What is you favorite/safest booster seat?

[Erica09M]

Wow! What great advice!

You've all given me so much to think about and learn about. I shamefully admit some of these things I did not know. I am so glad I posted!

We will go with a 5-point harness for sure. I do hope he will be able to do it himself eventually (correctly, that is).

Please keep the advice coming... I really appreciate your comments.

Thank you for taking the time to ask, and for being so receptive to all of the information provided!!!

Go with a Graco Nautilus then. My son is 4.5 and has no problem buckling and unbuckling his Nautilus on his own. The only thing I have to do is reach back and pull the harness adjustor strap to be sure it's properly snugged up.

Same here (my DD will be 5 in May), she buckles herself in, and I pull the harness tight and make sure the buckles are snapped in all the way. She can't get herself out though, which is fine by me. So I undo the buckle and chest clip.

 

[sau418]

Great thread, I am now more undecided than ever lol.

We have an Evenflo Triumph that DD3 uses and a Britax Marathon DD2 uses. DD3 will be 4 soon and we will hopefully adding another member to the family in the next year so I will need to do some car seat rearranging.

I really want the 5 point harness until the kids are like 16 hehe but the convertible seats seem so uncomfortable with their legs just dangling.

 

[Swimalie]

I really want the 5 point harness until the kids are like 16 hehe but the convertible seats seem so uncomfortable with their legs just dangling.

To me, confort doesn't trump safety. 5-point harness has been proven to be safer longer. Mine will be in 5-pt until he can no longer fit. He will be 5 in 18 days.

 

[MSSANDRA]

We are going today to get the Graco Nautlius.

I did lots of research and it seems the perfect fit for us. DGS is 3yr, 40 lbs and 40 inches.

 

[Bren's Mom]

Great thread, I am now more undecided than ever lol.

We have an Evenflo Triumph that DD3 uses and a Britax Marathon DD2 uses. DD3 will be 4 soon and we will hopefully adding another member to the family in the next year so I will need to do some car seat rearranging.

I really want the 5 point harness until the kids are like 16 hehe but the convertible seats seem so uncomfortable with their legs just dangling.

Before you start rethinking the car arrangement and deciding what seat(s) you might need to buy...check your expiration dates! Britax and Evenflo are 6 years from date of manufacture (the DOM sticker on the Marathon is under the cover up near the head, it's usually white, on the Triumph I think it's stamped into the plastic but it's on there somewhere). When they expire will have a factoring role in the decisions you make going forward.

As for dangling legs, it depends on the child and the seat but generally I've found more issues with kids being uncomfortable in boosters that have seats too short than in higher weight harnessing seats.

I'd post at car-seat.org with your kid's ages/weights, current seats, expiration dates, any other available seats you own, type and year of vehicle and ask for input there on what seats/configuration might work best for you.

 

[Bren's Mom]

Keep in mind that you can ONLY latch to 80 if your car allows latching until 80. Honda, for instance, only allows you to use latch (not tether, but lower anchors) till 40 lbs. So check your car too!!

FYI, this isn't accurate for the new SuperLATCH. You CAN use the SuperLATCH to the 80lbs (seat's limit) IF your vehicle was manufactured after 9/1/05 even if it has a 48lbs LATCH limit. 2005 model year vehicles may be made before or after that date, so you have to check your specific vehicle.

 

[labdogs42]

Great thread, I am now more undecided than ever lol.

We have an Evenflo Triumph that DD3 uses and a Britax Marathon DD2 uses. DD3 will be 4 soon and we will hopefully adding another member to the family in the next year so I will need to do some car seat rearranging.

I really want the 5 point harness until the kids are like 16 hehe but the convertible seats seem so uncomfortable with their legs just dangling.

If you don't want their legs dangling, keep them rear facing longer! That's a whole 'nother thread there! Go to www.car-seat.org if you want more info on what seats can keep the kiddos rear facing the longest.

