"Old" Apex vs. "New" Apex...harness height difference?

Sooo...since I had to go to BRU today to get more spoons for my DD, and I had all the kids with me, I decided to play with a couple seats! All of these are of DS#1, he's 6yo 44lb & 45.5"

DS#1 in the BigKid Confidence. Back adjusted up one slot, headrest left in original position. He seemed really comfy in this seat, it's on a weird angle because of those raunchy LATCH anchors they have on their test bench.

DS#1 in the original Apex. This one was on the clearance table...the headrest was falling off of it and I couldn't even fix it and I kind of tried.




DS#1 in the "new" Apex...it has EPP foam in it and a new "suede" very AOE cover on it.




The angles aren't the best, and DS has a black shirt on which doesn't help, but I *DO* think that the new Apex does have taller harness slots than the older one at least by a 1/2" if not more. However, DS was complaining that the harness was "too tight", and you can see where his hand is in the one picture. He's never complained about that in his Husky, and the crotch strap is in the outermost position in the Apex.

I also tried DS#2 in a Graco SS2 that they had on clearance. He just turned 4 in December, weighs 34.5lb & is 39" (you can see him standing next to DS#1 in one of the pix). He would have used the middle harness slots, but the top of his head was already even with the top of the shell, there is no way that I would have ever let him use the top slot, because by the time he would have needed it more than half his head would have been hanging out the top of the seat.

the evenflo looks pretty nice! did you play with the depth adjustment?
those belt guides sure are hard to miss! lol!

Did you have problems adjusting the evenflo? When I tried at walmart it was a pita, I didn't like it at all. And how much was the ss2 on clearance for, I've been calling everyone to see if they have one and I swear the girl at bru didn't even look, she was gone like 2 seconds.

mominabigtruck said:

Did you have problems adjusting the evenflo? When I tried at walmart it was a pita, I didn't like it at all. And how much was the ss2 on clearance for, I've been calling everyone to see if they have one and I swear the girl at bru didn't even look, she was gone like 2 seconds.

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Nope, I didn't have any problems adjusting the height on it, it was a lever that I squeezed/pulled and the back moved easily, same with the headrest. I didn't play with the depth adjustment on the bottom/base though as DD was getting pissy that she didn't get to try any seats.

The SS2 was $99.90 and it's that brown/tan cover.

That's interesting about the Apex harness heights.

There is a great mystery about the Apex's harness slot heights. Your pictures confirm that the mystery continues....

What's your ds's torso height, Mel?
How does he fit the MA?

I really hate how high up the headrest is on the Apex when a child is in the top slots--do they think kids have giraffe necks or something?

I like the belt guides on the Confidence. I don't think dd would go for it, though, now that she's felt the cush that is the Compass B510.

That headrest is bizarre. Too bad. It looked kinda nifty with it down, although it sure is WIDE! My kids would be lost in it....Thanks for the pix. It makes me happy with what I have!
C.

For a headrest that isn't even functional as true head support (needing vehicle head support behind it) I don't even know why they bothered making it so high.

scatterbunny said:

For a headrest that isn't even functional as true head support (needing vehicle head support behind it) I don't even know why they bothered making it so high.

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Excellent point!!! A kid would have to have a REALLY long neck to make that headrest functional!

scatterbunny said:

What's your ds's torso height, Mel?
How does he fit the MA?

I really hate how high up the headrest is on the Apex when a child is in the top slots--do they think kids have giraffe necks or something?

I like the belt guides on the Confidence. I don't think dd would go for it, though, now that she's felt the cush that is the Compass B510.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what his torso height is...I'll have to measure him sometime soon.

He is *right* at the boarder for outgrowing the MA...he flew with our MA in the top slots back in...um...September? (Want to say it was Labor Day weekend) because we had no other options for him (frustraing having all our stuff split between 2 states!) and at that point I was VERY leery about him riding in it after that. Since he's had a growth spurt since then, I would have to say that he's more than likely outgrown the MA by now. He's creeping up on the top slots on the Futura as well...

It's a good thing we're gonna have another kid so I don't HAVE to figure out what the heck to do with him next to keep a 3 across harness situation in DH's Escapes, LOL.

I have to agree...the headrest is ridiculously high...especially for being totally useless. DS also was complaining that the straps were cutting into his neck, and you can see that they are really narrow up there too...again, not a complaint on the Husky.

That BK Confidence sure seems cushier than DS's Start, but there's no way I'm giving up the Start for the Confidence, LOL!

I was looking at this seat yesterday and the headrest is adjustable. It looks like they just have the headrest at a high setting in order to show the harness height better. The headrest moves independent of the remainder of the back which includes the harness slots.

It does still need support and I don't like the adjuster knob on the back as it can interfere with the vehicle head restraint. But the headrest does have EPP foam and you can adjust it to get it to a good "non-giraffe neck" setting.

I swear someone said before that the next-lower headrest setting inteferes slightly with the top slots, so it had to be in the highest headrest setting when the child was in the top slots.

Mel, I can see now how people think the brown Apex has 19" top slots. If your ds is, indeed, too tall for a MA or borderline, this brown Apex does seem to have top slots that are 2ish inches higher!

If it weren't for the odd proportions of this seat, I'd consider it. But it would stick up higher than the Husky, and that's just ridiculous if it isn't providing any REAL head support to the child.

mominabigtruck said:

Did you have problems adjusting the evenflo? When I tried at walmart it was a pita, I didn't like it at all. And how much was the ss2 on clearance for, I've been calling everyone to see if they have one and I swear the girl at bru didn't even look, she was gone like 2 seconds.

Click to expand...

When I was playing with one in our wal-mart. I had a hard time adjusting it also. That might be though because it was on the shelf and still zip tied down on one side.

scatterbunny said:

I swear someone said before that the next-lower headrest setting inteferes slightly with the top slots, so it had to be in the highest headrest setting when the child was in the top slots.

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This is correct...If I moved the headrest down to the next setting, it would "hide" the top slots. The headrest does move independant of the back, BUT, the slots also move up & down when you move the headrest up & down...so to get the FULL extent of harness height you need to have it in the highest position.

Ok, just measured his torso height...from butt to shoulder he's at 15.25"...maybe a smidge over that.

I also left that silly pad in there when I was taking the pix, because I didn't want to have to mess around with unthreading the harness from it & putting it all back together, so he could *in theory* have an extra 1/4-1/2" extra in height if the pad was removed as well.