well now, I think people are being a tad unfair because their expectations were not met, but in reality, we have been saying for a long time that a scenera with EPP/S foam would be a valued addition to the market. Well, that's basically what this is, except they used their new trademarked air cushions instead of EPP/S foam.
$99 might not be the $60 or 70 "scenera with EPP foam" seat some people had hoped for, but it's still one of the cheaper seats on the market, and is a great seat for what it is. It is now priced on par with the titan, and is a better seat that the titan in both weight and height limits. It's a tad more than than the tribute or CS, but again, has higher weight and/or height limits. It seems perfectly priced for me.
As i see it, now the , $100 options are.
Regular Scenera 35/40/16 inches/no foam $45
40 lb RF scenera, 40/40/16 /no foam $55
Tribute 35/40/14?/foam $60
CS 30/40/14?/foam $80+
Avenue 35/40/16/foam $80
Titan Elite 35/50/15/foam $99
Onside air 40/40/16/aircushions $99
So as you can see, each option has something the others dont. There are basically 3 features you want, the higher weight limits, the higher slots and the EPP/S foam or air cushions. For the purposes of this discussion "higher slots" means about the 16 of the scenera/avenue/OA versus the 14ish of the CS or tribute.
Barebones scenera is the cheapest. Has the higher slots, but no high RF limit or foam.
$10 more gets you the 40lbRF limit in the 40 lb RF scenera, has the same slots, still no foam.
$15 more gets you the foam in the tribute, but the tradeoff is significantly lower harness slots, and the standard 35 lb RF limit.
There is no advantage to the CS, period. IT has the lowest limits in height and weight, and a higher price. It does have epp foam and..uh..cute covers?
$35 more gets you an avenue, which has the foam, and the higher slots, but the standard 35 lb RFing limit. *probably the best value still*
$55 more gets you the Titan, which has the standard 35 lb RF limit, an expanded 50 lb FF limit(unrealistic), with middling slots and EPP/S foam
or the the onside air, which has all 3 features - 40-lb RF, higher slots, and foam/aircushions.
The OA is now the lowest priced seat that offers reasonable slots, a 40-lb RF limit, and some form of side impact protection beyond a harness, in the form of some foamy air cushion things. However, the shell height means that most of the seats here aren't truly usable as 40-lb RFing seats anyway except for a certain body type of child.
But anyway...those are the under $100 options, outside of sales or clearances, and I think for the most part, there is a decent selection. If we remember that the average parent probably has, at best, the 2 year RFing goal that is the standard AAP recommendation, any of these seats will do to meet that goal, and the MAestro is still probably going to outsell all of these because most parents are looking to FF their kid anyway by 12-24 months.
