Safety 1stBaby TriMate All-In-One Convertible Car Seat

I bought this product and it doesn’t fit in my car correctly, the straps don’t fit will on child, and one side is always tighter than the other.

Wouldn’t buy this

Flimsy styrofoam headrest broke within a few months of buying it.

great seat other than the cup holders

I got this carseat a few months ago and it has been a great seat other than we took it on vacation and since the cup holders do not securely lock in place they fell off and out of our gate check bag for the carseat so I no longer have them and can't find a place to re-order another set

Just ok, has some design issues

My toddler thought it was comfortable, the cover itself felt slightly stuffed, versus an actual pad on the seat. The strap you pull to tighten the harness is located pretty far down the front of the seat, so if your child is still rear facing and depending on the angle you have the seat in your car, it could make reaching this strap difficult. If you are installing the seat and not switching from car to car frequently you can make sure the strap doesn't get stuck but I feel like it would be inconvenient to constantly check that I don't secure the car seat in my car with the strap stuck between the car seat and regular seat. Adjusting the bottom buckle was easy, same for the height of the shoulder straps. For forward facing kids, I liked the higher sides of the seat by the legs, but I feel that this would not be good for rear facing kids since they have less room to move their legs about. They'd be forced to have their feet up on the seat of the car, instead of having the option to splay their legs out to the side a bit if the lip of the car seat was lower. I have three kids, so I know the extra shoulder room is appreciated. The cup holders are too easy to take out. I like easy to remove ones for cleaning but my toddler was able to remove these on her own and I see her dropping them off the side of her car seat (like she does most things). Another issue is the chest clip felt very flimsy and thin. Other chest clips are thicker and sturdier than this one. Plus getting it undone was not intuitive and some older adults in our family had a hard time getting it undone. It says PUSH, but it's actually push down AND push to the side to unlatch it. I much prefer chest clips that come undone with a squeeze motion. The bulky bottom clip was also difficult to get a decent grip on. I received this as part of the Stellar Product Test Panel. I would not recommend this seat if you are an older adult or grandparent caring for a child compared to other slim seats on the market.

Good budget option for a spare seat

Overall, I think the Safety 1st TriMate™ car seat is a good option in the affordable car seat category. If you need to purchase a second set of car seats for a second car, grandparents, etc., then this could be a good option. I don't think it would hold up to ten years of daily use. Here's the breakdown of what I liked and didn't like about it. It scored well in the comfortability category by our toddler, and she prefers this seat to her other one. I also really liked the installation process. The car seat is lighter than I expected, which made the installation process easier. The latch belt can easily be moved from rear facing to forward facing with no extra tools, and the latch tether "buckle" ensures the belt stays tight. (I have seen reviews that mention the belt doesn't stay tight. I think this is happening because they don't move the buckle back into place. To loosen or tighten the tether, the buckle can be tilted so that the tether is easier to move - I loved this feature. And then when it's tight, push the buckle back to lock it in place, and you're good to go!) I also like the slim fit. We're about to have three across the back seat, so slim fit was a requirement! It works - three across fit in our vehicle. Now, for the parts I didn't like: I think the materials felt cheap. The adjustable headrest is flimsy. I think I could break it if I pushed the sides together. The cup holders will likely come out as soon as your child learns to twist things. Additionally, it's less adjustable than other all-in-one seats with only two positions, rear-facing and forward facing. Last downside was that the fabric pulls up on the sides where it should tuck under the plastic side pieces of the car seat. This wouldn't be a big deal, but our kids then pull at the fabric and make it a lot worse. Overall, it's a decent budget option for spare seat or one you won't use everyday. Thank you to the Stellar Product Testing Panel for giving me this seat to try.

A nice seat

I recently received this car seat to try from the Stellar Product Testing Panel. I have a 5-year-old who is on the small side. She hates the buckles on car seats, so we tried the booster set up for this carseat. She was very excited about it because the seatbelt could be used instead of the car seat straps. I am unsure if this is an issue related to my car or just the way that the car seat and seatbelt happen to work together but the seat belt does seem to lock up on her a lot.I think she still likes the seatbelt option better than the buckles though. It's just something of note. Set-up wasn't too bad. Honestly my husband read through the directions and it took him a few minutes to work it out. I think in terms of space, it does take up slightly less seat space. I know this only because when it's time to buckle her in, I am able to find the seat belt buckle next to the seat without having to dig around for it. I think with other car seats I have struggled with finding the buckle because it would fall under the base of the seat. But that didn't happen here. I really like that the cup holders are removable and can be used in the dishwasher. The only downside is that they are too easy to remove to the point where they have fallen out and one has been lost already. Overall I think it's a nice seat that is versatile, but with a few areas where I think there could be improvement.

Great Slim Car Seat on a Budget

I received the Safety 1st TriMate All-in-One Convertible Car Seat to try out from the Stellar Product Testing Panel. After several weeks of use, I can attest that it is a great, slim car seat on a budget. It fits three across in my small suv with a booster and another not-quite-as-slim slim car seat. My five year old rides in it as a forward facing car seat quite happily. The seat came fully assembled in the box so set up and install were quick and easy. That said, it's not a seat I'd want to have to move around often as it lacks some features like the push to release latch system. The latch system must be manually unhooked which is markedly more difficult with three seats right up against each other. A few other features make it a bit fiddly. The chest clip is a bit difficult to release requiring two hands to undo. The shoulder strap cushions are bulky and twist around often rather than staying in place requiring frequent fixing. The car seat cover seems to shift easily as well which may make it easy to remove, but also means I am frequently reattaching parts of it to the seat. Despite these little inconveniences, the seat is comfortable and the price point makes a three across set up far more accessible than other seats on the market. It really is quite slim!! I'd highly recommend to anyone needing a slim fit seat on a budget!

Affordable slim seat

I was given this all in one car seat to try as part of the Stellar Product Testing Panel. The seat was easy and straightforward to install. My son is 4 so I removed the infant insert. He also didn't like the strap covers, they're too thick, so he rides without those as well. The seat is very lightweight and slim. Much slimmer than my previous seat. I often have 3 kids in the back, and though 2 are out of car seats, they still fight over space and have a hard time buckling their belts. This seat solved those problems since it is a lot more slim. My son is constantly taking the cup holders out and throwing them around the car so I do wish they didn't come out so easily, but do like the fact that they are dishwasher safe. I haven't had an opportunity to wash the cover yet so I'm not sure how that holds up. But overall it's a decent, affordable, slim car seat.