Frontier as a booster

mscarder

New member
I've been thinking about boostering DD1 full time this fall. She's already in a frontier85 but for some reason its never occured to me to just use the frontier as a booster. It's probably in my head because its the first higher end carseat I bought and I bought it to harness DD1 longer not to booster her at 5. She'll be 5.5 this fall and was 49lbs 49inches in April. I really have no reason to keep her harnessed... I was waiting on her being able to buckle her spare booster with out hassle and she's mastered that. She's mile ahead of her age maturity wise. Sigh. I'm pretty sure DS will get some use out of the frontiers harnessing power lol He'll probably need to be harnessed close to 7 :p Anyways those who have Frontier85s did you transition them into boosters or buy a designated booster?
 
ADS

MommyShannon

New member
Eh, DD has used the FR85 as a booster some. She likes it fine, but its nice using smaller, lighter boosters instead. It's annoying if I want to take it out and its big and awkward instead of being easy to move.
 

tam_shops

New member
Eh, DD has used the FR85 as a booster some. She likes it fine, but its nice using smaller, lighter boosters instead. It's annoying if I want to take it out and its big and awkward instead of being easy to move.

:yeahthatlove:

I do know people that are happy using it as a booster. Personally, I'd pass it down to the next FF child (when needed) or toss it into the garage in waiting until rather than going to the trouble of removing the straps and that screw for the head rest.

tam
 

VoodooChile

New member
Dd used the Frontier 80 as a booster for about a year before I got her an Oobr. The belt fit on her was actually fine, and I didn't need to move it around (good thing, because it was a beast). I mostly hated how wide it was--she'd pull out ALL the seatbelt to buckle herself, and end up locking the seatbelt most of the time. So yeah, we were happy to move to a dedicated booster for that alone.
 

2BunniesMommy

Well-known member
Used it as a booster for DD1 for over a year. Actually bought them just to use as a booster for her when I wasn't liking the fit of any others. Was great in the vans we had but didn't work out in our car and we switched to a regular booster at that point. It was too wide to buckle easily in the car because of short wiggly buckle stalks. Had no issues with it as a booster prior to that. Wouldn't want to move it though, so had a no back booster around if she was going in a different car for some reason.
 

Athena

Well-known member
We are planning to convert ours to booster mode when DD1 outgrows the harness (very soon), but she's just now fitting better in it. If we had switched her sooner, much before she'd outgrown the harness, it would not have fit her as well, so I'd definitely check that before making a decision.
 

HappyHoo

New member
I've used mine as a booster some with DD but it didn't fit her quite as well until she grew a bit more and at closer to 7 when she was 52" and 60 lbs it was a decent fit.

The Frontier85 in booster mode was compatible in my Mazda 3, but in DH's Ford Freestyle it didn't work as well. In that one, the seatbelt had to come up over the side of the Frontier and then down to the belt guide which caused it to not retract as quickly/easily as it should.

So I ended up ordering DD a Parkway SGL to use instead and now that DS is 4 and FF in both cars, he's using the Frontier in harness mode.
 

Dillipop

Well-known member
My skinny guy just turned 7, 49 inches, and about 45-50 pounds. I pulled the harness out of his for his birthday and tried it in our Sienna.

He's too skinny for it. I don't particularly like the fit on him, though it's almost passable. So he's now in a Recaro Vivo and Probooster, which fit him splendidly. I think if he were larger, it'd fit him much better. My 10 year old fits fine in it as a booster.

The other problem I had was that in our Sienna, the belt guide didn't allow the belt to move freely through it. We had to pull hard to get the belt long enough to buckle and then I had to manually feed it back through. Just something to check if you decide to use it as a booster.
 

Athena

Well-known member
My skinny guy just turned 7, 49 inches, and about 45-50 pounds. I pulled the harness out of his for his birthday and tried it in our Sienna.

He's too skinny for it. I don't particularly like the fit on him, though it's almost passable. So he's now in a Recaro Vivo and Probooster, which fit him splendidly. I think if he were larger, it'd fit him much better. My 10 year old fits fine in it as a booster.

The other problem I had was that in our Sienna, the belt guide didn't allow the belt to move freely through it. We had to pull hard to get the belt long enough to buckle and then I had to manually feed it back through. Just something to check if you decide to use it as a booster.

