Car Seat recommendations for a large infant?

[raven69david]

We use a Britax Marathon exclusively for our DD-21 months. In fact, we have 2 even though we only have 1 child. The seat is awesome, easy to get in/out, cleans easy and is a very safe carseat according to several official government/consumer tests. It's also FAA approved.

 

[welovedisney7778]

Another vote for the Britax marathon. My son outgrew his Graco carrier when he was three months old. He got up to 20 pounds THAT FAST, but don't worry, once they are crawling around everywhere it will come off fast. My younger brother works at Babies R Us, (part time, he's in college) and he said that Britax are the best and safest you can buy. It's the only thing he'd let me put his nephew in!! (And no, they don't work on commission) I LOVE the seat.

 

[cinjam]

Another vote for the marathon here. We have three of them - I really do love everything about them.

 

[puffkin]

Thanks for all the replys. It sounds like the Britax Marathon is worth a look. The cost is quite prohibitive though at this time so if I like it enough, we may have to do with just our one car seat (Alpha Omega) for a few weeks until we get the money to buy one.

If I do go with the Britax, where is the best place to get one? I know someone has mentioned they are cheaper online? Thanks for the help!

 

[Addicted2TheMouse]

Puffkin- You might want to check out the reviews on the BabiesRUs website. One person says the only downside of the Marathon is the size of it when it's rear-facing. You might want to look into a smaller, less expensive seat. Contrary to popular belief, Britax isn't the only safe, quality seat out there.

 

[LaraK]

If you go with a smaller, less expensive seat for now, you can go with a Nania Airway when your child can be forward facing. They are very safe and much cheaper than the Britax models. They also have a smaller profile so the may fit better in a small car than one of the bigger Britax models.

Consumer Reports does a nice job of compairing seats for you.

 

[Natalya]

If your son is on the higher end of the chart for height/weight, I would get a convertible seat that has a high weight limit on it.

We have 2 Britax seats: The Roundabout and the Marathon.

My 3 year old son has outgrown his Roundabout so we exclusively use the Marathon now. I LOVE his seat. The covers are removable and washable. That is a plus for my son. He is currently 50 pounds (at 3) and he is NOT fat. He is super tall. He is actually 97% on the charts for weight and off of the charts for height.

If you get another seat as someone else mentioned...check the weight limits on it. It makes no sense to buy a $100 seat now and then spend another $200 on a seat when he outgrows the first one. Why spend $300 when you can spend $200.

In our case, we wanted 2 car seats to make it easier on ourselves. So we intended to spend the money on 2 but if I could go back and do it again, I would make sure that I got 2 Marathons rather than one of each. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED our Roundabout too but we can't use it anymore.

Someone mentioned that they found a closeout sale at their local Target for a Marathon. I'm not sure if they were being truthful, as the price seemed too good to be true but you could look if you happen to be close to one.

Also, some of the baby stores have sales...especially on seats that have discontinued covers. I can't remember the sites I was looking at but if I remember I'll post it.


Edited to add:

Here is a site with some specials on certain styles.

http://www.specialtybaby.com/britax.html

The site is actually www.albeebaby.com if you want to look at other brands.

The cheapest I found for the Marathon was $216 with free shipping but it was the zebra style.

 

[all4fun]

If you go with a smaller, less expensive seat for now, you can go with a Nania Airway when your child can be forward facing. They are very safe and much cheaper than the Britax models. They also have a smaller profile so the may fit better in a small car than one of the bigger Britax models.

Consumer Reports does a nice job of compairing seats for you.

FYI:The Nania Airway has been discontinued, but I read it is being replaced in the near future by the "Legend". You might still be able to find the Airway now but I don't know what the mfg date is (seats expire so this is important).

This thread here has some interesting info about Consumer Reports and how they rate seats. You might want to read this before you look at CR ratings of carseats. For instance, one year they rated the Britax Marathon #1 and the next it was at the bottom of the list in recommended seats and the mfg hadn't changed the seat at all. They also are secretive about how they test seats. Makes you wonder... This article here also explains how CR works and how it should be read: http://www.car-safety.org/guide.html#cr

This is a thread about the Marathons on clearance at Target

 

[kathi29]

Thanks for all the replys. It sounds like the Britax Marathon is worth a look. The cost is quite prohibitive though at this time so if I like it enough, we may have to do with just our one car seat (Alpha Omega) for a few weeks until we get the money to buy one.

If I do go with the Britax, where is the best place to get one? I know someone has mentioned they are cheaper online? Thanks for the help!

pop over here http://forums.delphiforums.com/Carseats/messages
Dana is one of the techs on this board and she sells Marathons for (I believe) $240 shipped (or email her at dlhardaway@msn.com making sure to put Britax or something like that in the subject line). Sometimes you can find a better price online, but what with Britax price fixing, it gets more and more difficult. I believe Britax is raising prices again soon, so you probably want to take a look around sooner than later.