Question for Husky & Wizard owners

For those of you with Britax Husky seats, were you able to install it with your car's standard seatbelt or did you need to have an extra-long seatbelt installed to fit the Husky?

And are the Husky and the Wizard all that functionally different? We'll be moving our son out of his Roundabout and I'm considering these two seats. I have a 1996 Subaru Outback.

Thanks for any info.

Kristin

I have a '99 Ford Escort and I can install the Husky outboard with just the lap/shoulder the car came with. I haven't tried to install it in the center because I have another seat to fit back there. I'm guessing it would fit as the center lap belt is pretty long but you know, I'll have to try it the next time I clean out the car....I'm curious now.

Are they functionally different....well...the Husky is a forward facing only restraint. It can't be used on a plane. It's quite large and therefore doesn't always fit in every car nicely.

The WZ is a convertible seat, useable from birth to 65 lbs....so it works for rearfacing and forward facing. It's approved for airline travel.

I chose a Husky because my dd was almost 30 lbs at 12 months. She's a big kid and I knew early on that she wouldn't be staying in a standard 40 lb convertible seat for long. So I reasoned that although a MA/WZ would be nice for her, when I needed a new seat for her at 40 lbs, I didn't think it'd take her that long to get to 65 lbs and I wanted something that would last longer. I never travel by plane (single mom with 2 kids....can't afford it) and I knew the Husky would fit in my car. I didn't forsee needing to move the seat back and forth from car to car so it seemed like a good choice for her. I really love it. And I like knowing she'll be harnessed to 80 lbs. That should last her 'till about 4th grade LOL

I have the Husky...

and a '98 Passport. I can install it in any of the positions using the seatbelt with no problems. The Wizard wasn't out when I got my Husky, so there was part of my decision! LOL! I do have a Marathon for travel use...I liked the Husky as our primary seat b/c DS is a big boy(he's now 3), and I really like the extended harness weight. He likes it as well, and has no problems sleeping in it, although he doesn't fall asleep in the car much anymore...alas. Actually with some practice I found it relatively easy to install...I personally think the hardest part is getting it into the car! You have to kind of angle it, not go straight in. It is heavy, as well. Other than that, we love our Husky!
Beth

We have a SE (nearly the same as the Husky), and I've installed it just fine in our Villager, but it will only install in one seating position in our '78 F-150, the other belts are too short.

I wonder if (Carseat Data website closed - link broken) would have the info you are looking for?

Although you don't say the age/weight/height or your son, I can tell you what we did for our girls.

We went with the Wizard over the husky for our 3 year old. She really didn't like the Husky, and given its size neither did I. I like that the Wizard has the "enhanced side impact protection" even though I drive a minivan with top side impact crash scores. The head rest is great for sleeping, and my 3 year old who always tried not to sleep in the car because she would wake up with a sore neck, now loves to sleep on long rides. She is about 40 or 41 inches tall, and about 33-35 lbs at 3.5y. I am expecting number 3, so it is likely that her Wizard will be passed down before she reaches the 49 inch height limit (long before she ever makes it to 65 lbs!) and I figure when she needs a new seat we will deal with that.


We actually have two Wizards. Our 21 month old is still rear-facing in hers at 34 inches and 22 or 23 lbs, and will likely be that way for a while. She got the Wizard because when we bought the Sienna, her FPSE just never seemed to fit right, so we wanted a LATCH seat, and it seemed wasteful to get something that only went to 40 in/40 lbs.

Now, if you have a son who just turned two and is reaching 40 lbs, I would say go with the husky because comfort-wise I think the upper limit of the Marathon/Wizard is more like 55 lbs. If he just turned two, and is long in the torso and is outgrowing the RA by height I would also go with the Husky since it would be more likely to last him til he is over 4. For my 3 year old, she still fits with room to grow in our Roundabout since she carriers her height in her legs. For her build, I think the Husky would have been overkill at this point.

Since you already got good explanations of the differences between the Wizard and the Husky, I'll just tell you what we got, and why.

My dd is 32 months old, about 38 inches and 36 pounds. She's been in the 95th+ percentiles for both height and weight since 9 months old (even though she was a preemie who weighed less than 4 1/2 pounds at birth!). When we tried her in the Marathon, she had about an inch to go using the second-to-top slot, and the sides already seemed snug on her. I know, based on her projected growth on the growth charts, that she would have fit in the MA until at least age 5, probably to age 6, but that meant spending $250 for a seat that would last us about 3 years, 4 at the most. The Husky was $10 less, and we will be able to use it until it expires, so it made the most sense for us. Plus, dd has tons of growing room, and is totally comfortable in the Husky. There's a link to pictures of the Husky installed in my Accord and with dd in it in the Coffee Break forum, if you're interested in seeing how she fits in it.

We have it installed in the center backseat of a 1991 Honda Accord. There is enough room for an adult to sit next to it, but it's a tight squeeze. No other carseat would fit next to it, but if I moved it to an outboard position, I could easily fit another seat outboard...even another Husky.

It works fine with the belts that came standard on my Accord.

Thanks, everyone.

At his 27-mo. well-baby check in January, my son was 34-1/4" and 29#, which put him at the 50th percentile for ht. and wt. His head's in the 90th. (Scatterbunny, your DD was a preemie? Hhm, DS was, too, 3#7oz. So amazingly big now.)

He's been FF in his Britax RA for a while now. This is a segue, but one of the reasons we turned DS around to FF at around 18 mos. and before he hit the RF weight limit on his RA, is because we wanted the use of our front passenger seat back. The RA was installed RF behind the front passenger seat, which had to be pushed so far forward so the seats wouldn't touch (per California Highway Patrol officer) that the front seat became unuseable -- knees in the dashboard, way too tight. So I was surprised to read on this site that the seats actually touching is preferred for safety. Little did I know.

I'm siding more with the Wizard and we're thinking about getting it sooner rather than later, though DS still fits in his RA w/ room to grow. We'd put the RA in DH's car as a back-up and the Wizard in my car as the primary. I really like the side wings for side-impact safety and for sleep support. Kills me to see DS's head tipped nearly 90° to the side when he sleeps (often) in his RA, ouch! We'll have to try out the Wizard at a store to make sure his head fits comfortably in the wings.

Kristin

FWIW my kids have head circumferences at/above the 95th percentile and fit fine in the Wizards. We have the windowpane fabric, which they preferred over then New Blues. Britax told me that the Windowpane fabric is a bit thinner and gives more head room. I don't know how true that is, but they fit fine.