Graco Snugride Infant Car Seat, Ally

 (40 customer reviews)

This is our second Graco snugride-- we were happy with our first one and needed a second. I thought a snugride was a snugride, but boy was I wrong. Our first snugride had a handy belt adjustment device in the front by the crotch strap, so you could loosen and tighten the belts as needed. This model does not have that feature. Instead, the tightening device is on the BACK of the seat, and its not easy to use at all. You basically have to manually thread the straps through a little ring-- totall PIA. And since its on the back, its not at all easy to access once you have the seat in the car. Not having the belt tightener in the front is basically a disincentive to use the straps at the proper tension-- a terrible and unsafe feature. I wish I had not bought this seat, or at the very least wish I had checked that this seat had that adjustable feature in the front like my old snugride. Hopefully by reviewing it here I will save someone else from making the same mistake.

We had an older version of this style of seat and needed to replace it for our second child. We bought this one as it looked nice and was almost identical to our old seat which we loved. The first time we went to load up the new baby we noticed that once the straps are tightened the release mechanism is on the rear of the seat, we were used to having it at the front - this was our fault for missing this. We returned this particular seat and bought the mickey mouse version (the only one amazon had with front release strap and used the same snugride base).

Good product in terms of the seat, just a bummer that the release is on the rear, makes it much harder to get the child out. Maybe it was just that we were used to the front strap release.

This infant car seat has to be the best of the many I researched. The #1 thing that really stands out to me is the amount of padding it has. It is sooo soft yet supportive. Much more than other car seats. The material is also the same. It just has this soft feel to it that I didn't expect it to feel like and probably most important it has a very high rating, higher than most, and I feel totally at ease to have my grandaughter ride in it. It's an exceptional product. I've always had good luck with Graco products and it's nice to know that they are still at the top of the game. Way to go GRACO!