Car seat suggestions please :)

I have a 3 year old, 34 lb, 39 inch dd. I'm due in Dec with our second baby.

The car seats I have to work with now are a Graco Comfort sport (I know, crappy seat. Purchased before I knew any better) that has 4 years of life left. A Graco Cargo that was just purchased a few months ago and an Evenflo Chase that has about 3 years of life left.

Here's what I was thinking. I want to purchase a Marathon, snug ride and Scenera.

I'd put my 3 year old in the Marathon, the new baby in the snug ride. Keep the Cargo,Chase and Comfort sport as extras. Then when the baby outgrows the snug ride, put him/her in the Scenera rf until the 35lb weight limit. Hopefully the new baby will make it until 2/2.5 in the Scenera. So that will make my dd right around 6 years old and hopefully she'll be old enough/mature enough/large enough for a bpb like a turbo or parkway.

I guess I just wanted to write it all out and see if my thinking sounds logical or not?

Advice? Comments? Different seats?

How many vehicles do you need seats for?

I agree about the ComfortSport, I wouldn't even use it. But I would use the Graco CarGo (provided it's a front adjuster model--anything but the Treasured CarGo) and the Evenflo Chase. Those are often recommended here because they have nice, tall top slots and are easy to use. The CarGo is also a favorite because it has deep sidewings and EPS foam.

There's no reason to get a Marathon now, unless you absolutely have fallen in love and want one now. The combo seats you have will work well for your dd until she hits 40 pounds. They don't make great boosters and you want to keep her harnessed anyway, so I'd get the MA at that point, so you aren't losing valuable life on the seat (it will expire 6 years from the date of manufacture and you want to use it for the new baby eventually also).

You could also consider the Graco SafeSeat 1 instead of the SnugRide, it goes to 30 pounds.

Along with the Scenera consider the Fisher Price Safe Voyage Deluxe (Marathon clone made by Britax with a few differences--no rear-facing tether, 55 pound weight limit) and the Sunshine Kids Radian.

If you went with one of the higher weight limit convertibles like the Safe Voyage Dx or the Radian for baby you could consider a Britax Regent for the older dd if you would like to keep her harnessed longer. The higher weight limit convertibles only rear-face to 33 pounds, but they have taller seat shells so sometimes they are better for taller babies and extended rear-facing.

There's really nothing wrong with your plan at all, I just wanted to throw out some alternatives.

comfort sport

Can you please tell me why this is a bad seat? thanks!

Clarissa

OP here

It's not a bad seat safety wise. I also have not had any problems with it function wise, the straps have never twisted, dd was never able to unbuckle it, it was always easy to install with both latch and the seatbelt, the harness adjuster was easy. Though I know some people complain that the adjuster is hard to reach when rear facing, we never had a problem.

The biggest problem is the harness slots are very low. My 3 year old who is pretty average was too tall for it by the time she was 27 months. And she was only 30 lbs, no where near ready for a belt positioning booster. Also, it only rear faces to 30lbs, while others do 33lbs or even 35lbs.

It's an acceptoble seat, but for the price you can get one that functions better.
The Comfort Sport only RF to 30 lbs, and when Rf the harness adjuster is very difficult to use. It's also very short, so is outgrown before age 3 by most kids.

I would suggest the Cosco Scenera over it. The Scenera runs between $40 and $60, right now KMart has it on sale for $35. It Rf to 35 lbs, and FF to 40 lbs. It's faily easy to install and use, although the straps do have a tendancy to twist.
The CS runs between $60 and $120.

Yes, like the others said, the ComfortSport is actually a pretty nice seat, for padding (except the base model), cover choices, sidewings, strap quality, installation. But as far as the most important features of a carseat go (top harness slot height--because that determines when a child outgrows a seat by height--and rear-facing weight limit), the ComfortSport is lacking. Sure, most convertibles have the same 40 inch height limit, but what really matters is that a child's shoulders are below the top slots and their ears are below the top of the seat shell. Shorter-torsoed kids will last longer in the same seat, longer-torsoed kids will outgrow it sooner. 30 pounds is the lowest rear-facing weight limit on the US market today. My dd would have outgrown the ComfortSport by height by her 2nd birthday. She outgrew her Alpha Omega by height at 2.5 years old. She outgrew the Touriva (old version of Scenera) around her 3rd birthday. All of those seats were outgrown by height at 30-35 pounds because they have such low top harness slots. That's why choosing a seat with tall top slots is so important. Going by cost per year, the ComfortSport can actually cost MORE for a parent than a Britax Marathon.