Safety 1st Grow and Go VS Graco 4Ever DLX

Safety 1st, known for their top-notch features at affordable and competitive prices, and Graco, known for premium features at premium price tags, have their most popular model in their car seat product lines being researched every day by parents – the Safety 1st Grow and Go vs Graco 4Ever DLX 4-in-1 – individual product review page.

I have written this comparison review to help you make an easy decision in choosing which of both seats will be suitable for you – based on features, ease of use, and budget.

A comparison table carrying all the differences and similarities is also provided to give you a quick glance.

Beyond what the table will carry, I have included reviews on each of the features based on parents’ feedback so you know if they truly perform as said by the manufacturers.

Specification Comparison: Safety 1st Grow and Go VS Graco 4Ever

NHTHSA Ease-of-Use Rating

The National Highway Transport and Safety Agency (NHTSA) provides a simple evaluation of car seats based on how easy it is to use different features in different modes and comes up with an overall ease-of-use rating for each seat to help you make a quick and informed decision.

This rating is based on four categories:

1. Evaluation of Instructions
2. Vehicle Installation Features
3. Evaluation of Labels
4. Securing the child

Ratings:

• 5 Stars = Excellent features
• 4 Stars = Above-average features
• 3 Stars = Average features
• 2 Stars = Below-average features
• 1 Star = Poor features
• N/A = Does not contain any features that require a rating

General Features Comparison: Safety 1st Grow and Go VS Graco 4Ever – Similarity Highlight

Safety Features

Installation Features

Ease-of-Use Features

Comfortability of a Child

Longevity and Suitability

Miscellaneous features

Detail Analysis of Both Seats – Which is the Winner? – Helping You Make a Decision

Going through the table, you’ll notice the Graco 4Ever beats the Safety 1st Grow and Go in several features.

I’ll go over the similarities and differences in detail now.

Specification Comparison

On the product dimensions, the Graco 4Ever is wider than the Grow and Go; nevertheless, either can only be fitted in 2 places in a row.

If you’ll be considering a seat based on this factor, there’s no winner.

Product Weight

The Graco 4Ever DLX is heavier than the Grow and Go. This is because the 4Ever comes with a steel-reinforced frame meant to increase the structural integrity of the car seat.

This gives Graco 4Ever an upper hand. However, this doesn’t mean the Grow and Go is anyway less; they both have 10 years till expiration.

On the other hand, you won’t be carrying either of the seats often as they are meant for more permanent use in a car except where you may need to switch cars, albeit rarely.

Seat Modes, Weight, and Height Limits

This is a significant disparity between both models. The Safety 1st model offers the regular 3-modes and the Graco, an additional backless booster seat.

Beyond this, the weight range for both seats is miles apart.

The Grow and Go features a 5lbs-100lbs weight range, while the Graco 4Ever gives a mouth-watering range of 4lbs-120lbs, more value in the booster seat mode (2 modes).

The Graco 4Ever also offers a higher height limit of 57in over 52in by the Grow and Go. This gives taller children more room to grow in the 10 years they may use the car seat.

The Graco 4Ever DLX wins here by a good margin.

Features Comparison

Coming to the meat on the bone, the features of the car seat. This is where you determine how easy it is to use a car seat, how easy it is to install, clean and other peripherals included to enhance its safety.

Safety Features

Despite the fact that all car seats are made to pass very stringent federal safety standards, many car seat manufacturers go overboard to exceed this safety requirement and even add more features to give more safety assurance.

At this point, you should note that all car seats are SAFE.

Coming to these two car seat models, they are nearly at par in safety features, with the Graco 4Ever leading, anyways.

They both feature Side Impact Protection, include 5-Point Harness System, exceed Federal Safety Standards, are Crash Tested, and pass IIHS Rating for Booster Seat mode.

However, slight differences across boards make one superior over the other.

Side Impact Protection, 5-Point Harness System

Safety 1st employs the Air Protect technology to enhance their side impact protection alongside the 5-point harness system, protecting the neck and head.

In contrast, Graco 4Ever DLX employs a steel-reinforced frame and the 5-point harness system, which offers overall protection to the body. Nonetheless, they both provide optimal side-impact protection for an occupant.

