Beyond Infant Car Seats

We travel a lot and have a Sit N Stroll, it's a carseat/stroller combo. It's FAA approved for air travel. We love it.

http://www.lillygold.com/products/sit-n-stroll.html

My son has a Britax Boulevard, which we picked because of the strong safety ratings. It is very heavy but a great carseat, and it does recline great for rear-facing. They do make those carseat attachments so you can push them like a stroller. Here's one:

http://www.amazon.com/Traveling-Toddler-Seat-Travel-Acces...

We had a Sit n Stroll for all our kids and used it as our primary car seat. LOVED it! It was especially nice when they fell asleep in the car and we could transfer it into a stroller, roll the seat into the house and let them get a full nap and I wasn't stuck in the car waiting for them to wake up. Also amazing in airports and on airplanes and rental cars. Also, it has a big range of useful ways to use it and weight span so it can be used for a long time. One tip is use it with a Mighty Tight to make sure the seat belt gets tight enough.

Sit n Stroll: http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...

Mighty Tight: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=safari&...

Good Luck

I have both the britax boulevard and the frontier 85. They are both big, heavy, and pricey but as my husband and I saw it out children's safety doesn't have a price. I am actually in the middle of traveling with both my 18 mo and 3 yr old by myself. We already had a Gogokidz travelmate but had not usd it with one of the boys in it. So I go it out for this trip and easily attached it to the boulevard and used it in the airport. But I did not look beforhand if it would work with the fontier. When I tried briefly at the airport I did not find how to get it attached to that one. I know you can find the gogokidz (or is it gogobabyz? I can't remember off the top of my head) at babys'r'us. You can also take a look at it online. Just google it. Hope this helps.

If your baby is just moving out of an infant seat, he probably isn't big enough yet for a frontier. That seat is only forward facing and has a higher minimum weight.
I would recommend either a britax marathon or boulevard. These seats can be rear or forward facing and have a max weight of at least 65 pounds so they will last a long time.
The one you saw at the airport is probably the gogokidz. It is nice for travel but isn't as comfy for an every day seat from what I hear (I have jeve used one).
I don't know anything about the nautilus but just make sure it can face backwards before you buy it.
K.
Http://www.citymommy.com

How old is your little one? That makes a big difference in what type of seat you want. While I do love the nautilus we did not put my son in it until he was just over 3 up until that point he was rear facing.When you do turn him forward facing the BARE MINIMUM is 1 year and 20 lbs but when it comes to your child's safety why do the bare minimum. It is now recommended to rear face to at least 2 years old. Like I said its hard to tell you what type of seat is great with out an age of your LO.
I believe they make some sort of device that allows you can use to roll your car seat around the airport.
Edited: yes you should buy a convertible car seat like a graco my ride that will allow you to rear face longer.

Is this what you're looking for?
http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...

As for the carseats, the Graco Nautilus maxes out at 65 lbs. for the 5-point harness, but the new Britax Frontier 85 can be used with the harness until 85 lbs.

well I don't know about the car seats with a handle but my only advise is make sure you get one that reclines. When my first daughter went to a front facing I didn't even think about that and the seat I got didn't recline. I felt so bad cause we travel often and whenever she feel asleep her head was falling forward and waking her up. She wasn't comfortable. Now both my girls are front facing and they both have reclining seats. It's so much more comfortable for them so just make sure you get on like that.

If your child is moving out of an infant seat, he's definently not big enough for the Frontier (minimum of 2yrs old to use) or the Nautilus, these are both forward facing only and your child is likely not big enough to forward face.

Please google Extended rear facing and Joel's Journey for more information, but if your child is under 2yrs old, you want a convertible car seat like the Britax Marathon (easy to install), First years TrueFit (has a handle), Sunshien kids Radian (folds for travel), or the Evenflo Triumph Advance (lightweight). These will all allow your son to remain rear facing for at least 2yrs or until he outgrows the seat rear facing, and he will be much safer. please google the terms above for more information.

Loved the Britax Marathon for both my kids once they outgrew the infant carseat. Moved my son up to the Frontier almost a year ago at age 4. He thinks it's really cool cuz he has two cup holders all to himself. Plus it's a Britax, so it's rated high safety wise. My best friend uses the Nautilus for her two older kids and likes it. She would have preferred to get the Frontier, but because they have a set of carseats in each car, that made it 4 seats she needed to buy, so they had to go with the cheaper Nautilus. I think the Nautilus also got decent safety ratings.

