Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Why we love it: - SAFETY: 5-point harness keeps our 3-year-old more securely in the seat for longer (plan to use until 5 years old) - LONGEVITY: converts to seatbelt booster for use up to 110 lbs/57 inches - COMFORT: lots of padding, great for longer car rides - easy to buckle, doesn't tangle - great design with lots of detail stitching - attached to latch system, so it doesn't slide around and is easy for child to climb into - affordable at under 70 dollars After many hours of research online, comparing car seats in stores and ordering two car seats as "finalists" from Amazon, we have chosen this one for a number of reasons. The main consideration for us was keeping our 3-year-old in a 5-point harness seat for as long as possible, but not wanting to purchase a new seat in two years when she moves up to a seatbelt booster. We had to purchase a new seat for her now, because our second child is moving up into her old seat. Technically, our child meets the minimum requirements for a seatbelt booster now, but after reading a few discussion on this, it seems that with every seat "upgrade" (changing to forward-facing, then changing to seatbelt booster) you loose a layer of safety. In fact, even in our car manual it states that due to a child's anatomy, they recommend a 5-point harness until 5 years old (their skeleton isn't mature enough to "properly" handle a car accident if they are using a seatbelt booster this young). While safety was the biggest selling point for us to choose a convertible 5-point harness/seatbelt car seat, there are a few features that made this car seat stand out within this category. It is very nicely padded and the angle in the car is nice (not too steep or too upright), which makes for a comfortable ride. It's very easy to buckle, tighten, unbuckle, loosen and the straps don't tangle easily. This seat attaches to the latch system of the car, so it doesn't slide around when my 3-year-old climbs in the seat herself (this will be useful when we convert to the seatbelt function as well). As for any carseat that attaches via the latch system, you should check your car specs to see what the weight limit is for using a latch seat. I also love the colors — sleek and neutral but with a bit of custom stitching and hints of red that give some nice detail. My child loves the cup holders (I never knew she cared, but it's the first thing she noticed...) — they have an elastic band in the front which holds in the cup. The other seat we had ordered, but ended up returning is the "Evenflo Chase LX Harnessed Booster, Jameson" (Evenflo Chase LX Harnessed Booster, Jameson). The two models are very similar, the main difference was the amount of padding — the Maestro is just so much more comfortable, while with the Chase seat you could feel the hard plastic through the thinner padding.