Need Booster recommendations

Okay, I'm heading back to work full-time next Monday, and we will need to purchase 2 more car seats for the boys since DH will be taking the boys to "school" and I'll be picking up. We currently have the Evenflo Titan (LOVE THEM) but I am looking at a booster with 5pt. harness so they'll last a little longer for DH's car. At this point, we have 3 options...

The Evenflo Chase seat Pros: $60 price tag!
small footprint in the car
Cons: 5pt until 40 lbs (not very far away...they're already 34 lbs now)

The Graco Nautilus Pros: 5pt. to 65 lbs.
converts to both backed booster with seatbelt and backless booster
Cons: $160 price tag
larger footprint in car

The Britax Frontier Pros: 5pt until 80 lbs.
Cons: $280 price tag ( :icon_eek: )
large footprint in car

I will not consider any Cosco carseats, as they are the most recalled brand, so this is pretty much what I've found. Any opinions/ideas on these?
Thanks!
Nicole

 

We have the Evenflo Chase. I've been happy with it. No complaints, but I have read that it is best to leave them in a 5pt. harness for as long as possible, and that one seems to be the shortest. Since it is just a second set though, I would either do the most affordable for dh's car, or go more expensive, but put them in the car they will be in the most.

 

I don't know what brand it is, or if you have Sam's Club by you, but we got an extra car seat for my husbands car (for times when we take just one baby out), and it has a 5 point system and was only $42. It has worked great for us.
Helen

 

We have the Graco Nautilus in my dh's car and really like them, we have a britax regent and marathon in my car. They kids are quite comfortable, it was easy to install, and I like the fact that I can keep them in a 5 point harness for quite some time. We didn't find the footprint to be too large.

 

I own two of the Evenflo Chase car seats. One purchased in 2004 and the other purchased in 2006. Mine are canadian so the limits may be different. I can use them to 45" and 45lbs with the internal harness. I actually took my Daughter out of the internal harness last year (she was in the 2004 model) when she was 6.25 yrs old and 45". She was fluctuating around the 40lb mark, though did not consistently stay at that weight until she was closer to 6.5. She had reached the height limit though and the straps were no longer at or above her shoulders. She now uses it for a booster seat and still finds it comfortable.

My son is 41" and only 35lbs so is still in the internal harness of the other one. He has lots of room left in it so will probably get at least another year out of it. (or so I hope)

The internal harness can be a bit tricky to tighten if you are not use to it, but I have been using it for 4 yrs so have no problems with it.

T

 

While it doesn't convert to a booster, we have the Sunshine Radian 65. It's a 5-pt harness until 65 lbs and it has a very small footprint. They also have a version that is 5-pt to 80 lbs.

 

I would go with the Nautilus or the Frontier. I've heard good things about both. If you go with the Chase and really want to harness them for a long time, you'll probably still end up buying another seat later, so you won't really be saving money.

 

we own 2 Graco Snugrides and we love them. They were both approved when we left the hospital with our twins by the NICU!! You can purchase them on Walmart.com for around $80

God Bless
April

 

QUOTE(duranjt @ Jul 27 2008, 09:42 PM) [snapback]899329[/snapback]
I will not consider any Cosco carseats, as they are the most recalled brand, so this is pretty much what I've found. Any opinions/ideas on these?
Thanks!
Nicole

I was just wondering where you saw that?

It seems that every major car seat maker has a ton of recalls.

 

QUOTE(ljcrochet @ Jul 29 2008, 02:27 PM) [snapback]902140[/snapback]
I was just wondering where you saw that?

It seems that every major car seat maker has a ton of recalls.



Yes, they all do have a lot, but b/c Cosco works under several different names, they seem to have more of a problem. This is the site I used when I was checking out recalls (and this doesn't cover the ones I looked at when my two older girls were in car seats, too) http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems...s/childseat.cfm
This also didn't have the Eddie Bauer brand on its list, which is also a Cosco seat.

I think we're going to go with the Chase seats just b/c until I am back working, there is no way we can afford over $300 for new carseats. My big boys will just have to not gain any more weight until they're at least 4!! LOL!
Thanks for all your input!
Nicole

 

We have a Graco Nautilus for our oldest and it works out nicely. We will consider either the Nautilus or the Radians for the twins when they are ready. Unless we like something better that comes out in the meantime...