Last year, when I was pregnant with our youngest child, my husband and I began searching for a new travel system, since the infant seat that we had previously been using, which was an older, Cosco brand child safety restraint system (CSRS), had become plenty old and worn over the years – as was the Evenflo double stroller that we’d used regularly for two of our children over the span of about three years. In fact, the infant car seat that we had owned at the time was getting close to being five years old according to the manufacturer date on the back of the seat, which I had heard was another important piece of information to consider in determining when a CSRS should be destroyed and discarded.
Our Desired Qualities in a Travel System
First and foremost, my husband and I agreed that we both wanted a CSRS that was highly rated from a safety standpoint. We also wanted a stroller that was sturdy and well-built, so that it would last for a long time. Personally, I was also looking for a travel system with a car seat base that can be left strapped into the car, yet the car seat can be removed from the base and then safely attached to the stroller when desired. Our older CSRS didn’t have a leave-in base and the stroller we owned at that time didn’t accommodate an infant car seat very well. I could fit an infant seat in the back seat of our old double stroller, but there was no way to secure the seat in properly, which bothered me. A travel system that actually had an overall matching color scheme, as well as both a stroller and a car seat with a five-point harness system were also on my list of desired features. The back seat of the stroller being able to lay flat for an infant or a sleepy toddler was another preference of mine, as well as an easy-folding style and a large canopy for blocking the sun. My husband wanted something with big, ‘beefy’ wheels on the stroller for better handling (in his opinion and I agree), plus, he did not want anything that was, to quote him accurately, ‘too girlie looking’, or else he wouldn’t want to be seen pushing it. Ah – men. Gotta love ’em.
Our Quest Commenced
After an extensive online search for various prices and styles – and after reading review after review for a number of different travel systems, my husband and I set out to test varying brands of travel systems at three different local department/discount stores – namely, Walmart, Target and Toys”R”Us, plus a couple of local children’s shops, where we checked out some of the pricier brands. We brought along our two-year old daughter to help us test the stroller part of the travel systems and see how they handled with a twenty-seven pound toddler in tow.
We tested out a plethora of infant seat/stroller combo-style travel systems that day, including, but not limited to, the Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe, the Graco MetroLite, the Cosco Eddie Bauer model, the Jeep travel system, an Evenflo model and some other travel systems produced by some of the more exclusive manufacturers such as Britax, Combi, Chicco and the ever-popular Peg Perego. After checking out all of the strollers, pushing them around the aisles of the various stores we went to on our quest, testing out how well each stroller maneuvered in tight spaces and such, both with our toddler strapped into the stroller, as well as with only the matching infant car seat attached, we narrowed it down to a couple of Graco brand travel systems.
Eventually, we were trying to decide between the Graco MetroLite model and the Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe. Although my husband and I both liked the sleek, ultra-modern look of the MetroLite and how light, slim and trim it was – both when opened and folded – the Graco had a higher handle bar for pushing the stroller (a single-handle design, by the way), which my husband found to be more desirable than the lower handle of the MetroLite, plus, he liked the overall handling on the Quattro Tour Deluxe better than the MetroLite, which he attributed to the wheels being bigger and, um, ‘beefier’ than that of the MetroLite. He also extrapolated that because the Quattro Tour Deluxe was, in general, ‘bigger & beefier’ than the MetroLite, that it must also, in fact, be sturdier and more durable than the MetroLite travel system. I don’t know about all that, but since we actually found a travel system that we could both agree on, we decided to go for it.
The fact that the Quattro Tour Deluxe stroller has a digital temperature & time gauge called a ComfortTracker, which is located on the handle bar, as well as the fact that the travel system was on sale the day we went out test-driving the variety of aforementioned travel systems, may have helped put it over the top, I must admit. Also, the travel system style that we picked is called “Moonstruck 7B01MNS”, which is, in my opinion, quite masculine looking, yet classy – and that pleases my husband very much. Ultimately, we both agreed that our relatively long list of desires was fulfilled when we purchased the Quattro Tour Deluxe. Above all, we felt that the Graco SafeSeat that came with the Quattro Tour was a good choice we could both feel comfortable with, as far as safety is concerned.
