Rec your "booster" carseat with 5 point harness please

smiling76

Not sure how to even choose one of these.  I need to move DS2 in to a convertable.  I'd love to buy a britax for him but they are super pricey.  I'm thinking to maybe give him DS1's carseat and move DS1 in to a "big boy" booster type of carseat--but one that has the 5 point harness.

Which ones do you have?  What do you like/don't like?

 

baylorflamingo

Check out the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's ratings. We're about to move DS to an Evenflo Maestro since it was the cheapest of the "best bet" recommendations and we don't use it everyday. We live in NYC and don't own a car, so we only use it when traveling and visiting family. I've heard good things on here, though about the Graco Nautilus (not listed on the IIHS reviews, though) and if we owned a car and were going to use it daily, I would probably splurge for the Britax Frontier. 

penguingrrl

The combination (harness to booster, not rear facing) seats that carseat experts recommend the most are:

Britax Frontier: harnesses to 80 lbs (realistically very few kids make it to 80 lbs in a harness) and has the tallest top harness straps at 20 inches. Also makes the tallest high back booster on the market, taking a kid safely to an age where they no longer need even a backless booster. Known for a great seatbelt fit in booster mode for most kids in most cars. Very large seat, so doesn't always fit in every car and almost impossible if you ever intend to fit 3 across. Runs a little over $200

Recaro ProSport: I don't know much about it, but many people really like it. Close in price to the frontier.

Graco Nautilus/Argos: 18 inch top harness slots and 65 lb weight limit for the harness. Spotty for booster fit, so may or may not work as a booster for your kid/vehicle. If it doesn't work you'll have to buy a dedicated booster later on. If it does work it also becomes a backless booster, so it's the last thing you'll need. Runs around $150

Evenflo Maestro: 18 inch top harness slots and 50 lb weight limit in the harness. Generally offers a good booster fit for most kids in most cars, but the headrest doesn't raise up, so it's outgrown as a booster shortly after the harness is outgrown for height. Runs about $80, so that plus a dedicated booster later is still cheaper than any of the others.

Evenflo is set to release a few other seats very soon based on the maestro, but with higher harness weight limits and raising headrests, so they'll last longer in booster  mode. 

Also, an important thing to note is that any seat on the market has passed the same tests, so don't feel pressured to spend more thinking it's a "safer" option. The carseat experts recommend each of these seats equally. The reason they're recommended over other combination seats on the market (evenflo chase, or cosco seat) is that they have higher top harness slots, higher harness weight limits and/or a better reputation for giving a good booster fit for most kids in most cars.

SLO2005

we just got the graco nautilus on balck friday for $99, DS loves it, nice and roomy and for me easy to install

bobbs420

I would recommend the Graco Nautilus as well because you want something a bit less expensive than the Frontier. It's a great seat, and most people really like it. That being said, I have heard that it's uncomfortable for boys sometimes because many models of the seat don't have more than one crotch strap position. It's true. I went to BRU, and they had 2 Nautilus's and a Frontier all right next to each other. The black Nautilus only had one crotch strap position, and the girly-patterned Nautilus had 2 positions. Not sure why they don't make them all the same! I then looked at the Frontier to compare, and it has 3 crotch strap positions, and the 3rd position is much further out that the furthest one on the Nautilus. That's why when DS needs a 5 pt. booster after this baby needs the convertible, I am absolutely springing for the Frontier. Lurk a bit on carseat.org's forum. They have a ton of good advice, and you can search threads specific to your questions!

smitt2619

We also have the Graco Nautilus, and are very happy with it. 

SeasideBride06

I know you said you don't want to buy Britax, but we just moved DD2 into our Boulevards from DD1, and DD1 into the Frontier.  It is such a great seat.

I was having a hard time spending the money on them, especially since we have to have two...but then I found out that I could cash in my credit card reward points for an Amazon gift card and used it to pay for half of our total.  It would've covered one seat entirely.