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 Graco SnugRide 35 Lite LX infant car seat.
Graco SnugRide 35 Lite LX Car Seat Review
The Graco SnugRide 35 Lite LX car seat is one of the lighter infant seats on the market at only 7 pounds. It’s also one of the most affordable options for families who are on a tight budget or who do not want to spend a lot on an infant seat, especially with it having stroller compatibility with Graco stroller frames too. It’s also quite compact front to back, so it’s a great option for many families.
What
An infant car seat
When
From birth
Age
From birth until it’s outgrown, 9-12 months
What you need to know before you go.
Rear-Facing Seat Stats
- height limit: 32″
- weight limit: 4-35 lbs
- head height rules: at least 1″ below the top of the headrest
- preemie fit: might work, but there are better options
Other Seat Stats
- width of seat: 17.5″
- weight of seat: 7 lbs
- crash replacement policy: Replace after any crash
- expiration limits: 7 years
- harness system: rethread
- lock-off: no
- handle positions for the vehicle: any locked position
✅ Seat is good for you if:
✅ You have a small backseat
If you have a small back seat or tall front passengers, the Graco SnugRide 35 Lite LX seat may be a good option for you. It is one of the more compact infant seats available on the market. We have some other compact options here.
✅ You need to fit 3 across.
Most infant seats will fit in a 3 across situation, including this one since they are all around 17-17.5″ wide. For other options that fit well in a three-across configuration, check out this post.
🚩 Use Caution If:
🚩 You are expecting a small baby.
There are better options for small babies, but if you must use this seat, you’ll need to make some adjustments. The large crotch buckle depth will likely cause a gap between the baby and the crotch strap. It would be necessary to add a crotch roll if this is the case. Doing so will prevent the baby from slumping down. You will also need to change to the upper harness strap loops as shown in the manual. Make sure you remove the infant inserts (both the head and body support) by the time the baby reaches 12 pounds as indicated in the car seat’s instructions.
️ Stand Out Features:
⭐ lightweight
The Graco SnugRide 35 Lite LX is one of the lightest infant seats on the market at only 7 pounds! If having a lightweight seat is important to you, then this is a great option to consider.
⭐ European baseless routing
This seat can be installed baseless with European or American/Standard belt routing. You can find a video showing both of those methods here. When considering the American belt path and the European, 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.
▶️ YouTube Videos:
▶️ Baseless Installation: Installing an Infant Seat without a Base (European vs American routing)
✈️ Airplane Use
The Graco SnugRide 35 Lite LX FAA-approved car seat. It’s a very lightweight car seat, which makes it a good domestic travel car seat option. For help with all things airplane travel and car seats, check out our Wheels Up Course and private Facebook group.
SITS Bottom Line
The Graco SnugRide Lite LX is a compact and lightweight choice. While it may not be our top recommendation for premature or low birth weight infants, adjustments can generally be made to ensure a snug fit. This seat has a lot of stroller options like all of the Graco infant seats. This budget-friendly option is compatible with most vehicles, offering convenience and peace of mind for parents on the go.
Other Versions of this Seat:
Graco SnugRide SnugFit 35 DLX – no load leg, has anti-rebound bar, Rapid Remove cover
Graco SnugRide SnugFit 35 LX* – no load leg, has anti-rebound bar
Graco SnugRide SnugLock 35 – no load leg, doesn’t have one-hand adjustable handle, has rethread harness
Graco SnugRide SnugFit Elite – no load leg, has anti-rebound bar, Rapid Remove Cover, all-weather boot, premium padding
Graco SnugRide SnugFit 35 – no load leg, has anti-rebound bar, doesn’t have one-hand adjustable handle, no lock-off
Graco Premier SnugRide SnugFit 35 XT – no load leg, has anti-rebound bar, Rapid Remove cover, storage pocket
Graco Premier SnugRide SnugFit 35 XT with load leg* – has anti-rebound bar, storage pocket, buckle storage
Graco SnugRide 35 Lite LX* – no load leg, no lock-off, doesn’t have one-hand adjustable handle, has rethread harness
Graco SnugRide SnugLock 35* – no load leg, doesn’t have one-hand adjustable handle, has rethread harness
*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 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!
We check every day for our recommended car seats on sale, and we have all the deals here for you. Shopping in Canada? Find today’s seat sales in Canada here.
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 Graco SnugRide 35 Lite LX perform in crash tests?
Well, that’s a great question. We know that it passes the strict federally required testing that applies to all car seats sold in the United States. But we don’t know exactly how it performs. That data isn’t released by any official sources in the US — not by car seat manufacturers, not by government agencies like NHTSA, not anywhere!
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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