Which Convertible Car Seat to Buy...

We have a Britax Roundabout and a Regent, and we love Love LOVE them! They are comfy, solid and safe. Expensive? Yes, but I think they are worth every penny!

Best of luck,
S.

We got the Eddie Bauer one from Target. It it awesome, it goes from a rear facing car seat, to a front facing, to a booster, so you only have to buy ONE car seat and it is easy to clean and take apart!
Hope this helps!!
S.

We have the Britax Marathon for both our kids, and we love them. They are rated very high for safety, and they are easy to install and use. You can find them at Target or on line. I just got an email from babyage.com and they have several Marathons on sale for great prices!

http://www.babyage.com/britax_closeouts.htm?utm_source=Ne...

Britax!!!! I love it so much. Although I would go with the marathon since it holds more weight than the roundabout. The straps dont get all twisted, it seems comfortable. Its the only seat that I have found that doesnt make their head fall forward everytime they fall asleep. My son has a alpha omega seat in my husbands truck and the britax in my pilot and his head always flops around in the alpha omega it drives me nuts. although there are the ones that can also go into a high back booster which is nice the marathon can hold up to like 65lbs and by that poing you can go to a backless booster which is like 20 bucks. I just LOVE the marathon

We have an Alpha Omega by Cosco. It's been great, and it goes from 5-100 pounds.

The Britax Marathon is absolutely awesome! I love it. I just wish I had known about it when my older daughter was a baby. The best things about it are that it has high back and slots for the harness. This means your kiddo can use it way longer becuase it takes a long time to grow out of. The weight limit is 65 lbs forward facing and 33 lbs for rear facing. It a great seat to use for extended rear facing, which is your safest option, and most kids don't completely outgrow this seat until they are 5 or 6 years. At this point, it is much safer for them to move to a booster saet. Also, compared to the other carseats we have owned, besides our infant one, this seat is a lot easier to clean. You don't need tools to deassemble the darn seat to get the cover off. It's easy to adjust the straps, too. The other thing that I loved is that Britax seats are either the only or one of the only seats that can touch the seat in front of it when it's rear facing. I had a Civic when we bought our seat, so this was a much needed feature. The only drawback is the price. This seat is usually between $200 and $260. We bought ours online. When we bought it, I just googled the seat name to get the best price. Ours was $200 after shipping.
Because you can get so much use out of the seat, the price really isn't that bad. If it is too much for your family, there are other seats that are great, too. The best priced saet is the Costco Serena. It runs about $40 at Walmart, Kmart, and possibly Target.
The only seats that I would avoid are the Cosco, Eddie Bauer, Safety First 3 in 1 seats. They may seem like a great idea, but they have the shortest backs on the market meaning that children outgrow the harness part of the seat quickly. This happens before they're able to safely use the booster portion of the seat. Also, the seatbelt guides for the booster on these seats is smaller and more closed. This makes a really crappy booster because the seatbelt is usually not in the correct spot on the child. These seats just really aren't all they're cracked up to be.
Good luck with your shopping, and hopefully I've given you some helpful information.

We have loved our Britax Roundabout, although our friends with a bigger child say they are glad they got the Britax Marathon because it holds a much heavier child. I've also been impressed with our Recaro brand booster, and if I were buying a convertible car seat I would consider looking at Recaros. Both brands are expensive, but I have just loved the Britax Roundabout--simple to clean with upholstery that comes off for washing, comfortable, great safety and ease-of-use ratings, easy to move from one car to another. It was worth the extra expense for us. When I was car seat shopping I liked reading reviews at www.elitecarseats.com. Good luck!

I recommend anything by Britax. Easy to use, very safe, very highly rated, and comfortable. Check out eBay for some good deals on brand new car seats.

Between all the cars and grandmas and such, we have 2 Gracos, a Cosco, a Britax and an Evenflo.

The Evenflo and Britax are tied for my favorite. I like the britax for comfort and fit in the car, plus it has the highest safety ratings in crash tests. I have the decathalon (with the side impact protection) but if I was doing it again I would spend the extra $50-$100 (i forget how much) to get the Boulevard (I think) that has the installed-adjustable straps and lever tightening. This is what I love about the Evenflo. It has a good harness system that Julia can't get out of by herself, and the height and tightness of the straps is SOOOO easily adjusted with just a quick turn of a knob. It also fits in the car very well. I like the extra reassurance of the britax as our main carseat, but love love love the evenflo.

