My son is about ready to upgrade to a bigger car seat, but I would like him to stay into a rear facing one as long as possible since he is only 12 months. Does anyone have any good recommendations for a 2 in 1 rear facing and front facing car seat?
I would definitely recommend Britax brand convertible seats. There are also two Graco brand seats that allow for rear facing up to 40 pounds.
We've been more than happy with our Britax Marathons. We've had two and they're great- easy to use, comfortable for kids, and fit our tall boys for a good long time.
Another Marathon family here. Friend has another Britax (Frontier?) that she is doing extended RF in, too. We are happy with our Marathons and DD is fine - she just dangles her feet or sits cross-legged. She's 3.5 yrs old and just over 30lbs so we have a couple of pounds to go for our model (newer ones go to 40lbs RF). It will FF til 65 (new ones 70) and I figure by then we'll see what's out there. The covers wash well, too.
I have the evenflo triumph. Been very happy with it.
SInce all your responses are similar I will throw in a vote for Sunshine Kids (Diono in the US) they are 40 lbs rear and up to 65 or 80 lbs forward depending on what you buy...I have two we love them...they have a 10 year life also so it's pretty much the only seat you'll need.
Thank you for asking such a great question, I'm also looking for a good rear-facing car seat. I don't have a recommendation for you, but I did want to commend you for keeping your son rear-facing. I know that Wisconsin law states that you can forward face babies after 12 months but I thought I should let you know in case you travel that Minnesota's new child seat law requires children to be rear-facing until age 2.
We have Britax seats and they work just fine.
But (and this may be a dumb question), don't all car seats (other than the infant ones) nowadays give the option of facing forward or backward? Just wondering.
We have a Britax Marathon as well, but for my husbands car we purchased the Cosco Scenera. It has received the highest crash testing rating and is a fraction of the cost of the Britax Marathon.
Britax marathon, our daughter was in one rear facing in a fatality crash and was uninjured. Enough proof for me! Good deals at albeebaby.com or new in box on eBay.
Britax Marathon is great. All the Britax seats are excellent (Boulevard, Roundabout, etc), but Marathon is my favorite of the convertibles.
Britax marathon or a Graco MyRide.
