Frontier on sale

on the Babies R Us canada website for $279.97
I am awaiting my GN but am now wondering if for the $30 more than the GN is at Sears, is the Frontier a better seat?

What do you think?

Hands down the Frontier is better IMHO. You get a full 9 years before it expires, the GN has 6yrs on the harness and HBB and 9 years on the booster cushion. The Frontier has slightly higher harness slots and goes much higher in HBB mode. The Frontier is wider in the shoulders and seat area so it is much more likely to keep them harnessed and in a booster longer. CDNTech has taken pictures of her son in both and will hopefully post them soon. The seat looks pretty and that is pretty much all I can say positive about it.

Here is the thread with the pics comparing the seats (scroll down to find the post with the GN in HBB mode) http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=55415

dragonfly8 said:

on the Babies R Us canada website for $279.97
I am awaiting my GN but am now wondering if for the $30 more than the GN is at Sears, is the Frontier a better seat?

What do you think?

Click to expand...

Hi,

Having not seen the Nautilus in real life, I can't honestly give an opinion as for which I prefer, BUT I will say the overall shoulder room in the Frontier being more generous, the booster portion of the Frontier extending taller, and the expiration date being 9yrs versus 6yrs, I'd probably lean towards the Frontier if funds allowed an additional $30. That said, the Nautilus seems to work well for lots of children, and not all families need a seat that lasts 9yrs. Is there anyway you can try both before you purchase? Sit your child in each and really consider things like long-term shoulder room, and how tall each seat extends in booster mode. Just a few things to think about. :thumbsup:

Provided that they fit properly in your vehicle(s), I think the FN gives better bang for the buck for the reasons mentioned (and true SIP, not that it is end all and be all factor, but it's there).

Forgive me for butting in, but I thought the Frontier had slightly LOWER harness slots. The Nautilus top slots being 19", the Frontier top slot position being just over 18"?

littleangelfire said:

Forgive me for butting in, but I thought the Frontier had slightly LOWER harness slots. The Nautilus top slots being 19", the Frontier top slot position being just over 18"?

Click to expand...

The Frontier definitely has higher top slots than the Nautilus... comparison pics thread with photos of the seats installed in the same position can be found here.

I agree with the other posters... I'd definitely go with the Frontier.

This thread says Nautilus is a little higher:
http://www.car-seat.org/showpost.php?p=679247&postcount=2
http://www.car-seat.org/showpost.php?p=596117&postcount=15
http://www.car-seat.org/showpost.php?p=597021&postcount=21
This thread, done by scatterbunny, shows Frontier and Nautilus to be very similar in harness height, but she does say the reason for that is in part b/c the Nautilus was in recline mode. It could've offered more harness height if not reclined:
http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=51834

The specs on the seats say the Nautilus has higher slots, but then the actual specs on the Regent says it only has 19 or 19.5" top slots, and its definitely more like 20".

In practice, people are getting 18.5-19.5" measurements for the top slots of the Nautilus. and 18-18.5" for the Frontier.
http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=33500
http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=32792
http://carseatblog.com/?p=32#more-32

And this thread, which says different, lol, which likely accounts for the confusion. :
http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=55415

apparently, the slot heights on Nautilus and Frontier and Regent are very subjective to the vehicle they are installed in. So, difference could be minimal, or quite a bit, making either one taller/shorter, depending on the vehicle. Heh. Not incredibly helpful, huh?

I have to suspect that in most vehicles the Nautilus offers more room unless it's slightly shorter in Canada. I've seen a number of comparison threads posted here and until this point they've pretty much agreed that the Nautilus offers more growing room by just a little bit. I suspect in the long run though, actual difference in time from outgrowing one vs. the other is going to be very minimal.

How soon do you need a seat? I'm not sure how soon the Frontier is going to be available from TRU/BRU again due to the recall, and the sale was planned before the recall stuff happened. If there's no hurry for it, likely doesn't matter, but if you are, you may want to reconsider.

snowbird25ca said:

I have to suspect that in most vehicles the Nautilus offers more room unless it's slightly shorter in Canada. I've seen a number of comparison threads posted here and until this point they've pretty much agreed that the Nautilus offers more growing room by just a little bit. I suspect in the long run though, actual difference in time from outgrowing one vs. the other is going to be very minimal.

How soon do you need a seat? I'm not sure how soon the Frontier is going to be available from TRU/BRU again due to the recall, and the sale was planned before the recall stuff happened. If there's no hurry for it, likely doesn't matter, but if you are, you may want to reconsider.

Click to expand...