My husband and I also concurred that the Graco models seemed to handle the best of all the travel systems that we tried out that day, plus Graco had the easiest system to figure out, as far as attaching and removing the infant seat to and from both the stroller and to the car seat base, respectively. Some of the other travel systems we checked out either had more complicated set-ups or the car seat part didn’t seem to be as safely and easily attached to the stroller as the Graco models, at least from our perspective.
Plus, we both knew from our previous online search that most of the newer Graco travel systems are generally highly rated, in terms of safety, quality and durability. We found the ‘high quality’ part of that statement to be immediately evident upon our travel system-testing journey and the durability factor has proven to be true over the past few months that we’ve owned the Quattro Tour Deluxe Travel System Stroller. I’m willing to bet this travel system will hold up nicely over the long haul.
The Overall Travel System
The beauty of a travel system is that the car seat part of the travel system can be used independently, by strapping it in with a vehicle seat belt, or used in conjunction with the car seat base that comes as standard issue with most travel systems, as well as being able to easily attach to the stroller part of the travel system when desired.
The Graco SafeSeat car seat base is able to be permanently strapped into a vehicle, either by utilizing the vehicle’s seat belt or the LATCH system, which I will discuss in further detail below, under the bolded heading entitled “LATCH Equipped & More”.
The Graco SafeSeat can easily be removed from the car seat base by squeezing a red, plastic release lever on the back of the seat, while simultaneously lifting the seat out of the base. Then the car seat can then be transferred to the stroller if desired, although the seat of the stroller must first be fully reclined. The bottom of the car seat makes a clicking sound when it attaches to the tray on the front of the stroller via the same red, plastic hook on the bottom of the car seat that also happens to attach the car seat to the base, as well. The car seat can then be locked even more securely into place with a couple of small, red latches located on the front of the stroller.
When we’re going shopping or anywhere else that we might want to bring our little one, it’s so nice to be able to park, get the stroller out, unfold it, place it next to the vehicle and smoothly lift the car seat out of the base and into the awaiting stroller without waking our (occasionally) sleeping baby. At first it can be a difficult task to accomplish without disturbing the baby, but it doesn’t take long to get the hang of this task, which, incidentally, makes shopping and multiple stops in one trip a breeze – if these tasks can be coordinated with baby’s nap time, that is. Even when the timing isn’t perfect, though, our little one seems to enjoy the Graco SafeSeat that comes with the Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe Moonstruck 7B01MNS Travel System pretty well – as long as the vehicle or stroller keep moving, of course.
The stroller part of the Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe Travel System is not light by any means, but I don’t have too much trouble getting it in and out of the back of our vehicle or hauling it in and out of the house when necessary. I believe the stroller weighs about twenty-six pounds, plus the car seat weighs about seventeen pounds, so altogether it’s over forty-three pounds and that’s without the baby! Okay, so not sleek and light, like the cute, little Graco MetroLite Travel System that I did have my eye on – but ‘beefier’ – remember that.
The stroller that comes as part of the Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe Travel System has something called one hand gravity fold, which truly does allow the seat to fold down easily, with the simultaneous push of a button and a forward twist of the center of the handle bar, although the stroller seat does need to be placed in the most upright position before attempting to fold the stroller up – but that part is easy to do by just pushing the seat up into place. Incidentally, the seat is lowered into each of the positions by using the squeeze-lever on the back of the stroller seat .
When you do shut the stroller it collapses flat to the ground in one felt swoop, but none of the fabric or plastic touch the ground – only the wheels. Once collapsed, the stroller locks into it’s folded position with a red, plastic storage latch located on one side of the stroller. When the stroller is folded flat and laying down, the back of the stroller seat is then on top and the whole stroller seems to be about a foot high at it’s apex, measuring from the bottom of the front wheels to the crest of the collapsed stroller, where the handle bars rest folded flat atop the back of the seat.
According to the product manual, the Graco Quattro Tour stroller is recommended for infants and children up to four years old and less than fifty pounds. It has an adjustable harness with a five-point configuration that can alternately be used as a three-point harness when desired. The harness simply refers to the straps that come out the back of the seat to hold the child in safely.
