Chicco vs Peg Perego redux

Yes, we have both car seats but no we didn't spend much more than had we bought two Gracos. Why? See my post here about buying last year's baby products at a significant discount. In fact, the Peg Perego after taxes, shipping, everything cost less than the Graco SafeSeat and only $5 more than the Graco Snugride at Babies R Us. But why two?

We bought the Chicco Keyfit system late in the summer of 2006 before our daughter was born in October. At the time, I didn't know about the discounted other products and liked the Chicco size, weight, and features on comparison. Fast forward to baby number two born last week and we needed an additional car seat for our BOB Revolution Duallie Jogging Stroller which only accepts car seats from Graco, Peg Perego, or Britax. There was no way to get the Chicco to fit, and walking daily is an important part of my wife's social life and exercise...worth the money for an extra car seat. We also thought we would use the car seat in our second car which gets over 10 miles per gallon better than our other car.

As I said in my last blog post, the Peg Perego doesn't look like it fits our little girl as well. How little? She was 7 lbs 12 oz on Monday, these pictures are taken Thursday. Her head at birth a week ago was 34 cm. So, not too little. Here are pictures of her in the Peg Perego, in the Chicco, then back in the Peg Perego with a Kiddopotamus Snuzzler attached.









In the end, the Chicco definitely fits her head best for now. The head support from the Chicco is removable, so it removes as they grow. The Peg Perego head support does not seem removable and its part of their side impact protection. As you can see, there is a gap between her head and one side. Adding the Kiddopotamus Snuzzler, no matter how much I try, doesn't seem safe at all. As you can see, it seems to push her head forward an unsafe amount. Plus, since the Peg Perego puts the child more vertical than the Chicco, it doesn't need to further have her push forward.

In the end, the Chicco seems to provide the best head support now...but the looks of the Peg Perego head support with Side Impact protection looks impressive for the future when the children have some more muscles to hold up their head.