Follow up Question on the Britaxes Out There

I have 2 of these and they are big. They both fit in my little matrix, but i don't know about the car. there is a smaller version of it forgot what it is called. What is great is that you don't have to readjust the straps, they have a rolling thing in the back that just moves it up. I hated having to slide the straps through a new slot. I just started my newborn on it and forgot the infant seat, it does go from 5-65lb. The crouch strap for us is fine, can be bothersome go get out from under the crotch sometimes but don't really have a problem, esp when they sit up more, which my 4mo has been doing for a month now.

We have a Marathon, Boulevard and Wizard. You can buy and attachment for the Britax seats that have wheels and a handle and wheel it through the airport. I personally flew all over the country with my oldest when she was a baby and felt like she did better while I held her. I never travel with a car seat. I get the ones that come with rental cars.

Good Luck,
Deb

1) Yes they are big, but aren't all of the convertibles?
2) My daughter is app. 45 lbs and the crotch strap is a problem, I wish there was an adjustment to move them forward. We are moving her to a booster seat now.
Otherwise a nice seat.

I have the Decathlon, which is one step below the Boulevard, one step above the Marathon. I was set on purchasing the Boulevard until the sales person told me that parents have been unhappy with the non-removable headrest, as the child will attempt to sit up and forward in order to see around it...making it more of a safety issue. I love my Decathlon...exactly the same as the Boulevard, minus the stationary headrest.

I have taken it on 7 plane flights, from ages 8 months to 18 months. It is heavy, so I purchased the gogobabyz travelmate. I just screw it on, and wheel my daughter and the car seat through the airport. Don't even need to lug around our heavy stroller. On our last flight, just bought a cheap umbrella stroller when we landed, and left it behind when we departed...one less thing to lug around!

Look into the Decathlon, as I'm sure you will like it.

Like many here, we have a Marathon carseat for the car. I love the safety features it has. We came across this same problem when we were traveling a lot in the first year. We took the Marathon once with us on a trip and that was the last time we did. We ended up buying a Graco Comfortsport carseat for my husbands car and for traveling. It is a sturdy, yet light weight and smaller option for traveling. he is one of those children that if not strapped down during flight, will climb all over the seat so we have no other option but to bring the carseat. (Its not only for his safety, but our sanity). Our son has always been tall and skinny so this seat has worked great for us. It only goes up to 40 lbs, but he is almost 3 and doesn't even weigh 35 pounds yet. It is very easy to latch into the airplane seat and car. The other nice thing about this seat is that it is very inexpensive. It costs like $80 or something. We can't afford 2 Britax's so we were happy to spend that on a seat. Hope this helps.

Hi! We were in a similar situation and wound up getting the Marathon, which we used on a 2 week trip back East a couple of months ago. At the time we bought it our son was on a growth streak, so we didn't think getting the Roundabout wasn't an option for us, although now I realize we could have gone that route and it would have been easier flying. We flew 1st class both ways and our Marathon fit, but that was another of our concerns with the Boulevard with the bulky top part, if we had flown coach.

So bottom line for us, we couldn't see enough of a benefit to buy the so much larger Boulevard, so went with the Marathon and it has been a great seat for us, even with my small car. Although we could have gotten away with the Roundabout just fine. (the smaller Britax for up to 40 pounds). As far as the crotch strap goes, we haven't had any problem! Good luck!

We have a marathon and roundabout (small backseat in one car and it works well). Both are great. We also have a graco comfort sport for travel and grandma's car. Rated next best by Baby Bargains and very light weight, easy to carry and costs $70 or less so you feel OK checking it on a plane and not worrying about needing to replace it if there are any problems, unlike the $300 britax.

Hi R.,
With the exception of my (now almost 6) daughter's infant car seat, all we have ever owned are Britax car seats. I LOVE THEM!! I feel like my children are safe in them and that really gives me a sense of peace.

YES! They are big and they are heavier than others; they feel more solid to me. I wouldn't recommend getting any other type of carseat. Check out the features on the Boulevard vs. the Marathon. I think they may be the same thing and the only difference is the audible harness positioner. If you already know how to put your child in a carseat safely, I don't see why thing is needed... but when it comes to a child, you can never be too safe. Either choice would be great. Also, and VERY IMPORTANT, you MUST check and see if your car seat is AIRPLANE/FLIGHT APPROVED. I don't think the Britax seats are. I think you would regret lugging one with you unless you bought one of those little rollers that you can click the carseat onto and pull the child while they're in it. I believe I've seen them in the Right Start or Leaps & Bounds catalog/website. Still though, with the minimal amount of space one has in an airplane to move around, this seat would not be convenient either.