I have found the stroller portion itself to be extremely versatile and well equipped, whether it’s used for very small babies, toddlers and even the occasional light-weight pre-schooler. Part of the reason is that the stroller has a four-position seat that reclines completely, sits straight up, and also rests at two other points in between. The seat of the stroller is well-padded with a removable head support, comfortable and the child sits up fairly high in the seat, making it a nice vantage point for them to view the world from.
Another handy feature is the ability to change the harness from the three-point configuration to the five-point configuration fairly easily, simply by choosing to puzzle together all of the four parts of the plastic harness connectors before clicking them into the main buckle, located permanently at the front of the stroller, which then forms the five-point configuration. As an alternative, you can use the three-point harness if desired just by clicking the two main plastic pieces into the permanent, centrally located buckle. I find that the five-point harness configuration is better suited to smaller babies or little, wiggly toddlers that need to stay put in the stroller for safety purposes. However, if the child is older and more cooperative the three-point harness is a nice alternative to have available, as well.
The canopy on the stroller is really great, too. It’s full sized with a little, transparent, tinted, plastic window on the top, so you can peek in at baby. The little window has it’s own zippered flap, which makes it nice when the sun is right overhead and you want that window covered. The best part is that it’s not only a nice, wide canopy, but it rotates a full 180°. My toddler delights in playing peek-a-boo with us by pulling the canopy up and down in front of her face. She’s even shunned a few well meaning strangers when they got too inquisitive with her by displaying the ‘pull-down’ part of the peek-a-boo game – but not the ‘push-up’ part – much to my chagrin.
I should note here that when the car seat is attached to the stroller, the canopy on both the car seat and the stroller can be utilized simultaneously for maximum coverage. This keeps the entire travel system nice and dark when baby is sleeping, as well as safe & warm when poor weather abounds. When the car seat is attached to the stroller, the baby faces the rear of the stroller, which makes peeking in to check on our little one as easy as can be.
The tray of the Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe stroller is a plastic molding that sits in front of the child seated in the stroller. The tray has a curved indentation on one side that is intended to be used as a snack holder, plus it has drink holder on the other side and plenty of room in between to hold a few small toys, which helps keep our baby from getting bored. The tray releases with yet another squeeze-latch, located on the underside of the tray, so that the tray may swing open to allow easy access to get the child in or out of the stroller. The wide, sturdy footrest makes it easy for older children to climb into the stroller on their own and it provides a comfy place to rest their feet when riding upright. Our toddler thinks she’s such a big kid because she can easily climb into this ‘big & beefy’ stroller all by herself.
Also worth noting is that when a young infant is using the stroller, the seat must be reclined fully and the end of the stroller must be folded up and snapped onto the plastic molding on the front of the tray, in order to keep the baby from sliding out the front, underneath the plastic molding.
As previously mentioned, the handle bar sits rather high up (41″ from the ground up, in fact) on the Graco Quattro Tour stroller, but unfortunately, the height is not adjustable. Speaking of the handle bar, I should mention again that the handle has a really nifty little gadget attached called a ComfortTracker. It has a digital read-out for the time and temperature with buttons to adjust the time and show the current air temp when desired.
There is also a plastic, molded compartment with a little plastic closure tab located on the handle bar that is perfect for holding a cell phone, loose change, car keys or a small toy, teether or pacifier, etc., plus there’s also a two-cup drink holder for the parents on top of the little storage compartment, which I think is a nice touch and it works pretty well if the bottom of my drink container is not too wide. The handle bar itself is made of a lightweight, yet sturdy aluminum material, yet there is also a foam rubber covering on a large portion of the bar, which makes pushing the stroller quite a comfortable experience for my husband and me.
The positive features of the Graco Quattro Tour stroller have absolutely enchanted both my husband and myself. For instance, I really love the way this stroller maneuvers, which seems to be attributable to the suspension system and the ‘big & beefy’ wheels that this stroller boasts, plus, it has double wheels in the front (two on each side) that swivel a full 360°, or they can be locked into position when desired, which is helpful when going over uneven terrain. Speaking of which, the rear wheels do not swivel and there is only one wheel on each side at the rear of the vehicle. This doesn’t seem to affect it’s overall performance, though. The one touch brake system is a nice feature to have in a stoller, too. It sure beats having to click the brake on each rear wheel when you’re in a hurry.
