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In this report
- Introduction{1 mention}{1 mention}{1 mention}{2 mentions}{1 mention}{1 mention}{1 mention}{1 mention}{1 mention}{1 mention}
- Combo Booster Seats{4 mentions}{2 mentions}{1 mention}{1 mention}
- Booster Seats{3 mentions}{2 mentions}{1 mention}{2 mentions}{2 mentions}{2 mentions}{7 mentions}{1 mention}{1 mention}{1 mention}{1 mention}
- Useful Links
- Our Sources
See Also
Booster Seats: Ratings of Sources
Total of 18 Sources
For an explanation of how we rank reviews, see our ratings criteria page.
Booster Seat Ratings
by Editors of ConsumerReports.org
by Editors of ConsumerReports.org
Our AssessmentConsumerReports.org tops our chart when it comes to reviews because it's the only U.S. reviewing organization that crash-tests child safety seats. Following a model similar to government frontal crash tests, reviewers carefully examine 12 toddler car seats and booster seats for safety, ease of use and installation, then compare the price points of the different models before recommending the best picks.
Booster Evaluations for 2010
by Editors of Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
by Editors of Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
Our AssessmentThis study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety evaluates 72 belt-positioning booster seats for how well they adapt an adult safety belt to fit a child's body. Crash-test dummies are used for fit testing, but the institute does not perform crash tests. Eight of the seats earn a "Not Recommended" rating, while seven are named "Good Bets" and 21 stand out as "Best Bets."
Recommended Car Seats
by Heather Watson
by Heather Watson
Our AssessmentCarSeatBlog.com is the work of three certified child-passenger safety technicians: Heather Watson, Kecia Healy and Darren Qunell. They started this list of recommended car seats in 2008, but it is frequently updated to include the latest models on the market. While coverage is indeed thorough and reasonably well balanced, it doesn't yet compete with ConsumerReports.org's rigorous laboratory testing.
Child Passenger Safety: Ease of Use Ratings
by Editors of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
by Editors of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Our AssessmentThe NHTSA tests child safety seats for ease of use (including evaluation of labels, evaluation of instructions, installing features and securing the child) and assigns each an overall rating out of five stars. This is helpful information, but there's little narrative explanation of why a seat gets a particular rating, and seats are not evaluated on any other criteria. We found booster seats in the forward-facing, 3-in-1, combination and booster seat categories.
Child Car Seat Reviews
by Editors of Which? magazine
by Editors of Which? magazine
Our AssessmentWhich? is a British consumer magazine similar to ConsumerReports.org in the United States. Which? not only conducts frontal crash tests on more than 90 infant, convertible and booster seats, but also side crash tests -- unlike ConsumerReports.org. One of the 19 seats to earn a "Don't Buy" rating is a major-brand booster seat available in the United States that flunks the side crash test. Two U.S. models earn Best Buy status.
Booster Seats
by Denise and Alan Fields
by Denise and Alan Fields
Our AssessmentAuthors Denise and Alan Fields provide thorough reviews of dozens of baby products, including a full range of child safety seats. While crash testing isn't included in evaluations, "Baby Bargains" editors strongly focus on the practicality of each item, considering subjective criteria like comfort and other facets ignored by ConsumerReports.org. Still, since it's a printed book, its information isn't always up-to-date. For example, many booster seats get low grades here because they flunked Insurance Institute of Highway Safety's tests, but some of those seats have since been upgraded and now pass IIHS's tests.
Car Seat Reviews
by Contributors to Buzzillions.com
by Contributors to Buzzillions.com
Our AssessmentBuzzillions.com pulls user reviews from other sources (such as Babies "R" Us), so there tends to be more volume here than on similar sites. The aggregate pro and con lists are also a nice feature for busy, quick-scanning parents. The Graco Highback TurboBooster is the Reviewers' Budget Choice for 2010, but the pricier Britax Frontier 85 gets the highest rating.
Car Seats -- Booster
by Contributors to Amazon.com
by Contributors to Amazon.com
Our AssessmentYou'll find plenty of owner reviews for most popular booster seats here. Several models have perfect ratings with more than a dozen reviews each, and several have near-perfect ratings with more than 100 reviews.
