Grrrr...more Nautilus frustration

mamaofthree · Mar 4, 2008

In my ongoing desperation to get a Nautilus, I called Baby Depot again today and they had it! Ran straight over to check it out. The back of the seat had some clear box type things over the harness slots. I'm thinking they were because it was a display model cause I haven't noticed it in any photos. There wasn't a manual out or anyone available to ask. I wanted to change the harness height to see how my 6 yo dd would fit in it and I couldn't.

Even sitting on the infant insert, she was under the third slots, so plenty of torso room, but it didn't seem very deep. I was worried her legs would hang off too much, but maybe that is because she was on the infant insert and not scooted back enough? She really seemed to fit good in it otherwise, and she of course loved the cubbies and cupholder. Also, both this display and the one I saw at WM had a really short harness strap. I could only slightly loosen it, which left a few inches of strap sticking out of the adjuster. I think someone else mentioned this, and I can't remember what the responses were. Are the displays being put together wrong?

Anyway, they had one available for purchase but IIRC, you can't make returns to Baby Depot, only store credit, so I wasn't gonna risk it. I didn't care for the silver color in the Matrix either. The contrast with the black made it look like more of a boy seat to me. The black/dark grey of the Bravo is a little more neutral and blendable with my grey interior. So my quest for a Nautilus continues....................

Kimberly

firemomof3 · Mar 4, 2008

My daughter is 4y/o and tall (54") and she is in a GN and if she wears her heavy snow boots while in her seat, her legs begin to hurt. There isn't quite as much support as I thought there would be, but we still love our GN :thumbsup:

TerisBoys · Mar 4, 2008

No - the boxes are a part of the seat.

Mine is in Florida currently so I can't take pics, but if you look at one again the straps should come through the slots, go UP over the red rollers, down over the rollers and 'box' to the splitter plate. Tumblebugs shows this in her review here: http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=32792

zactayaus · Mar 4, 2008

My 4.10yr old DS has alot more leg support in his GN than he does in his Cargo. I was actually quiet surprised by the difference. We also have plenty of harness left and a normal amount of adjuster strap left. And yes those plastic box things on the back of the seat are part of the seat. They make threading the harness into a different slot very easy. We are actually going to get another GN even though he has at least another year or two in his Cargo. We just love this seat!

murphydog77 · Mar 4, 2008

How frustrating! I hate both Baby Depot and Wal-Mart because neither store is near me and I usually leave each empty-handed and not having seen what I went to see.

I thought Baby Depot changed their store policy a long time ago regarding returns and they are "normal" now as long as you have a receipt.

mamaofthree · Mar 4, 2008

murphydog77 said:
How frustrating! I hate both Baby Depot and Wal-Mart because neither store is near me and I usually leave each empty-handed and not having seen what I went to see.

I thought Baby Depot changed their store policy a long time ago regarding returns and they are "normal" now as long as you have a receipt.

It's entirely possible that they changed their policy- I actually haven't been there in years. But of course there wasn't anybody around to ask. The only seat was in a box on a shelf way high so I don't know how I would have gotten it. I had all 3 kids with me that weren't cooperating so I just had to get out of there.

So the boxes are supposed to be there? How do you thread the harness then? They went through the slots, over the rollers, then behind the boxes. It seemed like you needed to pop the boxes off to change the harness height and I didn't see how you could. That's why I was looking for a manual, but it wasn't attached.

Kimberly

Defrost · Mar 4, 2008

mamaofthree said:
So the boxes are supposed to be there? How do you thread the harness then? They went through the slots, over the rollers, then behind the boxes. It seemed like you needed to pop the boxes off to change the harness height and I didn't see how you could. That's why I was looking for a manual, but it wasn't attached.

Kimberly

It's actually really easy - I was annoyed at first, too, when I saw them, but after using them I didn't mind them. The harness ends just slide right through. Plus, Graco was SMART, and I love smart.

If you undo the harness from the splitter plate and look at the one on the left (as you're facing the back of the seat), there's a TAG on the harness that shows how to thread the harness over the rollers. So you don't even need the manual to re-thread the harness - thank you Graco! :thumbsup:

DiaSmall · Mar 5, 2008

I highly suggest you go to Graco's website & look at the manual!