The ample-sized storage basket underneath the seat on the stroller, which provides plenty of space for a large diaper bag, is yet another excellent feature of the Graco Quattro Tour that I adore. With other strollers that we’ve had in the past it would be difficult if I wanted to get into the storage basket below the seat of the stroller when it was lying flat or semi-flat. With my old strollers, I would have to disturb a possibly sleeping baby to raise the seat up and get into the storage basket. On the Graco Quattro Tour stroller there is a handle that can be squeezed to lower the basket without raising the seat of the stroller. A very nice invention, indeed.
Best of all, our kids love this stroller – although there is usually an all-out brawl over who gets to sit in this stroller when we go out.
The Car Seat Itself
The Graco SafeSeat is a rear-facing-only car seat. Infants up to one year of age and a minimum of twenty pounds must ride rear facing for safety purposes. The Graco SafeSeat is not a convertible CSRS, so it must never be turned around the wrong way to allow the infant to face the front of the vehicle. To do so would be extremely dangerous. For what it’s worth, I personally feel that the longer a baby can sit rear facing safely, within the guidelines specified for each CSRS, the safer the baby will be in the event of a wreck. The Graco SafeSeat allows for an infant to sit rear-facing longer than many other non-convertible, infant-only car seats on the market, which is an important feature for many parents to consider.
The Graco SafeSeat has a wide canopy, which rotates 180°, in order to block the sun or other inclement weather from the baby riding in the seat, no matter which direction the seat is facing. Like most parents, I usually just toss a blanket over the front of the canopy when our baby is sleeping, for maximum coverage.
The Graco SafeSeat comes equipped with something called EPS, which stands for Energy Absorbent Foam Liner. This is supposed to make the seat safer in the event of a crash. The seat is designed for infants ranging from five to thirty pounds – the height limit is thirty-two inches; whichever limit is reached first determines when the seat is outgrown. The Graco SafeSeat is said to fit a ninety-seventh percentile of children up to one year of age, which means that only about three percent of children in the overall population will outgrow this seat, both height and weight wise, before they are one year of age.
The Graco SafeSeat has a five-point harness configuration, which I feel much safer about putting my baby into, versus the three-point harness style car seats – especially a very small baby. I would always worry that the three-point harness configuration would allow a small baby to slip right out the bottom of harness with other infant seats that we’ve used in the past. Not so with this set-up. For what it’s worth, a five point harness CSRS consists of two shoulder straps, two hip straps and a crotch strap. The crotch strap has a buckle where the straps connect. When all the pieces are connected they form the ‘five points’ of the harness. There are also generally two plastic pieces, located higher up on each shoulder strap, that buckle together to connect the two shoulder straps across the child’s chest. I like the way the five-point harness adjusts with the push of a button at the front of the seat, too.
The Graco SafeSeat is generously padded, with a removable insert that can be used for small babies to keep their heads from falling forward or to the side, which is strenuous for their necks and, under extreme circumstances, can impede the baby’s breathing. The level indicator located on the side of the Graco SafeSeat makes it easy to tell if the car seat is at the proper angle when it’s installed in a vehicle, which also helps keep the baby’s head from tipping forward from the force of gravity.
Furthermore, my husband and I find the durable plastic, ergonomic carrying handle of the Graco SafeSeat to be a convenient feature. Just like the handle bar on the stroller, the car seat carrying handle has a piece of foam rubber covering the curved shape in the middle of the car seat handle, which makes it less strenuous on our old wrists when transporting the seat around by hand. The car seat handle clicks into several positions, ranging from being straight up above the seat, for ease of handling, to all the way back behind the seat to stop it from rocking on it’s curved underside – or even propping it up slightly on the last setting, in order to allow an older baby to sit up and view the world around them whether they’re at the home or outside, just like a regular infant carrier type of seat. Our baby enjoyed this feature more when she was less mobile, but now it’s just too confining to be much fun for her anymore.
Additionally, there are several other settings to click the carrying handle into. In order to adjust the carrying handle on the car seat, you just have to push both the red buttons on either side of the carrying handle at the same time, while also pushing the carrying handle into the desired position. Not always a simple process with one person, but a clicking sound lets you know when you’ve succeeded in adjusting the carrying handle into a new setting.
