britax laptop?

Hi. My son is 3 1/2. He's at about the 100th percentile for height, and about 40 lbs. I have a Britax Husky in my car (LOVE IT!!!) and Britax Marathon (love it, but his shoulders are just about to the top slots, so I'll have to figure something else out soon).

My question is for a carseat for my Mom's car. She has him in her car quite a bit and I'm sick of moving carseats around.

I got a Graco Turbo Booster (with the back) for my mom's car. My son is technically big enough for it, but he keeps wiggling too much, or putting his arm over the seatbelt. I'm not sure he's mature/self-restrained enough for a booster yet.

However, since he's so tall, there aren't a lot of carseat type options available, other than the Britax Husky, as far as I know.

Someone gave me a Britax Laptop, which seems like an EXCELLENT idea - especially for my mom's car. Doesn't take up a lot of space, plus he can't wiggle out of it at all.

My question is, how safe are they? I know they're discontinued. I called Britax and the Customer Service person said they're great, and very safe, but that they can't accomodate the LATCH system, so they had to be discontinued. Is this true? I'm thinking, it doesn't have any head protection, plus I'm concerned because I read a bunch of reviews of the sheild type carseats, that said kids bonk their faces on these, and the 5 point harnesses are safer. Is the same true for the Laptop? I'd love to use it if it's a safe restraint for him, but I'll get something else, if need be.

If I DO need to get something else, can anyone come up with an alternative other than the Britax Husky? I feel like it's pretty big and expensive to have for Grandma's car!

The problem we've had in the past is that his shoulders are above most of the top slots in the other car seats - he's just at the top slot for the Marathon right now.

Is there another carseat that has high slots, or a booster that's more difficult to wiggle out of?

HELP! I'd love any suggestions!

Thanks a ton!
Anna

I have two Britax Laptops- one for occasional use in our vehicles and one for grandma. They work very well. We also use the Laptop for travel- it's very handy for taxis, limos, etc.

The only real drawback is that it adds no protection from whiplash or side impacts. Backless boosters have the same disadvantage. If you have adequate head restraint in the vehicle, and/or position the child in the center position then those issues are not really important.

I don't think it will be an issue to exceed the top slots in your Marathon slightly. In fact, Britax originally said that this was permitted, provided the child did not exceed the weight limit or other height limit based on the top of the ears exceeded the top of the shell. You may be able to find a thread about this in a search of the archives. Britax customer service no longer recommends this, however.

That's so weird. We had a Roundabout originally, which was great, except that Ewan's shoulders got too tall for the top slot. The Britax manual said it was fine to have the shoulders above the top slot, but then I read elsewhere that that's totally NOT recommended. So I got the Marathon. Now we're having the same problem with shoulders. (He's really tall!) I wish I'd have just bought two of the Huskies. Sigh.

Anyway, so if I do have the Laptop for Grandma's car, I'll put Ewan in the Laptop in the center position and the baby in an infant seat on the side? Or is it better not to have them so scrunched up, and put each in an outside seat?

The other question is, is he safer in a Laptop, or a booster (like the Graco Turbo Booster with a back) that he might wiggle in. I tighten the belt as tight as possible (it locks if I pull the seatbelt out all the way, then retract), so he's not wiggling MUCH - just whether his arm goes over the seatbelt. I keep catching him and telling him to put it back (and he complies) but he doesn't remember for long...

I wish there were more options for the tall, young kid. I feel frustrated that I keep having to change carseats - we've gone through infant seats, Roundabouts, and Marathons, and the Britaxes are like $250 a pop. Plus I have carseats in THREE cars, so this is getting ridiculous!!

Thanks!
Anna

Well, I can't point to any studies or comparisons, but I prefer the Laptop over a backless booster for my 5.5 year old... There would be no question in my mind if the child was prone to putting the shoulder belt behind their arm or back in a booster.

As I said, Britax customer service will officially tell you that the child's shoulders should not exceed the top slot. My point was that the original intention (based on the original manual and a conversation with an executive at the company) was that older kids could exceed the top slots provided they didn't exceed any other limits. I believe the justification was that once they are that old and developed, any possible risks of exceeding the shoulder slots was far outweighed by the advantages of keeping them in a 5-point harness. Please note that this ONLY applies to the Marathon/Wizard, and not necessarily any of their other models. Models like the Roundabout are shorter and have lower top slots and the same reasoning would NOT apply for kids who would be much younger and smaller when they reach that height.

I don't think it is a problem to have 2 kids next to each other, unless their interaction is an issue. We could never put my DS and DD right next to each other. It's bad enough now and they can barely touch hands/feet...

This blurb on weight and height limits may also interest you:

http://www.carseat.org/Technical/tech_update.htm#heightweight

Wow, thanks for all the info! This is so nice to be able to ask questions to someone who really knows their stuff!

I meant, would a booster WITH A BACK be better or a Laptop? The Graco booster seat we have has the nice head protection, but I'm just worried that he puts his arm over the seatbelt once in a while...

Laugh - a stupid reason, but the other reason I'm ready to quit using the Marathon is that it's up so high that I very often bonk his head on the door frame as I'm getting him into the car. Doh!

Thanks again!
Anna

OK... sorry to keep pestering you, but I thought of one more question. If I were to bite the bullet and buy another Husky, do you think that would be more or less safe than getting a really good booster, like the Bodyguard? What is more important - 5 point harness or side impact protection?

Thanks a ton!
Anna

If the vehicle lacks head restraint for the child, a high back booster would be a much better choice than a laptop. Any side impact protection is an added bonus.


5-point harness seats inherently have reasonable side impact protection, even without side wings for that purpose. I have a Bodyguard, but my son rides in a Husky daily.