That's the size my DD was 6 months ago and the way it fit her. Now, it looks much better and that's a great thing given she's almost outgrown the harness. Isn't that part of why they recommend using the harness until outgrown?
 

Dillipop

Well-known member
That's the size my DD was 6 months ago and the way it fit her. Now, it looks much better and that's a great thing given she's almost outgrown the harness. Isn't that part of why they recommend using the harness until outgrown?

The original recommendation of using a harness until it's outgrown came about when seats only went to 40 pounds, thus keeping the under 40 pounders in harnesses. The newer rec does encompass the bigger seats, saying to keep 4-7 year olds in a harness until outgrown. Not sure if manufacturers are really thinking about recs when designing seats though.

I don't think most companies design their combination seats to fit best in booster mode once the harness is outgrown but it's very possible that Britax has designed their seat this way. I think it has more to do with combination seats needing to have a wider seating area than a non-harnessed booster and it makes for a poor fit on skinnier kids. If DS had 10 more pound on him without any extra height, he'd fit much better.
 

Athena

Well-known member
Sorry for any confusion. I meant Britax' recommendation for this seat as stated in their manual. I wondered if maybe they realized that it didn't fit as well before that.
 

aeormsby

New member
I plan on using at least one of ours for a booster possibly starting this fall. We have 2 for DS and he's 5.5 now, he'll probably be switching to a booster full time around his 6th birthday. I might send one to my sister to use for my (super tall) DN who is almost 3 and recently outgrew their RF seats. When we do switch I'll probably have DD use it as a booster though and pass the Vivo down to DS.

ETA - we have minimum headrests in our truck so the tall booster capabilities will come in handy in there :)
 

mscarder

New member
My skinny guy just turned 7, 49 inches, and about 45-50 pounds. I pulled the harness out of his for his birthday and tried it in our Sienna.

He's too skinny for it. I don't particularly like the fit on him, though it's almost passable. So he's now in a Recaro Vivo and Probooster, which fit him splendidly. I think if he were larger, it'd fit him much better. My 10 year old fits fine in it as a booster.

The other problem I had was that in our Sienna, the belt guide didn't allow the belt to move freely through it. We had to pull hard to get the belt long enough to buckle and then I had to manually feed it back through. Just something to check if you decide to use it as a booster.

Hmm Maybe I'll just have to try it out in our Van. It may not even work well for us at this point. I guess I can always keep it for long road trips when we travel at night. What generation Sienna do you have?
 

AnnieW625

New member
DD1 loves her Frontier 80 as a booster, which she has been using for the better part of a year. She is 7 and on the smaller side of 7, 48" and about 45# so before she was about this height at 5.5 it was hard for her to use correctly and the belt would get locked and it was a pain (so we bought her a Turbo high back instead), but now that she is taller she loves it and even always seems to comment that it is much more comfortable than the Turbo.
 

Chris

New member
DS stayed harnessed in his until age 9.5 when he got too tall for the harness and we switched to booster mode. Honestly, harnessed seats are easier to use correctly. No messing with retractable seatbelts, stuff getting hung up in shoulder guide, seatbelts getting twisted in places you can't really see, kids can't lean all over the place, etc.
As a booster it worked fine and is really nice and tall. It is very heavy and awkward to move around like others said. Also, because the booster settings don't really start until the highest harness setting, my very big 6.5 yr old doesn't fit in it as a booster. Because of the way my 3rd row seatbelts are designed, the seatbelt doesn't retract smoothly through the guide (but it is fine in my middle row captain's chairs and most boosters have this same problem back there.)
Honestly, I love the frontier harnessed, but it isn't my ideal booster.
 

Kayleen

New member
... because the booster settings don't really start until the highest harness setting, ...
Honestly, I love the frontier harnessed, but it isn't my ideal booster.

DD has 1 more harness click to go. I don't like how it fits currently as a booster for her. The seat is too wide for her. Graco Turbobooster fits her so much better. I think she will be out of kindergarten before she is boostered full time.

It's been a little while now but DD finally decided she can buckle and unbuckle her harness. So much nicer that way.
 

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