I have a boring convertible car seat question

TheBuddha

As soon as Z is sitting on his own I am switching to a convertible car seat.  He is so heavy in that infant seat.

Anyway, I keep reading really great reviews of the Britax Marathon 70.  It is $200.  Is that a ridiculous amount to spend on a car seat?  I mean, this is my child's safety, so I will spend that if I need to.  What do you have?  How much did you spend?

emilydholmes1

We have the Britax roundabout 55 and love it. It was $199 but totally worth it.

emsrdh03

Britax is a popular, well rated brand however I found there were many seats with just as high of ratings for less money.  We ended up with the  Evenflo Symphony 65 (with coupons) for about $150.  So far so good!

ETA:  The weight limit is 5 pounds less than the Britax 70....however it turns in to a booster for children up to 100 pounds so it's literally the last seat we will have to buy.

itwillbesoon

I just got the Britax Marathon 70 & I paid $209 on albeebaby.com. You will be able to use that seat for years! Totally worth it in my opinion.

 

jen~n~brett

I don't think so. Honestly we are looking at seats that are $250 and up. Orbit, britax advocate, Recaro and Sunshine kids.

MommaEm

We just got an Eddie Bauer one for $200. I think around $200 is a good price for a car seat.

bdschad

We have the Sunshine Kids Radian xtsl.  We got a GREAT deal on it on Amazon for under $220.00 with free shipping.  So far I love this seat!!  Check out www.kidcrawl.com it is a great place to price shop different seats.

LCB34

We are getting the Recaro ProRide which is about $270.

Honestly, I don't think that is expensive for a convertible.  Think about how long your kid will use it?

write2nicole

We have the Britax Boulevard (x 2), and each one cost more than $200. All of the Britax car seats are highly rated.

I don't think it's ridiculous to spend $200 or more on a convertible car seat. For one thing, it's an issue of safety for your child. For another, there's the comfort factor. Why shouldn't your child be comfortable, if you can afford it. And the third factor, in my mind, is that the convertible car seat is one of the few items you'll buy that you will actually use for more than a few months. I think you'll definitely get the use out of it to warrant spending the money.

TheBuddha

Thanks ladies.  And I agree, Z will be using it for a long time, so I will definitely get my moneys worth. 

erpetdoc

I agree with PP... $200 is not that bad at all.  We have two Britax Boulevard 70 CS seats, and with coupons/discounts, each was about $260.   If you chose to go with a different brand, remember that all convertible seats have to adhere to the same safety standards, by federal law.  However, the more pricey the seat, the more "bells & whistles" it comes with, and potentially the longer use it will have in rear-facing mode (which the AAP recommends until 2 years of age). 

Taryn M

We have the britax roundabout 55. We got it for $166 on Amazon.com. We actually just installed it today and we like it A LOT so far.

Quizzle

Not unreasonable at all. We used convertible seats from birth, and have an Evenflo Triumph Advance ($125) and a First Years True Fit (~260, needed to fit in a small car.)

SuperCuteBenz

We have 3 Britax seats.

2008 Marathon= $135

2009 Marathon= $140

2010 Roundabout 50=$48

I got really luck and found all mine on clearance at Target in July of each year. I plan on looking this year as well. If I wouldn't have found such great deals, then I would have gone with the Sunshine Kids Radian.

IsaacA

We bought car seats yesterday....

First I went to Target and we got the Graco My Ride 65 for 130.

Then we went to BRU....to get DS a Raz berry Teether.... and found the Safety First complete air on clearence (the all black one and they had an orange and brown one) for $90....it's originally $250.

I understand that you want your child to be safe and Britax is a really good brand. I shopped by the reviews and how easy the carseats fit into smaller cars. The My ride had 40 five star reviews at Target, more than any other car seat I have found.

historychick79

We also have the Graco myRide 65, since a friend of ours did a ton of research about 6mos ahead of us and had rave reviews of it. It's about $170 retail, we got it as a christmas present from grandparents. It fits well in our Pacifica, and goes up to 40lb rear facing/70lb front facing. After 1 wk of use, it's still a bit tough tightening the straps (I'll probably go from behind while he's rear facing and need to just get stronger when we eventually flip the seat around). But DS is comfy and it's very well rated.

SuperCuteBenz

klio79:

We also have the Graco myRide 65, since a friend of ours did a ton of research about 6mos ahead of us and had rave reviews of it. It's about $170 retail, we got it as a christmas present from grandparents. It fits well in our Pacifica, and goes up to 40lb rear facing/70lb front facing. After 1 wk of use, it's still a bit tough tightening the straps (I'll probably go from behind while he's rear facing and need to just get stronger when we eventually flip the seat around). But DS is comfy and it's very well rated.

Just an FYI.... It actually goes to 65lbs forward facing.