Should I Get the Britax Boulevard, Decathalon, Frontier or Regent??

Hi,

I just bought the Britax Frontier for my 4 1/2 year old since my 16 month old needed the Britax Marathon (from the 4 1/2 year old). We absolutely love the Frontier! It is a car seat/booster seat that offers a 5-point harness and converts to a full-back booster with cup holders and an adjustable head rest. My daughter loves it as well. The seat actually sits lower than the adjacent Marathon and is extremely comfortable (my daughter always falls asleep while riding). I highly recommend the Frontier...love Britax.

I bought the regeant after our car accident and love it. My son is 30 pounds and three and half and I think he'll be in this car seat until he's like 10! It has multiple shoudler strap adjustments and goes up to 80(or 100 I'd have to check) pounds.

It has side impact wings which is great when he falls asleep (we had a side impact crash so that was on my mind).

I would highly recomend it!

Are you stuck on getting a Britax? I loved the Britax for my daughter when she was younger. We had to get a new seat when my son outgrew his infant carrier, and we decided to pass the britax to him and get her a new one. We got the Graco Nautilus. I LOVE it! It has a 5 point harness that goes up to 65 pounds (I think. I'm not sure what the minimum weight is). Then it converts to a high back booster, and then you can convert it to a backless booster. She loves it. And it wasn't outrageously expensive like a lot of them are. I like that we won't need to buy her another car seat again.

Just a couple of things to keep in mind no matter what seat you choose:
1) look at the height restrictions as well as weight. When my 2 were under 2 we had the Britax Marathons which were ideal for us in every way with the exception that they both grew too tall for it when they were 4. 65 lbs is not something most kids would reach, but the height limit certainly is.

2) You can't use the LATCH system after a certain weight which made installing very challenging with all Britax seats when they were older (time consuming and awkward depending on the type of vehicle you have).

I have two marathons and love them. When I had to move my oldest into a new car seat I bought the Frontier. I just washed it for the first time yesterday and I have to say that I am not nearly as pleased with that seat than the marathon. It didn't was as nice and the straps seem to get twisted pretty easy when buckling my daughter (I never have that problem in the marathon). Just my two cents but for the price of the Frontier, I expected the same Britax quality that I'm used to but don't feel that it has that. I won't be buying the same seat as my younger two grow out of their marathon.

I'd go with either the Boulevard or Decathalon (as for the Marathon I've not heard a lot of complaints about the crothc strap, and I spend way too much time on www.car-seat.org, I have 4 Marathons and love all them! So easy to install, wash covers, adjust etc. As your son is still not even 2 I'd say no to the Regent (it doesn't rearface and it's sooo big, I put my 2 1/2 year old in my DD's Regent once just to see and it was huge on him). As for the Frontier, Britax doesn't even allow children under 2 in it....He won't outgrow any of the 65 lb seats probably until age 5 (my DD is 5 1/2 and still fits in a Marathon in one of our cars, she's about 44 inches tall and 41 lbs).

My 33 month old son is about 30 lbs and is still rearfacing in his Marathon.

If you're looking for online deals, there are often bargain alerts over on www.car-seat.org for places to find good prices.

B.

We bought the Frontier when my son turned 2. It's really not hard to install....my biggest complaint is that the straps get twisted all the time. It gets very frustrating when I need to get somewhere fast. Other than that we love it and even better, our son loves it. He falls asleep when we are on a long car ride and his head is supported by the wings on the side.

We got the Boulevard and am very happy with our purchase. I do not want to be buying several car seats until she no longer needs to be in one anymore, she will last in this for a long time! I also went to www.healthycar.org to see the ranking for high toxic chemical content, I wanted something that ranked well in safety and in low to moderate chemical content. I feel I got the best of both worlds with the Boulevard.

Good luck in your decision.
J.