Overall, my husband and I really like the Graco SafeSeat. It’s well-desiged, comfortably padded, nice looking and most of all, we both feel that it’s adequately safe for our little one. Happily, our baby seems to like the Graco SafeSeat just fine, too.
LATCH Equipped & More
As I touched on previously, the Graco Quattro Tour Travel System does come equipped with the LATCH system, which can only be used with vehicles that also come equipped with the LATCH system. Most vehicles made from the year 2000 on up come equipped with the LATCH system, but the LATCH system can also be installed on many older model vehicles through certified dealerships. Check your vehicle instruction manual if you are unsure about whether or not your vehicle is properly fitted to use the LATCH system. Also, just to clarify – the Graco SafeSeat cannot be installed with the LATCH system when it’s in a vehicle that does not have the matching car seat base installed – it can only be installed with the vehicle seat belt under this particular circumstance.
LATCH stands for Lower Anchors and Tether for CHildren. The LATCH system is comprised of two lower anchor attachments and a top tether. Top tethers, which can be used alone or in conjunction with the two lower anchors, are one of the components of the new LATCH system. A top-tether is a strap that connects the top of the car seat to a metal anchor mounted in the vehicle, located behind the car seat. The two lower anchors connect to an adjustable belt provided with the car seat. The LATCH belt system has a hook-like attachment on each end of the belt, both of which clip onto each of the lower anchors, located in the crack (or ‘bight’) of the vehicle seat. The belt runs through a slot on the car seat base, which is also the same slot a normal seat belt would run through to install the base using the vehicle seat belts. The belt is tightened by pulling the loose end of the belt (similar to a manual lap belt set-up). Also, it’s important to note that the top tether cannot be used for any type of rear facing car seat.
We installed the car seat base in our vehicle on an outboard seat with no problems, using the LATCH system that came equipped with the Graco SafeSeat, since the typically recommended center-rear vehicle seat was not available due to the two Cosco- Apex 65 Alpha Elite Booster Car Seats that we already have installed on the rear bench seat of our vehicle for two of our older children. I have also installed the Graco SafeSeat in another vehicle on several occasions, both with and without the base, using the lap belt method, which seemed to work just as well as the LATCH method for this particular infant seat, by the way. The Graco SafeSeat also has a new belt lock-off system on the base that holds the seat belt securely in place when installing the seat using a vehicle shoulder strap type of seat belt. I’ve tried installing the seat using this method, as well, just to see how it worked and it is much easier than trying to use a locking clip with a shoulder belt. In fact, it eliminates the need for a locking clip. If you’ve ever tried to install a CSRS using a locking clip and vehicle shoulder belt, you’ll probably fully appreciate why this new system was invented.
Can you clean it? Yes, you can! (Too much Bob the Builder, perhaps?)
After removing the padding and harness, I washed the seat cover on the gentle cycle of my washing machine for two minutes with plenty of cold water and a small amount of liquid detergent. I air dried the cover afterwards, since it came out of the wash practically dry as it was. For what it’s worth, I absolutely would never wash the harness itself in the washer or toss it in the dryer, or use bleach or any harsh cleaners on the harness itself, because that does weaken the harness fabric, making the harness potentially ineffective and, as a result, dangerous. That being said, I recommend only hand-washing & air drying any CSRS harness.
It’s a relatively simple process to remove the padding and cover from Graco SafeSeat when it comes time to wash them. The harness needs to be removed first and set aside. Losing any piece of the harness, etc., is a bad idea, by the way. Trust me.
While I’m on the subject of harnesses, I should mention that the harness of the Graco SafeSeat does get twisted up occasionally, but the harness design makes it simple to detach and unthread the harness, untwist the straps, then rethread and reattach the harness. The two harness straps come out the back of the car seat and hook onto a metal anchor that has two curved ends. Each end of the harness forms a fabric loop, which each slide over an end of the curved anchor to secure the harness together at the back of the seat. The harness strap on the right side of the seat attaches to the right side of the anchor and the harness on the left attaches to the left side of the anchor. The curve of the metal harness anchor almost forms a curly-cue at the tips, making the harness less likely to slide off the anchor – which means it’s less apt to get twisted up. In fact, the harness design is a lot like the Cosco- Apex 65 Alpha Elite Booster Car Seats my husband and I also own, except that on the Graco SafeSeat there is a an extra piece of plastic that the harness must pass through on the back of the seat before attaching to the metal anchor, presumably to keep the harness straps flat against the foundation of the seat.
