Convertible Car Seats- need 2?

hlmoser

For our infant car seat we have 1 seat and 4 bases (one ea me and husband's car, and both grandparents).  A convertible car seat purchase is right around the corner and I am considering either the Diono Radion or Britax 70 models.  How much of a pain are they to install?  Is it worth everyone having one?  My husband takes our son in his car 1-2 times a week, grandparents take him somewhere maybe 1-2x a month.  Thoughts?

minervacullen

From what I understand britax have super shirt shells and won't fit an average sized toddler rearfacing past two. The radian is great! I'd also look into the chicco nextfit and the graco clones (mysize 70, size4me 70, headwise 70) they are all the same seat just different sellers. The nextfit, I've heard is super easy. I have a size4me and love it, easy, will rear face the longest, and a more thread harness!

minervacullen

A no thread harness

lawjjg522

We just purchased the britax boulevard 70.g3. He said installation wasn't bad.. the times dh drives him is it possible for him to take your car? Even though dh said installation wasn't bad I think it'd be a pain to keep switching it from car to car.

hlmoser

I thought about that- just switching cars if necessary.  I do want something that is going to last at least until 2, and although my son is a bit of a peanut on the growth charts now, that doesn't mean much a year from now.

Thank you so much for your input!

kerbear135

We have the Graco Mysize 70. We only have 1 right now b/c DH is driving my mom's car until we get the insurance money and buy him new one. However, once DH get a new car, we probably won't buy another one. I have the latch system on my car, and installing that carseat was super easy..you just click the latch belts onto the latch bar, and tighten belt until the carseat doesn't move...we just don't have the money to buy a 2nd seat for DH's car when DD rides in it so infrequently...I guess it would be different if she rode in his car more, but I still probably wouldn't buy a 2nd seat for us.

SingleMom31

We're going to have two, mostly because we need the flexibility of having me drop DD off in the morning and having SO pick her up. Right now, we carry her in in the infant seat and leave it with her... I'm not willing to haul in the convertible every day.

velazquezk1

My husband and I were talking, today actually, about how much we love our Britax. It's the Marathon, maybe? Crap. I can't remember. It's so easy to install and we put that in the center seat and use the seatbelt and can fit both big girls in our  '12 Camry - one on either side. The shell is short enough that we can both put our seats pretty far back.

robyn2201

I would go with two.

We like to have two convertibles for each kid. I drive the family car to and from work, so when DH is home with the girls during the day, he needs another one in case he has to go somewhere. They try and walk places, as we are super close to everything, but it's not always possible. The second seat also goes into the grandparents car if needed. 

They are easy to install. I just don't like taking them out. I always find it hard to get the strap loosened enough, to then undo the latches.

robyn2201

My MIL went out and bought a convertible seat for her car because she is always picking up different grandkids and taking them places. She didn't expect us to buy it, as my niece and nephews use it as well. She just recently bought a booster seat which my 5 year old nephew now uses.

StefandTodd

We had two for my oldest son (will be 2 next month), but the idea of buying 2 MORE for our youngest, and having four seats...?!  ugh.  So we only have one and have just made it work that I do all the drop off and pickup.  It works for us, but of course it wouldn't work for everyone.

We have Britax marathons (and very big kids), and love them.

sschwege

We have been fine with just having one Convertible for DD and one base for DS.  I'm a SAH mom, so that makes it much easier to get away with that though.  We basically have our family car, which stays here with me and DH has his work car.

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dsos777

Hi - I have a Britax Boulevard, and my 18 month old son (23 lbs / 32 inches) fits very comfortably rear facing in it.  I have no doubt he'll be able to rear face until at least 2 years old.  I installed it in my car myself, and I did not find it to be very difficult to install.  I particularly loved that the versa tether could be used rear facing as well, which made it feel that much more secure in my car (it literally does not move at all  Also, I love all the safety features and the extra convenience features that I would not have even thought of but make it easier to get my squirmy son strapped in.  

As far as how many car seats, I'd probably get a car seat for each car that you drive on a regular basis.  However, if you have time and are a good planner, you can probably get away with moving one seat around as needed; I just know that wouldn't work for me...I'm running late half the time anyways! 

I am a member of the BRITAX Safety Squad - opinions expressed here are my own.

carynecraig

I have a Britax Boulevard and Advocate. I find them very easy to install. My 15 month old is 25 lbs and 33" and I don't have a problem at all with them! My daughter is very comfortable in both seats. I'm a fan of having more than one convertible seat because you can use them for so long. I am part of the Britax Safet Squad, all opinions here are my own!

kcscar7

We have the britax marathon, we love it and my hubby installed it easily.

valeriegp

SingleMom31 said:

We're going to have two, mostly because we need the flexibility of having me drop DD off in the morning and having SO pick her up. Right now, we carry her in in the infant seat and leave it with her... I'm not willing to haul in the convertible every day.

This exact situation. We just this weekend bought (ordered, actually, because the store was out of stock) a Size4Me 70. It is supposed to arrive tomorrow. For a few weeks we will use it and our infant seat to see if we like the Size4Me, and if we do we will buy a second one. If we don't, we'll probably get a NextFit, but it's about $100 more.