Britax Frontier Vs. Graco Nautilus - Chicago,IL

I was in the exact same predicament last month and I ended up getting the Britax Frontier for my daughter (she's in the Marathon in our other car and still fits). I liked the Nautilus but the buckle seemed too shallow, and even though my daughter is thin, I had read many complaints about it when the kids got older. There was definitely more room in the Frontier. And, like someone else posted, it's great to keep her in the 5-point harness until she's older - I feel a lot safer.

Just food for thought - since you have a girl and a boy, if you do decide to invest in the Frontier, you might want to go with a gender neutral color. My daughter's Marathon is bright pink and to get a cover for my son would have cost $70. I ended up getting him the Evenflo Symphony 65 for our other car (so Siena could stay in the Marathon) and I LOVE IT.

1 mom found this helpful

Just a thought... when your one year old needs to move up again, will he like the pink seat, or will your daughter still be in it so you'll need a new one for him anyway?

J.
www.UrbanSuburbanFamily.squarespace.com

1 mom found this helpful

we have 2 graco nautilus and we hate them. my daughter says they are not comfortable too.

the gracos have a slippry seat.. so the crotch strap slips down under the child and you have to grab it out underneat the kid everytime you put them in the car. this is especailly bad in our car due to the slope of the back seat.

the buckle is hard to operate also.. get the britax.. you cant go wroong with the britax.

we have 2 roundabouts in one car adn 2 nautilus in the other car.. we love britax..

1 mom found this helpful

I would go with the Britax Frontier85. You will be able to harness much longer than with the Nautilus. The top harness slots are at 20" with the Frontier85, as opposed to 17.5" with the Nautilus. That 2.5" makes a huge difference. My girlfriend bought a Nautilus thinking that this was all she would ever need, but her daughter is 6, and has already outgrown the harness. She is still fairly light though and would like to keep her harnessed as long as possible. So she sold her Nautilus and just bought a Frontier85. My son is 6 and still has room to grow in the Frontier85, and he says it's really comfortable. But I did have my doubts about it fitting well in my car since I can no longer use latch for installation (latch only goes up to 48lbs in my Honda Van..and my son weighs 50) and I have to use the seat belt to instal. I was able to get a great tight install in about 10min.
I would stop by a BuyBuyBaby, and check them out side by side with your kids and your car. They have both in stock. They were soooooo nice there, and it was great to be able to see my kids in the seats and see what worked. And if for some reason after you buy it and it doesn't install well, they will take it back no problem :)

1 mom found this helpful

You know, you really can't go wrong with either seat. It just depends on how much you want to spend. The Frontier does make a slightly better booster seat, and the weight limit is higher. The crotch buckle on the Frontier sits out farther too, so the child doesn't have the buckle coming out from under them. Both will be outgrown with the harness in height about the same time.

If you can get to a Babies R Us, you can try them both out side by side and see what you think.

1 mom found this helpful

I have the Nautilus and love it. Just like some other post said about the cubby my daughter loves them. I have a scion XB and I do not have any problem putting in or taking out. It is really easy to take apart to clean. The 5 point is up to 60lbs and I love that. I have told many people about it. I can not think of anything bad about this seat.

Hi B. - Hands down the Britax. Extremely safe (higher safety standards than set by the US government) and easy for a parent to install and buckle. We just finished using our Britax Marathon and went to the Britax booster. The best investment we will make in our little one! If you are interested in purchasing a very gently used Britax Marathon, give me a jingle (but neither one is pink ...).

I own the Nautilus and LOVE it!! It's easy to transfer between cars when we need to and is pretty light weight considering how big it is. Plus my son likes to "hide" things in the side cubbys.

I have a Graco Nautilus for my son and we both LOVE it! I like the look of the Nautilus, but the Frontier is similar in "big kid" style, so I doubt that will help you make the decision.

In my mind, the big differences are the cup holder and the price. My son (4) really does use the cup holder a lot. It's nice and open so he will et his snack or water down there and can get to it easily. I haven't seen a Frontier up close in a while, but I don't think it has this feature. Also, the arms of the Nautilus are solid down to the seat, so he can tuck his book or snack down into the arm where he can reach it rather than it rolling away in the car.

Of course the price is great for an extended harnessing seat!

The only con is that it is REALLY heavy. Obviously not a problem in the car (actually installed more simply and securely than his previous Alpha-Omega) but when we went on vacation recently, I had to buy those go-kid wheels to get it around because there was NO WAY I was going to be able to carry it through the airport. (with the go-kids it was easy to pull and my son could sit down and ride when he was crabby on the way home).

Hope this helps.
T.

I'm in the unique position of having owned both. I originally bought the Nautilus, but after two+ hours, couldn't get it installed safely in our Honda Odyssey. It just kept flopping around. It was also (literally) painful to adjust the seatbelt and buckle within the unit.