At any rate, you begin the process of removing the harness, padding and car seat cover by flipping the seat over, and locating the metal anchor on the back of the seat that each side of the harness attaches to. You do have to work the harness off the metal anchor on the back of the seat with care, because they don’t slide right off the anchor with a jiggle, like some seats that we’ve owned in the past, although, I wouldn’t say that the harness is difficult to purposefully remove when needed. In fact, it’s pretty easy once you take a quick look at how the harness anchor is shaped.
It’s also a fairly basic procedure to re-thread the harness to fit into the higher or lower harness slots, since, when it comes to rear-facing car seats, the slots need to rest level with or below the level of the child’s shoulders in order to be fully safe and effective in the event of a crash.
Just like the removal for washing, you locate the metal anchor on the back of the seat, slide off each harness loop from either side of the anchor, pull each strap of the harness through the harness slots on the front of the seat, re-thread them to the desired harness slots and reattach the harness loops to the metal anchor on the back of the seat.
Once the harness is removed, the rest of the padding slides off easily for machine washing. The car seat cover and harness are both easy to reassemble – basically, you just reverse the steps that you went through to take the cover and harness off. We didn’t have any issues with shrinkage of the cover making it difficult to replace the cover, as we’ve had in the past with other seats, either. The harness is simple to re-thread and reattach, too. So far, the Graco Safe Seat padding and cover have held up well through several washings thus far, looking non-worse for the wear.
The stoller part of the Graco Quattro Tour Travel Deluxe System Stroller is able to be spot cleaned with a damp cloth, warm water and mild soap – which I must say is easier than the ripping the stroller apart and washing the cover, like I’ve tried to do with previous stollers that we’ve owned. You can’t do that with the Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe stroller, but maybe that’s a good thing, all factors considered. The spot cleaning has done the trick for us when the seat gets dirty and the fabric doesn’t look any worse for the wear. I think this stroller will probably continue to look new for a very long time, thanks to the durable fabric & high quality construction of the overall travel system.
Affordability & Availability
My husband and I decided that Toys”R”Us had the best pricing and in-store availability in our local area, so we went with them over Walmart and Target when we finally decided to buy our travel system. Another reason we bought the travel system from the brick-and-mortar Toys”R”Us store was to avoid costly shipping charges (as previously noted, this is not a light travel system), plus Toys”R”Us was running a sale the day we bought the system, so it was 10% off of the retail price of $249.00, which we found to be reasonable for the overall quality of the travel system, although that price is more expensive than some other travel systems.
However, there are plenty of other travel systems and even single strollers that cost substantially more than the Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe – as much as $100 – $300 more when it comes to certain pricey brand names, such as Peg Perego and Britax. To me, that makes the Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe Travel System Stroller seem all the more affordable, especially considering the excellent level of quality and functionality of this particular travel system. In fact, some of those extremely high price tags make the Graco models in general seem moderately priced, if you ask me. Thankfully, my husband was in agreement with me on the issue.
Graco travel systems can be purchased online through a multitude of vendors and many do have free shipping for standard ground service, but I really wanted to hurry up and bring the Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe in Moonstruck straight home from the store on the same day that we were testing out travel systems because I was so excited to try the stroller out and I didn’t want to go home and search for the same kind online, only to end up finding out that the one travel system we both agreed on was out of stock or something like that. Also, once I’d tried out the travel system at the store for myself, I couldn’t stand the thought of waiting a whole week to get it home and I must confess that I began using the stroller for my toddler immediately, even though the travel system was originally purchased for the baby that we were expecting at the time.
In Conclusion:
My husband and I both feel that we got everything that we really wanted in a travel system when we purchased the Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe Travel System Stroller – and so much more that we weren’t expecting, particularly for the price that we were willing to pay. We both agree that the all-inclusive safety, quality, durability – and let’s not forget the ‘big & beefy’ aspect – of the Quattro Tour Deluxe positively exceeded our expectations, making it a reasonably affordable purchase that we both feel good about. We both highly recommend this seat.
