My son is 16 months old. We are still in our Graco Quattro but my little guy is getting too tall for it. I purchased the Graco My Ride 65 to leave at Grandma's house but I don't really care for it...love the cushiness and roominess but I can never get the harness to tighten enough. It's like the strap to pull the harness just doesn't budge even though I'm doing it the same way as with the Quattro. Tightening the actuall seat is fine.
So now we are trying to decide between the First Year True Fit Premier and the Britax Boulevard 70 CS. I though about Sunshine Kids Radian XTSL but based on a lot of the reviews, seems it is difficult to install. One car has latch, one car doesn't. Any suggestions are definitely welcomed!! Thanks!!
Just ordered the Britax Boulevard 70 in the cow-mooooo pattern. Thanks for the suggestions everyone!! Oh, we also went to the store today, just to try it and my little guy looked so comfortable in it. Can't wait to get it in the mail next week!
I love my Britax Marathon. Strapping her in is super easy and easy to get her tighten. If you meant getting the actual seat tightened enough, then I don't think you should have a problem with the Britax either, as I moved mine from car to car a few times and never had trouble. Just "sit" on top of it while you pull the straps tight.
Try to keep him rear-facing for as long as possible. I kept my daughter rear-facing until 21 mos.
BRITAX!!!!! I don't use the latch because our car in the middle doesn't have it, random I know. But It's so easy doing it with the shoulder belt. Put it in, tighten it, then use the seat belt lock. Easy peasy. And Jamie P has it correct on how to tighten down any eat whether it's latch or not. The less it moves the better and no more than an inch if it does.
Britax . . . oh how I love thee. If I could marry it, I would. Let's just put it at that. (Overly dramatic. . . I know. I just love Britax)
I'm a Britax mom too! I kept my daughter rear facing in hers till she was 31 months! And she was 95th percentile for height and she was perfectly comfy.
We love our britax marathon! Despite having high safety ratings and reputation, we were in a fatality accident with one so I trust it from experience!
We have the TrueFit premier and LOVE IT! Our daughter will be 4 in April and can still easily rear face in it. She's 37" tall and 30lbs. Its a great seat ,easy to install and it has lock offs. AS long as you read hte manual carefully it will be a snap to install.
The Boulevard is a good seat too. The Truefit has more legroom than the Britax seats, and your son should still be rear facing (google extended rear facing and joels journey for more info on that).
Personally, I love our Britax Marathon and we don't use LATCH in either car (just a little too old). We have the rear facing tether attached to the skids of the passenger side seat in the row ahead.
To get a carseat to tighten adequately in a latch system:
(my trick- assuming forward facing installation)
jump into the back seat
get all your weight into the seat- use your knee
to push your weight down into the seat and bounce-
when you bounce down into the seat tug the strap simultaneously-
this will render your seat unmoveable.
(do the same in the car w/o the latch- )
good luck
If you are ready to put him forward facing we like the Graco Nautilus--we like it so much we have 3! My 55 lb 5 year old still fits in the harness and we just got one for my 25 lb 2 year old (I was able to keep her rear facing until 2 since she is small). I have been looking because I need a second car seat for my 2 year old. I would get another Nautilus but I want something that is lighter and that folds to take on the airplane this summer. I'm considering a Sunshine Kids seat and a Safety First one--both make folding boster seats that have a harness to 65 lbs. I liked the Britax Frontier but it is big for traveling like the Nautilus.
what cars would you be installing the seats in? The folks at http://www.car-seat.org are super helpful with installation help -many are certified child passenger safety technicians and have installed a huge variety of seats in a huge variety of vehicles. The Britax convertibles are great for easy installs in non-LATCH vehicles because of the built-in seatbelt lockoffs and the TrueFit also has built in lockoffs but I've never used them so I can't say how they compare to the Britax.
