The Evenflo Revolve 360 All-In-One is a seat unlike any others I’ve seen. When my daughter and I used to review car seats on a regular basis (she is 7 now and declined to participate in this one,) I stayed in tune with the latest technology. Granted, technological advances aren’t as obvious in the world of car seats, but with seats like the Revolve 360, the hard lines between child safety and parental convenience start to blur.
Over the past 7 years, we’ve gone through a handful of different car seats. We had a rear facing seat that came with our “Travel System” (the car seat / stroller combination) and then we upgraded to a Clek Foonf Tokidoki seat for one car and an Evenflo seat (the model type escapes me right now) in the other and then onto simple Graco boosters for the last couple years. We never really took the time to invest in an All in One style seat (like the Revolve 360) is and I’d say it probably cost us more than just getting a seat like this in the first place.
In this review, I’m going to discuss the features of the Evenflo Revolve 360 seat.
What is the Evenflo Revolve 360 all-in-one seat?
An All in One seat will typically cost you more up front, but is likely to save you in the long run. This type of seat typically takes your child from infancy to the time where they’ll have fully outgrown car seats. In the case of the Evenflo Revolve 360, it has a really low starting weight and really high upper weight limit. The seat will fit your child if they are as light as 4lb all the way up to 120lb in its various modes. An All in One accommodates the 3 stages of child seating:
Rear Facing (The first 12 months up to the first 24 months)
Forward Facing with Tether (Up to approx. 40lb)
Booster Seat (Typically until 9-12 years old, or once they’ve reached 4’ 9” and can comfortable use an adult seat belt)
The thing that sets the Evenflo Revolve 360 away from the rest of the pack is the fact that it’s essentially a revolving car seat that sits on a base that allows it to swivel. If that sounds scary, it’s not. The seat has locking mechanisms to keep the seat in place while your car’s in operation. The “revolve” element is to allow for both parental and child convenience when the vehicle isn’t in operation.
Why the Evenflo Revolve 360 is a win for parents
Do you know what one of the most excruciating and dare I say agonizing parts of child car seat operation was for me as a parent? The ceremonial in and out. With a stationary car seat, this meant climbing into the back seat with my daughter and having to strap her into the car seat from the side. In her younger days, it was also making sure that the chest harness was properly buckled and I’d have to try and maneuver around in the cramped space to make sure she was seated and safe. I might be dramatizing things a bit but it wasn’t really my favorite memory of early parenthood. There’s a definite convenience to being able to release a lever to swivel the seat over to get the child in at an angle you can directly face them while doing it.
The Evenflo Revolve is a safety win as well. You’ve got to take the seat out and install the base separately. There are different installation paths depending on which phase you’re installing for and a successful installation is very similar to installing a base for an infant seat (ensuring there’s only 1 inch of movement from side to side.) Let’s take a look at the different installation options.
By the way, if your vehicle is a pre-1996 model, you may not have a top tethering mount or a automatic locking seatbelt. If this is the case, you might want to reach out to your local dealership to see if they have a tether they can install in your car or equipment to mimic a locking seatbelt. You may also be able to find pieces for both at a hardware store, or might have some help from your local car dealership.
Installing for rear facing
Installing the Revolve 360 for Rear Facing requires you to remove the seat from the base. In order to do this, you pull the latch at the top and swivel it until the arrow on the base and the arrow on the seat align. You can then pull the seat off. This is the same first step for all installations, so I’ll skip this the next two times.
To finish this installation, you’ll need to unhinge the main tether and the Universal Anchor System (UAS) tether anchors from their storage areas on the base. First feed the main tether to its anchor spot but don’t latch it yet. Then, hook up the UAS tethers. Undo the belt tether lever in the middle. Push down on the center of the base while pulling the UAS tether slack tight. Once done, pull the lever down until it clips tight. Give it a quick side to side test. If you get less than an inch of movement on each side, you’re good. From here, install the other tether until it is firmly in place. Then, align the arrows again and slide the seat into its rear facing state until it clips into place. You’ll hear a click and the indicators will turn green to show it is clipped into place. The rear facing seat has 4 different reclining positions, and the seat leveling is indicated by a ball level on the side. If you have trouble with this configuration or get too much movement, you might need to rely on seatbelt path installation which I’ll discuss below.
The upper weight limit for this installation is 35 lbs.
Installing for forward facing (non-booster with tether)
When your child is old enough to move into the next phase of forward facing, you have a couple different options to install the seat. The first is the same installation style I described above. The second is through the seatbelt path and latch tether, which Evenflo says is actually their preferred method of installation for this configuration.
Once your seat is detached, you feed the top tether through and over your seat but don’t latch it yet. Once again, undo the belt tether lever, the shoulder belt under it and lay it flat in the blue tab housing. Buckle the seat belt and go back to secure the lap belt under the tab. From there, hold down the base with one hand while tightening the lap belt. Then, close the belt path lever over it all and secure it with a click. The indicator turns green once it’s closed. Check the install for tightness, and again, if it’s less than one inch, you’re set to go. Finally, lock the vehicle seatbelt using whichever way it locks. With the majority of vehicles these days, it’s as simple as pulling the shoulder belt tight until it clicks and slowly feeding it back. Then, go and install the top tether and you’re done!
The forward face with tether has just the single reclining position and the upper weight limit for this installation is 40 lbs.
Installing for forward facing (booster seat)
Things change a fair bit in booster mode. You can pull a lot of the pillows intended for younger children completely off and then store the harnesses away in the behind the booster seat cushions. You’ll also be removing the harness buckle and storing it in a little slot underneath the leg flap. Evenflo’s preferred method of installation for the booster seat is using the UAS system. You don’t need to install the top tether for this one so you can either leave it in its initial storage, or place it back in there.
The booster seat has only one up front seating method and the upper weight limit is 120lb.
It goes without saying that each time you seat your child in the car, please make sure that the seat indicators are green and the seat is locked in place. If you also ever need help with the installation steps at all or want to see how Evenflo themselves do it, you can lift up the lower leg flap of the seat fabric and you’ll see a QR code that you can scan with installation videos.
Final thoughts on the Evenflo Revolve 360
In many ways, the Evenflo Revolve 360 is the seat that I wish I had in 2014 when my daughter was born. I really like the convenience of the rotating seat and the fact that Evenflo has kept child safety at the forefront. The parental convenience factor is huge though. It’s really nice to have the seat on a locking swivel to help your child out of the car, especially in a multi-child vehicle where the seats are situated behind the driver and passenger seat. I’d recommend giving this one a look to see if it fits your needs!
The Evenflo Revolve 360 All-In-One car seat is now available online at BestBuy.ca