I am not in a huge hurry, currently big ds is in a radian, FF. He is approx 33lbs and not sure how tall he is. He is on slot under the top harnass slot, and still has some time before needing to move up a slot. Our radian is a 48lber.

Little ds is in a SS, weighs approx 25lbs and is approx 29" long. He has some time before he outgrows this fantastic seat.

Whatever seat we get, Big ds will go into and little ds will go into the radian. Then, when little ds gets too big for the radian, we will either move him into the GN or the FN (so he can stay harnassed) and hopefully big ds will be okay with just a booster than or, we'll get another seat.

I did order my GN from sears, I didn't want to not be able to get one so went ahead and bought it. I won't physically have it until the end of January. Sears has a 90 day return policy, so I will have time to decide.

We are finished having kids, which is why we are looking for the most economical but obviously safe, way to protect the kids.

Whatever seat we choose, will have to fit side by side in either a 1999 Suburban or a 2000 malibu, as our very big 8 year old will be in the back seat too.................

I don't think that the FR has "definitely" higher top slots than the GN at all. We had DD#1 in both seats in DH's SUV last week and that was not at all my impression.

I would try both seats in your vehicle and compare. They sit differently in the vehicle. We weren't happy with how DD#1's legs stuck straight out in front of her in the FR in DH's smaller backseat. In my van, that won't be an issue, so we'll get a FR for my van but we have a GN on backorder for his SUV.

If you just want to look at expiry, then yes, the FR is a better buy. But, if it d/n fit your child well or install well in your vehicle, its not a better buy IMO.

ETA -- so you are puzzling 3 across? I would definitely try the seats before you decide. The GN seemed to me to be wider, even though the FR is a bigger seat. We aren't concerned with 3across and d/n try it, but my impression is that the FR might work better for 3 across.

littleangelfire said:

apparently, the slot heights on Nautilus and Frontier and Regent are very subjective to the vehicle they are installed in. So, difference could be minimal, or quite a bit, making either one taller/shorter, depending on the vehicle. Heh. Not incredibly helpful, huh?

Click to expand...

I've read all of your links (and a few of them are just members that have heard the GN is higher passing that info along... so not a true accounting of which is higher or not) and what we need to remember is that slots heights are *subjective*... it depends on who is measuring them and how they are measuring them.

We started using them as a *tool* to help parents choose a seat, but they definitely have flaws if you are only going by slot measurement height. Seats fit in different vehicles and easily change just how much growing room a child has in them.

The comparison thread I did shows the same two children, with all the seats installed in the exact same vehicle position installed as upright as possible (no recline features used). It shows pictures and measurements of how much time is left in each seat.

When we tell parents to compare seats, we tell them to try them in their vehicle with their child in it. It's the only true way to know how much room they actually have left. For this reason, I believe the Comparison thread to be a much more accurate depiction of how a child really fits in each of those seats.

Using the same child in the same vehicle seating position, the Frontier was .5 inch taller than the Nautilus (Jenny's comparison is showing them the same height)... I'd say that's definitely taller in my comparison, but not by much and not really enough to matter in most cases either.

The reason I choose the Frontier over the Nautilus (especially for Canadians where the price difference is minimal) is for the extra expiry time, deeper seat depth, ability to cross legs, wider shoulder area, much taller booster mode and the fact that I *know* this seat can get any child to seatbelt age... I can't say the same for the Nautilus. :shrug-shoulders:

There's nothing wrong with the GN, and for parents in the US where the price difference is a much bigger gap between the two, I can see why they go with the GN (especially since your hwh combo seats are very limited)... however, I'm still concerned that by going with the GN, parents will switch their kids over to backless booster mode sooner than they should because of the lack of shoulder room for older kids.

dragonfly8 said:

Whatever seat we choose, will have to fit side by side in either a 1999 Suburban or a 2000 malibu, as our very big 8 year old will be in the back seat too.................

Click to expand...

I've puzzled the Frontier, Radian, and Marathon across several mid-size SUV's (requirement for me to consider that vehicle )... (all 2008) Ford Escape, Mazda CX-7/9, Nissan Rogue, Saturn Vue, Hyundai Tucson and Acura RDX.

I see it on there for $269.97 but it says it's temp. unavailable to order. I just ordered a Natilus from TRU and that's backordered so who knows when I'll get it. Now I'm having second thoughts too. We do need another seat for the grandparents car so I could get a Frontier but it looks like you can't order it online from TRU right now. I'm assuming it would be with the fixed harness issue right?

When I initially saw it on the BRU site it was availalbe..............guess a ton of people must be buying it at this great price!

If you see my other post, I have completely changed my mind as what to get, and am going to get a True Fit................