Convertible car seat for large baby

Zoey1309 · January 2013

I looking for a convertible recommendations for a larger baby. At his 4 month check up, our ?little? guy was in the 90 percentiles for both height and weight (18.5 lbs, 27 in). He?ll be outgrowing his Britax Chaperone in the next couple of months. I?m looking for a seat that will allow him to rear face as long a possible while fitting well in our Chevy Equinox. Please recommend your car seat for larger babies!

SuperCuteBenz · January 2013

Your best bet is going to be the Graco My Size 70/Headwise 70/Size 4 Me 70. It is the tallest rear-facing seat on the US market right now. It will easily get a child to the 40lb rear-facing limit, which most seats won't do, because they are outgrown by height first.

However, there are quite a few people having issues with the harness, so make sure to keep your receipt. I currently have one without any issues, but I did have some issues with my previous ones.

grangerize · January 2013

I was recently researching this and think that I will be getting the maxi cosi pria convertible carseat. I currently have the mico and have been very pleased with the brand!

eyenigh · January 2013

Estwd2:
SuperCuteBenz:
Your best bet is going to be the Graco My Size 70/Headwise 70/Size 4 Me 70. It is the tallest rearfacing seat on the US market right now.
I could totally be wrong, but I thought the clek Foonf was the tallest rear facing seat. I was told the foonf's rear facing limit was 43 inches and My Size was 40. No? I looked at both seats. We went with the Foonf because of the taller shell, plus it was just fun to play with. We love it! But I think both get good reviews and the Graco is way cheaper.

You're right, the Clek Foonf does have the highest height and weight limits to rear face: 43 inches and 50 pounds.

That being said, if you have a big kid, I'd stay away from Britax. They're great seats but they aren't a good fit for taller kids because of their short shells. At his 9 month appointment, my son was off the chart on height (he was measuring the size of an average 17 month old) and he already grew another inch this month. Definitely the definition of a tall kid! I had a Britax Marathon and my son was miserable and squished in it so we got rid of it and bought the Clek Foonf. He loves it and fits in it fantastic. It's a heck if seat, really sturdy, has great safety features and it looks cool, nd his feet just barely touch the back of the seat while rear facing. It's an expensive seat but well worth the money for us since its a seat that I know will at least grow with him for awhile.

SuperCuteBenz · January 2013

eyenigh:
Estwd2:
SuperCuteBenz:
Your best bet is going to be the Graco My Size 70/Headwise 70/Size 4 Me 70. It is the tallest rearfacing seat on the US market right now.
I could totally be wrong, but I thought the clek Foonf was the tallest rear facing seat. I was told the foonf's rear facing limit was 43 inches and My Size was 40. No? I looked at both seats. We went with the Foonf because of the taller shell, plus it was just fun to play with. We love it! But I think both get good reviews and the Graco is way cheaper.
You're right, the Clek Foonf does have the highest height and weight limits to rear face: 43 inches and 50 pounds.
That being said, if you have a big kid, I'd stay away from Britax. They're great seats but they aren't a good fit for taller kids because of their short shells. At his 9 month appointment, my son was off the chart on height (he was measuring the size of an average 17 month old) and he already grew another inch this month. Definitely the definition of a tall kid! I had a Britax Marathon and my son was miserable and squished in it so we got rid of it and bought the Clek Foonf. He loves it and fits in it fantastic. It's a heck if seat, really sturdy, has great safety features and it looks cool, nd his feet just barely touch the back of the seat while rear facing. It's an expensive seat but well worth the money for us since its a seat that I know will at least grow with him for awhile.

The Clek has the highest rear-facing weight. It does not have the highest rear-facing height limit.

SuperCuteBenz · January 2013

The Graco Size 4 Me, My Size 70 and Headwise 70= 28.5" internal shell height

The Foonf= 26.5" internal shell height

The Radian= 24.5" internal shell height

So, the Gracos are are the tallest rear-facing seats, the Foonf, then the Radian.

SuperCuteBenz · January 2013

Estwd2:
SuperCuteBenz:
Your best bet is going to be the Graco My Size 70/Headwise 70/Size 4 Me 70. It is the tallest rearfacing seat on the US market right now.
I could totally be wrong, but I thought the clek Foonf was the tallest rear facing seat. I was told the foonf's rear facing limit was 43 inches and My Size was 40. No? I looked at both seats. We went with the Foonf because of the taller shell, plus it was just fun to play with. We love it! But I think both get good reviews and the Graco is way cheaper.

The MySize no longer has a stated rear-facing height limit, besides the 1" from the red adjuster.

SuperCuteBenz · January 2013

Estwd2:
SuperCuteBenz:
Estwd2:
SuperCuteBenz:
Your best bet is going to be the Graco My Size 70/Headwise 70/Size 4 Me 70. It is the tallest rearfacing seat on the US market right now.
I could totally be wrong, but I thought the clek Foonf was the tallest rear facing seat. I was told the foonf's rear facing limit was 43 inches and My Size was 40. No? I looked at both seats. We went with the Foonf because of the taller shell, plus it was just fun to play with. We love it! But I think both get good reviews and the Graco is way cheaper.
The MySize no longer has a stated rear-facing height limit, besides the 1" from the red adjuster.
Huh. I'm so confused. Graco's website says 4 to 40 lbs and under 40 inches for rear facing. Foonf says 14 to 50 lbs and 25 to 43 inches rear facing.

