Almost outgrown the GN... What to do now.

ericarizo · Jul 7, 2010

My DS is 5yrs. old and on the last harness slot of his GN. I am not sure that I want to change it to booster mode yet. The other problem is that I buckled the GN in the 3rd row middle seat of my Caravan because it is a lap belt only and is of no use to my other 4 kids. I am not sure if I should put out the extra money for a FR85 or if there are any other harness seats that have a higher top slot than the GN for a little cheaper.

ketchupqueen · Jul 7, 2010

Did he JUST move to the last slot? If so he probably has a year, maybe more, before outgrowing it. By that point, he'll be 6. Most 6 year olds (though not all, MOST) are ready to ride in a booster.

Now, if you want to keep using that middle spot, then yes, you'll have to get a Frontier 85, unless you want to go the 86-Y-plus-booster route. There are no other harnessed seats taller than the Nautilus, other than the Frontier 85 (and special needs seats.)

ericarizo · Jul 7, 2010

Yeah he just moved up to the last slot. What is a 86-Y-plus-booster???? I just really want to keep him harnessed as long as possible.

Maedze · Jul 7, 2010

ericarizo said:
Yeah he just moved up to the last slot. What is a 86-Y-plus-booster???? I just really want to keep him harnessed as long as possible.

If he just moved up he has 1-2 years left in the harness on the Nautilus.

There's no need or reason to keep a developmentally typical child harnessed 'as long as possible'. There's absolutely no evidence that a harness is safer than a booster, provided the child is big enough for the booster's minimums and has the maturity to sit in the booster correctly 100% of the time.

zavyirsdaddy · Jul 7, 2010

We considered the FR85 for our son and decided against it because 1. he's 7 and can sit in a booster properly now and 2. because it wasn't going to give us all that much more harnessed time for the price.
We also have the GN, we thought our son was about to outgrow it, but he still fits.

ketchupqueen · Jul 8, 2010

The 86-Y is from EZ-On. It's a harness that, combined with the seatbelt, creates a 4 point harness. You have to use a tether anchor with it, and a high-backed booster for head support if there's none there, and for proper lap belt fit. It goes to 168 lbs., although after 80 lbs. you have to replace whatever tether anchor you got from the manufacturer of your vehicle with a heavy-duty anchor from EZ-On. It's not super-difficult to deal with when using a lap belt, but not super-easy either. I ONLY recommend it if you regularly need to use every seat in your vehicle and will after the Nautilus is outgrown as well, because really after he outgrows the Nautilus he'll be fine in a booster, so why waste the money and energy?

BrendansMommy · Jul 8, 2010

Is there a way to rearrange so that he has a shoulder-lap belt? If not, then you'll have to keep him harnessed in a FR85 or 86Y.

But yeah, if he just moved up, you've got quite a while before he outgrows it. At that point, I'd booster him, if you've got an appropriate seating position.

Almost outgrown the GN... What to do now.

ericarizo

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ketchupqueen

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ericarizo

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Maedze

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zavyirsdaddy

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ketchupqueen

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BrendansMommy

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