I am not sure the weight of your son, however, the 2 car seats you are looking into are 20-65 lbs. From 22-85 lbs. you can go with the Regent, which we have 2 of. It is still a 5 point harness and makes a nice booster seat for the later years. We did buy the 20-65 lbs. for our daughter before we bought the Regent. That way of doing things costs a lot of extra money when the difference between the 2 seats is only 2 pounds. The Regent is forward facing only and it does not recline, however, you only need to lean the seat back a little more in your car then. No big deal. Furthermore, if you like the head cushions in the Boulevard, there are pillows and things that can be bought separately on which your son can rest his head when he falls asleep. They are a lot easier to get the kids in and out of also.

The crotch strap has seemed short at times depending on what my kids have been wearing, but if you just loosen the shoulder straps a bit, there shouldn't be an issue. You tighten them back up nice and snug once everything is in place.

I hope this helps. Oh- if you have the OC Family magazine, there are up to $20 off coupons inside for Bergstroms Children's Store (located in Irvine or Anaheim). You would be able to use one of these toward any carseat if you wanted to go there instead of Toys or Babies R Us.

Happy searching!
Jennifer

I think the Boulevard is too big for travel. If it's just for airplane travel, I didn't spend so much on an expensive Britax. Chairs get beat up during travel, and the Britax seat is also VERY heavy. You need to be able to carry your luggage, a stroller and the chair. What I did in the past, is we had a "travel car seat" and the Britax seats were professionally put in the car so they didn't come out. The "travel" chair was a Graco or something like that. Still safe, but not as heavy and bulky. I didn't worry about it. It made travel much simpler. Good luck!

R.,
I love the Britax Roundabout. I have two Roundabouts and the Decathalon, which was there deluxe seat, but it's so big and bulky, not to mention costs more. In my opinion go with the smaller of the two.
Best,
S. G.

I have the Boulevard and my 20-month old seems very comfortable in it. However, I just flew cross country with just the 2 of us and there was no way I wanted to carry him and the seat so I purchased the CARES safety harness (www.kidsflysafe.com). It was really easy to carry and use. If you do go with using the Boulevard, an easy way to travel with it might be the Travelmate - www.gogobabyz.com. I thought it looked pretty useful!

Hi R.,
I loved my Britax. I never had a problem with the crotch strap - are you having trouble adjusting it? The people in the store where you bought it may be able to help you.

As for the plane rides, I started flying with my son when he was 6 months old twice a year to New York from LA. I never took a car seat on the plane. I bought him his own seat (we get 3 together), held him for take off and landing and he sat or slept in his seat during the flight. I then rented a car seat with the rental car company or my inlaws would borrow a seat from their friends for our time in NY. I do however recommend taking a portable DVD player (fully charged) - it's great for keeping the kids occupied for a couple of hours.

I have seen people on the plane with a car seat that folds into some sort of backpack or wheely. If you really want a car seat for travelling maybe get one of these. However if you are not going to fly very often, it may not be worth the cost. Check out the Baby Bargains book. They have really good advice on which models are best for flying.

Good luck.

We have a Marathon(for my 4 year old), and a Boulevard(for my 7 month old), and we like them both. They both go up to 65 pounds, and I like the new features on the Boulevard. Overall, the Britax carseats are wonderful. We have even flown with the Marathon. My husband places it on a rolly cart using the long stretchy tethers to keep it in place. He then fills the carseat with small carry on items such as the camera bag. This makes it easy to tote through the airport as well as creates easy space for our additional stuff. I hope this helps you. Good luck!

We have the Marathon, which looks exactly like the Boulevard, minus a pad behind the head and midsection.

I too, read the reviews about the crotch strap being too short and I don't understand it. My son is a huge kid. He was born big and now he's a tank, 26 pounds at 15 months. The crotch strap isn't a problem because we lengthen the shoulder straps. I must be missing something there because that seems like a common sense answer. I just don't know about those reviewers...

I know there are some people who have taken their Britax seats on flights with them but I wouldn't recommend it. Britax seats weigh a ton and it was hard enough to fly with a toddler seat that weighed half as much. And they're so bulky and awkward, not to mention too big to fit in aisle so you have to hold it up over your head! I'd get a cheaper, lighter alternative or perhaps that convertible travel stroller/carseat. If your husband is flying with you, he can handle it, but if it's just you, it WILL be a nightmare.

Good luck!