I like the graco as far as fit, but it doesn't seem to be as comfortable for her. Not really sure why that is. It is harder to adjust the straps and sometimes I find the loosening and tighetning annoying, but I'm very pleased with it as the alternate carseat (and costs <$100) when she's not in it alot. And I love Graco product and company, so I know its agood seat.

My MIL bought a Cosco and I HATE it. Its hard to get her in and out, neither latch or seatbelt installation seem tight and stable to me no matter which car it is in, and the harness straps are connected to the tether strap for hte back somehow. I dont think it fits well and if I remember correctly it did not do well in crash tests.

Britax Marathon. I bought it for two reasons. 1. It has a great safety record. 2. It will hold up to 65 lbs. I love it and have had absolutely no problems with it. Watch for it to go on sale, since it is quite expensive, but I feel its worth every penny.

We have the Recaro Signo. It is pricey but it gets fantastic safety ratings. We love it. One good thing about it is that it reclines in the rear-facing position so it kind of eases the transition from the infant seat.

I have a Britax boulevard and absolutely LOVE it!!!

We LOVE our Britax Boulevard but a close second is our Britax Marathon. I love that they have side impact protection, and no the side wings have never bothered my dd. they simply act as pillows for her. One of ours has a rear face limit of 33lbs the other at 35lbs! that is so wonderful for extended rear facing wich is the safest thing for your little one. Do some reasearch. but stay away from consumer reports(most were recalled). Also make sure to stay away from any of the 3-in-1s. they are awful. most do not harness until the child is old enough to be in the booster. read the manuals no matter what. most use their seat wrong(ie in the 3in1s you cant use top slots for harnessing, or dont have straps tight enough or carseat installed right). Good luck. Keeping our little one is a big responsibility

BRITAX MARATHON is AWESOME!!!

Hi M.,
We have the Britax Marathon as our primary seat and the Graco Nautilus as the secondary seat in daddy's car. I highly recommend the Britax, and everything they make seems to be terrific, pricey, but well worth it in terms of safety and ease of use. We just got the Graco a few weeks ago, and are happy with it so far, but it is not for use unless your child is at least one year and 20 pounds and can ride forward facing. I had a long conversation when we bought our Britax with the Car Seat Tech. who works at our local hospital and she suggested Britax and also spoke very highly of a brand called Recaro.
When I was looking I spent a lot of time on Amazon.com reading reviews of seats by other parents, it was a nice way to get a lot of info from lots of moms and dads in one place. Check Amazon's prices too, they often have great deals, I saved $56 on the Graco I just bought (retail $179, I paid $123.) Good luck!

I bought an Evenflo convertible seat after researching it on consumer reports. It is half the price of the Britax and had better safety ratings. It only weighs 7 lbs, so it was great for plane trips. It is a very simple design and very easy to figure out.

Hi M.,

Obviously Britax is a favorite. Right now we're using a Fisher Price Safe Voyage, which is made by Britax under another label. We do like it, but it's not being made any more. If I was going to buy another convertible seat today, I'd probably get The First Years' True Fit convertible, which is a new model. It gets very, very high ratings, and I've seen comments from "Britax" parents saying they actually prefer it to their Britax. It's also more reasonable, and might actually fit better rear-facing because it has a headrest that can be removed when your little one is still small. It's worth a look. Check it out at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/First-Years-True-Convertible-Seat/d...

Just like everyone else....The Britax Marathon is #1! Anything Britax would be worth the $. Our Marathon is so easy to install w the Latch system! We have had ours for 2+ yrs and it is still in excellent condition (even after multiple airplane trips).

'Nother Britax family here! We love our Marathons... and the cowmooflauge really makes a statement :-)

We have a marathon for my car and an evenflo triumph premier for my husbands. My parents bought the lower end triumph and we didn't like it at all, but for the money the premier is nice. I really like how easy it is to adjust the straps in the evenflo, but overall i'd have to say the britax is better.

We have two Britax Marathon car seats for our twins. They hated their infant seats, but love the Britax seats. They're a bit pricey, but very worth it for the safety and comfort they provide. They are also very easy to install and use.