Graco Atlas 65 2-in-1 Car Seat Review

2016 Top Rated Toddler Car Seats

A lot of new parents think they need to register for the most expensive car seats at the store.  Price and safety seem to go hand-in-hand in a lot of parents’ minds.  Let me just tell you, I’ve had a lot of experience with various car seat brands and I can tell you first hand that some of my favorite car seats have been from the most inexpensive brands – like the Graco Atlas 65.

Parenting Myths

– Baby gear sort of reflects on your status as a parent.  

– Expensive products somehow prove that you’re a classy parent or that you’re “in the know” when it comes to what’s best for your kid.

– Other moms will judge me if I have a cheap car seat.

– Cheap baby gear means unsafe baby gear.

Honestly, you can get really nice looking and high quality products for not very much money.

When I’m considering a car seat, I look for lots of different things aside from the safety ratings:

Weight – as a family that travels quite often, I consider the weight of a car seat and how awkward it might be to carry around at the airports.

Size – is the car seat going to fit behind my driver seat or in my husband’s mid-sized truck?  Will it accommodate my growing child?

Color/Fabric – is the color and fabric stain resistant?

Multi-purpose – I’m all about multi-purpose products so if a car seat can grow with my child, it will totally win me over.

Price – I’m a big time bargain shopper so if I’m going to spend my own money on a product, you better believe I want to get a good deal.

Graco Atlas 65 2-in-1 Harness Booster Toddler Car Seat

Weight  – Once your child is out of the infant car seat (unless you have something like the Graco 4Ever All-in-1 Car Seat like I have for Kendall) you’ll need a toddler/preschooler car seat.  As I mentioned above, I’ve had experience with a fair share of car seats.  Most of them have been great but weight is always a huge concern and a deal breaker.  The Graco Atlas 65 2-in-1 Harness Booster weighs in at just 18 pounds making it super easy for me to load on and off of airport shuttles, into hotel transportation, etc.

Multi-Purpose – This car seat is designed to grow with your child from harness booster (22 – 65 lb.) to highback booster (30 – 100 lb.)   In California, I believe the new law is that children under two must be rear facing.  So once your child is ready for a forward facing “big kid” car seat, you’ve got to check this one out.

Easy to adjust – The ultra-easy Simply Safe Adjust Harness System adjusts the harness and headrest together – with no time-consuming rethreading – to 10  height positions.  This is such an easy system to use and takes the headache of rethreading away.  This is especially great for parents with larger hands or little patience (like me).

Self contained – When your child has transitioned from harnessed booster to highback booster, the car seat stores the harness seat belt in the “handy harness storage compartment.”  I’m all about products with self storage so this feature gets an A+ from me.

Cup holders – If your car has passenger cup holders but your child has difficulty reaching them, you’ll love the two built-in cup holders on this car seat.  They can easily be removed for washing and hold snacks, too.  My Nissan Pathfinder is a great family car but the rear passenger cup holders are out of reach for my girls.  I always consider car seats with cup holders for this reason alone.

Machine washable – The fabric on this car seat is machine washable and is pretty simple to remove from the car seat.

MSRP – $129.99 – This is such a great price for a multi-purpose car seat that grows with your child.  Graco is a trusted brand in baby gear and is a brand that I’ve used for years.

Rating – 4.9 out of 5 Stars on the Graco Website

The Graco Atlas 65 has been a wonderful cars eat for our family.  It’s easy to move from car to car, my toddler fits comfortably in it and it is budget-friendly.  It’s been a great car seat to travel with, as well.  It fits nicely in our car seat travel bag and has proven to be very useful in other countries.

As a family who is always on the go, we let our kids eat in their car seats, which means we have to clean the fabric often.  This fabric is very wipeable and can even be removed and washed as mentioned above.

I received a car seat from Graco to facilitate my review  All opinions are my own.


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75 Comments

  1. my biggest concern is the comfort for my child! I want a comfy plush seat.. a good plush headrest..arm rests that wont dig into my child. always a struggle!

  2. My biggest concern is that it needs to be multi-purpose and comfortable. kristiedonelson(at)gmail(dot)com Thank you.

  3. I make sure that car seats aren't really hard to install. Some are so difficult. I also love these cupholders. My son would love that:)

  4. Besides safety is comfort. My daughter absolutelty hates being in the car for more than 15 minutes and even at the age of 2 she will cry nonstop until she is out..I desperately need a new seat to try but just can not afford it at this moment. So maybe rafflecopter will pick me and she can get a new ride.

  5. Proper installation is my biggest concern. even with the latch system its sometimes hard to get it tight
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  6. My biggest concern is finding something that is not to heavy or hard to install. My husband and I often take turns picking up or dropping off the kids depending on our schedules and we are always moving the car seat between our vehicles.

  7. Size is a huge concern…both my husband and I have small cars, so we have to find something that fits!

  8. My biggest concern is how the carseat will fair in case of a accident. I definitely want something that will have the side rests, so if I am hit, if my childs head would go sideways, there is some cushion there to help them.

  9. High weight limits for rear facing! my kiddos are tall so they tend to outgrow the specs before i want to switch them!

  10. My biggest concern in buying a carseat, other than safety, is for the comfort of my child. I want them to be comfortable for long car rides without having those uncomfortable plastic carseat parts poking through.

  11. My biggest concerns when considering a car seat for my son, besides safety of course, is ease of use for me (how easy it is to install and adjust the harness, headrest, etc), how long it can be used rear facing, the price, comfort for my son, how well it will fit in my particular vehicle, and the style of it.

  12. Besides safety I look for comfort for my grandchild. I want them to be as comfortable as possible while they are traveling in the car.

  13. Ease of install and use on a daily basis. We are always in & out of the car, I don't have time to untwist straps or dig for buckles x4 kids.

  14. My biggest concern in getting a car seat is whether it will fit in my car & be easy to install.

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