carseat dilemma..what would you do?

amy.matt

We have a Britax Marathon and Roundabout that we got with DS#1.  We each had one in our cars so we wouldn't have to move it back and forth, etc. Now that DS#2 is getting to the age to go in the convertible, we are going to put him rear facing in the roundabout and keep DS#1 in the Marathon.  The Marathon is such a PITA to move and barely fits in my husbands Jeep and the Roundabout wasn't a breeze getting it in my car rearfacing with the latch and tether... so, i don't want to have to keep moving it in and out almost daily.  We have a neighbor that just has 4 seats for her 2 kids so they don't have to move back and forth, however, i really don't want to spend another 500 on carseats.....What do you do?  Do you have 4 seats, or do you just move the seats all the time?  And to add to it, I currently leave my base with the sitter for the infant carrier, so that would mean I'd have to install/reinstall 2 times a day (when in a hurry to get to and from work/school, etc).  

ugh, do i just do what's easiest? If so, what seats to get?  I like the roundabout because it's easier, but it doesn't hold the kids as big as the marathon.  although i have a feeling that DS1 is going to outgrow it by height long before weight... hmm.  why does everything have to be so difficult...and expensive??

what to do!?!?!?! opinions? 

Mominator

No way would I be moving seats all the time, what a PITA! LOL I would buy 2 more seats for your husbands car. Can you get something less expensive? We did the Cosco Scenera's in my ExH's car because the kids are only in his car 2-3 times a week.

ghm

Is your older child forward facing? If so, buy him an evenflo maestro for each car for $80 each and leave the roundabout/marathon for your younger kid. It's much safer to leave the seats installed. There's a huge margin for user error when seats are moved often. The maestro has an 18 inch harness height and converts to a booster. It doesn't fit every kid in booster mode, but for $80, you can spend an additonal $40 later for a dedicated booster. If you want something that will most certainly work as a booster, you could buy one britax frontier at $209 plus one maestro at $80, but if you'd rather spend $160 total, go for the maestro.

 

happy_momma

Yes, we have four seats.  It would drive me nuts to have to move seats around all the time, and we don't always know ahead of time which one of us is going to be picking up kids from various places.

 

But I am not a Britax person and I've never paid more than $150 for a seat.

Ciarrai

We also have the Costco Seneras for DH's car. They're not as comfy or sure in that there's less padding, but they are just as safe. They're about $40 at Walmart and you can get the free ship to store...

onewordanswer

We have 3 kids (6, 3, 11 mos) and I just bought my THIRTEENTH carseat (that I can remember).  Well, technically, I got two of them for free and I bought several second hand.  This seem absurd, but I drive the kids, my mom watches them 2 days a week, my aunt watches them 1 day a week and my husband drives them.  I just can't move carseats all of the time.  Right now we have 2 graco nautilus carseats and a britax marathon in my car, a graco turbo booster, a graco nautilus and a britax marathon for my mom, a graco convertible and turbo booster for my husband and a even flo booster and graco convertible for my aunt.  I've gotten some great deals on carseats, for sure, and I've sold the ones we're done with...I actually just sold my infant seat and bases today.

So, I say- outfit the cars with seats if you can.  It is really worth the convience to me.

ghm

I am going to respond and say I wouldn't buy a scenera. He has to be close to 3 based on the sig pic which means it's close to outgrown. The maestro is not much more expensive and will last much longer.

shopgirl78

We have 6 carseats, 3 per car.  The one's in my car are nicer than MH's truck.  

EastCoastBride

I would absolutely be spending the money. no way would I move carseats around that much.

Mominator

ghm:

I am going to respond and say I wouldn't buy a scenera. He has to be close to 3 based on the sig pic which means it's close to outgrown. The maestro is not much more expensive and will last much longer.

Good point on the size thing. My DD would still fit in it at 4.5 y/o, because she isn't 40lbs yet, but we actually had to replace them in exH's car because he was in an accident. If your kiddo is on the larger size, you should most definitely go with one of the more inexpensive, though just as safe, booster seat w/ the 5pt harness.

ghm

The scenera has a rather short harness height, too, so most 3 year olds won't fit in it height-wise, either. Shorter ones will, and of course it's outgrown at 40 lbs.

jen5-03

We bought 4 seats. 2 more expensive ones in my car. 2 cheaper ones in DH's car (scenera and maestro). DD actually loves the maestro more than her radian. (It's all about the cupholders for her, but happy safe kid = better for all of us).

AnnapolisLari

We are really happy with DS Maestro. We will be buying another one for DD down the road.

Angela814

We have carseats in each car plus extras in my sister's car since she'll sometime do daycare pick up for me.

In my car: Britax Roundabout, Graco Nautilus
In DH's car: Britax Marathon (DD2), Sunshine Kids Radian (DD1)
In my sister's car: First Years True Fit (found for $100 on woot.com a couple years ago), Graco Turbo Booster (high back)

Are you planning to do extended rfing with DS2? If you are, you likely won't be able to do it with the Roundabout. I'd buy another larger convertible seat for him that DS1 can use now. I like the SK Radian bc it has a high rfing weight limit, and it's the only convertible seat that DD1 can still fit in now. Therefore I figure you'll get your money's worth out of it. Then I'd also do the Maestro for DS1.

Your other option which would be cheaper would be to buy two Maestros for DS1 and leave DS2 in the Marathon and Roundabout.

amy.matt

thank you all so much!  I guess I've decided we should get more seats.... it's about convenience to me too!  Good point on getting less expensive ones for husband's car.  they aren't in his car that often because I primarily drive and he's gone 6 days a week at this point, so it doesn't make sense to have expensive seats in his car.

thanks again!! guess i have some shopping to do! ugh.