Yes, the do make the rolling carseat accessories. They look exactly like the rolling luggage carriers, but a little bigger. They also have carseats specifically for travel. I haven't used either product so can't give you any reviews.

If your child is older than 3, you do not have to use the carseat on most airlines. So no need to lug the carseat through the airport. I just gate check or baggage check both of ours at check in.

We just purchased the Graco Nautilus for my husband's car. We are still using the Britax Marathon in my car. I think after getting the Nautilus it feels a little cheaper than our Britax. Fabric is not as soft. Since it is not our primary car seat - I didn't want to spend the money for the Britax. Now I'm wishing I had.

Hello!
We have a Nautilus and like it a lot. It is easy to install and adjust and will grow with the kid. It allows the protection as they get taller and keeps them in a 5-point harness for a nice long time. My daughter loves the cup holder and the two little compartments in both arm rests for her little toys and sunglasses. We got her this one when she was 3, so the only thing about it that I do not know is if it travels reversed until your kid hits the 1yr & 20 lb mark that we have in Arizona anyway before we can turn the seat forward facing.

There is a strap that you can use the LATCH hooks to attach a carseat to your rolling suitcase--called the "Traveling Toddler". My daughter thought it was fun. Make sure your luggage is strong enough for the extra weight.

How old/big is he?

The Graco Comfort Sport is the lightest seat I've found (only 12lbs) so that makes it easier to carry through the airport but it is FFing only and I was unimpressed with the weight and height limits.

The Graco Nautilus is also only FFing and is an AWESOME 3-in-1 seat! but heavy to carry for travel (steel reinforced makes it heavy).

My absolutely favorite convertible carseat: FIRST YEARS TRUE FIT. I've used lots of different carseats, and this one is THE easiest to install RFing (with the best seat belt lock-offs I've ever used) and easy FFing as well (seat belt OR LATCH), so it moves less than the allowed 1". It has great side-impact protection (without being too deep to comfortable place and click your child in). The foam and padding makes it soft and cushy comfortable for child. The harness is rated to 65lbs and there's no rethreading to adjust the shoulder height (yay!). The fabric comes off & on so easy and quickly withOUT undoing the harness, so you can wash it or shake it out when dirty. It's reasonably priced. It is average weight compared to others on the market, but it has easy places to hold it so it does carry well for travel. **can you tell I LOVE this seat!?**

We have a Britax Marathon and use the Go-Go Babyz with it. It's a product that you easily attach to your car seat when you travel so you can roll it thru the airport. It also makes the car seat double as a stroller. We love it! Check out http://www.gogobabyz.com/.

I found this website to be super helpful when I needed to make a decision regarding car seats. There is a ton of info and comparisons as well as links to other important sites. If you watch the video, be prepared for tears. :(

www.kyledavidmiller.org

I love my Frontier, but I never move it. I have one of the first Frontiers and it is bulky and heavy. I heard that the newer ones are not as bulky. My daughter thinks she is on a pink throne. Very safe.

hmm, Im wondering the same and am glad you posted!

If he's in an infant seat now, he needs to be in a convertible seat next, not the frontier! Frontier is a booster seat for older kids, only faces forward. They now recommend rear facing until age two. Google joel's journey, extended rear facing for more information on why this is safest. We have the britax marathon, faces both ways and forward to 65lbs, my big 5.5 year old still fits in it. It's super easy to install and I've seen a frame you can attach them to for traveling like you mention. Once you know which model you want (look at the britax website for info on min/max weights, etc), you can get great deals on eBay (look for new in box or NIB), babies r us, or albeebaby.com.

We have a Britax Marathon in our car that we love, it has great height and weight limits, and can go rear facing for a very long time. For travel, we use the Sunshine Radian 65. It folds up, and they have a bag you can buy and wear it on your back. We always just lug it around the airport with us (not super comfortable), but I wish we had a bag, or at least the extra strap you can get to carry it. I really like the Radian, and it actually has a higher height limit than the Marathon (53 inches instead of 49), but I have never used it rear facing, although my son only recently started forward facing at 2, we did forward on our trips. It seems kind of flimsy for that, and there is an extra piece we didn't want to take on our travels. I think we have flown with it 4 times, and it is great for that, and I would be happy use it as an everyday forward facing seat if I didn't have the Marathon.