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car seat rec

gusabbeygusabbey member
in Toddlers: 24 Months+
Ds1 is 3 years old and is in need of a better car seat. Hes big for his age...prob close to 50 lbs. I want a seat that is installed in the car with clips and that uses a safety harness still, so he cant get himself out. Something that is comfortable too. Maybe with the ability to recline and with arm rests?

Any suggestions?
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Re: car seat rec

  • memali26memali26 member

    According to the owner's manuals for my car and DD1's car seat, the LATCH system (the clips to install the seat) isn't supposed to be used past 40lbs, so no matter what seat you get you'll have to install with the seat belt if your child is over 40lbs.

    We just got a Graco Nautilus for DD1. It can recline and has arm rests and a cup holder, and it seems to be very comfortable for her. It has a 5pt harness that can be used up to 65lbs, then it turns into a high back or backless booster up to 100lbs. 

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  • gusabbeygusabbey member
    Well now that would explain why it was so difficult for me to find the car seat i was looking for! Thanks for the rec. Googling now!
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  • sara785sara785 member
    We went with the BabyTrend FastBack over the Nautilus. Got it at BRU. It's basically the same thing, but I thought the padding seemed more comfortable than the Nautilus. Not sure about what PP mentioned about the LATCH only being use to a certain weight. The FastBack has a really easy rigid latch system that I like a lot. 
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  • Angela814Angela814 member

    The Radian came out with super latch, which I believe can be used up to 48 lbs. Otherwise generally 40 lbs is the limit.

    How tall is he? Since he's only 3, I'd look into the Britax Frontier. It has a 20" top harness slot (as opposed to the 18" of the other 5pt harness-booster models) and is known to make a good booster seat. Some of the other harness-booster seats don't always fit well as a booster.

    Found it here for only $209.

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  • memali26memali26 member

    imagesara785:
    We went with the BabyTrend FastBack over the Nautilus. Got it at BRU. It's basically the same thing, but I thought the padding seemed more comfortable than the Nautilus. Not sure about what PP mentioned about the LATCH only being use to a certain weight. The FastBack has a really easy rigid latch system that I like a lot. 

    I had never heard it until I read through the manual for our Nautilus. After I saw that, I checked the car owner's manual and it said the same thing - LATCH is only rated to 40lbs.  

    Mama to two sweet girls
    DD1 Feb 2010
    DD2 Sept 2011


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  • TMDMJAOCT07TMDMJAOCT07 member

    I usually stay out of car seat conversations, but I just looked up our car seats owners manual (Britax Marathon, fwiw). And it says  this :

    Refer to your vehicle owner?s manual or contact the vehicle manufacturer for the maximum weight rating for their LATCH anchors. Use vehicle belt (not LATCH connectors) for installations with children who weigh more than the vehicle LATCH anchor limit. Unless specified otherwise by the vehicle manufacturer, assume a 40 pound (18.1 kg.) child is the vehicle LATCH anchor.   That leads me to believe its the restricitons on the car not the seat. Unless I'm reading it wrong.
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  • saturdaynightdoubletreesaturdaynightdoubletree member
    Britax Frontier is a great seat. My 3 yr old loves hers, especially arm rests and cup holders. LATCH weight restrictions should be determined by reading the car seat manual as well as the car manual however, you can still use a harness booster with seat belt installation. In the Britax frontier that means harness booster up to 85lbs, 57in height, or 20in shoulder seated height.
    Also, not sure when this info will change but I was reading somewhere that the 40lb LATCH weight includes both the weight of the car seat and the weight of the child, not just the weight of the child.
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  • gusabbeygusabbey member
    Wow...i guess theres a lot to consider when shopping for car seats. We have the britax marathons now and they work great. But ds is seriously too big for it. Idk how tall he is, but easily over 36 inches.

    Thanks for all the info. Im going to do some more researching myself too.
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