Graco 4Ever DLX: Grow with Your Child, 10 Years of Safety

I absolutely love this car seat. As a CPST I’m very particular about finding seats that suit best practice, extended rear facing, are easy to install for the grandparents, are easy to take apart and clean, and a seat that is safe for my babies. The seat it self isn’t the largest seat I’ve seen but it’s not the most compact either. I have two of them both rear facing in my van (Chrysler Pacifica) on the driver side and my husband has more room to scoot his seat back than he did with the infant carrier. I love the snug lock it makes the seat extremity easy to install and take out when switching vehicles. The snug fit makes the seat easy to adjust as my kids get taller and the extended rear facing gives my oldest plenty of extra room for his feet. The seat is also padded really well and looks very comfortable.

Love mine I've had one for a year and just installed the second. Excellent quality and feels sturdy and very easy to use and move when needed. And I love the crotch pad cause it helps with the straps on their little legs.

After reviewing quite a few other brands for a convertible carseat, we finally settled on this one! Few things to mention first: I (small woman) installed this carseat myself without difficulty. Carseat is installed in a 2021 Chevy Equinox LT, using the latch system. Drivers seat is set for my height to drive (I'm 5'3", so close to the steering wheel). Carseat in picture is set at recline position 1, and head position 2.

Shipping: Arrived within 2 days of ordering. The box arrived slightly damaged with the top tape popped, but the side tape still intact. Manufacturers date is 2022, so maybe the tape was just old. Everything looked brand new upon opening the box. So my worries of it being a return were addressed.

Carseat: Color we purchased was "bryant". I thought, based on the Amazon pictures, that this would be variants of grays, it is not. The bordering is dark grey, then a heathered brownish/purple, then the mesh is a light grey. For spending nearly $400, I am accepting of the color.

Rear facing: In other reviews, there seemed to have been some confusion about the maximum weight range for rear-facing. The manual that comes with the carseat explains further that the actual maximum weight for rear facing is indeed 40lbs. See attached photo. Some reviews say it's only 22lbs, this is not true. Manual states any infant under 1 years of age and up to 22lbs, MUST be rear facing. But the carseat allows rearfl facing to be used up to 40lbs. So you do actually get your money's worth in rear facing.

Straps: The height of the shoulder straps adjust as you adjust the head height position. There are 10 available positions. My 9 month old, who is currently 29" tall, has the head rest position at 2 out of 10. This fits her very comfortably with all the infant inserts still in use. With the infant insert, there is only 1 setting for the groin buckle, however. Which I was concerned about. Little one fits just fine in it, but if you have a boy or a chunkier bottom baby, and need the infant insert, you might consider this. There are 2 settings for the groin buckle when the infant insert is removed though.

Other: The carseat is a decent weight. I was able to carry it though, and I don't see it being an issue when transferring it to my husband's vehicle.

Installation: This was simple and easy as well, when I followed the manual direction. I used the latch system as it actually resolved another issue another review had. When I used the shoulder and lap belt, I was able to tild the entire carseat forward to the backseat headrest. That meant to me, that the carseat would easily flip my child forward into the backseat headrest. Not ok with that! So I used the latch system instead and when installed as the manual instructs (push down on the carseat base and pull the latch strap up), this thoroughly secured the carseat! There is hardly any movement of the carseat with the latch system.

Overall: I think this is a great purchase, it fits in my Equinox beautifully and I can see that getting little one in and out will be a breeze! READ THE MANUAL, it's there for a reason. I know I'm getting comfort, safety, and security with this purchase. I would buy this again for our future little ones! Hope this detailed review helps. I do NOT get paid for reviews, I just thought other parents would appreciate a thorough review, as that is what I was looking for when considering this carseat.

I was a little hesitant about getting the Graco. I used Nuna for the first year of my son's life and I enjoyed their products. This specific Graco car seat, it was easy to install after watching a YouTube video. I am a pretty visual person. After watching the video it was pretty easy to install. It is super spacious, my son is comfortable and I like that you can keep it until he is in a booster seat. I would 100% recommend. The only thing that had my concern was my seat cover for the leather. He does move with the cover but the car seat itself is very tight & I no longer have concerns.

Our toddlers love this car seat and so do we! It was easy to install and remove when needed. We love how comfortable it is for them, especially on longer car rides. It has two cup holders which are perfect for snack cups and water bottles. We also love the sleek look it has with the black and white accents. After trying this car seat with our daughter, when our son was born there was no question that we needed another one.

I purchased 2 of these car seats in November 2023 on Black Friday sale as Christmas presents for baby. When I opened the boxes in December 2023, I noticed the manufacture date was May 2022. So these car seats were already 1.5+ years old fresh out of the box. I feel like I lost 1.5 years of life from these seats before even opening the box. That was disappointing.

Otherwise, the car seat itself is GREAT. We used a Doona as our infant seat and then graduated to this once baby outgrew the Doona. We've used this Graco for over 6 months now and have ZERO complaints. I've traveled with it, checked it under an airplane, transferred it to different vehicles, and easily get baby in and out of it. We are still in rear-facing mode and baby is plenty comfortable. I am looking forward to baby growing with this car seat.

