Question Need help selecting a car seat: Britax Boulevard, Graco 4Ever or Britax Marathon?

Sam K · Apr 2, 2017

Hi All,

I'm really confused about to which car seat to get for my 13 month old son who has outgrown his Chicco Keyfit 30. The seat will be used in a 2017 Kia Sorento which isn't as big as some other midsize crossovers. I'm trying to decide between the Britax Boulevard ClickTight, Graco 4Ever (not the Extend2Fit model) and Britax Marathon ClickTight. I selected these 3 based on recommendations from this site, Amazon reviews and Consumer Reports reviews. I'm only considering the Britax Marathon because of the high ratings on Consumer Reports but their reviews don't make sense to me because they rated the Britax Boulevard lower than the Marathon even though the Boulevard offers secondary side impact protection which the Marathon doesn't have. The Graco 4Ever has higher ratings on Amazon than the 2 Britax models but the information I've heard and read says that the Britax car seats are supposed to be the safest ones on the market. Does anybody recommend one over the others and why?

Thanks in advance.

Sam

wendytthomas · Apr 2, 2017

Hi there.

You're right to be confused. Remember that Amazon ratings are left by people who generally have no idea what they're doing ("My two year old loves the cupholders in his booster seat! Five stars!" for instance), and Consumer Reports goes by non standard testing and they factor in many thing, none of which make sense why the Boulevard would be ranked less than the Marathon (maybe cost? No idea).

But there is no safest seat. Not that we know. They all pass the same very very stringent testing.

If you have concerns about the backseat size of your car, I'd go with a very compact seat. The Britax ClickTights are compact, and the Boulevard will last longer rear facing than the Marathon as it's taller. The Graco Extend2Fit will rear face longer by weight than the 4Ever, and it's more compact. If you like the 4Ever but want the compactness of the Extend2Fit, try the one you said you weren't considering, the 4Ever Extend2Fit. Other compact seats rear facing include the Safety 1st Grow and Go EX Air, Chicco NextFit, the 4Ever is compact but not super duper compact.

Wendy

Vinjari1990 · Apr 2, 2017

I'm not sure if there is a size difference but when my son was 6 months old we bought a Britax Advocate Clicktight. I liked the seat but it took up a lot of space in my car. We went car shopping for an SUV and actually tried the seat in a 2016 Sorento and it did NOT fit well, I was actually surprised. We ended up going with a 2016 Ford Escape. A couple months later I actually sold the Advocate and bought a Chicco Nextfit CX and that seat fit SO much better and I loved that seat so much more. I would definitely take a look at that seat. It seemed to fit much better front to back in our vehicles

wendytthomas · Apr 2, 2017

If you sit a ClickTight more upright it fits well nearly everywhere.

The Advocate is two inches wider than the Boulevard at the Side Impact Cushions. That's the only difference. It's 20" wide rather than the Boulevard's 18".

Wendy

Vinjari1990 · Apr 2, 2017

Very true. My son was only 6 months when we put him in advocate and didn't have great head control but was tall for his age. He really needed the seat reclined. I just felt the Chicco Nextfit fit a lot better and was happier with that seat. My son is over 2 1/2 now and in a Frontier, he is already in all 3t/4t clothing and 90th% for height. We did keep him rearfacing through age 2.

Sam K · Apr 2, 2017

wendytthomas said:
Hi there.

You're right to be confused. Remember that Amazon ratings are left by people who generally have no idea what they're doing ("My two year old loves the cupholders in his booster seat! Five stars!" for instance), and Consumer Reports goes by non standard testing and they factor in many thing, none of which make sense why the Boulevard would be ranked less than the Marathon (maybe cost? No idea).

But there is no safest seat. Not that we know. They all pass the same very very stringent testing.

If you have concerns about the backseat size of your car, I'd go with a very compact seat. The Britax ClickTights are compact, and the Boulevard will last longer rear facing than the Marathon as it's taller. The Graco Extend2Fit will rear face longer by weight than the 4Ever, and it's more compact. If you like the 4Ever but want the compactness of the Extend2Fit, try the one you said you weren't considering, the 4Ever Extend2Fit. Other compact seats rear facing include the Safety 1st Grow and Go EX Air, Chicco NextFit, the 4Ever is compact but not super duper compact.

Wendy

Thanks Wendy. Your speculation is correct that I'm concerned about the car seat fitting in my Kia Sorento. We have the Chicco Keyfit 30 installed behind the front passenger seat and we need to have the passenger seat pretty far forward for it to fit. One follow up question. Are you saying that the Britax Boulevard is smaller than the Graco 4Ever?

I didn't consider the 4Ever Extend2Fit because I don't think I will be able to keep my son rear facing until he is 50 pounds and I saw that you basically get a plastic leg extension piece on the Extend2Fit models.

