Need Help Choosing a CarSeat

I have had two big boys; both whom needed to be in bigger seats by 3-4 months. I too, chose the Britax Marathon. I LOVE them. Both boys are very comfortable. I highly recommend BRITAX!

The car seat I use is Alpha Omega by Safety First and have had no problems with it and I just LOVE IT. It is good up to 100 lbs.

LOVE MY BRITAX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have been happy with our Graco Comfortsport. It only goes up to 40lbs though (my daughter is small. She'll probably be 6 before she's 40 lbs!). However, she used it for a year and now our son uses it. It's held up very well.

Here is a little bit of a different opinion.

We got our son out of his carrier at 6 months and went ahead and turned him forward facing because he was 20lbs. I can hear people screaming now!!! He love his new seat and facing front. We did not have any problems doing that, but on long trip we faced him backwards. We went back and forth between the Britax and a Graco. We went with the Graco that had the same ratings at them time as the Britax. We now have had the seat for a year and a half. One plus was it came assembled and to me it had more room width wise.

Here is the link to the seat. A year and a half ago we paid $169 for it. And, it is a lot less on sale now.

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=240090...

I have a big boy too! He outgrew his infant carrier during his 4th month. I purchased the decathalon for my husband's vehicle and marathon for mine. We love both but like the marathon more as it has the denim seat cover and our little guy sweats. The Britax is easy to install with the belt and latch; also easy to adjust the straps.

We travel alot and bought the go go kidz travelmate (www.gogobabyz.com) attachment.

Hi, I did some research, and had a personal referral, for the Alpha Omega car seat by Cosco. Here is a link to the Target website about it: http://www.target.com/gp/search.html/601-###-###-####-###...
I found one at Sam's for less than $70 about 1.5 years ago. I use one for both my 5 yr. old and my 2 yr. old. It starts out as rear-facing, and can be used up to 80 lbs. I'm sure someone esle has said this, but be careful about buying used seats. The rule is that if you've even been in a minor accident, replace your car seat whether you see any damage to it, or not. So it's safer to buy new, just to be sure. State Farm also has a free car seat inspection event occasionally. They'll teach you how to properly install your seat, and if you don't have a good one, they'll even give you a new one. Hope this helps.

Hi A.,

I have a Brittax Marathon that I love!! I bought it when my son made that transfer from infant seat to an upright car seat. He is almost 4 and we are still using it, although I did purchase a booster sear for my husbands vehicle ( which he can easily unlatch and get out of when driving). Another benefit of the Brittax is you can order repacement seat covers or any part very easily. They have been rated the #1 protector in car accidents for a good reason! Hope this helps. I would highly recommend any Brittax car seat!!

I have the britax marathon which looks very smiliar to the one you're looking to purchase and all I can say is this is the best carseat I have EVER owned! I love it.... and I highly recommend this to EVERYONE I know who is looking to purchase one.

We are on large baby boy number two and by far my favorite care seats are the Britax brand. We needed a new car seat by 6 months for both weight and height. Our first, was the old Britax Wizard...a fancy roundabout that they no longer make. The closest I could find these days is the Britax Boulevard. I wanted the side impact protection, but they sure are big! I wasn't sure my curious extra large boy would like them. He doesn't seem to have a problem at all!!

The bases to these seats are better than a couple of years ago. With my older seat, my first son could not sit in it at 45 pounds because he was too tall. Even in my SUV, he was close to the ceiling. So, just check it out with your car. 65 pounds sounds great until you look at itin your car. Tall, heavy boys will probably be to big for the seat by 65 pounds. I still like the seats, I just know that I will be in yet another car seat or booster by 3 or 4 years old.

My son grew out of his infant seat at 5 months as well. We bought the Britax Marathon and love it. Not sure the difference between the Marathon and the Decathalon but I'd vouch for Britax any day. Make sure you purchase your seat online (cheaper, no sales tax and you can find free delivery too) it's much cheaper than Babies R Us.