I am a fan and owner of a Britax Roundabout. Here's why I bought the Roundabout as opposed to the other Britax seats. I have an almost-6-year-old and a 3 1/2 year old. My youngest has been in the Britax since before she was 1. She has yet to outgrow it, even though it only goes to forty pounds. When my son turned four, I moved him into a shoulder positioning booster seat. It made all of our lives easier as he could buckle and unbuckle the seatbelt himslf and move around in his seat a bit more. So, I truely doubt that my daughter will be in the seat past four. Six years of 5 point harness carseats is plenty long enough for me! Secondly, the Roundabout had a higher rating for Safety by Consumer Reports than any other seat on the market, including the other Britax models. And thirdly, the Roundabout is $50 to $75 cheaper than the Marathon, and only about $20-$30 more than other manufacturers top seats. Finally, it isnot big, bulky or heavy. It is a piece of cake to install. I can do it myself and get it plenty tight enough, unlike the other seats I had that my husband had to install. I hope this helps. Good luck with your decision.

Hi R.,
I bought both the Marathon and the Boulevard for my daughter to put in our two cars. The Marathon is far much better hands down. All the extra padding the Boulevard had was useless. It made it especially uncomfortable and hot for my daughter during the summer so I just pulled off all the extra unecessary padding. Also, after a few washings, the elastic on the seat cover wore out. At this time I want to buy a new cover ($80) at Britax, but I may just buy my daughter a new booster seat since she's big enough now. I hope this helps.

I don't know about travel with it because we decided against taking the car seat on our flight to Europe, but I really love my decathlon and my marathon. The decathlon is a little better though. I don't think the crotch strap is too short at all. The shoulder straps make up for the short one.

We did use our Britax Marathon on a flight to HI - the seat fit but it sure gave my daughter an opportunity to kick the seat in front of her :) I don't know if other seats will provide the same opportunity but it seemed large for the seat (but wouldn't anything these days with the size of the seats on planes??)

Just a word of advice about taking car seats on airplanes...

They're a complete pain in the a**!!! If your son is larger than an infant, he will be able to kick the seat in front of him, and it's really annoying to have to keep his feet held down for 5 hours (unless you don't making enemies in mid-flight). If you're planning on flying before he turns 2, you don't actually have to buy a seat for him. I know it's hard to hold your child for a long flight though. You should check with the airlines to see what their guidelines are on car seats and air travel. Not all airlines require a seat. I have a 4 year old, and an almost 3 year old. We've been traveling since my first born was only 3 months. I think as soon as we started buying them their own seats, we've only used the car seat once (because we learned about the foot kicking as well as many other annoying factors). I thought it would be good to keep them contained, because it works in a car. Not so much! After a while, they wanted out, but then there's no room because the car seat took up all of our space. You have to remember airplane seats are only about 21" wide, and most car seats getter wider at the top, and that will be taking up your space, too. Air travel is a necessary evil. Good luck!

We have 2 Britax car seats - Diplomat (in car) & Boulevard (in SUV). Both models have the side impact protection for the head. The crotch strap in the Diplomat is fine... you can rest it forward and easily put you little one in. The one in the Boulevard is too short... you end up setting your little one on top of it and wrestling to get it out from under them. It annoys me every day and if it weren't so expensive, I would replace it. On the plus side, the straps never twist and both are super safe.

We travelled on Amtrak with the Boulevard - not on purpose, though (our son would still fit in the infant seat and we meant to take it, but forgot it at home). It was heavy and a total pain to lug around. We bought the diplomat for travelling as he gets bigger. There are also light & inexpensive car seats that you get to have on hand. Oh, and you can rent one from the rental car companies, if you're renting a car.

Regardless, it's not easy to travel with any car seat!

Good luck!

I purchased the Boulevard for my dtr- who will be 3 soon. We love it! I think it was worth the extra money. It is so comfortable for her and the extra padding does make it more safer (according to the website). There has been no issue with the heat since we use the a/c in the car. We have made quite a few road trips and she sleeps well in it. The crotch strap is a little short but as others have said- you just compensate with the shoulder straps which are easy to adjust. We will be able to use this car seat for our 9 month old once our dtr is big enough for a booster. Haven't gone on a plane w/ it. Good luck!

I had the Britax roundabout until my daughter turned 4. I now own the new Britax Frontier. It is a 5-pt harness up to 100lbs. Here is what I have experienced. If I had the marathon, my daughter would want a new seat right now because she thinks the Roundabout is a "baby" seat. I knew I was planning on keeping my daughter into a 5-pt harness until she is much older, so I bought the Frontier. Huge seat, but awesome and my daughter loves it(bought the pink). My friend who has the marathon is now having the same issue with her son. He wants out of his "baby seat". He is 4. Just something to think about when you spend $279.00.

We check her seat when we fly. I found that when she has the freedom to move a little bit more, she does much better on a plane. She knows that her seatbelt must stay on when the light is on overhead. I second the dvd player. Bring a backup battery as well for any delays. We travel from the East coast to the west coast all the time, so you can imagine the delays we have seen. Good luck. N.

