Graco SnugRide 32 Infant Car Seat, Zurich
by Graco Baby
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List Price: Category: Baby Product See more product details |
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Baby Products Reviews of Graco SnugRide 32 Infant Car Seat, Zurich
Customer Review: 5 stars because of the stroller frame
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not overwhelmingly excited by this carseat--it's heavy (though my friend and I compared my Graco to her Chicco and there wasn't much difference), the straps twist (annoying till you fix them a million times, then gets easier to fix), and it takes up too much room in my car. I have a Subaru Impreza and unfortunately, this seat won't fit in the middle seat, which was ideally where I wanted it, because we are both tall and both seats need to be pulled all the way up to fit this seat. When my husband and I take our Impreza out together, I have to ride as the passenger with my knees in the dashboard (I'm 5'11 with a 33 inch inseam, so a shorter person might not mind) and my husband can't ride as a passenger at all (husband is 6'2 with a 31 inch inseam but he's built like a hockey player and had problems with my front seat to begin with). So if you are a tall couple with a small backseat, this carseat may cause problems for you.
But with the stroller frame, I still give this 5 stars. Most travel systems are clunky and heavy and I didn't want to lose permanent use of my trunk, which is why I chose this travel system. This frame folds up small so that I can put other things in my trunk, which is great.
I think this seat is definitely adequate and I will probably use it again with my second child, though if I had to buy an infant seat again I might look at other brands if, and only if, they had a similar lightweight stroller frame. The other travel system I considered (it had a lightweight stroller frame) was recalled due to safety issues, so again, 5 stars for Graco.
The other thing that is great about this system is that unlike many systems, the carseat and stroller frame are sold separately, which meant both items were bought off my registry and given to me by two different people.
My son is in the 95th percentile for height and weight, and since he's about 30.5 inches at 12 months we are switching to a "big boy" seat (not a Graco, had to find something smaller so he can ride rear facing for a while longer) and I really am sorry to have to retire this product. So yes, it has its pros and cons but ultimately, I liked this more than I disliked it. I think as tall people we really just need a bigger family car.
Customer Review: Excellent in an accident
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my first review of anything ever, but given my experience with this car seat now, I thought it would be important to share my story.
I was just in a bad car accident this past week with my son in the Graco SnugRide32 Model #1750168 (red and brown - not sure if shown here as an option in color). The other driver ran a red light, and I crashed into him head on into the driver side of his car, going around 40 mi/hr. My car is totaled. My 21-month old child was in this car seat in the back seat behind the passenger side. I still had it rear-facing. He is absolutely fine, went to the hospital just in case, and he was discharged the same night. By law, when your car seat (whether a child is in it or not) is in an accident, it must be replaced. I am 7 mo. pregnant, so I am buying the same seat for my daughter who is coming this winter (who so far seems to be fine from the accident - thank goodness).
Though a tad heavy, I am so happy I was able to keep my son rear-facing for this long because of this seat. (I also hear that people are starting to recommend rear-facing as old as age two.) When my son was an infant, it didn't seem so heavy, and as a mom, your strength grows as your child grows. It only got difficult in the last couple of months because I was pregnant again. Safety was number #1 priority for me, so it is a small price to pay for the added weight.
The base is very easy to install and move from car to car - 30 seconds or so.
My son would get a little hot sleeping in it at times. However, he slept very peacefully in it (and in the beginning, it was the only place he would sleep even at night), and as of last week, I would still sometimes take him for a car ride in this seat to get him down for a nap when he would not want to go down.
I am scared to think what a side impact on his side of the car would have done, but in head on crash, this seat was a life saver.
I hope though that none of you have to experience a car crash with your family in the car.
Customer Review: Great if you end up with a larger baby, have larger car
Summary: 5 Stars
It is hard to rate car seats... because what works perfectly for your situation might not for another person.
This works great for us. Here is why:
positive:
* HUGE #1: The Snugride line was rated TOP for safety in Consumer Reports for infant car seats!!
