GB Asana infant car seat reviewWeb: GBChildUSA.com Infant Car Seat review: GB Asana

Price: Asana: $150

Limits: 35 lbs., up to 32″.

NHTSA ease of use rating: Five out of five stars.

Pros: No rethread harness, load leg for additional crash protection. Premium LATCh connectors. Carrier weighs 9.2 lbs, less than other premium seats.

Cons: Harness that adjusts height and headrest in one pull can be harder to fit on some babies (GB is fixing this feature). Narrow seat means bigger babies might outgrow. Only works with GB’s own strollers.

Comments: The Asana infant car seat (sold as the GB Asana 35) comes with premium LATCH connectors, load-leg base, no-rethread harness, large sun canopy, adjustable load leg and EPS foam. An infant insert allows you to use it with babies under six lbs. review

The GB Asana seats are manufactured by a little-known Chinese baby gear behemoth (Good Baby) that also owns Evenflo and Cybex. Good Baby markets its car seats and strollers under the GB name as well as Urbini in Walmart.

Both versions of the Asana have a load leg. This is essentially anti-rebound protection that keeps the seat from moving forward in a crash. Load legs are more common in other countries than the U.S., so this is one of the first widely available here (the Cybex Aton and Nuna Pipa both have load legs).

The Asana DLX also has what they call a FirmFit Arm (a lever inside the base) that allows you to secure the base to your vehicle for a tighter fit and a FirmFit no-rethread harness system.

Feedback on the Asana has been generally positive. Consumer Reports’ crash testing of the Asana 35 DLX was deemed “best” in a three-tier rating (basic, better best). CR rated the Asana third best overall out of 30+ infant car seats tested.

We have previously complained that the Asana only works with strollers from GB. We aren’t very impressed with the GB line of strollers. You can now use them with Cybex strollers as well. (We only gave the GB stroller line a C rating in our latest round-up.)

Also: reader feedback on this seat indicates the bigger babies may quickly outgrow the Asana, given the seat’s rather narrow width. That means the stated 35 lb. weight limit is a mirage for these folks.

On the plus side, we like the premium LATCH connectors and a carrier weight that clocks in at 9.2 lbs—not the lightest on the market, but less than other premium seats. The base is easy to install with either LATCH or a seat belt.

Bottom line: we’ll give this seat an A-. Not as high as our top picks in this category, but a respectable runner-up if you can live with the lack of stroller compatibility. Rating: A- Infant Car Seat review: GB Asana