[blparent] Car Seat Travel Backpack

[Angie Matney]

Hello everyone,

Chuck and I have been considering car seat alternatives for when Jacob (due in July) is a little older. There's not a ton of public transportation around here, so we use cabs quite often. We plan to use an Ergobaby Sport for transporting Jacob, but we were worried about what to do with the car seat. We thought a travel system with a stroller and car seat would work well while he was in an infant carrier, but we were worried about what to do when he outgrew that and needed a toddler seat. 

We considered the Sit 'n Stroll, but we haven't gotten to see one of these. I know lots of people use them, but I had misgivings. We also thought about an Orbit Baby travel system, which does allow you to dock a toddler seat onto the stroller, but we didn't relish paying $900 ($720 after using some coupons we had) for the stroller and infant seat, then another $350 or so later for the toddler seat. Also, the stroller had handle bars, and we were concerned about pulling it without having a handle that we could grip in the center.

On Friday, my sister took us to Buy Buy Baby, where we found the product that, at this point, looks like it will solve all of our problems. It's the JL Childress Ultimate Car Seat Travel Bag. It was $50 in the store; they accept those 20% coupons from Bed, Bath and Beyond, so we got it for $40. Its purpose is to facilitate checking your car seat when you fly. Here is some info about the bag from the product description on Amazon (where it's currently selling for $35.54):

  a.. Car seat travel bag features padded, adjustable backpack straps for carrying comfort 
  b.. Fits Britax Marathon, Boulevard, Roundabout, Decathlon and Diplomat, also fits Recaro, Evenflo, Cosco, Century, Eddie Bauer,etc 
  c.. Water-resistant, heavy-duty fabric cleans easily and protects car seat from moisture 
  d.. Measures approximately 18 by 19 by 33"

It holds our Britax Chaperone car seat with room to spare. While carrying the car seat in a backpack might be a bit bulky, we feel it's the best way there is for us to transport the seat. We also like that we have the flexibility to choose whatever toddler seat we want when Jacob is older.

So I thought I'd mention this, in the event that others might be facing a similar conundrum. Here's the product link from Amazon: 

http://www.amazon.com/Childress-Ultimate-Seat-Travel-Black/dp/B0009RNXNA/ref=sr_1_1?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1304256396&sr=1-1


Angie