GRACO NAUTILUS 3-in-1 CAR SEAT REVIEWS

Graco has not been at the top of my list for infant seats but Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 car seat reviews that I have read made me reconsider when shopping for my 4 year old. Many of my close friends that I know to be very safety conscious mothers are of the collective opinion that Graco might be edging closer to Britax in quality and convenience.

So, I could hardly believe when this heresy was tossed about at a play date. It had always been one for all and all for Britax since the first one in our little group got pregnant. If there was a mom in our bunch that would have stopped short at selling blood to get money to pay for a Britax rather than to settle for a cheap baby car seat, her lack of dedication was well concealed. After all, the resale value and the fact that you could use the seat until baby weighed 65 pounds justified the expensive price, at least until the Graco Nautilus raised the bar with the ability to use this safety seat up to 100 pounds as a backless or high back booster seat.


Digging through the hundreds of individual Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 Car Seat reviews was at best confusing so I decided to take a leap of faith and get one (it cost over $100 less than the Britax I had my eye on) and post my own Graco Nautilus review because Ticky Moms Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 Car Seat reviews are the gold standard of baby product reviews, don’t you know?

PROS of the GRACO NAUTILUS 3-in-1 CAR SEAT


1. The cheap cost which I found to be about $100 cheaper than (my previous personal favorite, Britax) and is convertible to a booster which saves even more money down the road
2. Easy installation
3. Construction seems sturdy
4. It is reported to have rated highly in baby car seat safety tests.
5. It keeps the babies in the five point harness until they weigh which in my opinion is a safer option than a booster seat. Plus a Britax booster seat should you have to buy one is another $200 or so when baby weighs over 65 Lbs. which in fairness should be considered when making comparisons of the Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 and the Britax Boulevard.
6. The sippy cup holder in the armrest is nice, but I still have to retrieve the baby’s cup from the floorboard and we also had to shop for a cup that would fit inside the opening properly.
7. The storage compartment where the kids can tuck small toys away inside the armrest is nice. They still fight over the toys, but at times that seems to be just as entertaining as the toys themselves. I know, but what’s a mom to do?

CONS

1. The straps of my Britax Boulevard car seat never twisted so I was not prepared for how easily these straps twisted but they are easy to straighten.
2. The seat is not as easy to clean as my Britax baby car seats.
3. It doesn’t feel as snug and secure when installed our Britax Boulevard and belt has had to be tightened several times. (Is my Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 Car Seat review beginning to sound like a Britax ad?)
4. The arms of the Graco are very high which makes it virtually impossible for my daughter to get in the seat without me having to lift her which is pretty difficult with a new baby at times. The manufacturer should design the arms to pivot in my opinion.

In closing, the big plus is that it costs a hundred dollars less than Britax (which is no small amount of money to a family on a budget) with only minor, fixable drawbacks and the extended use is another big bonus. As you can tell, I’m still a big fan of Britax but must admit as I stated in this review that according to the opinions of others in Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 Car Seat reviews as well as my own experience, this car seat is putting pressure on Radian as well as Britax brands. Plus, you rarely see a used Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 car seat for sale and there has to be a reason for that!

These are just my personal opinions and I'm by no means a safety expert. You should rely on the opinions of professionals when purchasing safety gear for your child. Please feel free to add your own opinions, pros and cons on this model and check back to see more Graco Nautilus reviews and opinions submitted by guest writers.

Dyson Animal Vacuum

After using the Dyson DC25 Animal for the first time, I wondered should it be called the Dyson Animal Vacuum for reasons that I have only just discovered and will share with you. To bring those of you who just found my new product reviews and opinions blog up to speed, immediately after I made the decision to start blogging my product opinions and recommendations we moved to a new house with a lot less carpet than in our old home and I believed that it was time to start reading the ratings of vacuum cleaners and test driving a few that I borrowed from my friends.

The first vacuum cleaners that I picked up to kick off my vacuum cleaner reviews were the Dyson DC25 All Floors and the Dyson DC25 Animal vacuum that I initially fell in love with at first sight because of the lovely purple color. Who wouldn't love a sweeper that came in their favorite color? It makes me think that it might be good for vacuums to take the same route as dishwashers and refrigerators and include a selection of colored panels to pick from but let's not let appearance divert us from the pursuit of the best vacuum for pet hair and hardwood floors.

Our borrowed Dyson vacuum cleaners were only delivered a day ago but so far I believe that I'm going to like this brand particularly the Dyson Animal Vacuum. I could tell when I emptied the upright Dyson Animal vacuum that it had gotten lint, dirt and pet hair out of our carpet that must have been there for quite a while. I couldn't believe that there was that much cat hair in our carpet that our Panasonic vacuum had left. The Dyson DC25 is a little more expensive than others we looked at but at this point my opinion is that it was worth spending a little more.

As impressive as the Animal's performance was, I'm not convinced that it is the best choice for my needs. I still have several more friends who are pushing vacuums my way to convince me that theirs is the very best for tile and hardwood floors. Meanwhile, I hope that my husband is not getting used to the floors being this darn clean!

