Harness to booster for 4.75 yr old

My son will be 5 in April. He is around 42 pounds, 44-45". He is currently in a marathon 70 and a true fit (650 I think). The harness appears to be at to slightly below his shoulders in both seats. I'm measuring him at 16" seated shoulder height. Seems like he should have another inch in his current seats but it just doesn't look that way when he is in them.

I think I would prefer to keep him harnessed a little bit longer. He does tend to sleep in the car fairly often at least on weekends/trips, not daily. I don't yet know if he would be mature enough to sit properly in a seat belt alone, he's not the most compliant kid in general if that is telling.

Would the graco nautilus cut it for him? I'm not feeling like it's totally worth it to go to the expense of the frontier 90 since I wasn't thinking we'd harness super long. I'm considering the pioneer 70 too but not sure about install, it looks like it might be difficult to get it solid. Moving it around is not really a concern, once installed we tend to leave it there. Other options to consider?

Besides the Nautilus you could look at the Harmony Defender and the Evenflo Securekid. I think both will have taller slots than the convertibles you have (often even if the height measures the same the seats don't recline quite as much which makes more room when they're installed) and they both become decent boosters when you're ready to switch.

There's also the Evenflo Sureride/Titan65 which is a convertible but has the 2nd tallest slot of any seat available. It won't convert to a booster in the future but you could compare the cost of this seat + a booster to compare to the cost of the combo seats.

Unregistered said:

My son will be 5 in April. He is around 42 pounds, 44-45". He is currently in a marathon 70 and a true fit (650 I think). The harness appears to be at to slightly below his shoulders in both seats. I'm measuring him at 16" seated shoulder height. Seems like he should have another inch in his current seats but it just doesn't look that way when he is in them.

I think I would prefer to keep him harnessed a little bit longer. He does tend to sleep in the car fairly often at least on weekends/trips, not daily. I don't yet know if he would be mature enough to sit properly in a seat belt alone, he's not the most compliant kid in general if that is telling.

Would the graco nautilus cut it for him? I'm not feeling like it's totally worth it to go to the expense of the frontier 90 since I wasn't thinking we'd harness super long. I'm considering the pioneer 70 too but not sure about install, it looks like it might be difficult to get it solid. Moving it around is not really a concern, once installed we tend to leave it there. Other options to consider?

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My son just now outgrew the top harness slots on his Evenflo Secure Kid 300, at 6.5 years old, 46" tall, & 43 lbs. He's pretty long in the torso, too.

I think any combo seat with similar stats to the SK will work well for your son. So, the Evenflo SK, Harmony Defender 360, Graco Nautilus or Argos, Recaro, or Britax Pioneer (Frontier if you wish). He will probably last much longer than you think harnessed...his legs will start growing a big faster than the rest of him. LOL My son outgrew his Britax Blvd first and then his Evenflo Triumph when he was 4 (just turned 4) and he was actually smaller than your son! So, he's been riding in this seat for over 2 years. I never thought he'd make a year.

All that said, if you are set on keeping the same seat to use as a booster later, I'd probably stick w/the Nautilus, Harmony, or Britax (I don't know about the Recaro). The reason I say that is because the Evenflo won't keep the seatbelt in the belt path very well between uses, so you will always have to help him buckle. That drives me nuts, personally, even though I double check my kids. And they get super frustrated. So, we have other dedicated high back boosters to use for him now.

hths