You guys will appreciate this

[wendytthomas]

I have Piper's old Advantage out in my garage. :-) After our crash got us two seats (one replaced, I bought another with money for our "injuries") I gave the accident free Advantage to a friend of mine. It expired in January, and she got a Nautilus for her daughter. So I got the Advantage back. I'm not sure if this is the exact seat Piper came home from the birthing center in, but it is one of two of her first seats. :-) I thought it rear faced to 33 pounds, but it was actually only 30. And pre-LATCH! It has a top tether, but nothing else. Just in Piper's lifetime so much has changed.

Anyway, you guys will understand the carseat nostalgia that I have going on, and how happy I am to see it in the garage again. :-)

Wendy

[Mama!]

And where is the obligatory pic of the seat? :love:

[wendytthomas]

hehe, ok.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2052/2350091143_e0d99cd084.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3243/2350088851_50eaa60447.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3161/2350083039_01d8a0b475.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2407/2350086395_fd210ab3ca.jpg

And in use for the first time. :-) Look how clean the harness was!!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2146/2350114247_87cd0f18bb.jpg

That's all seven pounds 13 ounces of her. Her shoulders were within an inch of the bottom harness height. You can see how stubby her legs were. LOL The kid had a freakish torso until she was 4.5. :-)

Wendy

[firemomof3]

Cool pictures!! I had never seen the Advantage before, thanks for sharing! :)

[Kat_Momof3]

And it had a PUZZLE BUCKLE!!

omg... that's early awesome carseat existance!

Seriously, the Advantage laid the pathway for the Diplomat as all the britaxes have laid the path for the current seats on the market today.

I'd be tempted to keep it as a keepsake/collector's item just because of the baby memories. Heck, your daughter can use it in a play "car" of boxes to rearface her "babies" (dolls, animals, etc.)

[CandCfam]

That's a nice lookin' seat.

And WOW - who would have thunk that those stubby legs would have grown SO much.:eek: :)

[wendytthomas]

And it had a PUZZLE BUCKLE!!

I'm one of the freaks who LOVES a puzzle buckle. No concern that one side didn't get buckled there. :-)

I'd be tempted to keep it as a keepsake/collector's item just because of the baby memories. Heck, your daughter can use it in a play "car" of boxes to rearface her "babies" (dolls, animals, etc.)

Oh, I'm keeping it. :-) It's in the pile of the other six? seven? seats in my garage that are either spares/travel/for educational reasons. Now when I do presentations or something I don't need to drag Piper's Wizard out of the car for a convertible. I have the Radians, but they're not typical of a convertible, so I would rather not use them. Plus I don't know, now that I have access to it, that I could ever give it away. It's going to be what I pull out when Piper has HER kids to show her. It'll be awesome to see the changes then. Provided the plastic hasn't crumbled to bits.

Wendy

[Mama!]

Awwww. How sweet! And the puzzle buckle!

[KAK22]

Amazing how much has changed in so short a time!

Can you imagine what our grandchildren will ride around in?

[racesmom]

I have two RAs like that. No LATCH, 30 lb RF limit and puzzle buckle. They belonged to friends' kids.

[lovinwaves]

Awww, I know how you feel. The Advantage was my first ever Britax. Definitely my favorite carseat ever! It expired last Summer, so I donated to my instructor for training purposes.

[katiesmommy]

Oh puzzle buckle, how I miss thee!

[Qarin]

I have a May 2002 Roundabout- no LATCH, puzzle buckle, 30lb rear-facing limit (though it was raised retroactively to 33lbs! For a while. Then it was pushed back down to 30lbs, retroactive.). I bought two of them when my oldest daughter, now six, was 7 or 8 months old and I really wanted her OUT of the 3pt harness Snugride (which I did NOT reuse for my next child); she rear-faced in them until she was 2.5 years old, then forward faced, and then rear-faced again when she was 3.5 and I moved my younger daughter to the other when I got tired of her infant seat. My younger daughter (3yo, 32lbs, 38" tall) was in it (forward facing since about age 2.5) until a few months ago when she insisted on switching to her travel seat, a Cosco Scenera, fulltime because it is blue (her favorite color), so now it's in the garage just in case we need to use it before it expires.

Memories. Britax made good seats six years ago!

[azgirl71]

They really have come along away. Even since Tucker was born. They are like pc's as soon as you think you have the most up to date one with all the cool features they come out with somehting better.

[joolsplus3]

That little headrest is so funny... like a pre-evolved proto-headrestian creature... :D

[Yasmel]

That's so cool. I would wash it and keep it too.

[jen_nah]

My bf's dd is in an Advantage that is due to expire in a few months.

I had the Roundabout just like the Advantage (pre LATCH) and that is till my all time favorite seat. It is long expired and been destroyed.

It is funny looking back at how much has changed since K1 was born (8/01). There was no LATCH & 3pt harnesses were still big in most seats. When K2 was born (8/03) LATCH was all the rage & 5pt harnesses were the only way to go.

I also find it crazy that all the 1st made MA's will start to expire later this year. I have one of the 1st MA's made here in the US and it expires at the beginning of '09. I will be sad to see that seat leave our current seat lineup. That will also be our last MA too.

[The Bjorns]

Okay, what's a puzzle buckle?

[azgirl71]

Okay, what's a puzzle buckle?

It is when you have to puzzle the tongs together and them insert it in the buckle. So technically I guess you could call it puzzle tongs. They are on the AOE and some others. You do not see them as often now.

[safeinthecar]

It is when you have to puzzle the tongs together and them insert it in the buckle. So technically I guess you could call it puzzle tongs. They are on the AOE and some others. You do not see them as often now.

The Baby Trend infant seats still had them last time I looked. I think they are the only ones though.

[joolsplus3]

Combi Centre, too....

[Kecia]

The Zeus Turn has a really strange puzzle buckle (aka compound buckle). It's unlike anything I've ever seen.

Also, the newer Dorel infant seats (Designer/Starter/First Ride, etc) as well as the Maxi Cosi Mico all share that same plastic compound buckle that BabyTrend has been using on their infant seats for years. Even though I always liked the old puzzle buckles (Britax, original MCP and even the Dorel version), I'm not a fan of this design. I think they're difficult to use and it seems (to me) like a cheap compromise. It seems especially out of place on the Mico with its high-end price point. Thankfully, I've never seen this type of buckle on anything that can be used forward-facing.


Kecia