(ENDED) Graco My Ride 65 Car Seat – review & GIVEAWAY

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED AND COMMENTS ARE CLOSED

The winner is:

#1120 Brie Hernandez

Most of the items we have been using for Abby, from crib to bottles to car seats were once Jake’s.  He was born in 2003, she was born in 2007 and aside from clothes and a few other select items, she has only had hand-me-downs.  After Abby outgrew her infant car seat we pulled out Jake’s old toddler car seat.  I never liked it very much for a number of reasons, the main reason being that I never felt she was completely protected in it.  First of all, we could never to get it to fit snug on the seat.  No matter how hard my husband would pull on the strap to tighten it, it still seemed to move too much.  Below is a picture of Abby in the old car seat.

Recently I had the opportunity from Graco to review one of their brand new car seats, the My Ride 65 and as excited as I was to try it out, you’d have thought I was the one who would be sitting in it!

The My Ride 65 is a convertible car seat that does something that no other car seat on the market does.  It allows you to keep your child rear facing up to 40lbs, longer than any other car seat in the US!  Abby is almost 20 months old and barely 25 lbs so this obviously wouldn’t have impacted us, but my niece is 6 months old and already weighs at least 22 lbs.  She has already outgrown the infant car seat and obviously needs a seat that will accommodate her size but also keep her rear facing until she is at least 1 year old which is what is recommended for safety.

From the Graco website:

Description
The heart knows to protect… Graco® helps keep your growing baby safe. My Ride™ 65 holds your baby rear-facing longer than any other US seat – up to 40 lbs. Then, it secures forward-facing toddlers in a 5-point harness up to 65 lbs.  Help keep your growing child safe in this innovative convertible car seat. The American Academy of Pediatricians recommends your child ride rear-facing as long as possible, so MY RIDE™ 65 stays rear-facing up to 40 lbs. – longer than any other car seat in the US. Then, use this seat to secure your forward-facing child in a 5-point harness until he is 65 lbs. Other features like EPS, energy absorbing foam, side impact testing, removable infant insert and toddler headrest help keep your child snug and secure on all his journeys.

The My Ride 65 is recommended to be rear facing for infants 5 to 40 lbs and forward facing for toddlers from 20 to 65 lbs.

Some additional features:

• SafeSeat Engineering – Engineered & Crash Tested to Meet or Exceed US Standard FMVS213: Side Impact Tested*, New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) – peak crash force approximately 2X Car Seat Standard, Extreme Car Interior Temperatures

• EPS, energy absorbing foam

• 5-point harness with front-adjustment helps keep baby secure

• Dual cupholders keep your must-haves handy

• Comfy infant insert removes for growing child

• Removable toddler headrest helps ensure your growing child’s comfort

• LATCH equipped for easy installation

• Approved for airplane use

• In addition to meeting or exceeding all applicable US safety standards, the My Ride™ 65 has been side impact tested for occupant retention by the harness system.

I noticed a few things about the My Ride 65 when I took it out of the box.  First, the base looked a bit higher than our other car seat and second how cozy and protected it looked.  A third thing I noticed was how pretty the fabric was (we received the Sonata pattern).

The My Ride 65 has 2 sets of “latch” straps (well, 3 actually if you count the one for over the seat for forward facing).  One for rear facing and one for forward facing.  Our old seat just had one set and in order to move the seat position you had to try and work the straps through to the proper location by sticking your hand inside the seat behind the fabric.  Good luck not getting your hand stuck.

Also, the My Ride 65 does not have a handle/lever to tilt it back for infants.  Nope.  It is BRILLIANT.  I have always had trouble with those levers and could never get the seat to tilt.  The My Ride 65 has these fins that flip out to angle the seat more upright for toddlers.  Check it out:

My Ride 65 in “infant mode”

underside of My Ride 65 in “infant mode”

underside of My Ride 65 in “toddler mode”

My Ride 65 in “toddler mode”

Installing the My Ride 65 in our van was so easy compared to our old seat.  It fit like a glove and tightened right up, I didn’t even need my husband to pull on the strap to try and tighten it because my strength was enough.  After I installed it I was a little concerned by the height of it, and in putting Abby in the seat, I do have to be more careful to make sure her head doesn’t smack into the top of the van.  But once I saw her in the seat I felt like the height made her safer because she was higher up above from where a crash would be.

Doesn’t she look so much more protected in her new seat compared to the old one?  Even Jake who is 5 fits in it (he’s just over 50 lbs) and he looks so much more protected by the My Ride 65, not to mention comfortable.

Aside from all the great safety features and the design, we also love a couple of aesthetic things about the My Ride 65.  The fabric is soft and almost plush and comes in a great variety of colors and patterns.  We also love the built in, dual cup holders, now Abby has one for snacks and one for a drink.  Her old seat had a cup holder once but it was sort of just hanging off the seat (as part of the design) and eventually broke off.  Now, I can keep 2 hands on the wheel instead of having to root around the back seat looking for a dropped cup, because she has a place to put it now.

After using our My Ride 65 for a few days, my sister actually asked me to go car seat shopping with her. Remember that I mentioned that my 6 month old niece had outgrown her infant car seat?   I told my sister about the My Ride 65 and while she believed me, she still wanted to check out all of her options, so we went to Babies R Us and spent a couple of hours in the car seat aisle.

We looked at all of the different seats, read the specifications, put Alissa in a few of them to “try them on” and can ya guess which seat she took home?  Yup, the My Ride 65 (she chose the Spiral pattern/fabric).   Since installing the My Ride in her Pontiac Aztec she did mention that it is a tight fit and that they really have to be careful because there isn’t as much room to get Alissa in without smacking her head on the roof of the truck.  We have a Buick Terraza minivan and, like I mentioned, I noticed the same thing but I felt the safety trade-off was worth it.  We just have to be more careful putting them in.  The My Ride 65 is a bigger seat and if you have a compact or smaller car, you may want to see if you could try it in your car before you buy it.

ENTER TO WIN A MY RIDE 65 CONVERTIBLE CAR SEAT

One winner will get a brand new My Ride 65 Convertible Car Seat from Graco!

How to enter:

Visit the Graco Baby website and check out the My Ride 65 convertible car seat.  Then come back here and tell us what your favorite feature of this new seat is and why it is important to you.

Earn extra entries:

• Subscribe to our updates by RSS or email (see top of our page) – 5 EXTRA
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• Comment on any of our other non-giveaway posts (please leave the link or name of the post you left a comment on) – 1 EXTRA PER POST COMMENTED
• Follow me on Twitter and Tweet this giveaway (include the link to your tweet) – 1 EXTRA PER DAY

Please leave a separate comment for each additional entry.

Giveaway ends on Friday August 28, 2009 at noon CST and is open to the USA.

Winners will be selected from all eligible entries using Random.org.  Winners will be contacted via email but must respond within 48 hours.

(note: Graco Baby provided the My Ride 65 car seat to us for reviewing and testing.  We do not guarantee positive reviews and we did not receive compensation for this review.)

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