The car seat that grows WITH your child!!!

After our son got too big for the carrying car seat, it was time for us to begin the hunt for the next stage in seats. But where do we begin... there are so many types at a wide range of prices. After checking out seats at 5 different stores, we came across the "Alpha Omega Elite Car Seat with LATCH: Hammer Print."

The first thing that caught our eye was the fact that this was one of the few car seats that would grow WITH our child. Below are some of the key elements that went into our decision to purchase this seat.

Length of use: Many of the other seats only went to 40 pounds, but the Alpha Omega Elite could be used from 5 - 100 pounds! This is extremely important unless you already plan to purchase multiple car seats as your child gets older. This seat allows you to install it rear-facing from 5-35 pounds, then forward-facing position for 20-40 pounds, and finally as a booster seat from 30-100 pounds.

Headrest: The headrest comes with a built in head support (for infants) that is made to be removed with a tad bit of effort. Since my child was old enough, I chose to completely remove it. However, for the occasional cleaning, you'll have to remove the entire seat to take it out. This seems like it would be a little too much effort to remove.

As the child gets older, the headrest is so easy to adjust. While holding the two red levers at the top of the seat, just slide the headrest up and down.

The headrest also includes a small, built in pillow.

Durability: Granted, you can find many other car seats cheaper than this one, but remember how your mom used to tell you, "You get what you pay for"??? Many of the other less expensive onces seemed less durable. Everything about this seat seemed solid and strong. If you plan to keep this for several years as your child grows, practically all the padding is removable for cleaning and is made of a strong fabric to last a long time.

Ease of use: We use this seat in the back of a two door car, so I don't think ANY car seat would be easy to use for us. Trying to get the car seat into the back of the car wasn't hard, but due to it larger size, it took a little maneuvering. Once we got it into place, the armrests rotate out of the way making it easier for us to place him in/out of the seat. The straps tend to get a little twisted causing some frustration while trying to buckle in a moving child. At first, the buckles seemed VERY hard to use and we were almost at the point of exchanging it. However, after about 2 weeks of use, they wore in nicely and are now much easier to use.

Installation: As with all the car seats, the directions for installation are a joke. This seat took me about 1 hour to fully setup and install. Once I figured it all out, it wasn't too bad, but getting to that point was the frustrating thing. However, now that I know what I'm doing, the seat easily goes from reclined, rear facing to upright, forward facing without any problems.

Additional Features: Many of the other key features that helped in our decision making included:

* Everything is fully-padded for maximum safety and support
* Rear- and forward-facing options
* Converts to Booster seat
* 5-point, adjustable harness
* LATCH system-equipped
* Four position padded headrest adjusts with harness - never needs rethreading!
* Three-position recline (great for gradually increasing the recline as they get older)
* Removable Infant head support (holds their head in place during those early infant years)
* Articulating armrests (rotates out of the way during the early years and then into place as they get older)
* Removable cup/juice holder on seat (snaps in and out)
* Removable pillow with padded belt covers

By all means, you can find car seats cheaper than this one (in the $50 range) and many a lot more than this ($300 range). But, the cheaper seats don't offer the longevity of this seat and the expensive ones don't offer anything more than this one already has.

Without a doubt, I would recommend this seat to any family member or friend in the market for a car seat.