Eddie Bauer Deluxe 3-in-1 Convertible Car Seat, Stonewood

Comment: I am pulling my hair out at this point in my search for 'the one.' It does not exist.
Notice: The gray is darker than in the picture.

-It may just be the one I got, but the rabbit ears above the head rest just do not work very well. They stick, the red plastic cover pulls right off. Why did they change it from adjusting in the back with the bar? They try to get all fancy...stick with the basics.

-The padding is not very good around the head on the main pad for 'side impact protection.' The padding is way better on my son's toddler Eddie Bauer Deluxe. Same idea, just not convertible.

-The fabric is thin and cheap.

-The piping around the seat separating the solid from plaid fabrics is hard and uncomfortable.

-The recline mechanism is flimsy with a light weight base.

IMO it is better than the Evenflo Symphony and all three models of the First Years True Fit. The seat is at least a whole piece without awkward holes cut out of it that bother bottoms. And it has the adjustable crotch strap that threads through the slits in the fabric (woohoo!) instead of a mechanism that requires a huge cut-out of the fabric (one of the dumbest ideas ever imo).

+The latch system is not awkward or difficult at all.

+It fits in my Prius on the passenger side leaving the passenger up front with adequate leg room.


overall:
The rabbit ear height adjusters and the cut-cost lack of padding on the upper seat are the biggest things I dislike. There aren't really any other options left except for trying the Complete Air from Safety First. Ug. Seems like every convertible seat out there is poorly thought out.

Comment: This definitely wasn't my first choice but it was my only option at the time so I bought it and I am pretty happy with it. Forward-facing it works great! My daughter is comfortable, I can recline the seat to best fit her needs, making adjustments to the seat are easy, seat belts rarely tangle...and did I mention my daughter is really comfortable! I always looks at her and wish that my drivers seat was as comfortable looking as her seat...lol. My only complaint is when its rear-facing it sits too straight up. Her head always slumped forward whenever she fell asleep and I always felt bad. But other than that, great seat! I would purchase again for when its time to face my daughter forward. Installation seemed very confusing at first but when you actually take time to read the manual (and this is true really for all car seats)it is really simple to install.

Comment: We got this seat because at the time it was the only one that would fit my infant daughter in her hip brace. And I have never liked it. We bought it in 2008, so they may have improved it since then, but it has nothing going for it. The buckles are extremely hard to get undone (good thing I guess for a toddler - she can't escape), the seat pitches her forward making it uncomfortable for her to sleep in (her head falls forward), the latch straps are tough to remove/insert (I have to put my full body weight into the seat to latch them and even sometimes I struggle with it). I would never buy this again, and after two years and another baby on the way, we've purchased another seat because I am just tired of fighting with it.

Comment: I have been happy with Eddie Bauer products and so wanted to buy this one for a while. I never purchased convertible car seat in the past so I had to do lot of research before buying one.

The previous carseat for infants was getting small for my son, so I decided to buy a bigger car-seat that will last for a long time. I hope this is the last carseat I have to ever buy for my son.

The car-seat fits perfectly in the car without much trouble. I was worried about it and it's effect on the front seat.

My car is Honda Civic 2008 model, It was not a problem at all and I did not pull the front seat too much.

My son likes it and I am happy with the product.

Update:
It's been a month now, there has been not a single instance of belt tangling. Belt tangling was a problem with the infant car-seat that I had from Eddie Bauer.

Buckling the kid is quit easy, It really does not take much effort to buckle up and I can unbuckle the kid with just one hand (with left hand, I am a right handed person)

I have attached a photo with some information for your reference.