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   Monday, September 08, 2008  

Car seat help needed!

Alright ladies -- I need some help here.  My new Acadia is finally about to be here!  I want to buy a new car seat for the lowercase to go with it.  So...what do I buy?

In Mr. W's car, he has a Britax Marathon that we LOVE.  In my car, he has an older Evenflo that I do NOT like (it was my nephews and since we don't often drive the Beetle, it wasn't an issue).  It's a safe seat, I wasn't ever worried about that (and in a small car, it's smaller profile was the only thing that fit well and offered a good harness) -- but it's a PAIN IN THE BUTT to adjust the straps!  It's just not as good, overall, as the Britax.

We had considered just buying a second Marathon, but then I started thinking -- the lowercase is only getting older and bigger.  Am I really going to get the full worth of that seat over time?  Will he outgrow it too soon?  Or will he get old enough that he no longer wants to be in a "baby" seat and want more of a traditional style booster seat?  Obviously, I want him to have a seat with a five point harness -- but I do want it to be something that he can grow with.

That being said, the lowercase is fairly small.  He's 36-37" tall, he weighs around 27/28 lbs, and has a seated torso height (butt to shoulder) of 12/13"  (Don't you love how you can't get an exact measurement on a kid this age?  Seriously!  He does not sit still for a minute!)

Right now the main contenders are the Marathon and possibly the Britax Frontier (or other booster...maybe the Regent?)

The final consideration is that while our Acadia will be quite large, with an 8 person seating capacity, we would like to keep all children in the front row of the back seat.  So -- we kind of want his seat to be able to fit with 1-2 other seats depending on how things go. (Once all current and future kids are in non-infant-carrier seats, we will, I am certain, have to reassess the situation!)

So.  Tell me.  Seats.  Size.  What you like about them, what you don't.  If there is a Britax you hate, tell me that, too.

   [ posted  @ 12:10 PM ] [ Post a Comment ] [ View Comments (3) ]
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  Comments about my post, "Car seat help needed!":
How old is he now?

Given that he is on the smaller side, I'd still go with a Marathon. He can be rear-facing harnessed until 33 pounds and forward up to 65 pounds. In my state, you have to be 4 and 40 pounds to move to a booster.
I'm still working on deciding on our next car seat (I think it will be a Marathon--Britax sale starts next week!) so I have no help. But the crowd on the boards on car-seat.org is incredibly helpful. You don't have to register to post and you get lots of responses right away.
He won't stay in the Marathon until 65 pounds - he will outgrow it by height way before that.

Our next seat for Natalie will be a Graco Nautilus - it's similar in design to the Frontier but most car seat techs prefer the Nautilus to the Frontier, including the techs I trust most. The main reason is that it is much easier to get a good install with the Nautilus, but another key factor is the cost - about $100 less for the Graco. However, the Nautilus/Frontier models DO NOT FRONT FACE, so if you still have T rear facing that's a significant consideration.

Any of the three (Marathon, Nautilus and Frontier) will be excellent choices. It depends on your preferences and the fit to your vehicle.


 
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