Compare and contrast of my three marathons....

I was changing covers around and thought it would be interesting to do a compare and contrast of them. There may be other differences, these are the ones I could find.

Jan 2003
rear-facing to 33 lbs
no red stitching on the tether
RF lock offs open to back of the seat
FF lock off uses the whole belt (I REALLY like this better!)
Cover has place to store latch
Cover has flap to get to the adjuster
strap covers have velcro
buckle has one click

April 2007
rear-facing to 33 lbs
one red stitch on the tether
RF lock off open to front of the seat
FF lock offs uses part of the belt
cover has place for latch
cover has flap for adjuster
strap covers have velcro
buckle has one click

April 2008
rear-facing to 35 lbs
3 red stitches on tether
RF lock off opens to front of the seat
FF lock off uses part of the belt
no flap for adjuster (I found it harder to use, maybe that is the point so kids won't get to it)
strap covers are sewn
buckle has two clicks, is longer, and shaped slightly different

I hadn't heard about the red stitching on the tether, I learned about it last week when I went to see a britax rep. It is designed to come out in a crash making the seat move forward but in slower movements kind of like anti lock breaks.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I'm thinking this would be more important for forward facing. If I am correct I'm thinking I'm going to leave Benjamin in the seat with 3 of them and keep Elizabeth in the one with 1 until she is 33 lbs and needs the one with the higher weight limit.

Yeah, the rip stitch tether is only for FF... I wonder what is diff. between the 1 stitch and the three, though....? Hmmm...
Have you used the RF lockoffs much? They put them the other direction as their answer to them 'always popping open'...i guess it was a pretty cheap fix, but I don't really know if it's much of an improvement...?

I was just thinking I wanted to play with the lock offs. I used them on the oldest seat until it broke and didn't bother getting a replacement since I was able to get a good install without it. Maybe I should have put in on the list "broken lock off." I don't think I've ever used it on Elizabeth seat (the April 07 one).

Did you notice the texture of the latch bars is different, too? My 35# one has a rougher texture to the latch bars than my 33# rf one. And it has skid resistant things on the bottom of the base.

melniemi said:

My 35# one has a rougher texture to the latch bars than my 33# rf one. And it has skid resistant things on the bottom of the base.

Click to expand...

I did notice the bars when I went to install it! Didn't notice the base, I'll have to check it out. It wasn't as easy to install with the new lock off. I tried to do it without the lock off but I got it much tighter with it. I hope it doesn't mess up my seat belt.

joolsplus3 said:

Yeah, the rip stitch tether is only for FF... I wonder what is diff. between the 1 stitch and the three, though....? Hmmm...
Have you used the RF lockoffs much? They put them the other direction as their answer to them 'always popping open'...i guess it was a pretty cheap fix, but I don't really know if it's much of an improvement...?

Click to expand...

It and it isn't. I have an older car. So I have to use the lock offs. On all three britax seats that I have (two BV and a marathon) I've had to flip them. Actually, they say that you cant just flip them. They sent me replacements for free. Apparently the nuts are one time use types that have plastic on the inside of them. Unless your belts are fairly close together, they don't stay closed. Seriously, any angle and you're screwed. It really is a PITA. I really like the style of the older ones though. We had one from 2000 I believe. They were gray lock offs. I don't know why they changed them!

Oh, and when did they change to the red rip stitch? My 10/06 marathon had it, but the two boulevards that I have that are late 03/06's don't....

After using it today the buckle and chest clip are harder to use on the newest one compared to the older two. Benjamin could undo the old chest clip by himself and now he can't and I used to be able to reach over and undo the buckle with one hand. It will take some getting used to, it isn't annoying enough to deal with having only one click.

M kids are little car seat nerds! I was washing the green cover and put on the microdot one. The teacher from preschool brings him out and he tell her "this is my new brown seat it has two clicks." Elizabeth now says "buckle," too cute!