Car Seat Reccomendations

I want to vote for the Britax. We have the Boulevard and the new Diplomat and they are both great.

My MIL and SIL both have the Graco and I don't think it compares to the Britax. The padding seems skimpy and the straps and clip on the straps don't seem nearly as strong. We used it once on a trip because it is a lot lighter than our Britax, and in general, it just didn't seem as safe. Our seat also has a lot of extra features (like the HUGS feature and side impact protection) - and these features give me peace of mind in a city full of lousy drivers!!

The evenflo triumph is a great car seat and had a super high rating. Instead of paying 300.00 for a Britax the Evenflo is $159.99. We are still using it for our 3 yr old. Great price for a great car seat.

Britax vote here. Love Britax. Get the one (Marathon?) that has the highest weight/height with 5-point harness, then your child only needs a booster after that.

BRITAX!! For sure! The best part is how easy you put it in your car and know for sure it is in there right. All of my frineds car seats move around it seems and they have to go to the fire dept to have them installed correctly. This is simple and secure! We love it!

I have a Britax marathon and love it. It's super easy to install - my husband drops my son off at daycare in the morning and I pick him up in the evening so he has to take it out of his car and I have to put it in my car when I pick my baby up. It takes less than a minute to strap it back in.

Hi S.,

We have the Britax Marathon and love it. It was pricey, although some other carseats are safe, when doing my research...we chose Britax Marathon.

I have two different Evenflo Triumphs. They both go to 50 pounds but one only goes to 47 inches and is a bit light we thought in case we had to leave it at the sitters or something. I like the other one better for comfort and room though and my son loves it. It was $130 at Babies r us. I am not sure how long he will be able to be in it since he is only 13 months now, but I'm sure it will be a long while. Plus we plan on having another one in the near future so we may just switch him to something else if need be so the next one can use this seat.

Britax is best as far as ease of use + safety are concerned. BUT....Evenflo's Triumph is rated just as safe in most places. I have had both a Marathon and a Triumph. I liked the Marathon a little better, but for the price, the Triumph was really just about as good. My Triumph only went up to 33 lbs so that was my major drawback with it. But..now they have a Triumph that goes up to 55 lbs which is excellent. The Marathon goes up to 65 lbs, so for that 10 extra lbs you could keep them in a 5 pt harness, which is best for safety, assuming your child doesn't outgrow it in height, which is entirely possible.

The Graco comfort sport your child will outgrow in height before the weight limit because the straps are not high enough. I have no experience with the new safe seats from Graco but they only go up to 40 lbs anyway and I know I did not feel comfortable putting my child in a booster seat at 40 lbs...he was not mature enough.

There is also a new seat from Fisher Price that is almost exactly like the Britax Marathon but not as "posh" that goes up to 55 lbs with the 5 pt harness and is a bit cheaper. If I were buying a convertible seat right now I would go with one of those 3 options....the Marathon, the Triumph Deluxe (make sure it is the deluxe that is the one with the higher weight limit) or the Fisher Price safe voyage http://www.albeebaby.com/fiprsavodeco1.html
Just depends on how much you want to spend and how important you think those 10 extra pounds will be.

You may want to check out this site too: http://www.car-safety.org/
All kinds of child safety seat techs on here, recommendations and they used to have a database where you could plug your car in and see which seats are tested to fit best in your car. Good luck!

I'm going to have to put my vote in for Britax. We have the Roundabout in both cars for our 2 1/2 year old. Our 5 month old is quickly growing out of his carrier, too. We will move him into his brother's seat and be buying new ones for our older son. We will most likely get a Britax.

All I can say is that we took a "Baby Class" before my first son was born and at the end, they had a police officer come at the end for a 15-20 minute presentation on car seat safety. He was a certified installer/inspector or whatever. He said, "I would never put my own children in anything but a Britax." That stuck with me.

Britax Marathon! Wouldn't try anything else. My 35 pound 2 1/2 year old hated being in the car until we got this comfy seat. I have used it in all of our cars and babysitters cars and fits nicely in all of them! Easy to install and again is really comfy for him!

we moved my dd into the britax marathon when she was 4 months old she is now 4 and still in it it goes to 49 inches and 65 pounds i believe? she sleeps awesome in it
we take it on planes, its easy to install and move from one car to another, the cover washes great

i have no complaints what so ever

LOVE my Marathon too and I'm on my third (big) boy. He loves it. After three boys and many washings, the cover sometimes pulls over the top and what no one is mentioning is that its VERY heavy. But I bought mine when my oldest was 2- five years ago- and perhaps it has improved. I also have the Roundabout and our boosters are Britax too. Well worth the cashola.

I have 2 Britax! My first one was a Britax roundabout that my soon to come dauughter will use and, my second is the Marathon. I love them! The Roundabout sits in Grandma's car and the marathon in my car. Since I am 4"7 and pregnant, it's easy to install and unistall! I feel very secure that my daughter is safe, and if you travel a lot they meet airline regs.

They will replace it if it was in a serve accident.
You can pick them up anywhere from Target to a trendy boutique. (Even Ebay)

See thier website for more info.
www.britaxusa.com

Good luck

I wasn't convinced until I did the research myself but Britax truly seems to be the best. We have two Marathon's.

We have 2 Britax Marathons. I would never choose another carseat. They have awesome safety ratings and so easy to install in your car. I can tell that my kids are so comfortable in them. My mom has a graco for her car and they are always complaining about sore butts. You can't go wrong with the Britax.