Their legs dangle in boosters, too, right? The Graco Nautilus turns into a booster, so the dangling leg thing is the same with the harness and without.

i can't say enough good things about the Nautilus -- every preschooler should have one!

 

[Swimalie]

i can't say enough good things about the Nautilus -- every preschooler should have one!

Same with the Frontier.

 

[MSSANDRA]

the Nautilus must be getting very popular. We had a hard time finding one but did at target. All we could find before was pink!!! Might be ok for a 3 year old boy but I intend to use this seat till he is at least 8 or 10 and I doubt that would go over very well!!!!

 

[labdogs42]

the Nautilus must be getting very popular. We had a hard time finding one but did at target. All we could find before was pink!!! Might be ok for a 3 year old boy but I intend to use this seat till he is at least 8 or 10 and I doubt that would go over very well!!!!

They sell them at WalMart and BabieRUs, too. Each store has different color choices which I think is really strange!

 

[MSSANDRA]

We got a brown one at target. First one I had seen and it looks really good in my car!! None of the wal-marts anywhere around here had anything but pink. B-R-U was my next stop. Wonder what colors they have????

do a lot of people buy pink for their girls??? Just seems unless you are SURE no more kids in the picture, a more nutural color would be better. Of course this seat will most likely be used by DGS for it's full safe lifetime!!!

 

[Davids-Coco]

FYI, this isn't accurate for the new SuperLATCH. You CAN use the SuperLATCH to the 80lbs (seat's limit) IF your vehicle was manufactured after 9/1/05 even if it has a 48lbs LATCH limit. 2005 model year vehicles may be made before or after that date, so you have to check your specific vehicle.

My mistake, I had missed this info. The other seats mentioned - frontier and nautilus - do mean looking at your anchor weight though. Unfortunately, it is not commonly known that not all car latch limits are the same as seat latch limits.

 

[ffemtmomof4]

I would get the Graco rather than the Britax frontier. I am a new car seat tech (took my class last year) but with having 4 kids I have put in alot of car seats and during the class I found out that I actually was putting most my seats in right.

Anyways, they had a frontier there for us to try to put in, all 16 of us in the class tried to put it in with no luck. The instructors told us that the Frontier is the hardest car seat to put in any vehicle that they have ever seen.

Before the class I was all set to buy that car seat for my daughter but after working with it I'm running the other way, lol.

 

[Swimalie]

I would get the Graco rather than the Britax frontier. I am a new car seat tech (took my class last year) but with having 4 kids I have put in alot of car seats and during the class I found out that I actually was putting most my seats in right.

Anyways, they had a frontier there for us to try to put in, all 16 of us in the class tried to put it in with no luck. The instructors told us that the Frontier is the hardest car seat to put in any vehicle that they have ever seen.

Before the class I was all set to buy that car seat for my daughter but after working with it I'm running the other way, lol.

We don't have latch so we have to do seat belt install (our son is still under 40 lbs, too). The first time we did the installation on our Frontier it took us 40 min. Now, we're down to under 10. Once you get used to it, the seat is just as easy to install as the other seats and yet it will last longer in height.

 

[Mrs D]

Warning: thread hijack coming up....
I am finally considering a HBB for DS 4.5 (44" and 39.5lbs) but only to be used in Grandma's car or other cars. He rides in a Britax Frontier in my car and I plan to keep him in a 5 point harness as long as possible!
I see the Graco Turbo is on sale for $35 at Target this week. I am still debating if I should run and grab it.

 

[ErikaS57]

do a lot of people buy pink for their girls??? Just seems unless you are SURE no more kids in the picture, a more nutural color would be better. Of course this seat will most likely be used by DGS for it's full safe lifetime!!!

We've got a pink Nautilus and a purple one for our oldest. Our second child is also a girl, so even if they get passed down, they are gender-appropriate. If we have a 3rd, these seats will be expired by the time he/she would be ready for them, so no biggie.

 

[MSSANDRA]

I thought the pink was so pretty, but with all boys, guess it will not matter. Have not seen the purple one!!!