EXCELLENT!!!

I took a leap of faith when I bought this car seat for my daughter. She had outgrown the Century Accel (everytime I lowered the overhead bar, it would hit her in the head), and we needed something quick. Off to Wal-Mart I went, looking for something that would last as long as possible. At the time this seat was purchased (June 2003), this was the only seat I could find where it could be used as a booster starting at 30 pounds and went to 100 pounds, and can be used for younger children 22-40 pounds with the 5-point restraint system. This seat is quite large and may not fit all vehicles, so your best bet is that if you like this seat, go ahead and buy it and before putting it all together, take it out of the box and try getting it into your car.

We drive a 2000 Buick Century and it fits just fine. We have also had the seat in a 2003 Ford Escape. The only adjustment we have to make in the Escape is that the headrests need to be removed in order for the seat to sit flat. No real issue since the headrests on the back seat of the Escape are made to come out anyway. The seat also fits fine in a 2003 Pontiac Vibe.

Some online reviews of this seat have really ripped it apart, saying that its not worth what was spent on it, etc. My thought on this is that Consumer Reports would not have recommended this seat as the ONLY seat it recommends that converts from 5-point to belt positioning booster if it wasn't for a reason. I trust the Consumer Reports review panel that they aren't going to recommend a car seat that isn't safe.

When we purchased the seat, my daughter weighed 28 pounds, so for about a month we had to use the 5-point system. I try to keep in mind that we were coming from a car seat that had the overhead shield, and I didn't have to deal with all the crazy straps and buckles that you do on the 5-pointers. But regardless, after I got used to the way the system worked, it wasn't too hard to do. The only gripe I have is that the straps are not very stiff, which allows them to twist up easily. If you catch the twists AS THEY HAPPEN, rather than just letting them go through a use or two, you will find it to be much easier to untwist one or two twists than a load of them.

As a 5-point seat, the buckle is a "puzzle-lock" buckle, which only fits together in one way (also takes a little getting used to). A word of advice - PRACTICE HOW TO LATCH THIS BUCKLE BEFORE YOU PUT YOUR CHILD IN THE SEAT! There is nothing worse than an impatient toddler squirming around in the seat with a buckle that just won't seem to fit together. After about 3 or 4 attempts at putting the buckle together, you should be a pro, and the manufacturer claims that it is harder for children to figure out how to unlatch it.

The harnesses have 3 positions, which are easily adjusted from the back of the seat without having to rethread the harnesses. Although we didn't need to reposition the harnesses, I would imagine this is a wonderful feature, since rethreading this seat can be a little tricky (and the instruction manual isn't very helpful).

With harnesses removed, the Summit converts to a belt-positioning booster. There are easily-adjustable belt guides on both sides of the seat to provide the best shoulder belt fit.

There are other little perks to this seat as well... like flip-down armrests, which we don't generally use because they just get in the way of my daughter getting in and out of the seat. There is a slide-out cup/juice box holder, which is very convenient, as long as you don't use the wide-bottom Playtex sippy cups.

The Summit has a 3-position recline feature. As a 5-point harness seat, your best bet is to recline the seat before you belt it in and latch it down, because once the seat is in place, it cannot be reclined. As a booster, the same hold true, recline the seat before you position the lap and shoulder belt because it is nearly impossible to recline after the child has been buckled in.

If there is one other little grumble I have about this seat, it is the padded cover. First, its not very cushioned, however, you can go back to Walmart and get a package of quilt batting and cut a few layers to fit underneath the cushion, and VOILA!! you have a squishy seat! The cover can be tricky to remove because the belt guides both on the bottom part of the seat and the back have to be pried off with a screwdriver. However, the cover washes up nice on the regular wash cycle on hot water wash, cold water rinse. Add a little fabric softener too, the cover fluffs up nicely! The instructions say to let the cover drip dry. I just tossed it in the dryer on the low setting and it was dry in 15 minutes.