Nautilus, Nautilus Elite, Frontier, or ??? for a 3 yr old

I've spent far too much time reading and processing car seat stuff.

My 9 month old is almost too tall for his infant seat, and we need to either get a new convertible for him or put him in his sister's Erin MA and get her another new seat. He'll be riding in her old Roundabout in one car.

We recently got her a Frontier and she loves it. She had a very strong preference for it after sitting in it and a Nautilus at BRU. I had a trade-in and splurged on the Frontier for the car she rides in the most. I had every intention of getting her a less expensive Nautilus for the other car until I read reviews about the crotch strap being short and sat her in one at TRU last night. It's OK right now, but she is not a chunky kid and I was concerned that there wasn't a further crotch strap setting. We had problems with the crotch strap on grandma's scenera when it went too long without being moved and she HATED having it on the shorter side.

Does the Elite have any additional crotch strap settings? If it does, I think I'd be sold on that one. I just saw the plusher fabric when I looked at it, but apparently the head wings adjust too? I've been trying to find a list of the differences and have been having trouble.

I wish I'd spent the money on two MAs rather than a RA and MA the last time we were looking at seats, so i don't want to "save" money on a Nautilus if I'd be better off spending the money on another Frontier. We haven't been using the Frontier long yet, but she likes it so far.

The other option is to let her keep the FF Marathon until she outgrows it and get baby brother a new convertible. My kids have long torsos and so height is my main factor with outgrowing car seats.

How much does your almost 3 year old weigh? For me, I wouldn't buy a Nautilus or a Frontier for a newly 3 year old, because I would prefer for a 3 year old to rear-face for at least another year. I would look at a seat like one of the Sunshine Kids Radians (rear-face to 40 or 45 pounds depending on model), the Safety 1st Complete Air (rear-faces to 40 pounds) or the Graco My Ride (40 pounds). If she's in the 30 pound range or less, I'd look at the True Fit Premiere or True Fit, which rear-face to 35 pounds.

If rear-facing isn't an option, I don't think you can go wrong with the Nautilus or the Frontier. I'd probably hold off until the end of March for the release of the Frontier 85 to be able to check that out to include in your options. I have a Frontier for my 4.5 year old, and she loves it, but there are others who love the Nautilus. I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think that the Nautilus Elite has extra crotch strap positions (I think it has adjustable headwings and a seatbelt lockoff).

I love my Nautilus... enough that when I crashed the last one (no kids w/me) and had to repurchase, I got a new one. Even though I don't think it'll fit in the new car after all, lol.

I ended up with the Elite, and it's not a whole lot different than the regular Nautilus. It does have the lockoff, plus the adjustable headwings. Other than that, the covers are different, but it's pretty similar. I don't think the crotch strap goes out any further, but I never paid too much attention to it (kids were fine how it was set and didn't complain.) I think the Elite has 3 slots. I'll doublecheck in a min and edit this post if need-be.

And I agree with the PP, I'd rearface (especially if a young 3) if you could, at least in the primary car. But if not, I don't think you'd go wrong with the Nautilus. I bought it for a tall, skinny 7yo and she didn't complain, and neither does my average sized, slightly on the solid side not-quite-5yo who's had it for the last year. In fact, he chose it for his seat when the 7yo moved out of it, even though it was pink. LOL. Scenera crotch strap does not equal Nautilus crotch strap. But, if your dd doesn't like it, then it's a moot point.

Also, make sure your 9m old's shoulders are above the bottom slots in both the RA and the MA If they're not, he's not tall enough for them yet.

Thank you for the feedback.

DD will remain FF at this point. DS should be ok in the convertibles, but I'll check to make sure. I would think he would be since he's almost too tall for the SR.

I talked to DH and he said if it seemed like the Frontier would last us longer, to go ahead and spend the extra money. I noticed a deal posted on here where it's $183 online and might give that etailer a try. At the moment I think we're going to load up and go to BRU and have her try the Nautilus Elite, and make sure she's seated all the way back in the seat. I think she found the headwings and/or seat shape of the Frontier a lot more comfortable. If the Nautilus Elite does the trick for us, I'd be more comfortable with the price tag for now and having two different seats, in case we ended up with an issue where one installed better in a vehicle. Conversely, there's something to be said with having all Britax since we like them.

I [-]have to[/-] should decide today because of the 25% off trade in offer at BRU/TRU ending today... and I need to stop spending quite so much time reading car seat sites and do some other things

Your DS is probably okay, but I know it's said on here a lot the bottom slots are a bit high. Since I have no experience with them, I thought it was worth asking.

I don't know if the Frontier will necessarily last you longer. Part of it depends on your preference in what function you want to last longer. The harness height is a bit lower than on the Nauti (.5" I believe,) but on the other hand, it makes the tallest booster on the market. The Nautilus has a 9 year expiration for the low back booster portion, I don't recall the Frontier's but I want to say it's either 6 or 8 for the whole thing. (I'm sure someone will be along to straighten me out in a moment, ha ha.)

Truly, at the end of the day, if you don't mind the extra cost of the Frontier and it's what you like better, go with that. I've personally not found a need for the extra cost, but my needs are often very specific and I think if I just had one or two kids, the ease of use would trump all and the cost wouldn't be as big of a deal. I do think you have the right idea though, those two seats are the main ones recommended for a child that you have no intention of re-RFing. No sense in buying a convertible if you won't be using that function on it. Frontiers (or Nautiluses) may well be the last seats you buy for her, save perhaps a backless on down the line.

