Graco Head Wise 70 Car Seat Review + #Giveaway {Holiday Gift Guide}

We received the Graco Head Wise 70 car seat for our review as part of the 2013 It’s Gravy, Baby! Holiday Gift Guide.  All thoughts and opinions remain my own, as always.  While I am a certified child passenger safety technician, this post should not and will not replace your manual.  Always read your car seat manual thoroughly to ensure proper installation and use.

I’ve wanted to get my hands on the Graco Head Wise 70 convertible car seat for a while now.  Bella was close to outgrowing her current car seat rearfacing and I’m not ready to turn her forward facing just yet.  She’ll be 3 in January, but the benefits of rearfacing outweigh any desire I have to flip her around.  The Graco Head Wise 70 (similar seats are the Graco Size4Me 70 and Graco My Size 70) offers the best height limit for rearfacing and will keep most children rearfacing until the 40lb weight limit.

The Graco Head Wise 70 will fit an average newborn all the way up to an average 6 or 7 year old.  That’s a claim that many car seat manufacturers make, but few actually make good on.  Graco more than made good on that with the Head Wise 70 and they did so at an affordable price point.  Depending upon current sales, you may find this seat for as little as $150!

Graco Head Wise 70 Favorite Features

Simply Safe Adjust™ Harness System – Like the name suggests, the no-rethread harness is safe and simple and automatically adjusts.

8-position adjustable headrest – You can adjust the headrest height with one hand and you don’t have the uninstall the seat to do so.  This is wonderful for quickly growing children!

3 position recline – You can’t miss the bright red, easy-to-use recline on the front of the Graco Head Wise 70 and it ensures that your child will be comfortable.

Integrated cup holder

Easy-to-read level indicator

5 point, front-adjust harness

Removable head & body support to keep babies comfy

 Graco Head Wise 70 Height/ Weight Limits

What really sets the Graco Head Wise 70 apart for the competition is the fantastic limits for both rear and forward facing.  It’s extremely rare to find a convertible car seat that can fit the range of children the Head Wise can.  As I mentioned before, you’ll find tons of seats that claim they can do that, but most don’t do it well.  The reinforced headrest of the Head Wise 70 allows for a very high rearfacing height limit.  As long as the child’s head is 1 inch below the red 8 positions adjust button (even with the headrest fully extended!), they are less than 40 lbs, and the harness straps are at or below their shoulders- they fit rearfacing.

Below, you can see Bryson (who wasn’t very happy about being my model) in the Graco Head Wise 70 forward facing.  He will be 5 years old next month, weighs just over 50 lbs and still has several inches to go before outgrowing the Graco Head Wise 70 car seat.  It has an impressive 52 inch height limit for forward facing.  The child’s shoulders should be below the top harness position and ears below the top of head support.  It also has a 70 lb weight limit for forward facing, but most children will outgrow the seat by height long before they reach 70 lbs.

Graco Head Wise Ease of Use

In the past, there were a few issues with the crotch buckle being difficult to buckle and unbuckle, but Graco listened to their customers and updated the design earlier in 2013.  If you happen to have one of those hard-to-buckle seats, you can get in touch with the fabulous customer service at Graco and they will help you out.

I found the seat very easy to install and I love that it offers two sets of LATCH- one for rearfacing and one for forward facing.  The recline and headrest adjust are both easy to use.  I would consider this seat grandparent friendly which I know can be important for some families.

Purchase Details

The Graco Head Wise 70 Car Seat is only available at Target.  It retails for $199.99, but it does sometimes go on sale.  There are three patterns available- Lowell (featured here), Cora, and Marok.

Head Wise 70 Car Seat Giveaway

One winner will receive a Graco Head Wise 70 Car Seat! The giveaway is only open to US Residents who are 18 years of age or older and will end at 11:59PM on Saturday, November 30, 2013. This is a Rafflecopter giveaway so if you are reading via e-mail or feed, please click over to the post to enter. Thank you!

a Rafflecopter giveaway