Car Seat Reviews
by Contributors to Viewpoints.com
by Contributors to Viewpoints.com
Our AssessmentViewpoints.com has become a more important review source in the past year, as it accumulates more and more reviews. Many popular booster seats have dozens of reviews now. Based on owner ratings, the website names the Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 and the Graco Highback TurboBooster the best booster seats.
Booster Car Seats
by Hollie Schultz
by Hollie Schultz
Our AssessmentBabyGizmo.com is best known for its stroller video reviews, but editor Hollie Schultz has added some child safety seat coverage as well. She picks five booster seats as the best, but only three -- the Graco Highback TurboBooster, The First Years Compass B510 and Clek Olli -- have full reviews. Schultz has a tendency to include only positive reviews, but she does touch briefly on each model's less-than-perfect features.
Car Seat Reviews
by Robert Glazer
by Robert Glazer
Our AssessmentBobbysBest.com lacks both breadth and depth when it comes to booster seat reviews. Only two models are covered here: the Britax Parkway SG and the Safeguard Go (now the Safety 1st Go Hybrid). Because the format here is to include only the best products in each category, author Robert Glazer doesn't offer much criticism of either model.
Combination Car Seats
by Editors of CarSeatData.org
by Editors of CarSeatData.org
Our AssessmentCarSeatData.org has a great database where you can look up which car seats fit best in which cars, and editors also recommend specific car seats. Unfortunately, the picks haven't been updated in a while, but one of them -- the Evenflo Chase -- is still on the market.
Booster Reviews
by Contributors to Walmart.com
by Contributors to Walmart.com
Our AssessmentWalmart.com continues to accumulate parent reviews for a good selection of booster seats. Several current models get near-perfect scores with more than 20 reviews each.
Booster Car Seats
by Contributors to Diapers.com
by Contributors to Diapers.com
Our AssessmentDiapers.com is the retail arm of BabyCenter.com, which offers advice on pregnancy and parenting. This site offers only basic owner-written reviews. It provides no editorial input and is outclassed by user-review giants Buzzillions.com and Amazon.com. The Nautilus 3-in-1 from Graco gets a near-perfect score with approximately three dozen reviews posted.
Car Seats
by Contributors to ExpoTV.com
by Contributors to ExpoTV.com
Our AssessmentExpoTV.com is a site dedicated to video user reviews. That's an advantage for complicated gear like child safety seats, because it allows owners to show (rather than just describe) each model's strengths and weaknesses. The downside is volume. Few owners take the time to post video reviews, so this site isn't really a useful source of average ratings.
Booster and Toddler Car Seats
by Editors of ConsumerGuide.com
by Editors of ConsumerGuide.com
Our AssessmentEditors rate booster seats for value, performance, ease of use, features and overall impression. None of the booster seats receive low scores, but editors do mention problematic features such as poor adjustability. Still, we cannot tell how thoroughly or recently these models were evaluated. Six booster and toddler seats are given an expert review, five of these are selected as best buys -- and two of those have been discontinued.
Car Seats -- Booster
by Contributors to Epinions.com
by Contributors to Epinions.com
Our AssessmentParents are invited to rate their own car seats at Epinions.com. Most of the booster seats receive only a handful of entries, though, making this site less useful than some others with more owner feedback.
Car Seats From Four Years
by Editors of Mumsnet.com
by Editors of Mumsnet.com
Our AssessmentMumsnet.com is a European site, so most of the seats mentioned are not sold in the U.S. However, this site still offers a lot of useful safety information.
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This is our assessment of the review’s relevance, clarity of testing and thoroughness.
Read more about our Ratings Criteria by clicking the link at the top of the page.
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Graco Highback Turbo Booster Seat, Megan - Girl
from Amazon.com
New: $49.99 $38.99
In Stock.
Average Customer Review:
Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 Car Seat, Matrix
from Amazon.com
New: $189.99 $127.98
In Stock.
Average Customer Review:
Graco Backless TurboBooster Car Seat, Fly Away
from Amazon.com
New: $24.99 $18.17
In Stock.
Average Customer Review:
The First Years Compass Pathway B570 Adjustable Belt Path Booster, Bumble Bee
from Amazon.com
New: $99.99
Average Customer Review: