On the other hand, RECARO’s ProRIDe has a harness indicator to let you know when the straps may be in danger of twisting. One major difference is that the Contender 65 can be used until a child reaches a height of 49″, while the 4Ever can be used until a child hits 57″. Also, the 4Ever’s lowest harness position is at 6″, while the Pria 85’s is at 9″. The Pria 70’s goes as low as 5″ – but only if you use their insert. Another major difference is the seat’s width – 17″ for the Diono Radian RXT, but 21.5″ for the Graco.
I LOVE the purple coloring but once it’s time to take out the inserts it’s just a plain grey seat so I wish the purple was also in the actual seat itself and not just the inserts. I only recommend buying if you have an extra large backseat or plan to forward face right away this car seat won’t fit in my other truck or car. This is problematic because our vehicle and many other vehicles don’t permit removing the vehicle headrest to accommodate a car seat.
This vehicle tends to offset center-installed car seats a little toward the driver’s side, so I tested the passenger side to ensure that position was still fully functional with the seat installed. The graco booster seat LATCH straps of some of these car seats were reportedly stiff and hard to tighten. The focus word here is “some.” Surely not all of those parents who bought the car seat experienced such a problem.
At most, 2 of these seats can be placed side-by-side in the back seat of a car. Side-impact tested for occupant retention with the built-in graco jogging stroller 5-point harness system and in highback belt-positioning modes. I bought this a month ago and am very happy with the product.
It simply can’t compete with the padding, fabric, and overall attention to detail found on the similarly priced competition. The quality of this Graco is on par with other Graco options, but its higher price means we expected more. The 4Ever has cup holders which might be useful for older children’s snacks, but the narrow width makes them somewhat useless for many sippy cups. Raising the headrest gives better access to the “behind the scenes” operations so you can both see more and fit your hands in easier.
One of these features is Graco’s RapidRemove cover system. The RapidRemove cover on the 4Ever DLX is made of five separate sections that are removed independently from one another, with the body and side sections being held on primarily by velcro. One major benefit of this system is the ability to remove only those sections that need cleaning rather than having to remove the whole cover. A disadvantage to this system, though, is having more pieces to put back together if you do need to fully disassemble for cleaning. The 4Ever DLX includes a set of harness covers, a head insert, and a body insert that are designed and tested with this seat. The 4Ever is wide at over 19 inches but it is one of the lighter options in the review at slightly over 21 lbs.
If you’ve ever taken a long trip with young children in the car, you know that having snacks and drinks helps keep them happy. The Graco 4Ever 4-in-1 has two cup holders which we used for water bottles. A typical disposable water cup fits in them, as well as most sippy cups. While baby bottles also fit, infants using the car seat will most likely not be able to reach the cup holders themselves.
The good thing is you don’t have to remove the harness when switching to booster mode. You just tuck the harness in the built in cubby, although the compartment is a bit small. This is our 3rd kid and we’ve been through a few car seats with the older 2. It’s so easy to install, making it easy to transfer between cars. I absolutely love that the seat cover comes off without having to take the seat apart for easy cleaning.