We have the Britax B-Safe infant seat, and I've been very happy with it. I want to start keeping an eye out for good prices on convertible car seats for when we need to make the switch.
My first instinct is to look at Britax for a convertible seat too. Looking at their convertible seats, I think we'd go with the Boulevard or Pavilion.
Are there any other brands you would suggest looking at too? I don't want to be too "tunnel visioned".
I saw one at Babies R Us website that caught my eye, the Diono Radian RXT which is supposed to be able to be a booster seat too. I don't know much about this company.
Re: Convertible Car Seats
Depending on what you're looking for a britax likely is not the best seat. They're expensive and bulky, but they have some of the shortest shells on the market. That means they are outgrown earlier than many other models despite being pricier than most. Neither of my kids would have made it to the bare minimum of 2 years rear facing in one because of how short the shells are and I prefer to RF far past that minimum.
I have two radians (both are older models from before they switched from sunshine kids to diono) and am very happy with them. They lasted my super tall, super long-torosed children longer than any other seat available and have generous weight limits, so you won't hit the weight limit before outgrowing them for height.
The clek foonf is supposed to be amazing, although it's expensive. It has the tallest shell available and, like the radian, is very low profile so it fits in tighter spaces. Even my kids would probably have been able to RF to 4 or 5 in that seat (I personally would love my kids to never use a forward facing harness).
The graco myride is also a great seat with a tall shell and good weight limits, so a great thing to look at. In fact, if you're buying two seats (your car and your SOs car) instead of buying two britaxes you could buy a foonf and a myride and keep your child RF longer than a britax would in either car and spend the same.
ditto gimmitimmies that you likely won't be able to use the radian as a booster, but in several years when your child outgrows the radian s/he will likely be mature enough to go to a dedicated booster, which is not expensive.
My BFF had a similar thought process.. She had the britax b agile and loved it so much that she wanted another britax...
She did her research and finally went for this britax.. Her baby is not too tall so the shorter shell did not bother her..