Best Baby Carriers 2018
There are over 600 different baby carriers currently on the US market, with over 50 of them showing up in the last year alone! Some of them are made by flagship companies like Ergobaby, LILLE Baby, Boba, and Baby Bjorn, but many of them are knock-offs with poor quality control and sometimes even dangerous designs or features. Wearing your baby is becoming increasingly popular, but given how many different baby carriers are on the market it has gotten really difficult to figure out which ones are best for you and your baby.
To help make your decision easier, we took 19 popular baby carriers and put them to the test to find this year's best baby carriers. All of the carriers were purchased by us, we did not accept any freebies to ensure our reviews were honest and unbiased. We evaluated each carrier for ease of use, safety, comfort, versatility, breathability, durability, and long-term reliability. Seven moms and dads of different shapes and sizes tried out the carriers with 8 different babies ranging in age from 2 months to 2.5 years. In the end, we found several high-end (our first list) and relatively budget (our second list) baby carriers that are part of our essential baby gear list and also make great mother's day and baby registry gifts. If you're looking for baby wraps and slings instead, check out our reviews of those here.
Best Convertible Car Seats 2018
Over 8 million convertible car seats were sold last year alone, but according to our research only about half of new parents are happy with their convertible car seat purchase decision! That's a problem, and our reviews are here to help!
Three times a year we pull together parents and kids to test the best new convertible car seats we can find, installing them in different vehicles, putting in infants, toddlers, and big kids, and testing out all of the key features. We try them out as a rear-facing infant and toddler car seat, a forward-facing car seat and if possible for the model, as a booster seat.
During our hands-on testing, we spill milk and juice on them, test their stability during erratic driving, measure head-flop during naps, research crash test ratings, and solicit honest opinions from parents. Below are the top rated car seats that met and exceeded our expectations for safety, reliability, comfort, features, and ease of use. First, we summarize the results, and farther down in the article you'll find the full reviews of each seat.
Best Infant Car Seats 2018
Over 5 million infant car seats were sold last year alone, and according to our research almost half of new parents are not happy with their infant car seat purchase decision. We want you to be happy with your purchase, and that's what motivates us to do our hands-on reviews!
Three times a year we pull together new infant car seats and put them through hands-on tests to find the best and safest infant car seats of the year. We consider Ease of Use, Flexibility, Baby Weight and Height Ranges, Safety, Car Size, and Stroller Types. We test all of the features, install the car seats in multiple vehicle types, read all the manuals, and pull together opinions from dozens of parents involved in our testing program.
This year we came away with about a dozen of the best infant car seats. Note that these are all rearfacing seats only, but to see our convertible and all-in-one car seats (2in1, 3in1) see our reviews here, and to see our reviews of booster seats click here. For more details about what we considered in our hands-on tests of infant car seats, scroll down to the bottom of this article.
Best Baby Monitors of 2018
This year alone we have seen over 30 new baby monitors enter the market, most of which are low-quality products being mass produced in China. They are cheap and might even work well for a few weeks or months, but give them a little more time and they will start to have all sorts of issues. We've seen way too many melting chargers, malfunctioning screens, and units that are completely dead after a few months.
Don't waste your money! Our hands-on reviews put 25 video baby monitors to the test, testing them for features, image clarity, convenience, reliability, safety, the range of reception, and versatility. We came away with over 10 of the top baby monitors of the year, including the top-ranked Infant Optics monitor to the super versatile Project Nursery monitor. Below we list our top baby monitor results, some of which are self-contained and some use wifi and your smart phone, and then go into our in-depth reviews of about a dozen of the best baby monitors on the market for 2018. Note that all of these include a monitor with night vision capabilities. After our buying guide, at the end of the article, you can find more details about how we evaluated each model. Note that if you're looking for a sound-only baby monitor (an audio baby monitor), click here.