Roundabout 55 vs the old 40 lb version (pic heavy)

In another thread, someone said the new one was essentially the size of the old one, and only had a higher weight limit. I just happened to have both in my possession yesterday. I was borrowing the old style from a friend after our car was crashed until my diapers.com pre-order came. I didn't have a tape measure handy, but here are some pictures.

And no installed pictures, but the new RA55 takes up even less space rf than the old RA40. :thumbsup: I didn't move the seat at all, and there's at least a two inch gap behind dh's seat where the shell was just touching before.

Also, no pics off dd, for whom it was purchased. She was napping.

Here they are from the front. I can't remember if they were upright or reclined. You can see that not only does the RA55 have a taller shell, the seating area is lower.



side view upright -



side view reclined -



ds, 5y9m, 44" and 40 lbs in RA55 (the groucho glasses sticker wasn't showing up. now it'll probably show both...)



he was right at the top slot - probably would have been over in the car.



the RA40 was way, way, way outgrown




and others of the RA55:

naked -



the cover that won't stay on -



This is the closest I can get to fitting around that lip, even after I removed the cover and tried to fit it from the top down and keep it in place.

crunchierthanthou said:

In another thread, someone said the new one was essentially the size of the old one, and only had a higher weight limit.

You can see that not only does the RA55 have a taller shell, the seating area is lower

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I thought the "size of the old one" was in comparison to the "old" RA50, not the older RA40... Wasn't the RA50 Marathon-sized?

I probably didn't see the specific thread you're referring to, though, so maybe someone did say that, comparing RA55 with RA40.

Thanks for the pictures. The Marathon 70 doesn't excite me at all but I like the looks of the RA55. I that cover. I hadn't seen that one until today, but it is very nice.

Qarin said:

I thought the "size of the old one" was in comparison to the "old" RA50, not the older RA40... Wasn't the RA50 Marathon-sized?

I probably didn't see the specific thread you're referring to, though, so maybe someone did say that, comparing RA55 with RA40.

Click to expand...

this thread - http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=138192

this post:

Jennifer mom to my 7 said:

But I thought the stats on the roundabout 55 were shorter than the marathon and boulevard 70.

I had thought the conclusion was that the roundabout 55 would be the 40 pound roundabout with a 55 pound limit?

The roundabout 50 was based on the decathlon shell, so 3 crotch strap positions and no latch bars.

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Can you tether rf'ing w/the RA55? IIRC, it doesn't say on their website and I haven't bothered to read the manual. The RA always has been my favorite Britax seat, ever. Maybe I should look at the 55 if we should need a new seat.

KaysKidz said:

Can you tether rf'ing w/the RA55? IIRC, it doesn't say on their website and I haven't bothered to read the manual. The RA always has been my favorite Britax seat, ever. Maybe I should look at the 55 if we should need a new seat.

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Yuppers.

KaysKidz said:

The RA always has been my favorite Britax seat, ever.

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The RA is my favorite car seat ever period. I know it is outgrown way before kids are ready for boosters (but aren't all 40 pound seats?), but it's a great seat for babies and toddlers. The ease of install and the harness adjuster that just slides rather than the tug,tug, tug of the other Britax seats...oh how I loved that seat. (Ours expired. I actually cried when I destroyed that seat.) May it RIP.

crunchierthanthou said:

And no installed pictures, but the new RA55 takes up even less space rf than the old RA40. :thumbsup: I didn't move the seat at all, and there's at least a two inch gap behind dh's seat where the shell was just touching before.

Click to expand...

Wow! This surprised me. That is interesting. So it seems like this is an improvement over the old RA 40. It fits better, yet has higher limits, latch bars, and non handed latch connectors. Thanks!

Qarin said:

I thought the "size of the old one" was in comparison to the "old" RA50, not the older RA40... Wasn't the RA50 Marathon-sized?

I probably didn't see the specific thread you're referring to, though, so maybe someone did say that, comparing RA55 with RA40.

Click to expand...

crunchierthanthou said:

this thread - http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=138192

this post:

Click to expand...

Hey, I didn't say it was, I said I thought it was, but we didn't have seats in hand back when the speculation was going on about all the new seats.

Cool! Can you believe it's been at our BRU for over a week, but still in the box I'm a bad baby gear girl, bad bad bad (but there is NO space on the floor, billions of old Britaxes are still all over the place!)

Ohhh you just sparked my interest. I *REALLY* like the looks of that. Do we know how it compares to the classic Marathon? I need to do some searching it looks like.

Um, it looks exactly the same as the MA70, minus the adjustable strap/headrest thing. I mean, naked, the shell is identical. My MA70 is currently naked, due to an unfortunate incident today.

tumblebug said:

Ohhh you just sparked my interest. I *REALLY* like the looks of that. Do we know how it compares to the classic Marathon? I need to do some searching it looks like.

Click to expand...

well, you could come compare your seat to mine. I was in your city last night. I should have called you so you could check it out.