Edited-- Britax convertible owner? Which did you choose and why?

I'm completely torn between basically ALL of the Britax convertibles -- from the Roundabout to the Advocate . . . if the Decathalon was still around I'd probably be obsessed with it too. It seems like each one has something that draws me to it. Sometimes it's a feature, sometimes it's . . . (sigh) the lack of the very same feature. Yes, that's how mixed up and confused I am. It seems that the only thing I can fully wrap my head around is that I like the Laguna cover the best.

So, Britax convertible owners, which one did you pick and why? Are you happy with your decision?

I know which features each one has, so you don't need to feel obligated to explain the differences between the models. If there are fit/comfort issues that you have found, though, I'd be very interested in learning more about that.

I'm just mostly wondering how you made your decision and whether it worked out for you. What features were important to you and do you still find them as important in retrospect?

I appreciate any insights you can give. I can't tell you how much I value this community and all the patient advice that I get here. I know that my question is not new, but the ones that turned up in the search of this forum were all a couple years old and the seats have changed since then. Thanks for all you do!

EDIT

Okay, you've all been super amazing. Can I give you a few more details about our situation and see what you think?

Here are the features we're looking for:

Lightweight -- This is in favor of the Roundabout 50 Classic, right? That's the lightest, as far as I can tell from Britax's specs.

Rear-Facing Longevity -- Again in favor of the Roundabout Classic, since it's shell is an inch longer?

Easy-to-install -- Not in favor of the Classics, since they don't have the hole in the shell and cover for you to pull the belt through, right? Also the roundabout classic doesn't have lock-offs, but I'm not sure if we'd need those since we install with latch and I don't anticipate many situations where we'd be in a car so old it doesn't have a locking seatbelt. But you never know, I guess?

Easy-to-adjust -- It sounds like the harnesses are all about the same level of difficulty, but my husband is set on the click-and- safe feature (pavillion) because the seat will be in his parents' car and they have difficulty with knowing how much they need to tighten her current seat. But when I tried it out a floor model at BRU, it clicked WAY too early when the seat was installed in the car. When I plunked her in a G3 a few months ago, it was PERFECT. But I think I was also trying it out with the straps above her shoulders. Maybe when they are below it doesn't work as well? I don't want to give my in-laws a false sense of security.

Side Impact protection -- The seat will be installed outboard. The Marathons and Roundabouts all have side impact protection from their sidewalls -- are these all equivalent, though? The pictures make their sidewalls all seem to be of different depths. Also, does the "true side impact protection" in the headrest really make a difference if the kiddo is rear-facing (and therefore their head isn't above the seat anyway)? My MIL also usually likes to ride in back with her, and so the protection to her from the SICT cushions seems like a good idea, although the advocate seems like a pain.

Easy-to-load -- I am guessing that this is in direct competition with the side impact criterion but my baby is at an age where it is a struggle to get her into her car seat. She arches her back and is very resistant. She's fine once she's in it, but she's a determined little thing when you're trying to load her. This is true even though right now she's in an infant seat and we can sit right in front of her. I have no idea how we'll manage a convertible! So anything that makes loading easier (ez buckle belly pad? Harness holders?) seems like a bonus.

RF Fit-to-car: I have tried the Pavilion in the car and it works well and has just barely enough space for my hand to pass through behind the front seat back. I know from the blog that the "Classics" might take up a little more room.

I don't care as much about:

Forward-facing longevity -- I think we will replace this seat with a Go-Hybrid for forward-facing, since that will be even easier to travel with.

No-rethread harnesses -- I'm not sure I understand the appeal. Maybe this is the sort of thing that is more of a big deal when your kid is forward-facing and so you can't just wait for a convenient time to re-thread the harness because the straps can't be below their shoulders? Or when you're transporting multiple kiddos?

HUGS -- do these really make a big safety difference? I am all for safety, but they seem like a huge pain to me -- both for the baby's comfort and the ease of use. I also suspect that they may have been part of the reason it was difficult to tighten the harness when I tried the Pavillion with my baby. I know if I have a seat that has them, I will probably remove them for RF, but I know they're required for FF on the seats that have them.

Baby is currently 10 months old and was 16 lbs and 26.5" at her 9 month check-up. She wears 12 month onesies and 9 month pants. She has kind of a big head. She has probably 2" over her head in her Aton 2.

If you were me, what would you do?

