next car seat--school me!

flamencogal

So I'm thinking Nate is probably only going to last in the infant carrier until about 6 mos.  After having a preemie, Nate is SO freakin' heavy in that carrier already! ha!  I think we kept Scott in it until about 9 mos but he was only around 14 or 15 lbs.  Nate is already 12 or 13 pounds and is just shy of 3 mos.

Anyway, I'm wondering what the recs are for the next car seat for Scott.  He's still in a convertible car seat (Britax Marathon).  I still want him in a 5 point harness but something he can keep growing into.  He's only 30 pounds (3 years old).  So my trusted ladies, what are your recommendations for the next step in car seats?  I haven't even really started looking.  Hoping to take advantage of a 20% off sale next time they come around.

Thanks!! 

raceyrae

We were looking into the 5-point harness booster seat by Britax when I was trying to figure out if we could fit 3 car seats in our car (we can't ).  It got pretty good reviews from what I saw.  We're not going to move her now though since we have to get a new car anyways.  The only type that would fit would be a convertible booster without the 5-point harness which I won't do -- I don't need her unbuckling a lap belt like she could in a regular convertible booster that just has the lap belt.  The person I spoke with at BRU was suggesting not moving to those types until 6 or 7 yr. old.

lalabee0425

I have heard really great things about the Graco Nautilus and will probably be getting one for Keira when Callie outgrows her infant car seat. My cousin has 2 of them (kids 2 yrs apart) and LOVES them.

 

Rasz39

After purchasing our Evenflo Triumph 65 and watching it not work in the Subaru Forester (it's a 2002, so pre-LATCH), I check the carseat.org site for suggestions. We still haven't decided what will replace the infant seat in my car, but since most of our driving as a family (meaning anything more than 20min max) is done in his car with the comfy convertible seat, I'm not worried as of yet. Another advantage of having a teeny kid - at 18# she's still in the infant seat at 15months.

I'm hoping to acquire a new convertible seat in September (BRU trade in event is usually then-ish), so I'm going to glom on here for suggestions. One of the ones I've gotten is actually your Britax

mrsmikey

I would suggest the Graco Nautilus, Evenflo Generations 65, or Evenflo Maestro.  All 3 use a harness up to 50 or 65 lb (depending on which seat you get) and then convert to a high back booster that can be used with a seat belt.  The Graco also converts to a seat booster after that, but the Evenflo seats do not. 

DH has very limited space in his back seat and the Evenflo Maestro fit best.  It only harnesses up to 50 lb, but with skinny kids like Scott and Eli should still last a really long time.   I have the Evenflo Generations in my car that harnesses up to 65 lb.  I have no personal experience with the Graco, but it was another seat we looked at and liked before deciding to get the Evenflos.

FTR - we were using an Evenflo Triumph in my car and we LOVED that seat.  So we're pretty big fans of Evenflo seats after the infant stage.