forward facing and booster seat help!

I am trying to figure out which seat to get as a secondary and occasional use seat for my son, without breaking the budget to get another Graco Nautalis, which we have as our main seat.

He is turning 4 in February, weight is currently hovering between 38 and 40 pounds, and he is 43 inches tall. He is in the middle of a growth spurt (eating more than a grown man and sleeping a ton, I cannot tell if it is a height or weight boom yet...) We live in Ontario if it makes a difference.

Although this seat will get used at the most once a week, I would feel better if he is using the 5-pt. harness instead of a booster if possible even once he is 4 and 40 pounds. I also have a feeling if he experiences the booster in one vehicle, he will expect it in all, especially since he is all about being a big kid these days and talks about when he is a big kid and uses the seatbelt...

I tried sitting him in the Evenflo Chase (FF and booster) and his torso height puts his shoulders at the top slot for the harness right now. I am having trouble finding another forward facing seat that he will fit into! There is not another baby in the future for at least another 2 years, so no need to buy a RF and FF seat with high limits at this point.

Any suggestions for me would be greatly appreciated!!

Just about the only seat that fits the bill is the Evenflo Maestro. Harness goes almost as high as the Nautilus and has a 47lb weight limit. Turns into a not very good booster, but a booster nonetheless. You could always sell it when he outgrows the harness. I believe it is about $129.99 at Zellers and BRU. I can't think of any other budget seat with a high top harness height.
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I was going to say the same. Unless I missed a change of opinion in the last few months though, the Maestro was getting reviews back then as a decent booster. Only problem seemed to be that it didn't adjust any taller so it was outgrown by height as a booster fairly soon after the harness height was maxed out. (Did that original opinion change?) Hopefully that option will give him enough room wt/ht-wise after the spurt.

The only other seats I would recommend in this case would be the Nauti or Frontier, both of which are of corse much more expensive. He is too young (and light) to booster and apparently too tall to make any other less expensive harnessed seats a good fit. Depending on fit in the Maestro and the spurt results, it may make more sense to scout out a Nauti or Frontier on sale.

TRU is showing the "Galaxy" pattern Nauti on for $179.99 on-line price on their website (though it comes up out-of-stock... do they do raincheques?):
http://www.toysrus.ca/product/index.jsp?productId=3375741

Zellers has a sale on the Nautilus every so often at 170.00 or so if you can wait until they have a sale again.

Thanks everyone! It's so hard when you have a taller than average child with a big torso and a small budget!

I'll try out the Maestro and hopefully it will last at least until he's over 40 pounds and 4 years old!