Evenflo Symphony LX: The Only Car Seat You’ll Ever Need! {Review}

 I participated in this sponsored campaign on behalf of One2One Network. All opinions stated are my own.
Everett’s going to be a year old in less than 2 weeks!  Can you believe it?  TWO WEEKS?!  Even as I sit here and type this, it just doesn’t seem possible.  At just under a year, he’s cruising like a champ, exploring his “mamama” and “dadada” sounds, and even has 3 teeth!  And growth?  Yeah, he’s got that down too.  We’ve gotten to the point where I buy him clothing only for him to outgrow it in a number of weeks…not months.  In fact, he was getting so big that his infant car seat was starting to look a bit…uh…snug.  Okay, okay, if I wipe away the mommy denial, it was getting very snug.  So when I got the opportunity to try out the Evenflo Symphony LX with SureSafe All-In-One Car Seat, I jumped at the chance.  After all, he couldn’t stay in that infant seat much longer!I was really excited the day it arrived.  I took it out of the box, I took pictures of it, posted pictures of it on social media…guys, I was really excited about this car seat.  But installing it?  Yeah, I wasn’t all that excited about installing it.  Because in general, installing car seats is time consuming and tedious.  And when you take into consideration that 70% of car seats are installed improperly (NHTSA, 2006), there’s a better chance that your going to get it wrong than right.  I don’t like those odds when it comes to my family’s safety.

But when I opened the box for the Symphony, I happened to notice the 2 silver Quick Connectors.  These connectors are designed to attach to the lower LATCH anchors and stay in place, for easy connecting.  In other words, no more fishing around blindly for the LATCH anchors in my car!  And removing and re-installing carseats?  No problem!  And you never have to worry about it being installed properly because the seat and Quick Connectors will let you know.  They actually reduce the possibility of improper installation by 50% compared to standard LATCH.  All the guess work and worrying is removed.Sure enough, I had this seat installed in no time – a couple minutes, max.   The hardest thing about installing this seat was moving the LATCH belt from the forward facing position to the rear facing position (by sliding it forward under the seat cushion), and, honestly, that wasn’t hard at all.

But the LATCH guiding Quick Connectors are just one of the many safety features of the Symphony LX.  Because fit is so very important when it comes to car seat safety, the Symphony has a Infinite Slide Harness.  What does that mean?  Simply put, you can adjust the size of the 5-point harness around your child.When you’re ready to go, place your child in the seat and slide the shoulder harness down or up depending on your child’s size.  You do this by placing the red area on the shoulder strap (pictured above) between your thumb and forefinger and pushing up or pulling down.  When it’s in place it will snap into a locked position.  Then pull to tighten the straps (using the strap at the foot of the car seat) and your ready to go.  No need to take the seat out and rethread the straps each time your child grows.  It couldn’t be easier and the seat is completely customized to your child!

For added safety in side impact accidents, the Symphony comes complete with e3 Side Impact Protection.  These 3 layers of engineered foam can reduce side impact force up to 50%.  

The innovative buckle pockets allow safe storage of the buckle tongues when not in use.  And not only will they stay cool and out of the sun, thus reducing the chance of burns, they’ll also stay put.  Because how many times have you found yourself trying to get your child into their car seat quickly only to find that they are sitting on the straps?  That can’t be just me.

And with the Evenflo Symphony LX, safety doesn’t stop when they’re babies.  Sure, this seat fits babies as tiny as 5 pounds, but it also fits kids as big as 110 pounds.  For rear facing installation, you place the seat in the reclining position using the recline lever at the front of the seat.When you’re ready to turn the seat around to the forward facing position or use it as a booster (Yes!  It can also be used as a booster, too!), use the same lever to put it in a more upright position.  You can see the difference here:

It’s an infant seat, it’s a convertible car seat, and it’s a booster seat – It’s the only car seat you’ll ever need!

And while the Evenflo Symphony is all about safety, it’s also is full of little extras that I’ve grown to love.  Like the material on the seat that easily wipes clean, the one-handed adjustable headrest, and the easy-off seat pad.  And who could forget the cup holders!  Thank goodness for the expandable cup holders that can handle anything from a bottle to sippy cup to a snack trap!

Simply put, I adore our Evenflo Symphony.  Even more than that first day it arrived.  It’s safe.  It’s user friendly.  It’s stylish.  And Everett likes to too!

If you’re looking for a new car seat, the Evenflo Symphony with SureSafe All-In-One Car Seat retails for $199.97 and can be found at your local Walmart and Walmart.com.  And be sure to follow Evenflo on Facebook and Twitter for safety tips and additional product information!