I purchased the Peg Perego Primo Viaggio car seat and have been quite happy with it. However, my two month old girl is now 24" tall and I was reading on the car seat that it should only be used until a child is 26" tall. It looks like the only option one would have after an infant seat is a convertible car seat, no? I was wondering if anyone had recommendations for car seats they've liked owning. I like the look of the Recaro seats the best but they only make forward facing seats, to my knowledge, and those can't be used until a child is one year old. I don't like the style and fabrics of the Graco models. I've heard the Britax Marathon might be a good one. Does anyone have this? I'm not thrilled with the style and fabrics Britax offers, but I'm not sure there is another option. Thank you for any advice you can provide!
Hi J.,
We have botha Peg Perego and the Britax Marathon. I liked the Perego because it snapped right into my daughter's stroller. The only drawback was we couldn't use it after a yr. because she was to tall. We got a Britax after reseaching the history of their safety. I really like it especially because you can use it forward or rear facing. It is a little big, especially in my civic, but I feel Ava is very safe in it.
Another happy Britax owner here. I bought a Graco when my son needed a convertable seat, and boy was that a mistake. I always hated it, but never felt I could spend the big bucks on a Britax. 2 years later, when my daughter was ready for a convertable, I just couldn't go back to the Graco, so I made the leap to Britax....and am SOOOO happy I did! It is heaven compared to the Graco (for a lot of the reasons already mentioned).
We have a Marathon, since our girl is very tall...I knew she'd grow out of the Roundabout too fast. However, it's a large seat, and can be too big for some cars. Babies R Us will let you test out the carseat in your car to make sure it fits first. (you just have to leave your driver's license at customer service)
I got the Cowmooflage design online, since I didn't like the designs in the store either. Most online retailers sell it with free shipping and no sales tax. Britax doesn't allow coupon codes unless it's a closeout design, so you'll probably have to pay full retail. But, in my experience, it's WELL worth it!
Good Luck!
I became obsessed woth researching carseats about a year ago for my son. I bought the Britax(We now have 2) and am very happy with it. Others that I like are the Evenflo Titan, and Combi. My friend bought the Evenflo, and we also have the Titan. The Britax are considered top notch with safety, ease of use etc. I ordered mine from http://www.elitecarseats.com. They are a local company in MN, they ship the seat to your door for free too. You can custom order your Britax fabric. They also carry other high end brands. I called the woman and she patiently spent 40 miutes on the phone with me while I tried to figure out which seat to get.
Give them a try.
We have been very happy with our Britax, which we started using when our son was 4 weeks old (we didn't like our infant seat - and he was a long baby 23 inches at birth). We recently turned him to face front, and he still fits in it great.
We have a Britax Marathon and a Britax Roundabout. When our daughter was smaller, the Marathon seemed almost overwhelmingly large -- it does slightly block sightlines in our station wagon. However, now that she's on the high end of the weight percentiles, I'm beginning to appreciate that she will be able to use this car seat for years to come. I've been quite happy with the Britax.
We have the Britax Marathon car seat and have been very pleased. We also had to switch due to our son's length; it works much better forward facing than it does rear facing however. While it does work both ways, it just does not look quite right rear facing. As for the fabrics, we saw a variety of different options at both Target and Babies R' Us, as well as online. All in all, it has been a great seat, and worth the price.
We bought 2 ofthe Britax Marathon (1 for each car) for our daughter when she was about 5-6 mo. old. She is now almost 2 1/2. We have a 5 month old and just bought another 2 Britax's for him. They are wonderful! They straps don't tangle or twist, it is nicely padded, and the car seat is a safe as can be. We bought an Eddie Bauer something or another for Grandma's car ($100 less) but it is junk comparitevly. I have never felt our kids safety is even slightly at risk in the Britax. They are expensive, but when you think of all the money we spend on this and that for the kiddos, a safe car seat is well worth the money. They have many more colors and patterns for the seat at target.com or babiesrus.com than the few in the store. Good luck!
I highly recommend the Britax Marathon. I own two of them as well as a Graco convertible and they are far superior to the Graco. The straps never get tangled and they don't bunch up either. They are very very easy to install with latch...and also very easy to take back out (my Graco is so hard to get back out when I have it installed with latch). The covers wash up beautifully. Best of all, the Marathon can be used until the child is 65 pounds, so you can have your child in a five-point harness much longer than with most other models. As for the covers, there are a lot more styles available online than you can see in stores, so you might check them out first (I bought one car seat from BabyUniverse.com and the other from Target.com). Also, there are several sites online where you can buy a custom-made cover for a Britax Marathon made out of any fabric you choose. Try "britax marathon cover" on ebay or google. This, of course, adds substantially to the cost, but you would have a very unique car seat!
We are loyal Britax customers. They are #1 for safety and the seats have lots of features that others don't have...the straps never tangle, the covers are easily cleaned, the seat reclines easily, and the straps are easily tightened or loosened for a perfect fit every time. I also didn't like the Britax fabrics when my second child was born so I bought a custom cover on eBay. Good luck!
I really like my Britax alot, and I had other brand for my older daughter and bought the Britax for my 1 year old and have been extremely happy with it.
