Any carseat advice???

[KristyB]

We are in the market for a new convertible carseat for our son (3mos & 15lbs). I have narrowed down some choices and would like to year from y'all about what carseats you have and why you like/don't like them.

I insist on having EPS foam and I like the britax roundabout & the evenflo triumph premier... They only go up to 40 pounds (front facing) and it would be nice to have a larger weight range, but isn't it recommended to buy a new carseat about every 4-5 years... How often do you buy carseats????

I am in love with the britax boulevard but I have heard that the crotch strap is too short and can become uncomfortable for little boys as they grow (I CD as well, that adds some extra bulk) Any of you have the same issues with the crotch strap on this model???

Thanks in advance - Kristy

[Christi]

We love our Roundabout for DD but I wish I could have gotten the Marathon so it would go further.

[guest]

Britax Britax all the way, they are the best and the easiest to get in good and tight!!!!!

Worth the extra money!

[willngrace]

:agreed: Love love love my Britax!!

[boscopup]

I have the Roundabout and the Triumph (regular one), and they rate the same when it comes to safety. I like the Triumph ALOT better than the Roundabout when forward facing. For rear facing in my van, I do prefer the Roundabout because the Triumph adjustment knobs run into the seats (the sides of the seat back come forward a bit) and I can't adjust the straps unless I move the seat back. Although I like the fact that you don't really have to adjust the straps that often, since you can slide the buckles up and get the arms out easily. Takes some practice, but I love that feature. :)

If you have tall kids though, I'd stay away from the Roundabout and upgrade to a Marathon or something. Joshua is 2 3/4 years old and is pretty close to outgrowing the Roundabout in height (his shoulders are almost at the top slots), and he still has 3" to go on the Triumph. They're *supposed* to have the same top slot height, but apparently mine don't! So I'm getting Joshua a Sunshine Kids Radian 65, which 5-point harnesses up to 65 lbs and has really high top slots. By time he outgrows that, he can use a regular booster. The Radian 65 can also be used from infants on up and is generally recommended by carseat gurus for taller kids. I don't know if it has EPS foam or not though. You'd have to check. There's a Radian 80 out as well, which harnesses up to 80 lbs, but the top slot is the same height, so unless you have chunky kids, you're likely to not need more than the 65 lb limit.

Most car seats have an expiry date of about 6 years. I'm just handing down carseats to subsequent kids until the 6 years are up, and Joshua gets new seats as needed. LOL. We had the Roundabout already as an "extra" seat for the truck, but since Aaron is tall, he's outgrown the infant seat at 4 months. Daddy is 6'5", so I expect my kids to be tall. ;)

A great forum about carseats is http://car-seat.org (http://car-seat.org/)

[lisawheeler]

Love our new Marathon. The sculpted base makes it SO much easier to get tight!

[MotherMoon]

I second Britax. Well worth the money. I have had MANY carseats over the last 10 years. None compare to Britax.

[heidi_m]

We love our Britax seats... We have two Huskies for our older kids, and our baby is the second one we've had in our Marathon. Our middle child moved out of the Marathon when he was born and we got her a Husky; however, she's nearly three and could still fit in it easily. We have friends with a Roundabout, and they have a smaller car than ours (they have a Toyota sedan, don't know what kind; we have a minivan) - thought I'd mention that while I'm glad we went with the Marathon for many reasons, if you have a smaller car you might need to go with the Roundabout just for size. My friend could not fit a Marathon in a rear-facing position in her car.

:) Heidi

[KristyB]

Do any of you have the super luxurious boulevard?? I am almost sold on the decathalon but for only $15 more I could get the boulevard with the easy height adjustment. I am hesitant becuse I have seen some comments on the crotch strap being too short. The other thing is that it seems really bulky. Do you think a toddler will try to lean up to see out over the sides? If so, does it defeat the purpose of having the larger side protection??

Does Babies R Us have these models in stock, I would like to put my babe in them to see how he fits?

-Kristy

[boscopup]

Oh, I forgot to mention height adjustment... That's another thing I hate about the Roundabout. I have to take the carseat out of the car in order to change the harness height, which meant that I kept forgetting to do it because I only noticed when we were getting Joshua ready to go somewhere and did not have time to take the seat out and adjust straps (I'm perpetually late). He didn't ride in that seat very often, and DH is the one who usually takes him in there, so it was something I kept forgetting. The Triumph allows you to adjust the harness strap height from the front. WAAAAAAAY easier.

BRU has the Marathons in stock... I can't remember if they had a Decathalon or Boulevard though...

[JessiKa]

I love our britax too.. Aidan will probably outgrow the height before the weight.. That is if he ever grows!

ETA: Ive never even seen the Blvd so Im no help there.

[AmyBee]

We have the Bboulevard, and my 5 year old dd sits in it.

I don't think the crotch strap is too short. The straps that click into the crotch strap are adjustable, so I'm not sure how it would be too short. It has a round padded thing behind it, so it's very comfy.

As far as her leaning around, I have the straps tight enough that there is no room to lean. She really likes it. The first time she got into it, she was so excited because she was up really high, and could see out better.

We have the Marathon and the Decathalon too. There isn't really much difference between the B and the D except the side impact protection, which is why I got the B. The height adjustment thing is okay too, but that didn't really make that much of a difference to me...

I'll take a picture of her sitting in it today, and post it, if that helps....

[p1p3r]

Here's a pretty cool site and lists a LOT of carseats and their ease of use.

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/CPS/CSSRating/Index.cfm

[klindquist]

We just got my ds the evenflo triumph premier and love it. He is 16 wks and I think we got it about 3 wks ago. He is a very chunky baby, 22lbs now. I really love how it reclines (w one hand) and is so cuddly around him. If he were older we prob would have gone w something different but bc he is still so young I wanted something that would cradle him more KWIM. I also love the material on the covering bc its soft and easy to clean. Oh, and it comes w extra pads to help support a lil one and the krotch strap is adjustable as well. :)

[brasilmom]

We love our Britax roundabout. Since my dd is on the small side, it will last us a long time. She is 18mo and weights 22lbs! We just turned her to face forward.

HTH

Miriam

[AlabamaGalSusie]

FWIW, we just got a SafeGuard, which is the Mac Daddy of expensive 5-point-harness front-facing car seats, and I'm returning it. Not only did my dd find it uncomfortable, but it was so big and tall that it totally obscured my vision ... and that's not safe. Now, on the other hand, they're TOTALLY easy to install if you can use LATCH (for kids up to 48 pounds), and the height adjustment is one-handed and couldn't be simpler ... no worries about uninstalling and rethreading the straps like with the Britax Roundabout and Marathon (don't know about the others). I might keep it for my ds if I didn't already have a Marathon for him, but I do, so I'm not. I'm thinking about getting dd a Britax Parkway instead.