Evenflo Momentum 65

By Published On: August 26th, 2010

When I first laid eyes on the Evenflo Momentum 65 […]

When I first laid eyes on the Evenflo Momentum 65 convertible car seat, I must admit, I was skeptical. It looked huge! Sure, it’d be great for an older child approaching the end of their car seat days, but wouldn’t it swallow up my newborn (it claims to accommodate children from 5 lbs. to 65 lbs.)?
Evenflo Momentum 65_0And would it even fit in my Nissan Altima? Determined to keep an open mind, I carried it outside to see if I could even install it in the middle rear seat of my car.
I’m happy to say that I have been pleasantly surprised by the Evenflo Momentum 65 at every turn. The first task I went about was to remove the fabric cover to position the SureLatch™ connectors in the rear facing position. The cover was easy to remove, thanks to added rings that saved me from a wrestling match with the plastic hooks where the fabric attaches to the seat. I filed away a mental note that washing and then reattaching the fabric should be a breeze in the future. Every piece on the car seat is also clearly labeled to cut down on the confusion factor.
Once the car seat was prepped for rear facing installation, the hardest part of securing it in my car was fighting my Altima’s seat cushions to access the car’s latch system. Luckily, the Momentum 65’s special SureLatch™ connectors made the actual latching step literally a snap. I just pushed the connectors in the general direction of the latch hooks and they snapped right in! Instead of struggling to tighten a strap manually, the connectors do the work for you. When I pressed down on the seat and pushed the connectors toward the seat back, I could hear the clicking noise of the straps tightening in place.
I adjusted the car seat until the arrow on the side indicated that it was level, and a clearly marked sticker informed me that the seat needed to be placed on the 1st recline setting for rear facing installation. To adjust the recline, all I had to do was squeeze an easy-to-find red lever on the front of the seat.
Once the car seat was installed correctly in my car, I went about adjusting the harness to fit a tiny newborn. Again, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this task was. To adjust the shoulder height of the straps, all you have to do is pull the straps of the Infinite Slide Harness™ up or down…seriously, that’s it! To tighten the straps, you simply press a button on the front of the seat and pull on the straps’ “tail” that hangs down in the front. To make the straps looser, just press the same button and pull on the straps until they are loose enough.The infant head rest cushion is similarly idiot-proof—you just pull away the Velcro and slide the cushion up or down until it’s in the right position. I was impressed that once I had the straps and cushions adjusted to fit a newborn, she wasn’t lost in a sea of cushioning and actually looked pretty comfortable and safe.
After finding that forward facing installation is just as simple, the big question was whether the Momentum 65 was small enough to reasonably be used in my compact car. Amazingly, once it was in my Altima, the car seat didn’t look as huge as I first thought. I was easily able to install it in the middle of my backseat, and found that there was room for two passengers to sit on either side (although my 6’1” husband probably wouldn’t be so comfortable sharing the back with this car seat).
Looking in the rear-view mirror, my visibility was not blocked by the car seat when either in the rear facing or forward facing position. Although I would not be able to access my daughter from the driver’s seat when the car seat was rear-facing, I have found this to be true with most convertible car seats.
All in all, I was extremely pleased with the Evenflo Momentum 65. My initial hesitant reaction to its large size was replaced with an appreciation for the extra protection the triple layer of foam on the sides that this car seat boasts (once I was assured that it would still fit in my car, that is).
To summarize, here are the highlights of the Evenflo Momentum 65:

  • 40 lbs. rear facing
  • 65 lbs. forward facing
  • Triple layer foam protection
  • 5-point harness
  • SureLatch™ connectors
  • Infinite Slide Harness™
  • Upfront recline
  • Easy-off washable pad
  • Removable flip-out cup holder

Price: $199.99
To buy: babiesrus.com