Product Review & Rambles: Graco snugride carseat

Up for review today is the Graco Snugride carseat. 

First some rambling.  If you only want the pros and cons, just scroll to the bottom of this post. 

I kind of love this seat.  And really, I'm not sure why I *LOVE* it, and not just like it.  I suppose at one point I read about the great safety ratings, and decided it was the only seat for us.  There are other seats on the market with even better safety ratings, and great features, but this one works well for us.
  We used a Snugride for my son, 5 years ago.  I first bought a used one from eBay.  It was blue, and ugly and dirty....  And that's what we brought our baby home from the hospital in and used for a couple weeks (should've saved the money and bought a nice one in the first place!).
  Then we bought a Travel System.  This was one of our biggest mistake baby-type purchases.  I hate the strollers that come with travel systems.  So the travel system we bought in a neutral print, because we knew we wanted to have more children, and it would be cost effective to just use the same one for the next kid that came along.  That would be mistake #2.  It ended up taking us a while for baby #3.... Actually, it took us so long that our gender neutral money saving seat expired.  I grew sick of the neutral colored stroller, that hardly got any use, and eventually worn out badly and sold cheap on a garage sale.

So, You live and learn right?  Now we're on baby number 3 and I feel like I'm pretty smart with our baby purchases.  So this time........... I did buy another travel system.  No, I'm not a slow learner, I'm a frugal gal.  You see, I had my eye on an adorable print that I wanted, but of course, it only came in a travel system. 
I prayed on it, and God delivered!  Wal-Mart had the travel system on clearance for like cheap! I actually found lots of baby items we needed while I was shopping that day.  He's SO good like that.  ;) 
 I kept the car seat and base that came with it, and sold the stroller as new. I would've gladly paid the clearance price for just the seat alone, but the fact that I could sell the stroller made it an even better deal.  I knew that for our life style, I just wouldn't use that stroller enough, if ever.

Ummm, oh yeah-  About the seat!

PROS:
Light weight
Not bulky
Adorable prints
Good safety ratings
Easy to install
The base stays secure in the car
If your baby falls asleep in the car you can bring the seat in the house and keep them sleeping

CONS:
You have to adjust the straps from behind/under the seat.  I put the seat on the table to do this.  It's a bit of a hassle, but doesn't have to be done often.


Graco makes a swing and a stroller that the car seat can snap right on to.  We have both and I think they're both super convenient.

I'd recommend this to a friend.  And if we are ever blessed with another baby, this will again be the seat we use.