s/o Graco FF Seats- Updated in replies

[icedcoffee]

Don't want to clutter the other thread.  Does anyone have insight on differences between these 3 seats:

Graco Trazitions(also known as Wayz) $100ish (3in1)
Graco Atlas $130ish (2in1)
Graco Nautilus  $150ish (3in1)

Is there any reason not to get the Graco Tranzitions?  $50 cheaper than the Nautilus is quite significant, but this will be a primary seat for DS1 so I'll spend it if it's worth it.

We're looking at these 3 options when we give DS2 his Graco Milestone seats in May or June.

I have lots of time, but would like to keep an eye on sales and stuff to get a good deal.

ETA:  We really like our Graco Milestones which is why I've kind of limited the search to Graco seats.  And the prices are right.

[dcn]

We have an atlas and it is fine. Ds1 uses it as a high back booster now, we are on our last 2 hours of a 15 hour drive and he’s still comfy.

I didn’t get a 3 in 1 bc I figured by the time he’s ready for a backless booster, ds2 will be out of his convertible and can use the atlas. A backless booster is cheap.

[pooh8402]

Nautilus is a bit cushier, I think. One cupholder. Tranzitions is much narrower and cheaper, has 2 cupholders.

We have 4Evers in our vehicles. But I plan to get Tranzitions to use as grandparent/travel seats for E1, as he is about to grow out of the convertible his grandparents have

[icedcoffee]

Jan 3, 2020 14:34:43 GMT -5 dcn said:

We have an atlas and it is fine. Ds1 uses it as a high back booster now, we are on our last 2 hours of a 15 hour drive and he’s still comfy.

I didn’t get a 3 in 1 bc I figured by the time he’s ready for a backless booster, ds2 will be out of his convertible and can use the atlas. A backless booster is cheap.

Yeah I'm not super concerned with the 3 in 1 option, but it's weird the Atlas is more expensive than the Tranzitions/Wayz.

[dcn]

Jan 3, 2020 14:38:31 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

Jan 3, 2020 14:34:43 GMT -5 dcn said:

We have an atlas and it is fine. Ds1 uses it as a high back booster now, we are on our last 2 hours of a 15 hour drive and he’s still comfy.

I didn’t get a 3 in 1 bc I figured by the time he’s ready for a backless booster, ds2 will be out of his convertible and can use the atlas. A backless booster is cheap.

Yeah I'm not super concerned with the 3 in 1 option, but it's weird the Atlas is more expensive than the Tranzitions/Wayz.

Agree that is weird! I don’t remember that one being an option 3 years ago when I bought the atlas.

[statgirl]

We have 2 Wayz/Tranzitions. I bought them when we needed new seats ASAP and they were in stock locally. I love them. I use seatbelt installs and have never had any issues getting them to fit. My oldest (7) is about to move into the HBB stage so we will try that out. The only issue my boys have is that the cup holders are not solid and Mom went postal when they dropped their shoe sand in them (since they used their old car seat cup holders for crumbs). They still think I was mean for making them vacuum out the back seat.

[icedcoffee]

Sounds like there’s no real reason to get a Nautilus. I think we may get a Tranzitions. Bonus is I think it’s really light so we can also use it for air travel if we ever decide to take our kids somewhere. We’ve never had super cushy seats so I’m ok with less cushy.

[VillainV]

The Nautilus goes on sale pretty often. I see it a few times a year for $99 at Walmart or Target. We have two, and really like them.

[bookqueen15]

We have one Nautilus and two Tranzitions. I much prefer the Tranzitions and wish that was all we had. I like that they're a little narrower and not as high as the Nautilus, much easier for my DD to get in and out of. I like the two cup holders and she can buckle and unbuckle herself more easily in the Tranzitions.

[atarianna]

We have transitions and love them. I bought them primarily because of their more narrow footprint. I can fit 3 across in my husband’s smaller backseat. Also, they are lightweight and awesome for travel.

[preppy]

If you haven’t bought the transitions one yet I would NOT recommend it. We bought it as a lightweight backup seat for travel and it’s awful. It’s very difficult to install, not at all sturdy and the back and seat get separated very easily. I hate it. I am tempted to give it away and buy a brand new seat but we legit only use it for travel.

[icedcoffee]

Update: in case anyone cares. We got the Graco Tranzitions. $80 after coupon from BBB. It was my first time installing any seat forward facing so grain of salt and all that, but I can see why people find it hard to install.

It took me a solid hour of playing around with it to get the perfect install, but now that I did I can probably do it again in 5 minutes. Definite learning curve and requires some dedication on your part. We will keep it and I think I’ll order a second for our other car. I have nothing to compare it to though since I’ve never installed our Milestone FF. Maybe they’re all that hard.

DS hasn’t ridden in it yet, but I think he will love his new FF ride. And yay to being done RFing a 37lb child.

DS2 is only 10 months but I think he’s ready to be done with his bucket seat. I think he’ll be happier being more upright in DS1’s old Milestone.

And finally, I still don’t understand why they make car seats so challenging. No wonder so many people use them incorrectly. So many rules.

[pooh8402]

I found it relatively easy to install, but I also have a lot of experience installing car seats. It is a similar installation to our 4Evers (which means it should be a similar install to your Milestone). E1 uses the Tranzitions in his grandparents' vehicles, and he likes it, says it's comfy.

I agree that it is so hard to install them with all the rules, and they're different for every vehicle and seat and child. And I also agree that *all of that* is the reason why people have a hard time with installation. I wish they could be more consistent across the board.

[icedcoffee]

Jun 18, 2020 11:06:45 GMT -5 pooh8402 said:

I found it relatively easy to install, but I also have a lot of experience installing car seats. It is a similar installation to our 4Evers (which means it should be a similar install to your Milestone). E1 uses the Tranzitions in his grandparents' vehicles, and he likes it, says it's comfy.

I agree that it is so hard to install them with all the rules, and they're different for every vehicle and seat and child. And I also agree that *all of that* is the reason why people have a hard time with installation. I wish they could be more consistent across the board.

I think you’re right that it’s probably just as “hard” as the Milestone. And once I found some tricks online it was much easier to install, but I feel like you shouldn’t need tricks (pull back the padding to help you guide the seatbelt back up tighter, etc). It was also my first time using the seatbelt vs latch. I also think leather makes install a little harder and I’m used to cloth.

Basically, I think car seats should be idiot proof, but they’re definitely not.

I install mine super tight and I pretty much guarantee most people don’t.

[felicity]

Has anyone tried the Nautilus Snuglock? It is supposed to make seatbelt installation easy. I'm debating between this and the Britax Grow With You Clicktight harness booster.

[macmars45]

We love our graco tranzition. We purchased it in October of last year specially because it was easier for air travel and we flew to AZ to see family. DS was 3.5 at the time.

[starryfish]

I have a chicco myfit? Zip and then a transitions. I much prefer the transitions.