This Futuristic Convertible Car Seat Is Truly Ahead Of Its Time

All About babyark

When babyark’s founder Shy Mindel welcomed his twin babies, he struggled to install their convertible car seats. While many parents struggle to do this, not every parent is an accomplished engineer like Shy is. In his career, he literally designed life-saving seats for helicopters and armored vehicles… so why was a simple car seat so difficult? It was this struggle that inspired him to completely redesign the convertible car seat. So often, I feel that car seats (and really products in general) are just redesigned versions of one another, largely lacking innovation. Not in this case! Shy started from the ground up with this carseat, investigating race cars to military-grade technology to pull the very best tech for this seat.

From a safety perspective, the team wanted to exceed the standards put out by government agencies to truly give parents peace of mind. Beyond the mandated crash tests, babyark set out to design over 200 additional tests to see if it would work at higher speeds, different weights for baby, and some tests even *gasp* with the car seat intentionally incorrectly installed. I mean, who does that!?

Installing the Car Seat

I was geeked to get this seat in the mail and unbox it. My husband helped with the unboxing process, which was made simple by the instructions clearly printed on the box. This thing is extremely heavy, so if you’re super pregnant, newly postpartum or otherwise unable to lift 45 lbs (base + car seat combined), I’d suggest getting some help. I got the Classic, which comes with an instruction manual for step-by-step set up. If that’s not your jam, the Premium seat ($990) might be, as it is equipped with 14 sensors and LED-light system to ensure safe installation.

I’m an essentials kind of gal, so the Classic did just fine for me. With the help of my mom (parenting really is a team sport, isn’t it?), we worked through the installation. I have to admit, it wasn’t the most straightforward manual to follow. There was lots of flipping back and forth between sections and questioning at certain steps “did we do that right?” I think a lot of the reason it felt so complicated is because you’re using 4 features (LATCH, seatbelt, anti-rebound bar, and the support leg), while many other seats just use 1 or 2 of these features.

I think a video would do wonders for the seat to help parents install it for the first time. I’m sure re-installation would be much simpler now that I know what I’m doing, but the first time definitely took longer than other seats. By the end of the installation though, we were confident we did it correctly. The “check steps” were clearly written and documented, making us sure of how we’d done it.

The True Tests: Safety & Comfort

Teddy, my 10-month-old son, looked so comfortable being placed in the seat. He’s at a point where he usually hates being put in his car seat, protesting with a death-grip on me and some tears, but that happened much less with this seat. He had plenty of space to wiggle and just be, which I think maybe was the difference maker. I love the magnetic chest strap. Usually, that is a point of difficulty in car rides, especially getting out of the car. This seems to lay comfortably on him, more than other plastic buckles.

From my perspective, besides the extreme care put into the safety measures, I love the ease of cleaning. All of the padding comes off with a simple zipper and is able to be tossed into the washing machine. I have tried a few car seats that aren’t machine-washable and I just wonder why… have they not been parents themselves?! These car seats see snacks, spit up, and other unspeakables; they’ve got to be machine-washable. Very secondarily to safety and functionality, I love the way it looks. It just looks so futuristic, like a “space age” car seat. Most car seats look pretty similar – not this one. This is the “glass house” equivalent of a car seat and I’m proudly rocking it.

Teddy, currently 25-ish pounds, will be able to be in this car seat until he’s 65 pounds, as it also can be installed forward-facing. Unlike some other convertible car seats, it doesn’t convert to a booster, but I’m pretty confident I’ll have gotten my money’s worth by that time anyways. If and when we have more children, I’ll be able to use this seat for them, too, as it doesn’t have an expiration date. I’ve always thought it was the silliest thing to have an expiration date on a car seat, but it turns out that some materials used in car seats do “expire” over time – not babyark. 

Peace of Mind is Worth Every Penny

When you’re a parent, there is so much to worry about and do. Frankly, car seats should not be a regular worry. Pick the right one, get it done, and put your mind at ease. By completely redesigning convertible car seats, incorporating the best military-grade technology, and running borderline excessive safety tests, babyark has earned my trust. My sweet boy will be riding in style, comfort, and most importantly, in safety – all thanks to our new seat.

Try it for 100 days risk free – shop babyark here!