Babyark Classic Convertible
Discover the top features and benefits of the Babyark Classic Convertible Car Seat, including its sleek design, advanced safety features, and easy installation. Read our comprehensive review to find out if this seat is a must-have for you!
- You want a seat with added safety features.
- You want a seat with an easy installation.
- You want to use a convertible seat from birth.
- You have a small back seat.
- You have a tall child.
- Load Leg
- Rigid Lower Anchors
- Anti-Rebound Bar
Our Review of the
Babyark Classic Convertible
Discover the top features and benefits of the Babyark Classic Convertible Car Seat, including its sleek design, advanced safety features, and easy installation. Read our comprehensive review to find out if this seat is a must-have for you!
Our recommendation: From a few months old (and 12+ lbs) until the seat is outgrown (4-5 years)
A convertible car seat that can be used rear-facing and forward-facing
From 12 pounds
Stand Out Features of this Car Seat
Load Leg
A load leg is a metal pole that comes down from a rear-facing car seat and rests on the vehicle’s floor. Load legs reduce crash forces which offer additional protection, especially for your child’s head, neck, and spine.
Rigid Lower Anchors
Unlike flexible lower anchors on the end of a strap, these anchors are steel bars that protrude out directly from the steel frame of the car seat and attach to your vehicle’s lower anchor points. This connection style is generally considered a user-friendly install. When done correctly (which is easy to do), it creates an extremely tight connection (no movement) between the car seat and the vehicle, which is a very good thing in the land of child passenger safety.
Anti-Rebound Bar
An anti-rebound bar is an added safety feature for rear-facing that can reduce the secondary movement of the car seat, called rebound, during a crash. When a collision occurs, the car seat will move forward, towards the front of the vehicle, and rotate downward. And as we all know from high school physics, every action has an equal and opposite reaction — so after that initial movement, the car seat will rebound, or “bounce back” towards the backrest of the vehicle seat. The ARB minimizes this bounce-back effect, helping limit the car seat movement and your child inside it! ARBs may also limit the side-to-side rotation of the car seat in a side-impact collision. Overall, it’s a great feature on a rear-facing car seat!
Seat is good for you if
You want a seat with added safety features.
This seat has rigid lower anchors, a load leg, and an anti-rebound bar. Babyark is currently the only manufacturer who makes a convertible seat that has all 3 of these features.
You want a seat with an easy installation.
This seat can be installed with the rigid lower anchors and the seat belt at the same time. This installation method is very easy. We find that this version is easier to install than the Babyark Premium Convertible Car Seat because we didn't have to deal with the glitchy app.
Use caution if
You want to use a convertible seat from birth.
We were able to try a 2 month old in this seat. She was 10.5 pounds and 23" tall. The head insert is required until 11 pounds, but this head insert was pushing her head forward. We would not recommend using this seat until the baby is above 11 pounds. Without the head insert in place, the baby had a good fit.
You have a small back seat.
This seat takes up a lot of space in the back seat. If you have a vehicle with a small back seat and/or you have tall front passengers, this is not the seat for you. In addition to being large front to back already, the seat also requires 3" between it and the seat in front of it in the rear-facing mode and 4" between the base and the seat in front of it in the forward-facing mode.
You have a tall child.
This seat doesn't have an very tall harness height, so a tall child is not going to last longer than around 4-5 in this seat.
Quirks to be aware of
Recommended Installation is Unique
For both the rear and forward-facing modes, the manual recommends that you install with the lower anchors, seat belt, and load leg in use all at the same time. It is extremely uncommon for seats to allow both the lower anchors and the seat belt at the same time. This is one reason why it's always important to read the manual! In addition, Babyark recommends using the load leg instead of the top tether for forward-facing. If your vehicle does not support the use of a load leg, then you should use the top tether.
No 1" rule for rear-facing
This seat is one of the few that does not require that the child has at least 1" of car seat above their head in the rear-facing mode. There is a flap at the top of the headrest that you open up for rear-facing. This is to provide extra protection to the child's head in the event of a crash.
Child Fit Information
We were able to try a 2 month old in this seat. She was 10.5 pounds and 23" tall. The head insert is required until 11 pounds, but this head insert was pushing her head forward. We would not recommend using this seat until the baby is above 11 pounds. Without the head insert in place, the baby had a good fit.
Installation Information
Airplane Use
The Babyark Classic does not have aircraft approval. You will need to choose a different seat to take if you are traveling via airplane. For help with all things airplane travel and car seats, check out our Wheels Up Course and private Facebook group.
Videos
SITS Bottom Line
If you are considering using this seat after baby is at least 11 pounds and not using it from birth, it could be a good option. You will need to have a back seat that is on the larger side in order to accommodate this seat. It's not a good option for people who want a seat that can be taken on board an aircraft since it is not certified for use on an airplane. But it's easy to install and we like the added safety features.
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Specifications
Babyark
Product Information
Weight: 45lbs
Width: 17"
Highest Harness Height: 15"
Rear Facing Limits
Height: 49"
Weight: 4-50lbs
Head Height Rules: no 1" rule
Lower Anchor Connectors Weight Limit:
Clearance Gap: at least 3" between car seat and the vehicle seat in front of it
Forward-Facing Limits
Height: 49"
Weight: 26.5-65lbs
Head Height Rules: no rule stated in manual
Lower Anchor Connectors Weight Limit:
Clearance Gap: at least 4" between the car seat's base and the vehicle seat in front of it
No Back Booster Limits
Highest Belt Guide Settings
High Back Booster Limits
Other Important Details
Newborn Fit
not recommended, required head insert pushes a baby's head forwards
Expiration Limit
No expiration date. For more information: www. babyark.com/warranty
Crash Replacement Policy
Replace after a moderate or severe crash
Harness
no-rethread
Lock-off
no