With our younger son, we started using the Graco when he was around 1 year old and still use it in the rear-facing position. We found that, even in this position, there is plenty of room for his legs. We have not used the Graco 4Ever 4-in-1 as a booster seat but are confident that the familiarity of the seat and ease of use will make it the best choice for our family. If you’re looking for one car seat that will last through all your child’s ages and stages, the Graco 4Ever 4-in-1 Convertible Car Seat is prepped to grow with them for ten years. When going from rear facing with the headrest in position eight, our 6 year old doll needed the headrest in the top (10th) position forward facing.
The headrest comes out higher than the seat but moves smoothly. It goes up and down without resistance, but the pinch mechanism is slightly stiffer than competitors, but nothing you’d notice if you hadn’t used all of the competition. Like the Extend2Fit Convertible, the 3-in-1 has a no-rethread harness that’s linked to the headrest; it’s smooth and simple to adjust. And, like the Convertible, it allows for convenient snacking with two built-in cupholders. The seat has low sides, which make it easy to get your child in and out (similar to the Convertible). Although we enjoy the convenience of adjusting the harness and headrest as one unit, there’s a safety argument to be made for having the harness and headrest operate independently.
One of the key differences between the Extend2Fit 3-in-1 and the Extend2Fit Convertible is that the 3-in-1’s maximum shoulder-harness height is over an inch shorter than the Convertible’s. If a child is tall, they could reach that harness limit, and you’d have to switch them over to booster mode—possibly before you would have ordinarily put them in a booster. Although the Foonf feels roomy to its passengers, this is one of the narrowest car seats on the market, at only 16.9 inches wide, making it a good candidate for families that need to fit three seats across. And it doesn’t have any parts that flare out to compete for space with neighboring car seats or riders. To help narrow down our initial list of over 90 seats, we evaluated the frontal crash-testing data from the NHTSA. However, since car seats are not required to be certified before sale, several of the seats included in our at-home testing did not yet have government crash-testing data available; this limited our ability to compare results systematically.
Head over to our YouTube Channel to see the review and installation how-to of the Graco Extend2Fit. The Extend2Fit Convertible has a one-year warranty and a lifespan of 10 years from the date of manufacture. The seat scored well (PDF) in front-impact crash tests conducted by the NHTSA (the agency tests with dummies the size of 1-, 3-, and 6-year-olds), earning strong Head Injury Criterion (HIC) scores. Whenever possible, we sought feedback about the seats from kid testers. It grows with them and changes to a booster when they’re older. The Extend3Fit is a comfortable and better-quality option than most of the competition, and it is one of the best of the Graco options we tested.
The chest clip pinch release is on the left shoulder strap and is easy to use; while not in the usual location, it didn’t hinder the process. From a value standpoint, it can be hard to justify spending over $500 on a car seat when there are great alternatives that cost about half as much—including our top pick, the Graco Extend2Fit Convertible. And it’s irritating that if you do decide to shell out half a grand on a Foonf, you’d still have to buy a cupholder. Even though the ClickTight graco car seat system is easy to use—and we have yet to hear anyone say otherwise—it’s not perfect. When the seat bottom is open, it doesn’t always stay fully propped open on its own; one mom with a large SUV complained that the seat lid kept falling on her head as she was trying to do the install. And getting the lid of the seat to close completely can take a few hard pushes—although when it does close, it gives a substantial click, so there’s no question as to whether the task has been completed.
When you press down on the key and turn it clockwise, the bottom of the seat lifts up, opening to reveal the guts of the operation. You then weave both the lap and shoulder portion of the vehicle seat belt through the appropriate slots—they’re labeled for either the rear- or forward-facing position, depending on which you’re using. Finally, you push the seat bottom closed; you’ll know the lid is secure when you hear a satisfying click. Also, the inclusion of a seat belt lock-off would have made installing the Extend2Fit Convertible with the seat belt method easier and more appealing.
The manual states that the panel must be in position 2-4 for a child over 40 pounds. When CSFTL asked Graco if this is absolutely required, since the seat is far more compact without it, they stated that it’s not misuse to keep the panel tucked away. There are two cupholders with this seat, and both are required to be assembled when the seat is bought. They click in with ease provided they are in the correct direction. How many recline positions does the SlimFit R44 car seat have?
Unlike the Extend2Fit Convertible, the Extend2Fit 3-in-1 converts to a high-back booster seat. In order to switch over to booster mode, your child must be at least 40 pounds and 43 inches tall, and have the emotional maturity to maintain correct posture while in the seat. To turn the Extend2Fit 3-in-1 from a five-point harness seat into a booster seat, you remove the bottom crotch buckle strap, move the harness straps behind the padding, and stow away the buckles in a compartment graco convertible car seat behind the padding. Removing that lower buckle is harder than it sounds; it can take several minutes of maneuvering to guide it out of its tight slot. This is not a flaw that’s particular to this seat—we’ve found readjusting crotch buckles to be a nuisance on plenty of other car seats—and you’re unlikely to be changing from convertible to booster mode all that often. With any car seat, it’s important to follow the height and weight restrictions for that particular model.
And we can see how an all-in-one seat might also make a lot of sense if you’re in the market for an ancillary car seat—say, to keep at a grandparent’s house or as a spare for the babysitter. Because in the case of a head-on collision, when a child is facing to the rear, the impact of the crash would be absorbed primarily by their backside, which is cocooned graco convertible car seat and protected by the shell of the car seat. But if the child is facing forward, the force of a frontal crash is going to propel their body forward, with the strain absorbed by their head, neck, and spine. You simply pull the handle at the base of the seat to extend the panel, but you do have to extend it before installing the seat (lesson learned!).