I wish this website had all the exterior dimensions of the car seats including the exterior height and depth (not just the width) so that we could compare the exterior size of the car seats. Right now I only see the exterior width. One or the reasons I didn't consider the Britax Advocate is because it's wider than the Boulevard.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

wendytthomas · Apr 3, 2017

Front to back dimensions are not super reliable. In a backseat that's very sloped I'll be able to get a seat more upright than in a vehicle with a very flat backseat. So it depends a lot there.

Moving the seat to the middle and using the seatbelt will give your front seat passengers more room, as well as make your child safer by giving them the middle seat.

The Boulevard ClickTight can be more compact front to back than the 4Ever, yes.

Wendy

Sam K · Apr 4, 2017

Vinjari1990 said:
I'm not sure if there is a size difference but when my son was 6 months old we bought a Britax Advocate Clicktight. I liked the seat but it took up a lot of space in my car. We went car shopping for an SUV and actually tried the seat in a 2016 Sorento and it did NOT fit well, I was actually surprised. We ended up going with a 2016 Ford Escape. A couple months later I actually sold the Advocate and bought a Chicco Nextfit CX and that seat fit SO much better and I loved that seat so much more. I would definitely take a look at that seat. It seemed to fit much better front to back in our vehicles

Thanks Vinjari. My wife didn't like the Chicco Nextfit because it looked like it would be too confining for my son whereas the others looked a little bit more open. The Chicco Nextfit was the top rated convertible car seat in Consumer Reports.

wendytthomas said:
Front to back dimensions are not super reliable. In a backseat that's very sloped I'll be able to get a seat more upright than in a vehicle with a very flat backseat. So it depends a lot there.

Moving the seat to the middle and using the seatbelt will give your front seat passengers more room, as well as make your child safer by giving them the middle seat.

The Boulevard ClickTight can be more compact front to back than the 4Ever, yes.

Wendy

Thanks Wendy.

I read a little bit on the Consumer Reports website about their ratings. Their convertible car seat ratings have a crash protection rating which is either "Basic", "Better" or "Best" based on their testing. The Britax Boulevard and Advocate got a "Basic" rating, the Marathon got a "Better" rating and the Chicco NextFit got a "Best" rating. The Graco 4Ever didn't get that type of rating because they have different criteria for "all in one" car seats like the 4Ever.

Here's their explanation of how CR does their crash test:

Consumer Reports has developed a new crash test that offers consumers comparative performance information on which car seats could provide an additional margin of safety when compared with other models within the same ratings group that have been subjected to the same test protocol. Our Crash Protection Ratings are based on injury criteria measured on standardized child-size dummies, contact of the dummy’s head with the back of a simulated front seat and a car seat’s ability to remain intact during the course of testing. Consumer Reports’ new crash tests are not designed to check whether a seat complies with current federal car seat safety standards;. Rather, the purpose of our new tests is to differentiate the seats’ performance on a scale that ranks the performance of tested seats ranging from “basic” to “best.” Our focus on providing an “extra margin” of safety, rather than on determining whether a seat is safe or not, is based on the fact that any car seat sold in the U.S. already must provide an essential level of safety under the government standards. The new test conditions were carefully designed to simulate the interior environment and forces encountered during a crash in contemporary vehicles. Changes from the way that convertible seats were rated previously include using a test bench that better simulates the vehicle seat design from a contemporary vehicle, with more representative cushion stiffness and seat geometry and incorporation of a “blocker” to simulate a front seatback. The new test also runs at a higher 35mph speed, with other representative dynamic characteristics that better simulate the behavior of contemporary vehicles during a crash.

Lovatic24 · Apr 4, 2017

The graco milestone is also fairly compact and has a more open seat area.

Sam K · Apr 5, 2017

Lovatic24 said:
The graco milestone is also fairly compact and has a more open seat area.

Thanks. The Graco Milestone was also highly rated by Consumer Reports. Unfortunately they don't rate the Convertible and All In One car seats the same way so it's hard to compare their rating of the Graco Milestone / 4Ever All in Ones to the Convertible Britax Boulevard / Marathon and Chicco Nextfit.

flutie128 · Apr 5, 2017

Honestly I would just buy whatever seat fit your needs and your car the best. All the seats on the market have passed the required tests. Of all the seats listed the Milestone is my favorite.

Unregistered · Oct 18, 2017

I know this is an older thread but did you ever end up picking a car seat that you liked? I am having the exact same confusion right now trying to pick a car seat for my son who has outgrown his infant car seat. I have been looking at the Britax Marathon, Graco 4ever and Chicco nextfit. I have the similar confusion when looking at the consumer reports ratings. Britax marathon is rated a "better" in crash protection and the the graco 4ever got a "best" but this is for all in one car seats so I don't know how it compares to the marathon. I also find it odd that the boulevard and advocate got lower ratings than the marathon. The nexfit got a "best" but like your wife I don't really like the look of the nextfit, it seems confining and like it would be hard to get my son in and out of the car seat.

Question Need help selecting a car seat: Britax Boulevard, Graco 4Ever or Britax Marathon?

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