I took that back and got the Frontier. We've owned the Britax Roundabout before and thought it would be similar given it's the same brand. Totally different product. The Frontier also was a pain to install (and another knuckle shredder adjusting belts and buckles within the seat), but eventually I got it to work. The key was only using the LATCH. I confirmed with Honda that LATCH could be used beyond 40 lbs. Otherwise, this seat also would not work in the Odyssey (I'm talking second row here; when I called Britax, they said their seat should be used only in the 3rd row of the Odyssey and without LATCH. I was ready to return this seat because no way was I going to twist myself into that 3rd row multiple times a day. Glad I took the time to call Honda and learn their standards.). Now that the seat is installed, I like it. Our daughter still complains about the harness being uncomfortable, but we'll bear with that until we can move to a booster.

Long story short, these combo seats may be safe but they are no fun. The key is just finding which one will work in your car. I've installed my share of car seats with two kids and even my retired engineer dad agreed these combo seats are just awful to figure out and get installed securely. My husband and I do absolutely everything we can to not have to never move the Frontier because it's so massive (large and heavy) and a royal pain to reinstall. We're in countdown mode until happy booster days.

We have a Graco Nautilus in my husband's car and we both really like it. Our 2 1/2 year-old son likes it, will fall asleep in it, seems comfortable and loves that it has a cup holder where he can stash whatever treasures he has found. I have found it to be pretty easy to use, and no more difficult to install than any other seat.
We have a Britax Marathon in my car and I love that too, and I have used enough other Britax models to know that you will probably be happy with any of their carseats.
I think you are in the position of having 2 excellent options, so don't worry too much over your choice, either one will be great.

We love our Nautilus! No complaints at all! Easiest carseat my kids have had. He seems comfy. Love the cup holder and side compartments. We've only used it completely assembled, but I assume it will be great backless too.

We have the Nautilus and we love it. our daughter is 4.5 and she still is in the 5pt harness. it's easy to install/unistall in your car. It's easy to clean. I literally have zero complaints about it. I don't anything about the britax other than it costs a lot more.

I don't have an answer to your question since I have a Safety 1st Alpha Omega Elite (we love it for our 3 year old) which I got at Costco for $30 less than Baby's R Us.
But wanted to let you know that I was just at walmart today and saw that the Graco Nautilus was on sale for $120...

Love our britax frontier! It does have cup holders, one on each side. It is heavy, but I don't have the strap twisting problem. And I got it because f the super high weight limits, and the fact that I highly trust britax products after three accidents (one fatality) with my daughter in a britax seat, unharmed each time. Worth every penny! Got a good deal at www.albeebaby.com, free shipping too.

The Frontier is really hard to install. It's a great safe seat, but you will fight with it, and even then you may not be able to get it in right. If you decide you want it, make sure you try it out in your car first. I tried installing in a VW once and it was IMPOSSIBLE to get a good fit.

The nautilus is a great seat too at a better cost. It is super easy to install and use. If I were to pick between the two I would probably go with it. I believe the TrueFit also has the high weight limit harness and turns into a booster as well.

I don't have either one, but I have installed both and if I were to buy one for myself I would go Nautilus, but the Frontier does look really comfy and you can't beat Britax. I would just much rather have a seat that is easy to deal with and easy to make sure I have installed right, because none of the rest matters if it's not in right.

I have a Graco Nautilus. I love it and so does my daughter. She can easily get into it on her own and I just clip seat belt. The head rest adjusts as she grows. I got it through Walmart, online but delivered to the store for $15 less than what was in the store. My daughter got sick in it and I had to take the padding off--machine washable all of it. Big plus. Well, she took the foam peice off of the top part of the head rest and broke it. I only paid $14 for a new one (complete headrest not just the foam) and had it in 4 days with regular shipping. The customer service is great and I really like Graco products.
The only time we had a problem with the seat is when my older kids pull on the buckle while trying to unbuckle it. You have to make sure both sides of the clip are in completely and then push on the release.

Hi. We just bought the Britax Frontier85 which is different from the original Britax Frontier. They took all of the complaints and improved to make the Frontier85. Good for you for choosing to keep your child harnessed to 80 pounds!!

We have the Britax Frontier and we really like it. It does have cup holders on both sides and little arm rests for the child. It is really easy to install but is heavy. The only thing I don't like about it is the straps seem to twist up if you aren't careful and that can get annoying. I don't have that problem with my other Britax so I don't know if it's just a design flaw or maybe it's the user...Lol! We've had it for 2 years and it has held up very well.

We got the Nautilus for our 3.5 year old son almost 2 years ago. It's been great. We're looking at getting a few for our daughter here in the next few months as she's getting to be almost as big as him.

We didn't look at the Frontier, honestly. The other one I'm considering looking at for our daughter is the Complete Air system - they're manufactured locally and have gotten a lot of great press about their innovation using air to cushion the child's head in the event of an accident.

http://www.target.com/Convertible-Car-Seats-Baby/b/ref=sc...

my 6 1/2 yr old still fits harnessed in the nautilus
we drive alot including a trips up to 14 hours
she loves her seat
i have traveled on a plane with it too

I did a bunch of looking at the two myself for my 3yr old son and I'd go with the Graco. It will last longer and it's cheaper. I read a lot of complaints about the Frontier not installing easily and that was big for me cause sometimes I have to move my son's seat between cars or in my own for when I babysit.

S.