Ok. Thanks. What would you recommend for a child his size then? I would like it to last as long as possible. He is in a Britax Boulevard in my car. Those straps are getting a little small on him now. They don't go up any higher and are currently at shoulder level. I am worried about buying him another seat and running into that same issue. I did see that the Nautilus is about 1.5 inches higher, but I don't know if that will last him that much longer. Also, it looks like I need to buy him two seats in the next few months. (One for DH and one to replace the Boulevard in my car). What do you think?
He could be harnessed in the Nautilus for probably another 2 yrs. As another poster said, 1-2 inches of torso growth could be 4-5 inches of growth overall. It's plenty of room to get him to a safe booster age.
At only 4, I would absolutely be putting him in a harnessed carseat, NOT a booster seat. He doesn't yet meet the bare minimums that most pros recommend (4 yrs AND 40 lbs), plus his bone structure will be more solid in another year or 2. The seatbelt is perfectly fine to install with--no less safe than using the lower anchors. You still want to use the top tether, though.
I would look at the Nautilus and the new Evenflo combo's (a step up from the Maestro), but even the Maestro will get him at least another year. The Blvd's top slots aren't really that tall.
And when he's ready for a booster, the Cybex is really nice, but it can have compatibility issues w/vehicle belts and such that the Graco Turbo rarely has. My 6 yr old rides in a Cybex booster every day. He loves it. I have a love/hate relationship w/it. I do LOVE the added side impact protection, the deep head wings, etc. We haven't use the lower anchors, b/c we don't have that in our cars, but in my tech class we used it for practice....and honestly, they were a PITA. Several police officers almost couldn't get it out of the car, and not b/c of being goofy, but b/c it was STUCK.
GL!
henrietta