R.,

I have two Marathons and two Wizards (the seat that was the premium one 4 years ago when I bought them). In my opinion, all of them are too heavy to be ideal for dragging across country. The Britax seats weigh a ton. But they are really nice seats, they've held up really well and I haven't had a problem with the crotch strap being too short on any of them. I have an almost 5 year old and an almost 2 year old. One nice thing about the marathons is they sell replacement covers and they are easy to find and easy to trade out. Over the course of 5 years of using a car seat,that is a nice feature. I can tell you that both of my Wizards look rough. I've only had the marathon's for about a year so I haven't switched the covers but it is nice to have the option. The Wizards have the "wings" for side impact protection. Those are nice when they fall asleep because it keeps their heads upright and looks more comfortable. They don't seem to bother my kids when they are awake either. So I guess it is 6 of one and half a dozen of another when deciding which to get. I know that the baby sites sell these little wheeled pull things for car seats. if you get a Britax, I'd get a wheeled thing for it. I can't imagine having to drag it very far without wheels.

Have a great trip!

T.

I have never had a problem with the crotch strap being too short. I guess if I had a very BIG kid, I would, but I don't. My 8 year old was in a Britax Husky (renamed Regent) up to a few months ago. 5-8 yrs old and it had slots to adjust I think - no complaints.

The Roundabout is smaller and "easier" to put in a plane, but that's not enough for me to buy it. I love our Marathon. But I don't fly with it.

My husband has a Sunshine Radian 80 in his car (it FOLDs!) so we took that for our last huge plane trip (to the East Coast, 3 stops, 18 days). My 4 year old is not used to sitting in a car seat for flights. I was hoping to use it. She started to cry (duh, I should have discussed it with her beforehand) so I just folded it up and put it in the overhead. I do think anything bigger than the R80 is a "nightmare" to put in a plane seat.

Someone on another board strongly recommended a CARES strap (I may get one) because depending on the child's age, it will be too tempting to kick the persons seat in front of them as a game. Not fair for that person (and stressful for you). CARES eliminates that. NOt sure what the minimum age is.

There have been examples of flight attendants not accepting plane approved seats (some people are just jerky) and I would bring some sort of NHSAT? brochure to prove it's OK.

Hi. I have a son the same age, and we just got back from traveling- including 4 flights. I can recomment the Britax Roundabout for flying. It is smaller than our day-to-day car seat (the Britax Decathalon, which is also a fabulous seat!), but our son was quite comfortable in it. In fact, he was able to sleep on all flights in his seat. We were quite surprised that he enjoyed the Roundabout because he is used to the "nicer" more padded seat, but it was great. I also recommend using the go-go Kids stroller attachment for the car seat while in the airport. It makes life soooo much easier. I think you can buy that at most stores that sells car seats. Good luck!

WE own the marathon and it is perfect but need to get the next size and my girlfriend who researches EVERYTHING to the extreme swears by the Radian 80 (or Radian 65, but might as well go for the 80) by Sunshine Kids.
www.skjp.com pr Bergstroms. This is what she wrote me about it recently
"I love it because it has a steel alloy frame, it sits lower in the car, has more rump to leg space (depth). It took a little bit of practice to get it in as tight as her Britax
(but now I can get it in as tight as the Britax). The seat is also slimmer, so it leaves more room. I seriously love it as a forward facing seat.

So this will be my next purchase she is my go to girl on items that have been heavily researched-so just another opinion!
Good luck!
watch the video it folds flat! WE traveled last year on a plane this would have been easier!

Hello! I have the Britax Decathalon and have no problems. The crotch strap has another hole, along with the side strap holes, so it can be adjusted as the child grows.

As far as the airplane goes, my experience has been that no matter the carseat, it will be cramped, so go with what you are comfortable with. For a while we borrowed an FAA approved carseat that was also a stroller - the wheels popped out from the bottom - pretty cool, but the airlines changed the width of the isles, so it no longer fit down the isle. At that point, I just started taking my Britax because it was much easier to manuever in and out of cars. For ease, I am considering getting a carseat bag with a handle and wheels for carrying through airports - much easier to pull it on wheels than carry in my arms or over my shoulder.

Good luck. I have a graco and britax, but my britax is my favorite! I put the graco in my husband's car since he has her fewer times than I do!

We love our Britax Marathon and we have never had a problem with the crotch strap.

We have the Marathon. It just fits on the plane. Do get a cover for the seat ($20 at Babies R Us), makes carrying the car seat easier. With a shoulder strap makes it easy for your spouse to carry.

Also, when we bought the Marathon last year, it had a better rating. I think that was advice from Baby Bargains (great book!)

I have a decathalon and love it. Works well on airplane. Crotch strap is a bit short, but we compensate by lengthening the upper straps. Love this car seat! Been in constant use--cross-country trips in cars and planes several times--for almost 2 years!