Would love help in selecting next seat please!

HI! You all have been so helpful in the past; I am hoping to get some more advice on a seat for my fast growing DS. He started in a Graco Safeseat, went to RF a Britax roundabout then RF in a britax marathon. Now he is ff in a britax Marathon and is getting close to growing out of it by torso height. He is 2 years old, 35 lbs, and 40 inches tall and he is almost at the top of the top slot for shoulder height on the marathon.
I got him a Nautilus for our truck ( which he rarely rides in) but he complains if he has to sit in it for any length of time and cries if he is trying to fall asleep. I think it is just too upright for him to be comfortable. What is the most comfortable seat for a long torso boy?
I had thought he would be in the Marathon for a long time but he has only had it for about a year. I know he is over 100% on the height-weight chart but he is still just a toddler and I want to get the best protection for him that I can while still keeping him comfortable and also not buying a seat he will grow out of in a few months. I would love to hear your suggestions. The car he is riding in most is a subaru legacy. I also need to get a second seat for a volkswagon jetta (1996).

Thank you!
Nancy

WOW! That is one long-torsoed and tall 2 yr old!!! My 4 yr old is that size!!! He is on the top slots of his Decathlon/FPSVD w/a little room to grow.

I wouldn't look at anything except the Britax Regent, and you're in luck, b/c you can get them cheaper than a Graco Nautilus or Britax Frontier. Your son is who the Regent was made for!!! My son thinks the Nautilus is uncomfortable, and everyone we know who has a Regent loves it. My cousin's son was/is as large as your son and still fits in the Nautilus at 5.5 yrs old.

Top shoulder harness slots/weight limit:

Regent 20-21"/80 lbs
Nautilus 18.5"/65 lbs
Frontier 18"/80 lbs (and makes the tallest booster on the market)
Radian 18"/either 65 or 80 lbs
Marathon/Decathlon 17.5"/65 lbs

hths

henrietta

Our ds outgrew his bv early this year shortly after turning 3y. He rides in a husky, older version of the regent. He loves it. Always comfy. Sleeps easy. We looked at the nautulis, but it was to narrow in the shoulders. He can't sit all the way back in it. We really thought about the frontier until I got the husky from a close friend that was not using it anymore. Last time is checked Ds is 44", 49# and in the 2nd to the top slots on the husky with the recline bar in. Shirts move from our 8y closet to his closet. He is all torso, wears 4t pant still. It will expire when he turns 5y. Regents are on sale right now, too!

Thank you, Thank you!

Yes my 'little guy' is kinda big. He wears a size 5t shirt but still fits into 2t pants. He is the older of my 2 boys so thankfully I will still get some more use out of these outgrown seats.

The Regent sounds like the answer. I looked at it on the britax website and there it states the top shoulder height is 19" not 20-21"? Do you think they changed it? 19" would only get me 1.5 more inches. I wonder how that would translate in yrs. If this is the highest shoulder height available, I suppose I don't have much of a choice. Do you know if it is an easy fit in a smallish car?

I see the regent on sale for $150.00 at Amazon. Has anyone seen it cheaper anywhere else? ($150 is a great price, but I am a penny pincher!)

blurofur said:

Thank you, Thank you!

Yes my 'little guy' is kinda big. He wears a size 5t shirt but still fits into 2t pants. He is the older of my 2 boys so thankfully I will still get some more use out of these outgrown seats.

The Regent sounds like the answer. I looked at it on the britax website and there it states the top shoulder height is 19" not 20-21"? Do you think they changed it? 19" would only get me 1.5 more inches. I wonder how that would translate in yrs. If this is the highest shoulder height available, I suppose I don't have much of a choice. Do you know if it is an easy fit in a smallish car?

I see the regent on sale for $150.00 at Amazon. Has anyone seen it cheaper anywhere else? ($150 is a great price, but I am a penny pincher!)

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That's how my DS was at that age. They DO become more proportional, I swear. DS is almost 5 and wears 6 shirts and 6 pants after years of wearing shirts larger than pants (at 2 years it was 18 month pants and 4T shirts). He still fits in the regent with plenty of room to grow. The MA has about 16.5" top slots actually so the regent really provides more growing room than you'd think.

When we were looking at seats. I had our then just turned 7y long torsoed ds try all the seats we were looking at for our 3yds. He still barely fit the husky, but didn't look to comfy.

Like the pp said, they do grow legs at some point. But I know our kids are just ment to have long torsos. dh is 6'2" and I am 5'3" and we wear the same length of pants. He is all torso.

Our 8y wears a size 10 pants and large shirts. Our 9y wears size 12 pants and large shirts. They both fit better without a booster then with, so the have been without seats for about 6m.

The Regent requires the recline bar, so you lose a some height. Ds 3y is in the 2nd to the top, when he moved from the bv to it he was in the 3rd from the top, so you will have more room then you think. You should get to a safe booster age.

The Regent sounds like the answer. I looked at it on the britax website and there it states the top shoulder height is 19" not 20-21"? Do you think they changed it? 19" would only get me 1.5 more inches

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No, they didn't change it. I've noticed it says 1-2 inches shorter than most of the techs/pros hear have said on all of their seats. They just started posting shoulder height measurements in the last few years.

If you look at the Marathon, Blvd, Decathlon, etc, on the Britax site, it says the top slots are 16.5", however, most of us have measured ours at 17 or 17.5". Plus, the Regent is still the tallest/largest available and gives you several inches over the seat he's currently in. Nothing else will do that. I think you'll get to at least age 5 or 6 in it harnessed. He will slow down some. Even if he stays really long torsoed (my oldest son is and my nephew really is!), he will still slow down and grow more height in his legs in the upcoming year or two. My nephew grew 3-4 inches overall and gained almost no torso height for almost a year! That's how we kept him in my FPSVD. They moved him into a Graco Nautilus at age 3 or so, and even though he fit in the harness still (barely) at 4 yrs old, they turned it into a booster b/c he wasn't really comfortable anymore. The Regent would have been a better choice for him, definitely.

hths

henrietta

Thank you all! I am getting the regent from Amazon. I am very excited- It will be my Christmas gift!

henrietta said:

If you look at the Marathon, Blvd, Decathlon, etc, on the Britax site, it says the top slots are 16.5", however, most of us have measured ours at 17 or 17.5".

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I don't think that's true for "most" of us, and I actually think the 19" measurement of the Regent, when installed with a recline bar, is pretty true in most cars. However, this is nitpicking, because a 2yo that size needs the tallest seat available, and that's the Regent, however it's measured.