Crash Testing

On crash testing, Safety 1st does not precisely state what crash tests were carried out on the Grow and Go. However, Graco clearly states their 4Ever DLX is rigorously crash tested in the frontal, side, rear, and rollover impact crashes – the Graco ProtectPlus Engineering.

This additional crash test gives that assurance of extra protection in a crash. However, this does not relegate the Grow and Go. Parents involved in a severe car crash reported their child was safe without a scratch in the Grow and Go.

IIHS Rating

In booster seat mode, there is the IIHS Rating. A rating issued by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to help parents decide the ease of using the lap and shoulder belt for a booster seat in various vehicles.

The ratings are in 4 categories:

1. BEST BETs – seats with this rating provide good belt fit in almost any car, minivan, or SUV.
2. GOOD BETs – seats with this rating provide acceptable belt fit in most cars, minivans, or SUVs.
3. Not Recommended – seats with this rating don’t provide a good belt fit and should be avoided. There are no boost seats with this rating.
4. Check Fit – are booster seats IIHS has tested that had varied results depending on a child’s size and the vehicle model.

The Safety 1st Grow and Go is designated with the GOOD BET rating, while the Graco 4Ever DLX is designated with the BEST BET rating.

This means the Graco 4Ever will fit in “almost any car, minivan or SUV,” while the Grow and Go will fit in “most cars, minivan or SUV.”

The Graco 4Ever wins here again.

Installation Features

One of the most challenging aspects of using a child safety seat is installing the seat ‘properly and securely.’

More than half of car seats in the United States are not installed correctly. This is usually due to the manufacturer’s ease of installation. To ensure a car seat is installed correctly, it should not move more than 1 inch when pushed front-to-back or side-to-side.

Graco takes the lead here once again.

The Graco 4Ever includes the InRight™ LATCH attachment – a more straightforward installation system with LATCH, and an Integrated belt lock-off – a more straightforward installation system for the seat belt.

The Safety 1st Grow and Go lacks additional features to these two installation methods.

This means the 4Ever DLX is way easier to install than the Grow and Go and takes just a second to attach the LATCH when installing using this method.

However, the Grow and Go is still easy to install with the conventional methods. Parents give good feedback on this aspect. Therefore, it is not entirely a minus for the Safety 1st brand.

Ease-of-Use Features

This is a crucial aspect of this comparison review as it carries the bulk of the car seat features and determines how much you’ll enjoy your child’s car seat or not.

Harness Storage

The Safety 1st Grow and Go do not feature a harness storage system, while the Graco 4Ever does. While this may not be a critical feature as such, it’s a plus as it makes a car seat look more aesthetic when not in use and when in booster mode.

Harness Holder

This is an essential feature that helps you get your child safely and freely out of the car seat without an obstruction. The harness holders keep the harness out of the way, providing such a free pass.

Both seat models offer this feature.

Harness Adjustment

Both seats take a balance here. They both feature a system to adjust the harness and headrest easily and in one step.

Headrest Adjustment

There is a considerably vast difference here. The Grow and Go features 5 headrest adjustment positions, and the 4Ever DLX features 10 positions.

The advantage of the 10 positions for the 4Ever comes when you have to use the car seat for a tall child. Otherwise, there is not much difference. However, there’s also room for more comfort depending on the child’s height and how fast they grow.

Car Seat Cover / Machine Washing

As a child grows, there is always the tendency for them to get their environment a bit messy. A car seat is not left out of their reach. As such, you need to clean, and it must not be challenging to do.

Graco 4Ever considered this extensively and made the DLX model very attractive by including the Rapid Remove cover feature, which makes removing the car seat super easy.

The Grow and Go is quite fair on the aspect nevertheless. Parents report that taking off the cover and reinstalling it is pretty straightforward.

Both car seat covers, on the other hand, are machine washable. The Grow and Go cover is dryer safe, while the Graco 4Ever is to be drip-dried.

Safety 1st calls theirs QuickFit Harness and Graco, Simply Safe Adjust™ Harness System.

Recline Positions

A car seat should be able to fit in a car and at the same time offer a baby more comfort.

Recline position is more important when in rear-facing. As such, you need to know how best to fit your car seat in your vehicle and for your child’s comfort.

