OT: Car Seat Help

[tinkandpan]

To the poster who said not to register for this- i am on the other end of the coin. My kids are super super tall so they outgrew the infant seat way before the weight so they were in a convertible by about 5 mths or so. I had wished someone else had purchased our seat! I swear by the Britax. I have had both the roundabout and now the marathon and think they are both fantastic. East to install, great strap movement and adjustment and just super comfortable looking.

 

[laughinplace199]

My youngest is 8 months old and is currently is a Graco Safe Seat infant seat. When we purchase a convertible seat, we will get him either the Britax Roundabout or Marathon (haven't decided yet).

My older two (who are now in Britax boosters) both used Britax Roundabouts when they were younger.

You can't go wrong with Britax. Their seats are super safe and very easy to install.

 

[Manda]

I had a Britax with DS2 and I loved it. If I could do it over, I'd have gotten the Marathon though.

Ditto. We bought the Roundabout and used it from his trip home to the hospital until now (just short of 4 years old). Now, we just bought the Regent. If I'd bought the Marathon to start with, I could have used that seat through his whole car seat career, I'm sure, and saved myself several hundreds of dollars. I recommend the Britax seats highly. I wouldn't buy anything else. Nothing else seems as comfy and all the straps get twisty and such. Never had any strap problems with the Britax. My Mom's Cosco seat on the other hand - oy vey, it's a pain.

 

[Ilovemyprincesses]

That was just a rumor. I know people who got new FP seats that were made in June.

I bought mine from the FP factory and it was from last yr. I was also told by Babies R Us that they do not carry them at all. I had a hard time finding mine.

 

[happypooh]

I just bought a FP car seat and love it...used to have a decathalon from britax and honestly the FP was easier to install...returned the decathalon because it had a crack in the base which we found when we opened the box. DS loves the colors better too. I got mine from albeebaby.com and it arrived in a week (last week) so it is still available and it was on sale too for around $130! (saved myself $100 from the marathon and I know my son will still be able to use it up to 55lbs!)

 

[Amirah95]

Now that the brands have been narrowed down for me my decision making should be easier to make. My DF wanted to buy both car seats and asked me which ones I wanted. I guess I can get him to hold off on the convertible seat until the time comes. That makes sense to me and I'm sure it will make sense to him.

I'm so glad I asked about this! Thanks everyone!!!!!

 

[Disney Ron]

Love our Britax Marathon!!!!

Mrs. Disney Ron

 

[buckler]

Make sure you learn how to install the car seat properly before you go to the hospital to have the baby. Install it and take it to a car seat safety check location to make sure you have it installed properly. When I went to one, the people said I was the first one that day that had my seats in 100% correctly and they'd been open more than an hour!

You don't want to wait until after the baby is born because that means dad will be trying to install it in the car in the hospital parking lot. If you do wait until then, be sure to video tape him trying to install it. It should be funny to watch him try to get the thing in the car under pressure. Just don't show it to the kids until they are old enough to hear curse words.

 

[Mrs.Toad]

To the poster who said not to register for this- i am on the other end of the coin. My kids are super super tall so they outgrew the infant seat way before the weight so they were in a convertible by about 5 mths or so. I had wished someone else had purchased our seat! I swear by the Britax. I have had both the roundabout and now the marathon and think they are both fantastic. East to install, great strap movement and adjustment and just super comfortable looking.

I'm with you on this. Although my babies weren't that tall, we didn't use the infant carrier at all once they could sit up on their own, and even before that, I'd take them out and carry them in my arms, unless I was trying to let them sleep or if we were going to a restaurant or some place they needed a seat. We were using the Britax Marathon for my second dd before she was 6 months old.

She's still in it now, at 4yo and 39 pounds. Even though she's far from the upper weight limit of 65 pounds and the seat fits her fine height-wise as well, she's really about outgrown being able to use it in our car, because the seat sits up so high, she's always hitting her head on the ceiling climbing in, and she doesn't have much leg room. She really fits in the highback booster better, but doesn't sit still well enough to stay safe in it. I went shopping to try to find a booster-style seat that has a harnessed weight limit of higher than 40 pounds, couldn't find one, and the salesman at Babies R Us even said I'd be crazy to take her out of the Britax and put her in something less safe.

 

[dhardawa]

That was just a rumor. I know people who got new FP seats that were made in June.

That doesn't mean it isn't discontinued. That just means Britax is clearancing out the leftover parts. I'm a Britax rep and I can still buy patterns that were discontinued over a year ago. They don't make the seats and have them sitting there. They just have the covers sitting there and put them on new shells. I just bought a Cambridge Companion the other day and it was a few days old when it came to me.

 

[thepeach80]

That doesn't mean it isn't discontinued. That just means Britax is clearancing out the leftover parts. I'm a Britax rep and I can still buy patterns that were discontinued over a year ago. They don't make the seats and have them sitting there. They just have the covers sitting there and put them on new shells. I just bought a Cambridge Companion the other day and it was a few days old when it came to me.

That wasn't the only reason I said it was a rumor. There has been nothing stating that they have been disontinued and Britax and FP have not verified it. We've been round and round on this on the carseat boards.

 

[dhardawa]

That wasn't the only reason I said it was a rumor. There has been nothing stating that they have been disontinued and Britax and FP have not verified it. We've been round and round on this on the carseat boards.

Well, I have been selling Britax seats for four years now and I have never seen them lower a wholesale price on a seat that is not discontinued. The wholesale price on the FP dropped $30 a few months back. Also, Britax has an internet price fixing policy where current seats can not be discounted below MSRP. MSRP on the FP is $179 and as you can see, none are being sold at that price. I have no doubt in my mind that these seats are discontinued. They are also no longer listed on the Fisher Price website.

 

[Ilovemyprincesses]

I got a steal on my FP seat but that was a special case.

 

[TinkerValkyrie]

With our youngest we used a Graco Snugride from birth until he was getting too long for it(probably around 6 months, but he was a big newborn). Then, we switched him to the Alpha Omega Convertible seat. His older brother has been in an Alpha Omega seat that we're now using in booster form.

Both the Graco Snugride and Alpha Omega got high ratings. They're also not quite as pricey as the Britax seats.

 

[*CheshireCat*]

For an infant I used the Graco SafeSeat and then I switched to the Alpha Omega Elite, now we have Britax Parkway Booster Seat. I loved the Britax so much I bought a Britax Decathalon Convertible Car Seat for my 1 year old. I LOVE the features of these car seats and it is definitly worth the money. These carseats/ boosters may be a bit more expensive but they have tons of cushioning, head support for when they fall asleep and some have side impact protection.

 

[DumboPrincess]

I have two carseats--the Britax Wizard that DD3 has been in since she outgrew her Graco, and a Fisher Price one for DD1 that is MADE by BRITAX! I was so excited to find it! It is rated as safe as Britax, b/c they make it, it just doesn't have some of the "frills" and is therefore much less expensive. I feel very safe with these seats.

 

[AmyBWV99]

We have a Brtiax Wizard and a Boulevard (Wizard was disc and the Blvd is basically the same seat + a lumbar pad) We love them and i absolutly love the fact that the straps are adjustable while the kid's in it. Whoever thought that up was a pure genuis rather than taking the seat out and relooping them in.