That is how it was stated in the manual when the seat first came out. Graco has since said that it is now 1" from the red adjuster among other changes such as being able to use the buckle in the forward-facing slot rather than just the rear-facing slot.

SuperCuteBenz · January 2013

Estwd2:
SuperCuteBenz:
That is how it was stated in the manual when the seat first came out. Graco has since said that it is now 1" from the red adjuster among other changes such as being able to use the buckle in the forwardfacing slot rather than just the rearfacing slot.
So you're saying it beats the foonf in rear facing limit, then that means it can now fit 43 plus inches and they haven't changed their website? Weird.

Yep, it does. I am a CPST, so I am not some random person making crap up. I have had 5 of these seats in my possession in the last 5 months, so I am well versed in what the limits are for the seat. My most recent seat has a 09/12 date, and I don't know that the manual has even been updated.

SuperCuteBenz · January 2013

https://carseatblog.com/18365/tallest-extended-rear-facing-carseat-try-the-graco-size4me-70/

https://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=230793

SuperCuteBenz · January 2013

Estwd2:
SuperCuteBenz:
Estwd2:
SuperCuteBenz:
That is how it was stated in the manual when the seat first came out. Graco has since said that it is now 1" from the red adjuster among other changes such as being able to use the buckle in the forwardfacing slot rather than just the rearfacing slot.
So you're saying it beats the foonf in rear facing limit, then that means it can now fit 43 plus inches and they haven't changed their website? Weird.
Yep, it does. I am a CPST, so I am not some random person making crap up. I have had 5 of these seats in my possession in the last 5 months, so I am well versed in what the limits are for the seat. My most recent seat has a 09/12 date, and I don't know that the manual has even been updated.

Just to be clear, I wasn't accusing you of making it up and I am in no way arguing with you. I am just interested, partially because some of my job includes website maintenance and it's a huge no no to not update your website when your product changes. That's what I meant by weird.

Honestly, I am not surprised. I have been in touch with Graco a lot during the last few months due to issues with my previous 4 seats. All having to do with the harness. I have had conference calls with their engineering department, etc. Yet when some people call they are still told that Graco is not aware of any issues with the harness. Which is obviously not the case.

Zoey1309 · January 2013

I?m a little confused too! The Britax website shows the boulevard allowing up to a 49? child. Wouldn?t that make it seat a taller child than the Graco? I like the Graco except that the Britax has steel supports rather than plastic in the Graco. Anyone have any knowledge on how safe the plastic supports are? The Clek looks nice, but I?m afraid that my son is a little too small for it right now and it doesn?t have any support for smaller babies (he just turned 5 months).

cyprissa · January 2013

Diono Radian RXT. I love mine. It rear faces forever and has a tall shell/harness height.

SuperCuteBenz · January 2013

Zoey1309:

I?m a little confused too! The Britax website shows the boulevard allowing up to a 49? child. Wouldn?t that make it seat a taller child than the Graco? I like the Graco except that the Britax has steel supports rather than plastic in the Graco. Anyone have any knowledge on how safe the plastic supports are? The Clek looks nice, but I?m afraid that my son is a little too small for it right now and it doesn?t have any support for smaller babies (he just turned 5 months).

49" is not the rear-facing height limit.

Here is an example: My DS will be 2.5 on Feb 10th. He is approximately 36" and 32 lbs. He has a 14" torso (from bum to shoulder). He might get to 3 rear-facing in our Boulevard 70s. He would probably easily make it to 5, if not longer in our My Size 70.

If you are on fb, then I would highly suggest you join the Car Seats for the Littles page. There are a ton of techs on the page that can help you, including myself. Plus, there are a million photos of different seats and different kids, which helps visualize what I am talking about.

Britax will be one of the last seats recommended because of their shorter shells.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/CarSeatsForTheLittles/

Angela814 · January 2013

Zoey1309:

I?m a little confused too! The Britax website shows the boulevard allowing up to a 49? child. Wouldn?t that make it seat a taller child than the Graco? I like the Graco except that the Britax has steel supports rather than plastic in the Graco. Anyone have any knowledge on how safe the plastic supports are? The Clek looks nice, but I?m afraid that my son is a little too small for it right now and it doesn?t have any support for smaller babies (he just turned 5 months).

That is probably the ffing height limit. The Size4Me/MySize now has a 52" height limit. DD1 is somewhere between 50-51" and actually still fits in the seat at the highest setting.

https://carseatblog.com/18372/graco-size4me-70-convertible-carseat-review/

She outgrew the Marathon by height (with a stated height limit of 49") at around 4.5 years and 44". She outgrew the SK Radian by height around 5.5 years and 48", and the height limit listed on that version is 53". She used to have a very long torso, but she's more proportional now at 6.5 years.

nancycorliss · May 2013

Also you can try britax frontier 85! I've this for my first 6 years baby girl.

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