*We have a baby in the 90th percentile. This means if we would have bought the snugride (regular), he would have outgrown it at 6 months.
* The Snugride 32 allows us to aviod putting him in a convertible car seat much longer (as for even a 50th percentile kid). Even though convertible car seats can be rear facing to about the same 30 pounds, they are much more cumbersome to deal with rear facing than this one.
* It is roomier for our little guy than the regular snugride.
* Yeah, the seat itself it is heavier. But once your little one grows to be over about 15lbs... no matter what the car seat you'll probably stop carring him in the car seat anyways.
negatives:
*This seat is really only useful if you have a larger car as the seat is longer in length. We have a Santa Fe, and even with that large car the front passanger has to move up his seat ending up with bent legs for a long drive. Can't see how the 32 would work in a sedan.
* The seat is heavier. Yes.
* You can't put the seat on top of the shopping cart. I would never do this anyways-- too unstable and dangerous in my opinion.
* You can't fit this carseat into many restaurant booth seats. Again, I compensated by putting it on a chair.
OVERALL... I would buy this seat again. Mainly because by the time my guy is 30 pounds, he can move into the forward facing car seat. We can skip the awkward backfacing convertible car seat phase (between about 22-30 lbs).
Gotta have a larger car though.
Customer Review: Don't even think about getting a 35!
Summary: 4 Stars
Very well designed car seat. However, this car seat is HUGE! And HEAVY! The only thing this car seat made me wish was that I had gone with the smaller Graco Snugride. Now, I can't believe people are going for the 35s! Yes, we'll keep our baby rear facing for two years, but we'll move up to a convertible seat so we don't have to lug the car seat in and out. We have a Jeep Grand Cherokee and it takes up a lot of room...but you'll find this with almost any car seat out there. If I had to do it again, I would buy the Graco 30 and then just move up to a rear facing convertible. At this point (9 months old), I find myself taking baby in and out of the car seat IN the car because it's so heavy to lift him in the car seat.
At first the fabric seemed "cheap", now I appreciate that it's not thicker and therefore, hotter. The babies get sweaty enough in there. Also, it's very easy to clean and wash. The head arch is worthless and my baby's head falls forward when he sleeps sometimes. But again, I've seen this is almost all other car seats.
I like the gender neutral color.
I'm not sure what all the reviews about running out of buckle are. My son is 9 months old and in 50% for weight/height. The buckle has TONS of extra if I needed to make it looser for him. You do have to adjust the shoulder points for the buckle and the babies get taller, but it's no where close to being too tight for him. (A note on car seat safety, the buckle should be "snug as a hug" on their bodies and you shouldn't buckle them in with their coat.)
Customer Review: Fits babies to one year? Not hardly.
Summary: 3 Stars
We bought this car seat because it was highly rated, because it fits into an attachment for our stroller, and because "97% of one-year-olds" will still fit it. Guess what, our 7-month-old, who is 10 pounds lighter and 4 inches shorter than the size limit claimed, can no longer fit into this seat. Well, that's not exactly right - she fits the seat fine, but getting the straps over her shoulders is almost impossible, at least if she's bundled in her winter coat (kind of a necessity in February where we live). We've done all the adjustments we can, but there's just not enough strap. So tomorrow we'll be hitting the shops to shop for seats for 20 lbs and up.
The other thing we've never liked about this seat is the fabric. It is plasticky, not soft and natural, and our baby has never found it especially comfortable. We should have handled the car seat in a retail store before ordering it online, to make sure that we liked the feel. Had we done so, we would not have ended up with this model.
The final negative: we live in Europe, and this seat does not come with an EU safety certification. That means we've been driving her in an illegal car seat for seven months. (Most people shopping on the US site probably won't be affected by this issue, but we had to buy a US car seat to fit our US stroller because jogging strollers aren't so available here...)
Other than that, it's been a serviceable seat. Not wonderful, but easy enough to get in and out of the car and stroller. Just don't expect it to last until your baby is a year old.