Which Car Seat is Best?

Anyone have any advice on which brand/model car seat is best/safest? I have a friend whose carseat broke. She was walking down the street holding it by the handle and it completely broke and the baby fell on the ground. He is fine, but that worries me. So, is there a carseat that you have had a bad experience with? One that has always been reliable? User-friendly?

I hear great things about Britax car seats, but I would steer clear from a convertible car seat with a newborn. Some can't support the infant very well until they're a bit older.

Quoting Bella Rose:“ Anyone have any advice on which brand/model car seat is best/safest? I have a friend whose carseat broke. ... [snip!] ... worries me. So, is there a carseat that you have had a bad experience with? One that has always been reliable? User-friendly?”

im curious as to what brand was the one that your friend had that broke?????? just curious 

someone recommended the snugride to me from graco so thats the one we got.
edit:
http://www.elitecarseats.com/Graco-SnugRide.pro
this has consumer reviews about the snugride so it may be helpful

I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE my Graco SnugRide! Seriously, it is the best carseat ever. My son is 8 months old and still fits in it (the weight limit is either 22 or 25 lbs) so if you can find the SnugRide with the higher weight limit, get it. Trust me, I love that carseat. It's nice to pull him out of the car if he's still sleeping in the carseat and not have to worry about waking him up with unbuckeling him.

i got a Graco safeseat and it holds up to 30 pounds.I love it so much..

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2899786

Quoting mrs.heimpel:“ im curious as to what brand was the one that your friend had that broke?????? just curious ”

You know, I don't remember. I will ask her again and try to get back to you.

Quoting Whitney Pie.:“ I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE my Graco SnugRide! Seriously, it is the best carseat ever. My son is 8 months old and ... [snip!] ... pull him out of the car if he's still sleeping in the carseat and not have to worry about waking him up with unbuckeling him.”

Why don't you have to worry about unbuckeling? It doesn't buckle? How does it work?

Quoting Bella Rose:“ Why don't you have to worry about unbuckeling? It doesn't buckle? How does it work?”

there is a base that stay buckled in the car, but the rest of the seat acts like a carrier. You just remove it from the base and the baby can stay sleeping in there. Some carseats don't have that and you have to remove the child from the seat because taking the whole carseat out would be a hassle.

Here is the base part that stays in the car:

Oh, I see.

You definitely want something with a base like that! My mom has that base and my sister in law had an extra one so I could just pop Gav's car seat in their car whenever.

Quoting mrs.heimpel-17 days!:“ im curious as to what brand was the one that your friend had that broke?????? just curious ”

So, obviously it has been awhile, but that's life. I found out the brand that broke was an Evenflo.

We had a Graco Snugride..but never was able to use the base cause it made the seat sit up so high you couldn't see out the window.