I chose the marathon 70 for my DD. She was 2.5yrs and I still had her rear facing. She was also a runner so I always had to force her into the seat, which meant no headwings for me, didn't want to deal with lifting her over that. I loved that I could adjust the harness height from the front of the seat. I am all for the most basic, easiest to use seat, but didn't want to have to mess with adjusting the harness height on the back of he seat through slots. I didn't want the click safe feature, because they don't always work anyway. I was pleased with the ma70. Although once I turned her forward facing at 3, her head was nearing the top of the shell, and I didn't want the only protection of her head to be the tiny headrest, so I moved her into a frontier at that point. If you plan on using the seat for forward facing too, and the headwings aren't an issue for you RFing, I would probably go with the boulevard 70.

Re: Britax convertible owner? Which did you choose and why?

We've had the old and new styles of britax convertibles. I loved the old style seats sooo much but I think the last hold out roundabout 50 is going away.

I actually really like the roundabout because of the simplicity of it but the top harness slots are low. I'd wager most kids would need an additional forward facing harness after outgrowing the roundabout (55-the new ones). This doesn't stop me from liking it but my kids are short.

The boulevard (70) is the other one we currently own. I really like the headwings forward facing as compared to the marathon (70). For rearfacing I could take or leave the wings. The extra harness height makes it a lot more likely a child could go from the boulevard to a high back booster. My oldest did just that and he still fits ff in the boulevard 70 at 7.

Also I think picking the model that has the cover you like is a totally reasonable thing to do. We definitely did that with the boulevard 70 since it came in cowmooflage at the time.

Re: Britax convertible owner? Which did you choose and why?

There is nothing wrong with picking based on a cover! That's the primary reason I have a BV70CS (now called a Pavilion). Also it was on a huge sale because they were clearing it out. I won't pay extra for the CS feature but I will pay extra for a cover I like. I also will pay extra for head wings. And I would pay extra to NOT have the exterior cushions of an Advocate because they're likely to be inconvenient at some point (since we have 4 kids).

I went with the Boulevard 70 because I wanted the wings and side impact protection. However, I didn't realize the wings are foam without any plastic around them and that my daughter would be able to snap the wings off. I just replaced the headrest (Britax sent it free of charge) and now I'm annoyed that this could be an ongoing problem, I could totally see it happening again since it is just EPS foam without anything around it.

Now obviously the seats have been crash tested and meet standards but I know for ME, I'm not thrilled with the foam-only-headrest being able to go above the shell. I am replacing with a frontier soon. At this point I prefer the Roundabout 50/Classic Marathon over the new generation convertibles. That is just my two cents

We have a RA55 and MA70. I got good deals on them and feel fine with the protection of them without the additional foam headwings. We are still using them RF but I'd be ok FF too. We will have headrests behind them and most of the child's head will be below the shell for a long time anyway considering the top of their head is 1" below the top when they turn. I do like combo seats ff for the lower profile so I just hand convertibles down, but I have no problem with it FF. I prefer the MA70 for the no rethread harness since I can put either of my younger girls in it and the higher height FF so it can last as a spare for both of them or friends longer.

Re: Britax convertible owner? Which did you choose and why?

I wanted the headwings but not the width of the Advocate. That left the Blvd and Pavillion. The click safe and covers were the deciding factors for me. Even though I read the CS isn't fool proof, I figured it would be helpful for my mom. I ordered a Pav with a "girly" cover for my mom's car. I really liked the diapers.com exclusive cover for the Pav, so I ordered that one for my car. We got the Blvd free (Registry Rewards) for DH car.

I have a Roundabout 55 and a Roundabout 50 classic. I got them because they were both on super sale, however, I do really like both.

Roundabout 55 had the same features in the other seats that were most important to me. Premium/double LATCH, easy install, deep sides. I like no rethread harnesses, but since I'm down to only one kid in a harness it's not a big deal to change them once a year. What I do NOT like on the boulevard/advocate is that the head wings aren't centered around the head when the harness is properly placed (FF). I know it's not a safety issue or anything, but it drives me bonkers that they always look too high.

Roundabout 50 is my spare and I got it cause it was so cheap. It's a good seat, but not the one I like to use everyday.

Re: Britax convertible owner? Which did you choose and why?

Well, I have Boulevards for the 2 cars we use the most (the wings are great for sleeping). I got a really good deal on a Marathon for my nanny's car, which is used 1-2 days per week, and then we have a Roundabout for our seldom used third vehicle (really really good price). The third vehicle is a vintage VW, so mainly goes out for short drives, car shows, and parades, so I did not feel the need for the extra wings for long naps.