I would easily and HIGHLY recommend this car seat.

When I tell you that this was an honest to goodness 2 minute install, I’m not exaggerating. I literally said out loud “that’s it? You’re kidding me.” And not just in, but IN there, snug and secure without having to use your entire body weight to push it down and struggle. The latch system is easy to move from front facing to rear facing position, and the snug lock system is absolutely genius. I switched to this from a comparably priced Britax model that was SO noisy and hard to install, and I will absolutely never go back. Don’t even get me started on the easy to remove and machine washable cover. 10/10.

We were obsessed with our Doona car seat/stroller, and when our daughter grew out of it, we were totally lost on what to get next. I started my search on bougie brands like Nuna and Mesa, but they didn’t have what was important to me, which was the ability to grow with her so I wasn’t buying 3 different car seats (including the $600 Doona we already had), and great safety reviews. I avoided looking at Graco because I think of it as such a low end brand, but I loved that this is the ONLY car seat she would need as it goes all the way to the booster seat, and there was one review on here that really made me put this in my cart SO FAST! This woman said she was in a bad car accident and the car flipped and her one year old was not even scratched in this car seat. What more can you ask for than the safety of your baby? Done. My daughter used to CRY when she got in the car. Now she is so happy when we put her in this car seat, she has room to stretch her legs out and she’s not squished. She’s very tall for her age, she’s 99% height and 15 months old. She passes out in her seat almost every drive, she’s so comfy in it. She loves the cup holder so she can get her own water and feel independent. My husband installed the car seat so I can’t review that part, but I will say that there were no complaints. This isn’t something I would lug around and carry, but it looked easy to switch between cars. Loved the price! One last thing, I really wanted a swivel car seat for ease of putting her in, but because this is so wide, it’s really easy to get her in and out, so I’m not missing that feature. According to a gf with 2 kids, she will be getting in and out of her seat herself in no time, so it doesn’t even matter.

I needed 2 convertible car seats for my car. I was going back and forth between the 4Ever DLX and the Slim Fit models and couldn’t decide between them, until this seat came on sale for about 25% off. At the smaller price difference I felt this was the better seat as it has a larger weight range. I’m super impressed with the quality of the seat and it seems very comfortable and safe. I admit I am being a little picky for an informative review, however I can’t give it 5 stars for a few reasons.

#1 it is a bit of a pain to install. The latch system itself is great, but I could not get the seat secured as tightly as I had hoped due to the height of the latch path and the massive size of the seat. I reclined the back seats of my Ford Escape as far back as they go, which made it fit better and well enough that I felt it was safely installed. If that didn’t work, I would’ve had to return it. I also think once it’s forward facing it will fit better.

#2 it is such a big seat that my passenger seat has to be moved forward in a way that might be uncomfortable for a passenger above average height. It works for me, but it’s close to being uncomfortable. For reference I’m on the #2 recline position.

#3 when adjusting the head rest, if you shorten it, the back cover panel bunches in a way that is unsafe and uncomfortable for the child. Thankfully I caught it before I drove with it like that, so it’s not too bad, just something to be aware of for next time I have to adjust the height.

#4 the seat came to me with a 2021 manufacturing date. As I stated earlier, I did get it on sale so it’s not a big deal. However if I would’ve payed full price for a 2 year old seat I would’ve been upset.

Overall, I really like the seat! It’s safe, comfortable, stylish and the 4-120lbs weight range is amazing. However, for the reasons mentioned above, I will be purchasing the Slim Fit for my second seat model.

Stop looking now!! This is the one! If you drive a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee this will fit! I looked through so many seats and reviews to find one that would work in my vehicle. You would think that having a midsize SUV that it wouldn’t matter but the depth of my back bench seat is terrible!! At about 8 months old my daughter started to hate her infant carrier (We had the Graco Snugride 35) and was crying for the majority of our car rides. I think due to not being able to see and be upright.

Pros- Safety safety safety! I feel like this seat is so well made. The fabric is soft and looked very comfortable and my baby seems to love it. ( we have been using it for 6 months now) My husband is a firefighter and has seen several terrible accidents so safety was our #1 concern. This seat checks all my boxes without being $500. I definitely would recommend this to other parents who are looking for a quality seat for a good price.

The fabric seems to be holding up well through our 6 months of use though I have not washed it yet. I plan to do that in the near future and will update this post on how it holds up.

The design- We went with the zigzag black and white stripes. My interior of my vehicle is black so I wanted something to "match" but to also be girly. This design definitely hits it for me and we have gotten tons of compliments from family and friends on how cute of a design her seat is when buckling her in.

Fuss-Free Storage for the straps!! This feature along with the no re-thread harness were also key selling points for me. Trying to get your child strapped in when they are an on-the-go toddler is difficult enough I wanted to have easy access to the straps and the fact that these hold the straps open makes strapping my daughter in easily.

Cons- Not really a deal breaker but I wish it had a couple more reclining options as even on the 1st setting I still feel like her head can drop forward which I am not a fan of but it doesn’t happen all the time so I think it may just be the way she was positioned in the seat itself that time.