Friday, March 30, 2012

The time has come...

Ok friends.  Talk to me about big kid carseats.  We have been using the Britax Chaperone and LOVE it...but my little chunky tuna is getting not so little and I'd like to move him up to the next seat.  But I'd also like to use a seat that will last for a few years...hopefully AT LEAST until we move back to the US.  

I'm debating between the Britax Marathon 70 & the Frontier 85.  Anyone ever use them?  (I'm a Britax gal...what can I say) but I'm open to any suggestions. 

Keep in mind we have a TEENY TINY European car that the carseat must fit in.  

Suggestions...ready....GO! 

4 comments:

kaelee said...

We are looking at big kid seats too. i almost wish we'd bought a convertible in the first place. crossing my fingers that when she turns around to front-facing seat she is a little happier in the car, right now its practically unbearable to go anywhere she screams so much.

Jenn said...

We love our Frontier 85, but it's a forward-facing only seat and Miles has a long way to go before he should be FFing. I think there have been improvements made to the Marathon, but some scary crash test statistics came out on it a few years ago regarding its FFing use that have led many to feel comfortable only using it rear-facing. Are you able to use pretty much any US seat in Italy? I don't know any names off the top of my head, but you might research European seats.....I have many car seat tech friends who import them and use them in the states (even though it's illegal) because they have such great safety ratings and high rear facing limits. I can get some suggestions for you if you'd like, or visit www.car-seat.org and ask the techs here. They are extremely helpful!

Stoked said...

Definately a convertible carseat. You want him to be rear facing as long as possible, it is safer and our Pediatrician said laws may soon say no forward facing until age 2. You also want to keep him in a harness as long as possible so look at weight and height limits for that too. Most kids I know don't use the regular seatbelt with their carseat until age 5 now.

Jenn said...

The Britax Multi Tech is the one European seat I was thinking of. I don't know how small your car is, but it's said to fit nicely in normal mid-sized cars. It's a little pricey, but that comes with the Britax label no matter what. Not sure how widely available it is, but I know it can be shipped from www.carseat.se