papa smurf
New member
Hi everyone, you were very helpful on my last round of questions few years ago and now my son is about to (or already has) outgrown his car seat and I want to make a decision if I should move to booster or stay with car seat.
My 7 year old son is 59lbs, ~49 inches.
Our current car seat is Marathon 70.
The reason I liked this car seat was the 70lbs limit, which meant we could use it until he is 8 or 9 with convenience of latch.
But, from what I read recently, I learned that latch has weight limit of about 60-70lbs, including the car seat, and I believe Marathon 70 is about 20lbs, this means it is no longer safe to use Latch.
While people claim seat belts are safer, I am not really comfortable with the loose feel of seat belt, I believe the car seat should have some kind of clamps but I didn't see them, that means the car seat will move around when the child is on it?
That's why I was thinking of upgrading to booster, using the latch to secure the booster to the seat, but use seatbelts for my son on the booster, but I don't know if 49" will be enough to prevent the edge of belt from scraping his neck.
What are your suggestions?
Edit: The Marathon 70 was manufactured in October 2011, started using in November 2011, I can't tell if it expired or has another year based on this:
My 7 year old son is 59lbs, ~49 inches.
Our current car seat is Marathon 70.
The reason I liked this car seat was the 70lbs limit, which meant we could use it until he is 8 or 9 with convenience of latch.
But, from what I read recently, I learned that latch has weight limit of about 60-70lbs, including the car seat, and I believe Marathon 70 is about 20lbs, this means it is no longer safe to use Latch.
While people claim seat belts are safer, I am not really comfortable with the loose feel of seat belt, I believe the car seat should have some kind of clamps but I didn't see them, that means the car seat will move around when the child is on it?
That's why I was thinking of upgrading to booster, using the latch to secure the booster to the seat, but use seatbelts for my son on the booster, but I don't know if 49" will be enough to prevent the edge of belt from scraping his neck.
What are your suggestions?
Edit: The Marathon 70 was manufactured in October 2011, started using in November 2011, I can't tell if it expired or has another year based on this:
Thanks.Infant car seats have a service life of 6 years.
Convertible car seats (excluding the Classic line) have a service life of 7 years.
ClickTight Convertible car seats have a service life of 10 years.
Harness-2-Booster seats have a service life of 9 years.
Belt-Positioning Booster seats have a service life of 6 years.
Last edited: