Marathon or Fisher Price

[jen21ks]

Our son is 6 months and weighs 20lbs (he is our Mr. Chubby:)) His car sear only goes up to 22 lbs so we are in a quick search for a new one. We are going to go with either the marathon or the fisher price that is similar to the marathon, but less expense. I have read that the Britax has extra features that the fisher price doesn't..such as rear facing tether. What is a tether? is it the same as LATCH? Also, does anyone know what other features the britax has over the fisher price? I have done some research but I am not very familiar with all the car seat lingo and I thought you all might be a good resource for me and my time crunch! Thanks!

[mykidsmylife]

If you can afford the marathon go with it. I wanted it but we ant afford it so I got the Fisher Price Safe Voyafe.
I know the straps are better quality, the latch is better, the fact you can tether it rf etc,,,,
A tech can tell you a lot more. I just wanted to tell you my friend has 2 marathons and I have the FPSV and I sure wish I could afford the marathon. I would buy it in a breeze

[crunchierthanthou]

Tethering is part of ff LATCH, but a few carseat manufacturers allow their seats to be tethered rf as well. Britax is one of these.

Some of the advantages of the Marathon (MA) over the FPSVD
-tether rf
-65 lbs ff weight limit instead of 55
-has built in lock-offs for use with non-locking seatbelts
-alligator style LATCH connectors, which most users feel are more convenient
-plusher (and in many users' experience) higher quality covers with more options for patterns

Children often outgrow seats by height first, so that 10 lb difference is usually a non-issue. It's difficult to guage at 6 months, but I'd probably go for the MA for the higher ff weight limit in your case. That's probably 4-5 years away, but might be useful if he's outgrowing his infant seat by weight before height. Plus, even at 20 lbs he still has a good amount of time left before he hits the 33 lb limit for rf, so you can take advantage of the rf tether.