what age are Frontier/Nautalis/Regent outgrown?

Melanie

New member
There are a lot of threads about these three seats, but I'm still looking for an answer to something. At what age is the harness usually outgrown by an average sized child. I guess is what I'm looking for is "kids usually have X amount of years left in a Regent vs a Frontier/Nautalis"

Or is that the magic question that no one can answer but everyone would like to know?

For example-if it turned out I'd only get an additional 6 months of harnessing from a Regent it wouldn't be worth the hassle of the big beast. On the other hand, I wouldn't want to buy a Frontier/Naut just to have to get a Regent down the road.
 
ADS

KBecks

New member
I am still confused on the issues, but I'm starting to think that with our kids, we'll keep them in Marathons for as long as possible -- I'm thinking it will be around 5 years they grow out of our MAs.

After the Marathon, I'm thinking that the Regent is the next best 5 pt harness seat, since the straps are higher, and a Regent could go to 7 or 8 years old.

That's my guesstimation at this point. I've seen lots of signature pics with older kids in Regents.

Then my other question (sorry for the big hijack) is whether a 5 year old could go into a booster or should stay in a 5 pt harness, but it seems that the big Regent is going to give the most protection.

I'm surprised that kids get boosters after the Regent, it seems it would cover the whole legal period of carseats to 8 years, but for smaller kids, it would still make sense to use a booster then.

What I'm reading about both the Nautilus and the Frontier is that they have less room and are harder to install than the Regent -- but I drive a minivan as the primary family vehicle so space isn't a problem. In our second car, we'll be still debating about which MAs, combo seats or booster because there is less space.

Did you see this thread?
http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=51155&highlight=regent
 
Last edited:

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
I'd say most kids are 5-6 in a Marathon, 6-7 in a Radian, 7-8 in a Frontier, 7-8 in a Nautilus, and 10-11 in a Regent. It seems most of us are prefering to keep our kids boostered till at least 11 (4 foot 9 or a little taller, and when the hip bones start pubertal development), plus, who wants to move a Regent to a friend's car? So most Regent riders also have boosters starting in kindergarten-ish for spares.

We had a couple of Huskies (a hair taller than the Regent) but didn't really use them past age 7...the Frontier would have been a better seat for us (particularly my DD who never was comfortable with how wide open the Husky was and wanted headwings for sleep support).

:twocents::)
 

christineka

New member
Kids, like adults all come in different sizes. You can't give an age limit to car seats and go by that. My 3.5 year old rfes in a scenera and has 5 inches above her head. Some 2 year olds have completely outgrown the same seat.

I have heard that generally kids grow an inch of torso a year. So, measure your kid's torso. If the child has a 14 inch torso, then they would have about 4 years in a nautilus or 6 years in a regent. My 8 year old has a 16.5 inch torso. She is not too big for car seats or boosters. On the other hand, there are some 8 year olds that are too big.
 

Mommy2Five

New member
My son outgrew the GN by weight just after his 9th B-day.
IMG_0017-2-1.jpg


My DD outgrew hers by height recently at at 7.5
04-01-200822.jpg



They are in Huskies now, and are both below the 2nd to top slots! (though they'd probably have less room in a post advisory Regent the way it's been explained to me..)
07-15-20086.jpg
 

scatterbunny

New member
ITA with Julie's approximations, for average-sized kids. :) My daughter (the girl pictured in the Nautilus/Regent comparison thread linked to earlier) was too tall for a Marathon at 4, too tall for a Nautilus and Frontier at 6, and should fit in a Regent to age 8, but she's always been 95th+ percentile for height.
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
Yeah, there're always those kids off the bell curve (the 3 yo too tall for the MA comes to mind...and I know a 12 yo who would fit in a Nautilus...)

:D
 

scatterbunny

New member
Yes, a 3yo too big for the MA always boggles my mind. :p And a 12yo who would fit the Nautilus harnessed, that's amazing.
 

Melanie

New member
Thanks for all the great replies. I think this thread will be helpful to a lot of us that are deciding between these seats. Scaterbunny, my DD sounds like yours, tall & skinny always 98-100% height. I figured I'd add a year to the "average" child & be fairly accurate. She's 3 1/2 & the size of a 4 1/2 year old. Humm-I don't know if I'd be comfortable with a booster at age 6 if she follows the same pattern.

Or, I could get a Frontier in the near future (she'll be outgrowing the Marathon or DD3 will outgrow the Roundabout before too long), use it for DD2, then get her a Regent when she outgrows it & give the Frontier to DD3. She's a peanut and it would last her till 16...or when it expires, lol.

Oh the choices...and while I don't "need" a new seat now, I've been thinking about getting the next step car seat so we could us it as a spare. DH's car gets much better gas mileage so we always drive it out of town. It gets tiring uninstalling & reinstalling 2 car seats each time, then putting them back into my vehicle. Especially when its 110 out.
 

jubgulia

Active member
Kids, like adults all come in different sizes. You can't give an age limit to car seats and go by that. My 3.5 year old rfes in a scenera and has 5 inches above her head. Some 2 year olds have completely outgrown the same seat.

I have heard that generally kids grow an inch of torso a year. So, measure your kid's torso. If the child has a 14 inch torso, then they would have about 4 years in a nautilus or 6 years in a regent. My 8 year old has a 16.5 inch torso. She is not too big for car seats or boosters. On the other hand, there are some 8 year olds that are too big.

Oh, dear. An inch a year?! Well, I guess that might be okay. My 2 year old has a 15" torso but he is average height. I guess he has short legs. He is using the 2nd to top slots RF in the True Fit. So one more slot will get him 2.5 more years? My goal was to keep him harnessed to at least 4.

Hmm... my 6 month old is already using the 2nd from bottom slots on the True Fit WITHOUT the padding. May have another long torsoed child.
 

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