Graco Affix Youth booster seatBooster type: High back and backless booster

Weight: 30 to 100 lbs. as high back booster (backless, it is 40 to 100 lbs).

Price: $64 to $70 (high back); $27 to $35 (backless)

IIHS rating: Best Bet.

NHTSA ease of use rating: Four out of five stars (both modes).

Pros: LATCH connectors keep seat in place when unoccupied. Side impact protection.

Cons: Pricey if you don’t want to use LATCH.

Comments: The Graco Affix Youth Booster is similar to the Graco TurboBooster with Safety Surround with one main difference: the Affix has LATCH connectors. This keeps the seat secured when unoccupied. An upfront adjuster lets you tighten the LATCH connectors.

Like the TurboBooster, you also get an integrated cup holder and slide-out snack tray.

The downside to this seat: a basic Graco booster like the TurboBooster can be found for 40% less than the Affix.

What about the LATCH connectors? Well, we can certainly see why parents would want to secure a booster to the vehicle (if unoccupied in a crash, an unsecured booster seat could fly about in the vehicle). Graco also pitches the LATCH connection as easier for kids to buckle the seat in (since it can’t move around). As far as safety of the seat itself, however, LATCH doesn’t necessarily make the seat safer—a booster without LATCH connectors is just as safe for a toddler as one with LATCH.

FYI: Graco has another version of it’s high back seat called the Affix with Safety Surround and Latch. It’s was sold exclusively at Buy Buy Baby but we now find it only on Graco’s web site.

The Affix earned a Best Bet from the IIHS and four out of five stars in ease of use. And Consumer Reports crash test gave the Affix a “very good” rating, ranking it #5 out of fifteen seats tested.

FYI: A backless version of the Affix is $34.

Bottom line: the Affix is a good seat. If LATCH connection is important, then this is a worthy seat to consider. Given Graco’s track record in this category, we will give it our recommendation. Parent feedback has been positive.

A few negative points about this seat: compared to the Graco TurboBooster, the Affix is about two inches narrower at the back of the seat. Thanks to the way the integrated cup holders fit on the Affix, the two inches wider at the front of the seat. As for the backless version of the Affix, reader reviews are quite positive with a few parents wishing there was more cushion in the seat.

Rating: A