functional, but not recommended for daily use

This carseat is functional. That is, it does what it's advertised to do. It keeps your child buckled in, but it's not user-friendly.

First of all I should say that this is my 2nd carseat. Our other carseat is a Britax, so my knowledge of carseats is limited to Britax and Summit.

My car does not have the latch system, so I have to use the cars seatbelt. I find that even after attaching the carseat using the cars seatbelt there is still quite a bit of play that I cannot get rid of. Not sure if this is due to the design of the Summit carseat or if it's normal when you use the cars seatbelt. I wanted to mention this, but again I don't can't definitely blame the carseat for this.

One reason we got this carseat is because it can be used as a booster seat when the time comes. My son is still not heavy enough for that so I don't know how that functionality works.

The carseat seems to be big enough to hold a growing child. And the 5-point harness is a plus, although I think that most carseats come with this type of harness nowadays.

I've found that compared to my Britax, the straps of the harness are very soft and thin. As a result they keep twisting and I have to remove the carseat from the car to straighten out the straps every month or so. Twisted straps make it more difficult to tighten.

Speaking of tightening, this is the Achilles heel of this carseat. I like to loosen the straps all the way to get my son out of the seat. The straps also have to be loosened all the way to get a child with a coat into the car. When the straps are loosened all the way, there is a pullstrap on the front the carseat (near the base) that you are supposed to pull to tighten. This pullstrap goes in when you loosen the harness straps and there is only about 1/2 an inch for you to grab and pull. Trying to grab 1/2 inch of fabric is very difficult at the best of times, but imagine if you live in a cooler climate where you need gloves in the winter. You have to remove your gloves and try to pull at this 1/2 inch of strap. You also need a lot of strength in your thumb and forefinger to even pull it out far enough to get a better grip. If you've got arthritis then you can forget about this carseat.

The strap pulling is what I really dislike about this carseat. Cosco should have added a longer strap or some kind of plastic or rubber end to make it easier to pull. My Britax has about 6 inches of strap sticking out. 6 inches is long enough to get a good grip and pull. I've also seen other carseats such as the Alpha Omega that have a plastic pulltab. The plastic pulltab is also a good idea. I think that Cosco is trying to reduce costs by not giving the user something to help with pulling.

For occasional use this carseat is inexpensive and works well, however if you're considering a carseat for daily use I'd look elsewhere. I would look for a carseat with some pull feature (and more sturdy harness straps too).