Dyson Model DC25 Vacuum Cleaner Reviews

After reading a few Dyson Model DC25 vacuum cleaner reviews, I decided to call a close friend of mine and beg her to allow me to take her Dyson DC25 animal ball upright vacuum for a spin around the old home place only to have her suggest that I might want to call ANOTHER girlfriend of ours to try the All Floors model first because I might be able to buy it off her for a very cheap price.

The fact that somebody would want to unload a practically new vacuum cleaner for a super cheap price did not strike me as a compliment to the brand. Why would somebody want to sell a vacuum cleaner that worked well unless they had received another one as a gift or they were moving and needed to go the lightweight route? And what was the big difference in the all floors and the animal ball version? There are a lot of Dyson reviews, so many in fact that they started to run together.

With nothing to lose but time, to get some hands on experience and not to mention some details for my Dyson Model CD25 Vacuum Cleaner reviews I asked friend number one to let me pick up her Dyson DC25 animal ball vacuum on the way to pick up friend number two’s Dyson All Floors model so that I could clean and compare simultaneously.

In the interest of keeping the Dyson Model DC25 reviews, ratings and opinions separate and organized, I am going to make a list of my likes and dislikes of each vacuum cleaner rather than to ramble on and get all wordy. Don’t you just hate it when you have to read paragraph after paragraph of information to get to the heart of consumer product reviews?

DYSON DC25 ANIMAL REVIEW

PROS:


WEIGHT:
It is reasonably lightweight at 16 pounds and

EASY TO EMPTY:
I prefer vacuums with a bag but as far as bagless models go this one is very easy to empty and I suppose there is the upside of not having to buy bags.

HEPA:
Good filtration with no dusty smell. It's too soon to tell if it was good or bad for my baby girl's asthma and allergies.

CLEANING:
It cleaned both wood and tile floors very nicely but I could see from vacuuming the little bit of carpet that we have that I might not have been able to give the Dyson DC25 a high rating if we had more carpet and less hardwood rather than the other way around.



CONS:


PRICE:
I was surprised at how expensive the DC25 is. The cheapest price that I found was on HSN at 499.95 which has a high customer review rating and not far behind was Best Buy’s price at $522.49 on July 14, 2009.

TO BAG OR NOT TO BAG:
The Dyson DC25 is bagless and I don’t care how cyclonic it is, I prefer not to look at my dirt once it’s been sucked up.

CORD LENGTH:
The cord was a little short for me at 24 feet long. I hate having to plug and unplug the cord while I’m boogying the vacuum around the house.


As far as making comparisons between the Dyson DC25 All Floors and the Dyson DC25 Animal I found no major differences to mention in my Dyson DC25 Review other than the differences in color (the Animal’s purple color worked better with my home’s décor). You will pay an extra $50.00 for the Animal and for the money you get the turbine head attachment which when purchased separately retails for $69.99. If you have the need for the Mini Turbine Head attachment then you should get the Dyson DC 25 Animal Ball and pay the $50.00 to save the $19.99.

I have since had another lady call me to ask if I wanted to try out her Dyson DC17 and she is dropping it by in the morning and I’m going to watch a video review of the Dyson DC25 with comparisons to the DC17 before she makes her delivery. Who knows, with all the free floor cleaning machines that I’m getting I may never have to actually buy a new vacuum cleaner.

VACUUM CLEANER REVIEWS

It pains my heart to kick off my brand spanking new blog begging for vacuum cleaner reviews. I'm supposed to be the one issuing forth words of wisdom and household product reviews, right? Being a humble person, I am willing to admit that there are areas where my level of expertise in consumerism could use the opinions from other moms who know what is out there in a particular product line and right now I need some information on buying a new vacuum cleaner.

We recently bought a new house that has very little carpet, which is completely the opposite of my old house. The flooring here is hardwood and tile with the occasional area rug. I vacuumed the carpet at the old place with an Electrolux canister vacuum that was over twenty years old given to me by my mom. Money is always tight and it still works but I believe a new one might have better suction.
I liked the Electrolux and the thought of buying a new Electrolux Oxygen EL6988 vacuum that got very high ratings in vacuum cleaner reviews that I have read, offers HEPA filtration and is supposed to work great on wood and tile floors.

But then a friend of mine offered her opinion and said that since my daughter has asthma and allergies that I might want to consider a Miele because of their reputation for their HEPA filter system. Miele vacuum reviews give the Miele Callisto S5280 a mediocre rating for cleaning carpet and an excellent rating for bare floors so that works for me. However, in the area of price comparison, this model costs over $800 where the Electrolux came in at under $500. I'm not in the market for a cheap vacuum but when you can get an inexpensive price with the same or better performance, why not?

I'm looking for reviews and opinionis on an easy to use (yeah, right I know you're laughing by now), lightweight canister vacuum cleaner with highly rated HEPA filtration and a LONG cord that cleans tile floors and hardwood floors without scratching them.

I need your personal vacuum cleaner opinions and I need them quickly because my husband just mowed the grass with his new lawnmower (that's probably my next review)and carried a healthy portion of the grass clippings in the house on his shoes.
Will you please pray for me and then submit your vacuum cleaner reviews and opinions as soon as possible?