The Grow and Go features 3 recline positions in total. You can only use 2 positions in rear-facing – Position 2 (semi-reclined) and Position 3 (full-recline). Position 3 will be more comfortable for a newborn to keep their head in position.

The Graco 4Ever DLX features 5 recline positions in total. You can only use 3 positions in rear-facing – Positions 1, 2, and 3. Position 1 is best for a newborn to keep their head in position.

The other recline positions are for forward-facing and booster seats.

The major difference in both seats for the rear-facing is one extra position. Grow and Go lets you use only a semi-reclined position till you transition to forward-facing, while 4Ever allows you one more position while rear-facing. This affords you more comfort for your child as they grow and saves you more space with time till you forward-face.

Removable Cups

I will call this a bonus feature. Both seats offer 2 removable cups that are easy to remove and clean.

Comfortability of a Child

No matter how safe a car seat may be, it is not worth the purpose if it is not comfortable enough for a child.

On a good note, both seats are very comfortable. They are well padded and come with soft plush fabric that is breathable and nice to the skin. They also come with newborn inserts (head and body supports), which offer even more comfort for tiny babies and are removable as they grow.

Parents who have used either of these seats praise them for their comfort.

Therefore, it is a tie based on comfort. Not a bad deal anyway.

Longevity and Suitability

Even though the Grow and Go have a higher minimum weight of 5 lbs. than the Graco 4ever at 4 lbs. they are both suitable for preemies.

According to HealthyChildren.org, a premature newborn might weigh 5 pounds (2.26 kg) or even considerably less. That means either seat will accommodate a preemie at 5lbs (for the Grow and Go) and 4lbs (Graco 4Ever).

To make it even more comfortable for tiny babies, both car seats include newborn inserts – body and head support – which can be removed as the baby grows.

Expiration

Both seats have a lifespan of 10 years. That means either seat will expire 10 years from the date of manufacture.

Each car seat has its DOM provided on the car seat. You’ll have to refer to the car seat when you receive your delivery to confirm when exactly it’ll expire.

You must discontinue using a car seat when it expires or when involved in a car crash.

You can learn more about why car seats have expiry dates here.

Suitable Country of Use by Car Seat Regulations/Laws

Safety 1st Grow and Go is suitable for use in the United States and Canada, while the Graco 4Ever is only suitable for use in the States.

FAA Approved

Both seats are approved for use on an aircraft. Both seats must be used on forward-facing aircraft seats, and the car seats can be used in rear-facing and forward-facing, but must not be used as booster seats as aircraft seats do not have shoulder belts.

Miscellaneous Features

These are not-so-important features and should not affect your decision-making process.

Grow and Go is manufactured in the United States, while 4Ever is engineered in the States and manufactured in China. The former comes in 8 different colors and the latter four colors.

The Grow and Go body framework is a polypropylene plastic shell and the 4Ever DLX steel-reinforced frame.

ParentingWithHumilty Rating – Decision-Making Points

While I rated the Safety 1st at 8.5 in the review here (Grow and Go Review) and the Graco 4Ever review 9.0, before writing this comparison review, it was based on their individual features. Such high ratings for each of the seats.

So far from this comparison, we can see that the 4Ever beats the Grow & Go in several features.

However, the differences do not reduce the quality or effectiveness of one car seat from the other.

On the other hand, if you are constrained by budget, you may feel you need to find more money to go for the supposed higher model, but in reality, they are both excellent.

You may want to go for the higher one if you are so comfortable financially wise; otherwise, the choice is very plain.

Final Wrap Up – Which Should You Go For?

As a final wrap-up of the Safety 1st Grow and Go VS Graco 4Ever DLX car seat comparison, seeing very plaining the similarities and differences in the specifications and features, we can see the Graco 4Ever has an overall higher feature than the Grow & Go, but at a higher price.

On a personal preference, I’d go for the 4Ever DLX, all things being equal. But if I were constrained by budget, I’d go for the Grow & Go without thinking twice. Both seats are great, and parents who have used either praised them so highly.

Ultimately, it’s all about the safety of our precious ones, which every car seat on the market promises by meeting stringent federal safety standards and as long as the manufacturers do not recall them.

I hope I have been able to help you with my detailed research and comprehensive comparison of the Safety 1st Grow and Go VS Graco 4Ever car seats.