The best car seat is the one that fits your child, vehicle, budget, and lifestyle and has the features important to you. The safest car seat is the one you can install correctly and use properly on every ride! Let us know in the comment section what questions you have about this review of the Evenflo Litemax car seat. And if you want to compare car seats and let us help you find your recommended car seats, our Car Seat Buying Kits are your best bet!
Evenflo Litemax Sport Car Seat Review (USA/Canada)
The Evenflo Litemax is budget-friendly, fits even the tiniest babies well, is easy to install, and is fairly lightweight as well! What’s not to love about it?!
Type
An infant car seat
When
From birth, the fit is great for babies as small as 3 pounds/15.75″ *with approval from Evenflo
Age
From birth until it’s outgrown, around 12 months
What you need to know before you go.*
Rear-Facing Stats
- height limit: 15.75-32″
- weight limit: 3-35 pounds
- head height rules: at least 1″ below the top of the headrest
- preemie fit: excellent
Other Seat Stats
- width of seat: 17.5”
- weight of seat: 7.4 pounds
- crash replacement policy: Replace after any crash
- expiration limits: 6 years
- harness: rethread
- lock-off: no
- handle positions for the vehicle: 1
*Head to the Car Seat Buying Kits for a complete database of all car seat stats for our recommended car seats.
✅ Seat is Good for You If:
✅ You are expecting a very small baby.
A newborn in the Evenflo Litemax car seat will fit no matter how big or small! The lowest harness height is about 4″, so the shoulder straps are sure to fit in the proper position on the tiniest of babies. This car seat is an excellent option if you’re expecting a small newborn or bringing home a preemie.
✅ You are looking for a budget-friendly option.
This is one of our favorite seats that can be found for under $200. It has an easy installation and fits babies of all sizes very well.
✅ You want a lightweight car seat.
The Evenflo LiteMax is one of the lighter infant car seats on the market, weighing in at just 7.4 pounds.
🚩 Use Caution If:
🚩You need a seat that is compact front to back.
This won’t be the best choice for small backseats or for tall front-seat passengers. When installed on an outboard seat, there must be at least 1.5″ between the infant seat and the vehicle seat in front of it.
️ Stand Out Features:
European seat belt routing for baseless mode
The Evenflo Litemax can be installed baseless with European or American/Standard belt routing. You can find a video showing both of those methods here. The European routing method is preferred! European belt routing means the shoulder belt portion of the seat belt is routed behind the shell of the rear-facing seat, limiting its ability to rotate down in a frontal crash. This routing functions similarly to a load leg. Pretty cool, huh?!
▶️ YouTube Videos
▶️Evenflo Litemax Sport featured in 5 Things to Keep Your Baby Safe
▶️How to Install a Car Seat on an Airplane
⚠️ Quirks to Be Aware Of:
⚠️1.5″ rule
When installed on an outboard seat, the Evenflo Litemax requires at least 1.5″ between the infant seat and the seat in front of it. If this is a problem in your vehicle, try installing it in the center seating position.
✈️ Airplane Use
The Evenflo Litemax is an aircraft-approved car seat. This is a good option for travel. If traveling internationally without the base, you will need a locking clip. Contact the car seat manufacturer for a free locking clip. We have a video here of how to use a locking clip. If you travel with the base, it does have a seat belt lock-off.
For help with all things airplane travel and car seats, check out our Wheels Up Course and private Facebook group.
SITS Bottom Line
The Litemax is an excellent option for newborns of any size, including preemies! It’s a budget-friendly seat that is lightweight as well.
Other Versions of this Seat:
Evenflo Gold SensorSafe LiteMax DLX* (Canada) – load leg, no-rethread harness, SensorSafe chest clip, premium lower anchors, lifetime warranty, free crash replacement
*A SITS recommended seat. Recommended seats are in our Buying Kits because they have ranked high on our vehicle, child, ease of use, and features scale.
Compare Car Seats
Looking to compare car seats and narrow down the best car seat for your family? The Infant Car Seat Buying Kit walks you through our 7Cs of selection, then on to an interactive quiz, and finally, a recommended car seat list is generated just for you! If you are overwhelmed and sick of spending hours researching and reading car seat reviews like this one, the Buying Kit will guide you to Safe in the Seat’s recommended car seats for you in under 30 minutes!
Check out this Amazon Live for more infant seats we recommend and the standout features we love.
We check every day for our recommended car seats on sale, and we have all the deals here for you.
What About Seats We Don’t Recommend?
Just like anyone, we have preferences! This goes for car seats, too. If we don’t recommend a car seat, it’s not because it’s unsafe for your little one. All car seats are safe if they’re installed and used properly, are not expired or damaged, and when they’re made and sold by a reputable manufacturer and/or retailer. Click here for our full list of car seats that we do not recommend.
A note about crash-tests
How does the Evenflo Litemax perform in crash tests?
Well, that’s a great question. We know it passes the strict federally required testing for all car seats sold in Canada. You can find that data here.
There are a few third-party websites that claim to offer objective crash test data for a variety of car seats. But we at Safe in the Seat don’t pay attention to that data for a few big reasons. First of all, third-party crash tests don’t actually give us meaningful data! Car seat manufacturers crash-test their products hundreds, even upwards of a thousand times. They crash test the finished product in every single installation configuration using every applicable-sized crash test dummy, not to mention a whole lot of testing at each stage of the development process too. So one or two crash tests completed by another organization just can’t give the same level of information! One or two crash tests aren’t going to represent the overall average performance of any car seat across its lifespan.
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