Several rigorous crash tests have been done on the gear to ensure protection from the frontal, side, rear, and rollover crashes. This review video highlights a tester’s experience to give you a better insight into the forward-facing car seat. Although there aren’t many differences between the Extend2Fit 3-in-1 and the Extend2Fit Convertible, the differences that do exist are significant—and they make the 3-in-1 less appealing. Though both seats have a high rear-facing maximum weight limit of 50 pounds, the rear-facing LATCH limit of the 3-in-1 is only 40 pounds, compared with 45 pounds for the Convertible. We really like the rear-facing LATCH install of this seat, and it’s a letdown that people would have to make the switch from LATCH to seat belt earlier. As previously described, the Foonf’s rear-facing install takes more effort than the rear-facing install of our other picks.
We do still think that the backless booster mode is very bulky, and we don’t care for that mode of use, though it’s a perfectly safe option. Depending on your child’s weight, you may be able to skip that mode anyway and go straight from the high-back booster to the seat belt trainer. Like the Extend2Fit Convertible, the Foonf can accommodate rear-facing children up to 50 pounds and forward-facing kids up to 65 pounds or 49 inches.
US car seat manufacturers are required to self-certify each model’s safety. European authorities rely on different—arguably more stringent—standards, including requiring car seat manufacturers to pass certification standards before putting a model on sale and requiring a side-impact standard in addition to front-impact standards. Though this is not necessarily a flaw, note that the KeyFit 30 is a bit no-frills. It lacks some of the bells and whistles that we’d put into the “nice but not necessary” category, such as a no-rethread harness or an added safety feature like an anti-rebound base or a load leg.
Another distinguishing feature of the KeyFit 35 is that, like our upgrade pick, the Clek Liing, it has a European belt path. The belt path comes into play when you’re installing the seat without its base and using the vehicle seat belt only—usually for taxi rides or other travel situations where you aren’t lugging the base around with you. Most infant car seats sold in the US use an American belt path, which routes the seat belt over the top of the seat only; in our tests, we’ve found it nearly impossible to install a seat securely with an American belt path. We opted to test the SnugRide SnugFit 35 DLX because it’s the company’s best-selling model, according to a Graco spokesperson. It’s also among the most widely available—I found that it’s the one carried at my local Target.
The KeyFit 30 has the lowest child height and weight limit of our picks (respectively, 5 pounds and 2 inches less than the limits of the Graco SnugRide SnugFit 35 DLX, the Chicco KeyFit 35, or the Clek Liing). That is unlikely to be an issue, but it is something to keep in mind, especially if you have an unusually tall baby. The car seat technicians we interviewed confirmed that a child is likely to reach an infant seat’s height limit before they reach graco car seat the weight limit. Still, many parents choose to switch over to a convertible car seat well before a child reaches either of those limits, simply because it’s no longer comfortable or easy to carry a bigger baby around in a bucket seat. These all-in-one seats by one of the most trusted brands, Graco, are premium-quality safety gear made from cozy materials and equipped with high-quality features that ensure enhanced protection from collisions.
And it’s prone to staining—the material was not as easy to casually wipe clean as that of the Britax or the Clek. Also, in our food-and-drink tests, when we smeared peanut butter on the seat, it left a stain that we couldn’t get off with a soapy damp rag. When you switch the Extend2Fit Convertible from rear-facing to forward-facing, you’ll have to take the seat cover off to reroute the LATCH straps; it’s a bit of a nuisance, but hopefully a rare one. Graco also provides instructions for removing and reattaching all the pads, but we found that watching YouTube tutorials was the best way to learn. There are four main pads that come off the car seat, but some of the smaller tabs and elastic loops are tricky to reattach. The hardest part of the cleaning process (for us, anyway) was having to carry the bulky, 22.75-pound car seat in and out of the car and house.
For all forward facing installations, the 4Ever’s base must be flat on the vehicle seat. That sometimes means there will be a gap between the back of the car seat and the vehicle seat back (especially in recline position 4!). This is completely fine as long as the 4Ever moves less than 1 inch at the belt path. To move them to the forward facing belt path, loosen the harness and extend the headrest all the way.
(One 2018 tester described the lightweight seat as feeling “like a kid’s toy.”) That makes it a good choice for travel—it’s the convertible pick in our guide to the best travel car seats. It’s doable, but even professionals we consulted noted that this seat is harder than others to install well. And unlike our main picks, which have a forward-facing weight limit of 65 pounds, the Scenera Next’s weight limit is 40 pounds in both forward- and rear-facing mode, which means you can’t use it for nearly as long.
But the higher size limits could get you a few more months of use from the KeyFit 35 before you need to buy another seat. Like the KeyFit 30, the KeyFit 35 comes with a newborn insert (which you must remove when the baby reaches 11 pounds) and a head-rest cushion (which you can use even after your baby has outgrown the newborn position). We also took into account that since the first version of this guide, in 2018, many more infant seats have begun offering added safety features, such as load legs and anti-rebound bases (see Understanding optional safety features for details). These features are designed to reduce the seat’s motion or absorb some of the impact in a crash, and we can appreciate their potential benefits. But we had to weigh their overall importance carefully, since they can add to a seat’s cost and are still less vital to a baby’s safety than a proper install. When installing forward-facing, the original Extend2Fit must be installed on a specific recline setting for a child who weighs less than 40 pounds.