WWW.SEATCHILLER.COM Find an extra arm to tote the Seat Chiller to the car.

Keeping baby cool in the car

A neat idea, but is it worth the price?

IT WAS tough for me to test out the Seat Chiller -- not because it was difficult to use, but because it was difficult to remember.

As any parent of a toddler knows, when you leave the house, you simply do not have enough hands. You need the diaper bag, your child's shoes, your child's sippy cup, your child's snack container, not to mention your child, so finding an extra arm to tote the Seat Chiller to the car wasn't high on the list.

And this was after making room in the freezer for the device, which when rolled up took slightly less space than a gallon of ice cream.

That said, the Seat Chiller does what it promises. The long vinyl pad filled with pockets of frozen gel cools a hot car seat down in less than a minute. I've always been partial to the low-tech method of throwing a towel over the car seat when you leave the car parked in the sun, though.

The product, which retails for $39.99, is probably best suited for temperature-sensitive kids -- the ones who needed a diaper-wipe warmer.

Even when the Seat Chiller was left in the car parked in the sun for several hours in the middle of the day and was partially defrosted, it did its job.

It is more effective on certain models of car seat. If you have the type with the bar that descends over your child, the Seat Chiller will not come into contact with all the buckles, which are the most offensively hot parts of a car seat.

Personally, I think I'll stick with a towel and leave the freezer for the ice cream.