Evenflo Symphony 65 with Surelatch All In One Seat, North Bay

Comment: I typically shy away from all-in-one products as they don't live up the hype, but this car seat seems to have everything going for it.

I personally would not use a convertible seat for a newborn, but once your child becomes too heavy to carry around in an infant seat the Symphony 65 is the best choice! Sure you can get other brands that are rated for higher speed crashes, etc, but I do not feel that they are worth twice or three times the cost of this seat.

The SureLatch system makes proper installation of the seat so easy that I wouldn't have to rely on my husband to install it. The LATCH handles are larger than most models, which makes installation super easy. Also, hearing the LATCH system click as you push on the seat to tighten it is reassuring that it's working.

The padding in the seat is very soft, comfortable, machine washable and easily removable (comparable to pricier brands, but superior to other seats in this price range). The Infinite Slide Harness is nice, but difficult to adjust with baby in the seat (also requires you to move both harnesses at the same time).

I am impressed by the fact that this seat has good safety ratings, including side impact protection, but is not extremely large in size like other side impact rated models (namely the Safety 1st Air Protect). This seat fits great in all positions even in my small sedan yet is roomy for the child.

The front adjustment for the harness is a huge improvement over the wheel adjustment that other Evenflo models have. Also, the chest clip on the Symphony is much easier to use than cheaper Evenflo models.

Head pads for side impact protection is a great option that not many other car seats in this price range offer. My son enjoys being able to see out of the car window since the head pads in this seat are smaller than other comparable seats.

There are a lot of requirements of when you can use this seat rear-facing vs forward-facing vs booster and LATCH vs seat belt, but it is clearly marked on the product and you should expect such requirements with an all-in-one seat.

I am not sure if we will use this seat as a booster, but think that even without that feature it would be the best choice.

Comment: We have only had this car seat for about a week and only rear facing. But so far we love it! I was less then thrilled with our first Graco car seat (the harness straps ALWAYS get suck underneath, huge pain to tighten/loosen.)
It's very easy to tighten/loosen the harness straps. Adjusting the height of the straps, the part by their shoulders, is just a matter of pulling up or down. They slide, meaning you don't have to rethread the whole seat to adjust the shoulder position.
She still has a couple good inches of leg room before she'll actually hit the back seat, which is good. (She's nine months old, tall for her age.)
It seems to be pretty bulky but that may be normal?? I don't have anything to compare it to.
It fits pretty well in our Gr Cherokee.

One thing to note...Evenflo makes another Symphony, which is cheaper. But note the other Symphony has a lesser weight limit for the harness. I believe the capacity is 60 pounds. It says the car seat can hold up to 100 pounds, which is correct when using it as a booster with the regular car seat belt. But to use the harness the limit is 60 pounds. This one is a 65 pound limit. I learned this I was about to buy the cheaper one! Just something to be aware of!

Comment: This is an exceptional design that offers full-size convertible car seat features and specs but can fit (rear-facing) in cars a few inches too short for other full-size convertible seats. The features and quality is also competitive with the better brands out there like the Britax Diplomat/Boulevard and Recaro Signo, which all have side impact protection.

I only use this in rear-facing mode for my 18mo, 22lb baby, so this review is written in the context of rear-facing usage.

PROS:

1) Its outer shell is 2-3 inches shorter than other full-size convertible seats. It can rear-face to 35lbs or forward-face (harnessed) to 65lbs like the biggest convertible seats available. However, the the shorter shell allows rear-facing in cars that normally could not fit a full-size convertible like the Britax Boulevard or Recaro Signo. Although the main shell is shorter, the adjustable heat restraint can be raised for taller children, once you are in forward facing mode. It just barely squeezes behind the driver seat (rear facing) in my Mazda 3, with the driver seat moved up a bit. The top edge of the shell squeezes between the top of the driver's seat and the extended head rest.

2) Compared to many Britax convertibles, it has about 2 inches more leg room for the baby in rear-facing mode. This is measured from the baby's back to the car's rear seat back. It may not sound like much, but when there's only 8-10 inches to work with, another 2 helps a lot. If it means my baby can comfortably stay rear facing until she's 2.5yr, that's a big plus. I did this comparison with my Britax Marathon (now up for sale).

3) Noticed the giant latch clips on this seat? They contain a spring loaded, auto retracting belt feeder. When installing the seat, you extend the latch clip to clip into your car, push the seat down with your weight, and the auto retractor pulls up any slack in the latch clip belt. As you take your weight off the seat, the seat stays down , and is quite secure. This is WAY easier than manually tightening the latch straps in every other convertible seat design.


CONS:
To achieve the shorter shell design, the adjustable head rest can extend 5-6 inches above the shell when in forward-facing mode. When fully extended, the head rest (including the head side impact part) is quite flimsy. It looks a bit unsafe, but I feel like it will do the job of keeping some energy absorbing foam between the baby's head and any intruding structure during a side impact. It's certainly not going to keep the head in place if the seat is on the driver side, and the car is hit on the passenger side. Only convertible seats with the head side impact protection built into the main shell may possibly pull that off (Recaro Signo, Priori, etc).

Overall I really like this seat, because it actually fits in my smaller Mazda3 and leaves enough room for a shorter adult in front. It also achieves this w/o compromising features, safety, or use with taller/bigger toddlers. The fit offers plenty of leg room and recline that's impossible with other large car seats in a smaller car.