two other cars as well and were able to use it without a problem (a small two door Ford Aspire & a Subaru Outback). The only thing that was a little disappointing was the recline feature. The amount that it reclines while on a flat surface is hardly noticeable. When the seat is installed in our vehicles, the recline feature doesn't even work. I don't really see how the seat is supposed to be able to recline when the back and bottom are pressed firmly into the minivan seat. There's no way for it to move. Our seats recline slightly anyway, so our son sits at a slight incline. Still, his head bobs forward when he falls asleep in this seat. Regardless, we're very happy with this seat and would recommend it without reservation.

By jessmason - Jul 3, 2008