I did like the possible extra side impact protection, which is why I have Boulevards in the 2 primary vehicles. Oh, and I did not want the extra width of the Advocate, did not care about the click safe, and really liked the zebra covers that were available for the Boulevards when I bought them.

Well here it goes, I have a:

Marathon Classic
Marathon Classic (again)
Marathon 65 (G2, same as the 70, but Canadian)
Boulevard 65 CS (G2, same as the 70, but Canadian)
Boulevard 65 (G2, same as the 70, but Canadian)
Advocate 65 CS (G2, same as the 70, but Canadian)
Advocate 65 CS-G3
Chaperone
Parkway
Pinnacle

All at the present moment..

I like them all for various reasons, though I own so many mainly because of their ease of use. If I'm installing outboard FF I generally grab an Advocate or two, depending on how many children are with me. If I'm installing next to a booster (I.e directly next to), I use a Boulevard. If I have a backless booster center in my truck, I put one or both Advocates next to it. I'll be acquiring a G4 Boulevard soon, and likely a Roundabout. I also love that I can shove a Radian (two of those in my stockpile...) between or on either side of the Britax convertible if I have a bigger RF kiddo.

Re: Britax convertible owner? Which did you choose and why?

I chose the boulevard for dd. I wanted as much sip as I could get but I didn't have room for the sict. Between the bv and pavilion, I have no use for the click safe thing. I leave the harness tightened anyway. My kids also rf in the radian after the britax is outgrown rf so I'm generally more interested in the best use now, not some distant future. Ease of use is big, especially to dh.

I was also planning to buy a ra55 for my mom's car for yds to use. It is just a secondary vehicle and he will be sitting in the center position of either the 2nd or 3rd row of '12 odyssey so I didn't need the extra sip. I also don't intend to use it ff at all so the extra harness height of the other models didn't matter. My mom has no problem rethreading the harness either. But, I happened upon a killer target clearance for another bv70 so we ended up with another one of those instead of the ra55.

My oldest has the sict on his because he rides outboard and I have the room. He has the pinnacle though, not one of the convertibles. I know you didn't ask about those but I guess my point is that I would have bought the sict for an outboard spot if there was space on a convertible too. I've been really happy with all my britax seats and I would replace them with the same thing if my car got picked up my a tornado and dropped in oz.

Re: Britax convertible owner? Which did you choose and why?

At the time we bought older DD's convertibles, they were the G2 series. This was almost 3 years ago - our decision was down to a Boulevard 70 or a Radian (Sunshine Kids at the time) and the Britax won because it was so easy to install AND was readily available in local stores for us to try to install in our cars.

Because DH's car at the time was a 2001 and was pre-lower anchors, we wanted a seat with built-in lockoffs, which Radians don't have. That car also didn't have side airbags and so we thought that the headwings on the Boulevard (vs. the Marathon) were a good idea. The Britax convertibles seemed to fit nicely RFing in around the same front-to-back footprint as our Keyfit, while the Radian was pre-angle adjuster and seemed huge front-to-back. Britax seats also seem more comfortably padded than many other seats; our kids spend a half hour in the car every morning and afternoon going to and from daycare and we want them to be comfortable. We preferred having a no-rethread harness, which was another point in Britax's favor. The final point was that the only store in our area which carried the Radian refused to let us take the floor model out and try to install it (even if I left my driver's license or a credit card in the store). We didn't want to order one online and have to return it if it didn't install nicely in our cars, so we went ahead with two Britax Boulevard 70s.

At the time we bought, we didn't realize that 1) older DD has a long torso and is tall, and 2) the Britax convertibles have the 1" of hard shell rule. It just didn't occur to us to think about it and she was a petite baby so we didn't think it would be an issue to get her to at least 2 RFing, and in the end it wasn't. We made it to 2.5 before we needed to turn her FFing. At 3.5 we're moving her to the highest harness setting and she'll be going into a combination seat in the next few months, and the Boulevards will be passed down to the baby.

My parents have a Marathon 70 (also G2) for their car and have been really happy with it. FIL wanted a 3-in-1 that was inexpensive and installed very easily with LATCH, and rather than the Eddie Bauer 3-in-1 that he wanted, we convinced him to splurge (relatively speaking) on an Evenflo Symphony. He likes the seat but it's wider and bulkier than we wanted for our daily use.

