Advice on convertible seat for minivan

Unregistered · Feb 12, 2014

Hello ladies. I am needing to buy a 2nd convertible seat for my Mazda MPV minivan. The carseat will be going in a bucketseat using the seatbelt straps (older model without LATCH). My oldest son (2.5 yrs) currently is using a Britax Roundabout 55 which will be passed down to his younger brother (9 mos), so we are looking for a bigger seat for our oldest.

Right now I am looking at the Britax Boulevard Ultimate Comfort Series ($247 w/BRU trade in) or the Evenflo Symphony DLX ($172 w/BRU trade in). I was also looking at the Britax Boulevard 70.. any suggestions/advice?

FWIW my boys are about average height, maybe a little under. And 30% weight. So i'm not looking for the biggest convertible out there

I'm partial to Britax but would love to save a little $ with the Evenflo if its of similar safety ratings.

Thanks!

MommyShannon · Feb 12, 2014

The Evenflo has a 37" rf limit so I wouldn't get it. Britax will last a bit longer, but may or may not get an average height child to 4. They don't have a lot of legroom either which is ok, just gets awkward as they get bigger. Personally, I like Britax best the first two years, then I pass them down. You might check out the NextFit. It is very tall RF and comfy.

Unregistered · Feb 12, 2014

Thanks for the info!

Also, our oldest is FF so the RF limits aren't an issue. Yeah noticed the Britax runs out of legroom pretty quickly...

MamanMag · Feb 12, 2014

MommyShannon said:
Youight check out the NextFit. It is very tall RF and comfy.

I agree the nextfit is worth checking out!! With BRU trade in it is $210!! Great price!!

Good luck!!

wendytthomas · Feb 12, 2014

Unregistered said:
Thanks for the info!

Also, our oldest is FF so the RF limits aren't an issue. Yeah noticed the Britax runs out of legroom pretty quickly...

Ah. There's some confusion here. Most of us rear face our 2.5 year olds, and you were asking for convertibles. So you got advice about the rear facing limits since it was assumed that's what you wanted.

If you're not going to re-rear face your 2.5 year old (which would be optimal) then a combination seat is what you want. Why buy a convertible and use only half? It's more economical to buy a combination seat and use the whole thing.

For that I'd look at the Harmony Defender, Evenflo SecureKid, Graco Nautilus, Graco Argos, Britax Frontier, Britax Pinnacle.

If you would like to re-rear face him, a longer lasting convertible would be fantastic.

Wendy

Nedra · Feb 12, 2014

I agree that it makes a lot more sense to buy a combination seat for a child who needs a new seat after already turning FF. Otherwise you're paying for features you don't intend to use. The only reason I can think would be if you will need something you can pass down to your younger son because the boulevard will be expiring or because you are hoping to be able to RF him longer. In that case, I would recommend the Nextfit, as it will allow your second son to stay RF longer.

Wendy had some great suggestions for combination seats if you don't need a RF seat.

Advice on convertible seat for minivan

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