The back of the Nautilus has these little clear plastic things that force you to route the harness through the shell then up through the clear things to the top position and over the red rollers and back down again....
Here is the back with it routed through the top slots

and the issue on the adjuster strap being short.... its OKAY because the harness is always routed through the shell, up to the very top slots over the red rollers, and down again no matter what harness slot you are actually using.... So the adjuster strap is always basically the same length.
Might vary just a tad depending on how round in the middle the kid is... but since it would take less strap to go up and over the red rollers each time you move it up I doubt you would loose anything!
Here is a picture of the harness in the top slots and adjusted all the way out... I had about 3in of adjsuter strap left hanging off.

and one for fun... my 3.10yo with a 15.5in torso is using the 2nd slots!

Judi · Mar 5, 2008

mamaofthree said:
Anyway, they had one available for purchase but IIRC, you can't make returns to Baby Depot, only store credit, so I wasn't gonna risk it. I didn't care for the silver color in the Matrix either. The contrast with the black made it look like more of a boy seat to me. The black/dark grey of the Bravo is a little more neutral and blendable with my grey interior. So my quest for a Nautilus continues....................

Kimberly

They changed their return policy a couple years ago. You can get cast back, if you pay cash. Charge back to your card, if you pay credit, etc. It should be posted on a sign over the registers.

mamaofthree · Mar 5, 2008

Thanks for clearing all that up for me. And I appreciate the photos. Not sure why there didn't seem to be much harness in the store models I saw. My girls are skinny so I wasn't trying to pull it out much. Of course it is hard to get a good grip of something when you have kids with you and haven't seen the manual. I still prefer Bravo over Matrix if I can't have Galaxy, so I'll keep hunting WM.

Kimberly

Judi · Mar 6, 2008

The straps do seem to short to me. I tried a larger 3 yr old in one. Mom said she was 40 lbs. There wasn't a lot of extra strap.

daycaremom2002 · Mar 6, 2008

zactayaus said:
My 4.10yr old DS has alot more leg support in his GN than he does in his Cargo. I was actually quiet surprised by the difference. We also have plenty of harness left and a normal amount of adjuster strap left. And yes those plastic box things on the back of the seat are part of the seat. They make threading the harness into a different slot very easy. We are actually going to get another GN even though he has at least another year or two in his Cargo. We just love this seat!

Would you possibly have any pictures comparing how your DS fits in the Cargo compared to the Nautilus? I am looking at replacing my soon to expire Cargos in my van, and am wondering how they compare size wise and fit wise. Thanks.

zactayaus · Mar 6, 2008

daycaremom2002 said:
Would you possibly have any pictures comparing how your DS fits in the Cargo compared to the Nautilus? I am looking at replacing my soon to expire Cargos in my van, and am wondering how they compare size wise and fit wise. Thanks.

I don't have any pictures but I can take some tonight. Can someone tell me how to post them into my reply? I've never done it before.

DiaSmall · Mar 6, 2008

zactayaus-
it helps if you size them in ms paint or photoshop before you upload them.
then you upload them to a host site (like photobucket.com)
when you want to paste them here you click an "insert image" button up next to the *Bold Italic and Underline* buttons.
Paste in the "Direct URL" from photobucket & when you post it your picture will be imbedded in the post.

Or just copy & paste the URL from photobucket and we can click it to get to the image... makes bb load times faster for people on dial up.

zactayaus · Mar 6, 2008

I have taken comparison pics of my son in both the GN and the Cargo. Just be patient I'm not real good with computers. I have uploaded the photos to photobucket and I'm just trying to get them in here now.

zactayaus · Mar 6, 2008

I hope this works. My ds' stats are 36lbs 40" 15" torso. Take a look at the seat depth difference.
Side view of GN

Side view of Cargo

Front view of GN

Front view of Cargo

Where my ds' knee bends in the GN

Where my ds' knee bends in the Cargo

Ruler in seat of GN

Ruler in seat of Cargo

zactayaus · Mar 6, 2008

Help! How do I make the prictures smaller?

Mae · Mar 6, 2008

you have to manually do it through a program like paint, then upload it to photobucket... do you know how to resize through paint?

Mama! · Mar 6, 2008

Don't worry about the pics being too big. Just right click the box that says IMG code on photobucket. Then come here and right click it in the reply box, and then click paste.

Mae · Mar 6, 2008

if you don't.. you right click the picture and click "edit".
it should open it to paint.
then on the top bar thing... click on "image"
then click on "stretch/skew"
erase where it says "100%" on the horizontal and vertical size
type in about 50% for both horizontal and vertical
keep resizing from there until your picture is about 500kb's or less (i think that's what the moderators like to see size wise..)
then you upload it to photobucket

Grrrr...more Nautilus frustration

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