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An infant baby car seat is made for babies up to about 20 lbs. (birth to 9 months). In this category, the best baby car seat was the Britax Companion. It rated ‘Very Good to Excellent’ on crash protection, ‘Very Good’ on ease of use, and ‘Excellent’ on vehicle fit. The only drawback with this model of baby car seat was price. At $170, it was among the highest priced seats on the market.

The baby car seat that scored lowest (of those tested) was the Evenflo PortAbout 5 (Premier Comfort Touch). It rated only ‘Fair to Good’ on crash protection, ‘Very Good’ on ease of use, and ‘Excellent’ on vehicle fit. While it scored among the highest in the latter two categories, the primary concern with any baby car seat is protection, and this one just doesn’t pass muster.

Best & Worst Convertible Baby Car Seat

A convertible baby car seat is designed for children up to about 35 lbs. in rear-facing models and up to 40 lbs. for front-facing seats. Among these child seats, the Evenflo Titan 5 scored an impressive ‘Excellent’ rating in both crash protection and vehicle fit. It rated ‘Very Good’ on ease of use. Overall, this is an excellent baby car seat!

The worst score in this category was given to the Britax Marathon baby car seat. The only real problem with this model is the latch, which had some problems and drove the ratings down for crash protection and vehicle fit. It’s still rated ‘Excellent’ in several categories, so even this baby car seat isn’t a bad buy. You just want to be sure that the latch works properly in your particular vehicle.