We recently purchased the Britax decathalon. My husband said it had the highest safety ratings. For my daughter, it is the most comfortable seat. I am sure there are less expensive options, but I felt like the investment was well worth it for this particular car seat.

here is some good information for you to check out. make sure that whatever carseat you buy scores well in a crash test conducted by consumer reports, and that does not mean that it is the most expensive. i hope this helps!

http://www.safekids.org/members/unitedStates.html
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/babies-kids/child-car-...

btw, we purchased an evenflow and would recommend it!

edited to add: Please for the love of your son, do not turn him FF as another poster did. Even if at 20lbs, serious damage could still be done to his spinal cord if ever in an accident. The spinal column does not develop with weight. The AAP is now recommending, even, that babies stay rear facing until the limits of the seat is reached. Some have a rear facing weight of 35lbs (cosco scenera) The Britax I believe go to 33lbs rear facing.
Decathalon is a great choice! If you are wanting to spend just a little bit less, the Marathon also harnesses to 65lbs! I have the Marathon and LOVE it.
How is your son outgrowing the infant carrier? By weight? Or by height? If you think he might be outgrowing by height just keep in mind that as long as there is 1 inch of plastic shell above his head he is still good. A lot of people think that their child is outgrowing by height if their legs are long, and hanging over the end of the seat- thats not true.

We have the Britax Marathon and we really love it. It is easy to install and is easy to use. They have them on sale at Costo.com right now for about $40 less than what we paid for ours.

Both my husband and I wanted to get either the Britax Boulevard or the Recaro convertable car seat. Both of them have the side impact protection and can be boosters. The problem for us is that neither one of those fit into my Audi. We ended up with the Britax Roundabout but it still won't fit until we go forward facing (even then it will be tight) so it's in my husbands SUV for now. When we move it to my car and get another one for the SUV we'll probably go with the Recaro. My husband really wants that one for the protection factor, it goes to 80lbs (more than the Britax) and it can be a booster but also thats the same company that makes seats for race cars so it's 'cool' in his mind. Moral of the story is...if you have a van or SUV you probably won't have this problem but if you have a smaller car think about the size factor.
Also if you are going with side impact protection do it before he gets older and is able to see out from the side of the car seat. Once he can see out the side he won't be happy in a side impact protection seat because he won't be able to see out the side too much if any. Good luck with your decision, it took us awhile to decide even after doing tons of research on all sorts of websites. Speaking of, a good website to look at is www.elitecarseats.com even if you don't buy from this site it's a good one that you can see everything and compare them all. To find who might have the seat you chose on sale go to www.mysimon.com. That site will search websites that have what you want and tell you the prices at each place so you can find the cheapest one.

We were in the same boat... my son had to change by 4 months old. chunk of love!! Go with the Britax. We had the marathon for our first son who needed it early too and we were nothing but pleased with it. We chose the Decathalon for our second b/c of the larger weight limit and it is longer. It is awesome. Easy to clean & put back together & it is really solid. Only con for us was when we were traveling & had to take it in & out of different cars. it is a really heavy seat, which is part of what makes it safe, but hard to switch around. We invested in an extra much cheaper one that we could use for grandma's, etc.
Good luck!

My husband and I just purchased the Britax Boulevard which is the Decathalon but w/added side impact support for the babies head. So far so good. We literally just installed it. My 9 month old has not cried once in it. It is extremely soft and seems to be very comfortable. We bought it due to the fact it goes up to 65lbs and for the fact that Britax has a great track record.

Hope this helps!

A., mom of a beautiful 9 month old little girl.

Hi A.,

My name is M. and I'm a Child Passenger Instructor. Prior to motherhood, I worked for Cook Children's teaching parents the proper installation and use of safety seats. We have the Britax Boulevard for our son. I selected the Boulevard because it provides side-impact protection. I really like the quality and ease of use with the Britax products. The Decathalon is the Marathon with extra padding. Your son probably doesn't need it since he is getting close if not already sitting up. Also, I would try and find a technician in your area to help with installation, so you know you are using it right. Look on www.safekids.org.

Gotta go-my son is crying.

M.