Seeking Suggestions for a Great Convertible Carseat

HI J.,

We are HUGE Britax fans over here. Had the Marathon and now my almost 5 year old is in their Frontier (he will be harnessed in this seat until he's probably 6-7, then it turns into a booster). The Marathon is big, the Roundabout is a little smaller and may work better rear facing in a small car. Check out elitecarseats.com they rate all the best seats in unbelievable detail and I am pretty sure they will be able to help you determine what will and will not fit iinto your specific car model.

Good luck on your search!

2 moms found this helpful

Try travelingtykes.com we got my daughter the Britax Marathon, which has some of the highest safety ratings, we got it for $190 which is a little higher than what you were looking to spend but much lower than I have ever seen before. That site also has free shipping. I"m not sure about the size of your car this one is pretty big but we have a small SUV and it fits rear facing and reclined with plenty of room.
I hope that helps a little bit!

2 moms found this helpful

I have a Radian 80 by sunshine kids that is slim, folds easily, well rated, and will fit easily in a small car. The Radian 80 costs more than your budget but Diapers.com has the Radian 65 for $190 and free shipping.

http://www.diapers.com/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?product...

The Radian 65 will hold a baby up to 65 pounds. If you sign up with fatwallet.com and you'll get 6% cash back which brings the total back to your budget They also have a 10% off deal for new customers which may work:

http://www.fatwallet.com/cash-back/Diapers/

1 mom found this helpful

We are also huge Britax fans - they are one of the safest seats out there. We have two Britax Roundabouts, which started off rear facing and now my girls are 3 and 4 and still fit in it and are, of course, forward facing now. These seats are extremely easy to install, especially if you're using the LATCH system.

Just wanted to let you know I had a small car too when I needed to get a convertible car seat and Babies R Us let us try the floor models in my car before we purchased one so we knew if it fit okay. (We had to put it behind the drivers seat- if we put it behind the passenger seat the seat would not go back far enough to "lock" into place.) We purchased an Eddie Bauer Cosco convertible car seat that my daughter used rear facing for 8 months before we turned her around. She is still using the same seat as a booster at age 7. Babies R Us was very helpful and polite during the whole time and made me feel calm during this decision process.

My 8 month has a convertable carseat and i like it she seems to like it, it fits in our van and she seems way more comfortable in it as well. I have a Graco becomes i am a huge fan of there products. Hope this helps :]

I love my Recaro car seat. They make one of the safest, heavy duty convertible seats on the market. I got mine online for $150 at Albee baby. It's a New York City based baby store that's been around for over 25 years. I did a lot of research on safety, ease of use, parent oppinion and this one kept coming up. Recaro actually started by making race car driver seats crash safe and fire proof so i was pretty impressed. They normally go for over $300 but if you get last years style or color the price drops dramatically.

http://babyproducts.about.com/od/carseats/tp/topconvcarse...

Evenflo Triumph Advance Convertible Car Seat
Love this carseat! Comes in different colors from different sellers. I used it rear-facing in my accent. Pretty small car. It is a big car seat, but it is very convenient to use. Great for making adjustmanets. And so sturdy.

Personally - I wouldn't go to a convertable car seat. We just bought the Britax Regent for our 5 year old, and we love love love it! Watch this youtube video for information on boosters vs 5 point harness car seats. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azgBhZfcqaQ If this link doesn't work, go to youtube and search for "5 point car seat" and select the first one that comes up - by kcmillerfamily. It is a very informative video. We just ordered our BRITAX REGENT from Target.com. The Britax Regent is normally - $279 + or -, but it was on sale for $179 and Target.com had a special for free shipping on orders over $50. This seat is so much easier to connect to our latch system that her old seat, and she says that it is very comfortable. The Regent is good as a 5 point harness seat w/ latch system up to 80 lbs. Don't be misled by most car seats that say 60, 65 or 80 lbs.......in the small print they usually say "40 lbs as a 5 pt harness, then converts to a booster to 80 lbs". We had an Eddie Bauer seat, and loved it too, but it was only good up to 40 lbs and was supposed to convert to a booster which I won't do based on the above video. When we first got the E.B seat, I sprayed it with Scotch Guard, I took it apart and washed it many many times over the last 4 years and it still looks as good today as the day that I took it out of the box. The Britax seat says that it is stain resistant - but I sprayed it with Scotch Guard just the same. We travel a lot for my husband's business - so often times we find ourselves eating in the car. So far so good, everything has just wiped out and it still looks perfect! (to the other poster - disappointed with the Eddie Bauer seat that she has - Scotch Guard EVERYTHING - stroller, car seat, booster, you name it! Everything of my daughter's has just been passed on to my niece who had a baby - and she comments all the time that each thing that I have taken to her looks like it just came out of the box! Good luck!

Britax Marathon. You can shop around online & find it for around $200.

keep that baby rear-facing!! it's the safest thing to do!
http://www.carseatdata.org/
CarSeatData.org is the leading online resource for parents seeking guidance toward the best car seat for their family, lifestyle, vehicle, and budget

What ever you pick... don't get the Eddie Bauer brand. I got one as a gift. The giver got it on sale at Big Lots discount store. If it is in a store like that it must not have sold very well retail. Anyway, I thought that it was a great brand name and perhaps just the older model, and I put it away till we needed it. Then when my son turned 14 months we were ready, The fabric got wet with his drool and turned a funny color. We washed it and it doesnt come clean. As well, the latch is very hard to work in or out with out using both hands and all my strength. I called the manufacturer to conplain to see if they would send a new cover or a new latch that could be easier. They did nothing. They said it was tough, for safety. They said my son must have had too much acid in his drool, why the seat cover discolored. Well, I will never buy that brand again. My sister has the Graco brand that she paid regular price for at the baby store, and she has no problems, and the seat cover is removable and washable. It was meant for messy kids and easy for mom to latch. If I ever get around to replacing my car seat I would get the Graco brand.