Graco My Ride 65 Convertible Car Seat, Cuddle - Babyphone Discounters

We got this carseat last week for our 3 year old daughter. She was forward facing in her other carseat, and Alpha Omega Elite, and I hated it every time I put her in it. She frequently falls asleep in the car and her head would flop so badly that I worried her neck would snap sometimes. We tried neck pillows, etc. Nothing worked. So we saw this seat and she sat in it on the display, along with about 5 others. She fit so nicely and loved it! So we got it. I am so very happy with it. She has fallen asleep in it a few times now, and her head stays put and she looks very comfy. She actualy talks about her new seat and jumps around with excitement when its time to get in it.
The seat does seem really bulky, and my husband wasn’t sure it would fit in my Mazda 3. I have to say, it’s smaller than it seems. It fits very well and was super easy to install. It took him about ten minutes and it doesn’t budge. I highly recommend this one!

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My son was unusually tall for his age, so when he outgrew his carry-along infant car seat at around 6 months, my husband and I went looking for a convertible car seat that would do extended-rear-facing not just with weight but more importantly (for us) with height. We read all of the reviews (email me for some great car seat websites!) and eventually decided on the Graco MyRide 65. If I was reviewing this seat for him, I would have given it five stars. We loved the one we purchased so much that we bought a second for my husband’s car. Easy to install, easy to use, comfortable with lots of leg-room rear-facing, the cover is easy to remove, clean, and put back on – we LOVE these car seats! So when we were searching for car seats for my daughter, we decided to do without the pumpkin seat in my car, and just go straight to the MyRide.

Very briefly: The MyRide is one of the 3 tallest car seats on the market, soft and wide with cup-holders, it does rear-facing up to 40 pounds and forward-facing up to 65. It comes in a variety of patterns (each store carries a different pattern, so make sure you check out BRU, Target, Walmart, and Bed Bath & Beyond and decide which pattern you love!) and stays soft and plush after years of use. It not only has a tall back but also a tall base so that your child can see out of the car window, making rear-facing (and eventually forward-facing) more pleasant.It is easy to tighten and loosen when facing either direction. However, rear-facing it may not fit in smaller cars because of the tall back, and fitting 3-across is not possible because of the width of the seat and the cup-holders. In addition, we encountered a serious problem when trying to use the car seat for a newborn.

We installed our daughter’s car seat, but COULD NOT get the straps to tighten correctly. The straps would tighten exactly as they were supposed to until our daughter was actually IN the seat, and then the straps would not tighten at all. It wasn’t just a strength issue – neither my husband nor I could get the straps to budge at all when our daughter was in the seat. My husband must have reinstalled that car seat 5 times, thinking perhaps the legs were on the straps, perhaps he had put it in wrong, etc. Since we have two others exactly like it and had never encountered this problem before, we had no idea what was going on. We could only get the seat to tighten by manually pulling the straps through the back and tightening with the other hand at the same time, which was difficult, required a lot of strength, and the straps still never got as tight as I wanted the belts to be.

I was very disappointed, thinking we had somehow gotten a defective seat, although I didn’t see how since it tightened fine when no one was sitting in it. So I went online. There, I found many people who had had the same problem. All but one had returned the seat, deciding that it was defective and giving the seat poor reviews. However, one person had come up with a different solution. She recommended we remove the infant insert padding. I didn’t see how some fabric and padding could be causing such serious problems, but since my son had been older when we had used the MyRide with him and had never needed the insert, I decided I had nothing to lose, and pulled out the insert. Immediately, the seat worked perfectly. I have no idea how the fabric was catching the straps in such a manner, and I still don’t get it to this day, but the problem was solved.

I could not use the seat with the infant insert. However, my daughter was too small to fit snugly in the seat without the insert. In the end, my husband and I decided to use the pumpkin seat again (luckily, it hadn’t expired) until our daughter was a little bigger, and then use the My Ride. Our daughter has now been in the MyRide for 2 months without even the smallest problem.

So, in conclusion, this is a great car seat for bigger babies and toddlers! We DO still love it, rear-facing and forward-facing. It is easy to remove the cover, easy to fasten, etc. But in my experience, it cannot be used with the infant insert, and this makes it a terrible choice for newborns. If you don’t believe me, just read some of the other reviews, or do a Google search. You will find a ton of people who have had similar problems with the straps. However, if you are looking for a seat to replace your carry-along car seat because your infant has outgrown it, look no further. This one is otherwise perfect.

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By 

Kristin Keogh –

  

I’m going to go ahead and second the recommendations of the previous reviewer to research extended rear facing and the Kyle David Miller Foundation. We got this seat as a secondary car seat to be used in the grandparents cars. Our primary is a Britax Boulevard.
I have installed this seat probably 8 separate times now, in two different Ford Focuses and one Honda Ridgeline. My son is almost 23 pounds and almost 32 inches at 15 months old. We are continuing to rear face because it is five times safer than forward facing at this point. Now on to the car seat!
I installed it first in the Honda Ridgeline, and it took me about a half an hour to get a good install. To correct the previous reviewer, it doesn’t have to have less than one inch of movement at the head of the car seat, but at the belt path. That means you should NOT be able to move it more than one inch in any direction where the seat belt or the LATCH belt is connected. I have to stick a knee into the seat and put a lot of weight into it and simultaneously pull the LATCH strap to get less than an inch of movement, but it’s a small price to pay for safety.
I also have the same problem with the difficulty in tightening the shoulder harness, and have heard that complaint from many other people with the My Ride. I finally got it tight enough, but have no idea how I did it and am afraid to loosen it at all or I won’t get it back.
I had the same issue with the cover as well where it pops off of the cup holders and also the top. I called Graco, and they sent me a replacement cover right away. I got it within three days. I haven’t had a chance to put it on yet, but we haven’t used the seat in awhile either.
All in all, it is a good seat for the money. If you have a tight budget and are looking for a high weight limit rear facing seat, this is a good one.
I personally like the deepness of the seat, he actually has more leg room in this than he does in his Britax Boulevard.
Again, after installing a seat, find a certified car seat technician in your area to go over your install, they can help you learn how to do it correctly. You can find one in your area by going to this website: [...]

Remember, the American Academy of Pediatrics have recently changed their recommendations regarding car seats, and now recommend rear facing until at least age 2 and 30 pounds, NOT age 1 and 20 pounds.

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