In the nearly 3 years we've had them, we discovered that Britax seats are just easy to work with. A solid, tight install with LATCH is a breeze in most cars; I can send older DD with her godmother for the day and it takes literally a minute to install a Boulevard in her car (kiddo is tall but light, so we can still do a LATCH install for the foreseeable future). A good seatbelt install is easy with the lockoffs. When going from RF to FF there's no need to re-route LATCH straps. The harness isn't twisty. The hardware is of nice quality and the cover can be removed without uninstalling the seat (although we usually do). Plus, the one in my car is Cowmoo and I smile every time I see the seat.

We would not buy new Britax convertibles for the baby - she's SO long (consistently over 80th percentile since birth) that I worry she won't get to 2 RFing in the Boulevards that we have. If we need new convertibles down the line we'll likely go with one of the upcoming Diono seats. If only Britax could make seats that allow taller kids to RF for longer, they really would be perfect for us!

I picked the blvd 70 this time round bc of the Caitlin cover. This is out 3 child and our 2nd girl and we have basically assigned her the color purple bc it avoids our oldest constantly thinking everything girlie in the house is hers still. My oldest is in a frontier in the pale pink

My first was a RA55 because it was super cheap on clearance, it replaced a Scenera. Then my car was hit and the insurance paid to replace the seat. There weren't any RA to be found locally, so I went with the Marathon G3. I went with that over ones with SICT because I have a small backseat and didn't want the larger headwings because I was afraid my little rider would hate them. If I had to do it over again though, I probably would have seen if the insurance company would have replaced my Nautilus w/ a Frontier and a RA55 w/ a MySize/HeadWise.

Re: Britax convertible owner? Which did you choose and why?

The only Britax convertible I've ever owned was a RA55. I got it because it was on a killer sale and it was in my favorite pattern (Onyx). I knew it wasn't going to keep my tall child RF as long as I wanted, so it was a temporary purchase, really. I just wanted something different to use for a little bit. I eventually passed it down to a family member with a younger child.

Re: Britax convertible owner? Which did you choose and why?

Thank you for all the replies!

One follow-up question:

Looking back through old posts, it seems that there are many comments about the Roundabout being easier to adjust than the Marathon. Anyone know if this is still true or just an issue with the older generations of these seats? Are Roundabouts still easier than Marathons? How do the other seats compare? We need whichever is easiest because my MIL has arthritis.

Re: Britax convertible owner? Which did you choose and why?

Nedra said:

Thank you for all the replies!

One follow-up question:

Looking back through old posts, it seems that there are many comments about the Roundabout being easier to adjust than the Marathon. Anyone know if this is still true or just an issue with the older generations of these seats? Are Roundabouts still easier than Marathons? How do the other seats compare? We need whichever is easiest because my MIL has arthritis.

Click to expand...

The ease of adjustment and installation is super easy on the current gen. My mom also has arthritis and that is one reason (of many) that she has the britax. She is very happy with the britax ease of tightening. I can't compare to the old, but comparing my bv70s to store ra55 I see no difference in tightening.

Re: Britax convertible owner? Which did you choose and why?

I think the ease of adjustment on the roundabout versus the marathon is talking about the original versions that have been retired since 2010. Back then the roundabout was the 40lb forward facing limit one and it had a wonderfully smooth harness pull. The marathon had a 65lb forward facing limit and it was a tug tug harness pull.

There is no discernible difference between the roundabout 55/g4 that is currently available and the marathon g3/g4 in terms of harness pull.

abigaylebelle said:

I think the ease of adjustment on the roundabout versus the marathon is talking about the original versions that have been retired since 2010. Back then the roundabout was the 40lb forward facing limit one and it had a wonderfully smooth harness pull. The marathon had a 65lb forward facing limit and it was a tug tug harness pull. There is no discernible difference between the roundabout 55/g4 that is currently available and the marathon g3/g4 in terms of harness pull.

Click to expand...

Britax Classic seats are still in production, and will be for the foreseeable future. The shell is now black on the Classics, but identical to the white shell of the previous Classic models. The Marathon Classic is readily available at Target. The Roundabout Classic is available at Walmart and on Amazon.

Re: Britax convertible owner? Which did you choose and why?

happiness-and-balance said:

Britax Classic seats are still in production, and will be for the foreseeable future. The shell is now black on the Classics, but identical to the white shell of the previous Classic models. The Marathon Classic is readily available at Target. The Roundabout Classic is available at Walmart and on Amazon.

Click to expand...

The roundabout classic is not the original 40# weight limit roundabout, though. So... yeah. For as much as I do like Britax, their naming scheme could use a little help.