ETA: I don't know how much time your son has in his infant seat, but if your daughter is on the heavier side, you also may want to wait until the Frontier 85 comes out, and consider getting that one. It WILL last longer than the Nautilus, as the harness height is higher as is the weight limit.

Last month I bought my 3.5yo a GN. When we tried it in the store, I was very concerned about the crotch strap. However since buying it and installing it in the car, it hasn't been a problem, so much so that I'd forgotten about it.

We were coming from Britax convertibles too and originally assumed we'd get the Frontier. DD her GN.

If the Frontier works for you, sure get another. But you might want to consider the GN as an option too.

We have both the Nautilus and Frontier. We did what you are talking about. The Frontier is in my car and the Nautilus is in my husband's. That being said everyone here prefers the Frontier. My son has long legs and the Frontier's seat is deeper. Plus, he says he is more comfortable in the Frontier. It would be nice if it had an integrated cup holder like the Frontier, but it isnt' a big deal overall. If I had the choice again I would have purchased two Frontiers.

Here's my take... the Nautilus is a great seat and many kids don't mind the crotch strap... My skinny minny had no problems at all.

HOWEVER... two things stand out to me... 1st... you said your daughter had a very obvious preference... comfort and content in the seat is a big thing for me... if the kid is not comfortable, they'll complain... and they're going to be in the seat a long time, so after obvious things they can't have a say about, once you have it narrowed down to the seats that are good for your child and vehicle, I say let the poor kid pick...

With the price difference, I might not say that as much, but 2nd... your hubby said go ahead... AND there is that deal that I would have linked to had you not mentioned you found it...

So I say go for it... and with long torsos, you'll appreciate how tall of a booster it becomes after the harness is outgrow (or, when your daughter goes into a booster at age 6-7, you'll appreciate the 9yr lifespan because your son can then go into it and use it as a harnessed seat until he's ready for a booster... and at that time, you can switch them and she can have the Frontier again, because it's the tallest booster on the market... and he can go into the booster she used first)

I really do appreciate the comments and feedback

We ended up getting the Nautilus Elite tonight and can take it out of the box and play tomorrow. Being able to adjust the head wings made a huge difference in DD's comfort with the seat. The plusher fabric helped too. She was OK with it til I made mention of letting her brother ride in her Marathon...oops. Sibling jealousy is a big thing and she's more partial to that seat/cover than she is to the boring tan roundabout. She was telling me to take the seat back as we were loading it up and said we could put her flower seat in the other car. I think she'll be OK with it if we let the MA sit in the garage for a week or two before installing it for DS. I may check into whether I have swap board privileges and see if I can transform the Erin cover into something more gender-neutral, but we'll make sure everyone is content with their car seats until then. Hubby is OK with his son in it because it's not super girly.

DH installed the Frontier in our minivan and didn't do well after reading the manual but found it easy enough after watching a video online. He had some concerns that it would be harder to install in our CR-V than the roomier van, so in that respect he was happy about the Nautilus. DD can be a fickle little thing and I wouldn't be surprised if she goes through spells where she prefers one seat or the other.

BRU was out of the Frontiers with all the trade-in action, so that wasn't an option to buy today. The online deal is better anyhow I think we'll be OK with the options we have, since the Elite's wings come in to make a nice "pillow", and both seats are gender neutral for when the time comes to shuffle around again. The new seats may be all we'll need for a child, but when there is another one 26 months younger, sometimes shuffling makes more sense.

One of the reasons I was considering a new convertible for DS was to RF him longer than the RA allows, but I realized we'll have an extra Scenera when that time comes...I think that might keep him RF longer than the RA could? DD was too tall to safely RF in the Roundabout when she was around 22 months old, so we turned her in the secondary car. We held off on turning her in the car she rode in more for a couple more months. She was OK as long as she knew nothing but RF, but once she was FF in one car, she was a lot happier when she got to FF in every car. We traded my car in for the minivan, so two taller seats would be OK now. At the time we bought the RA, it fit better in my car RF than a MA would have.

I hope that you're happy with your Nautilus Elite. I also bought one with the trade in at BRU about a week ago. I have been VERY happy with mine so far, as has my DS. He LOVES his cupholder & cubby's. He is a tiny guy though. I also agree with the crotch strap about really being different once installed. It seemed that Marcus did not have a ton of room, but he gained some once installed. I also really like how the head wings go in for cradling his head, although he is in between slots right now, so the head rest is a little high!

you know, I hadn't thought of trying her in the Elite... (shows how Aunt Flo affects me sometimes)... obviously the adjustable headwings would make a difference.... just make sure you remove the harness pads after 40lbs (easy thing to miss in the manual)

and even if you don't have swap privileges yet, you can still find spare covers - ebay is great (as long as you make sure to avoid the custom ones)

I found this one, for instance... I love this cover... it's super soft - http://cgi.ebay.com/Britax-Marathon...aultDomain_0?hash=item3efd08667d#ht_500wt_975 - and perfect for a boy.


And maybe tell your daughter that she gets to GIVE him that seat so she can have one with CUPHOLDERS (and point out he won't have cupholders)... I know cupholders are not important to us grownups, but you'd be surprised how much they matter to kids sometimes.