Marathon vs. Roundabout

I'm trying to compare in terms of which seat would be best for us. We drive a Saturn ION and the seat will be installed on the passenger outboard r-facing because our dd is in the middle f-facing.

I'm in Canada, and so in terms of weight difference, the Marathon is only approved f-facing up to 48lbs, so overall use between the 2 I'm guessing would be similar unless our little guy is really tall?

So these are my questions:

- Will both of these seats install r-facing without the passenger seat having to be moved up most of the way?

- Will the Marathon last a lot longer than the roundabout, or with the lower weight limit will the difference not be as noticeable?

The main issue is really being able to keep the new baby r-facing as long as possible, and the seat fitting in the car without the passenger being squished. (Both dh and myself have long legs.)

I'm guessing our little guy will be around 6 or 7 mos when he's moved to the convertible, so perhaps the 45 degree angle won't be as important by then and the seat will fit better?

All tips are greatly appreciated.

p.s. The car seat we're using for my daughter right now is an Alpha Omega. Not sure if that'll affect which seat would fit better.

Thanks ~ Trudy

Hi Trudy!

Congrats on the new baby!
I'll try to answer some of your questions...

- Will both of these seats install r-facing without the passenger seat having to be moved up most of the way?

Click to expand...

The Marathon (MA) has a taller shell than the Roundabout (RA)
so it will be closer to the seat but I really can't say as I've never
installed one in an ION. We have a Ford Taurus and ours (MA) fits rearfacing
with the seat all the way back.

- Will the Marathon last a lot longer than the roundabout, or with the lower weight limit will the difference not be as noticeable?

Click to expand...

The difference can be huge if you have a tall baby. Our DD could rearface
in the RA until about 19 months and then we had to buy a MA to keep her
rearfacing. She is sill rearfacing in the MA at 3 months shy of 3 years and
37" tall. She is also around 31 lbs.
The extra 8 lbs. will keep him harnessed longer once he's forward facing as well.

I can't really comment on the fit of those two seats side by side in an ION
but my gut feeling is that it would be too tight...I could easily be wrong tho .
If you have a Toys R Us near you, they carry the MA and sometimes RA
in the store so you might be able to get them to let you try it in your car
first.

If you are close to Ottawa, I can help you out with car seat clinic dates
and times .

HTH!
Holly

Thanks Holly, that helps a lot.

I'm in Alberta and have only ever seen car seat clinics done by health nurses out of a firehall. They unfortunately don't do a very thorough job.. I wasn't happy with the install of our alpha omega r-facing and a few weeks later redid it and realized just how bad a job had been done. It was quite scary actually... the angle was off, the latch belt wasn't pulled tight enough - too much wiggle room at the belt path, the base really should've been taken off right from the start... Do you know of a web site that shows registered Car seat techs in Alberta? Or specifically Edmonton?

I think our toysrus might just have a roundabout in stock still, so I'll have to go check. I know last time I was in it was just the display model for sale. Not sure if they had a marathon in stock or not.

According to SafeKids there aren't any certified technicians in Alberta. I can't believe that's true, but there must be a Canadian certification that someone there has passed.

Wendy

Thanks Wendy.

I'd think there must be certified techs here too, but I've never heard of one. And I know there just doesn't seem to be a lot of accurate info around here in regards to child safety seats... I've actually been considering looking in to how to get certified myself because I get so darn frustrated at the obvious misuse of so many seats around here... I just don't even know where to start or look for info on the subject... but that's another post entirely.

Well, that would be the safekids site (http://www.safekids.org). But there aren't any classes in Alberta. :-( Guess you guys are expected to fend for yourselves. There has to be someone here who knows someone who they trust somewhere near you. Definitely post asking that question.

Wendy

I found this on the Safe Kids website:
http://www.sickkids.ca/SKCForPartners/custom/CarseatclinicsApr04Sep05Eng.pdf

It lists some check stations in Alberta.

Here in Ottawa, our car seat clinics are organized by A-Channel
and the head of all things Child Restraint related at Transport Canada.
She is also the main CRST instructor around here and wrote the manual
that we studied from. My certificate is from St. John's Ambulence who
in partner with Transport Canada and the Child Passenger Safety Training
Program Coalition are the ones who handle certification in Canada.
Here's the website for St. John's:
www.sja.ca
and here's a link to all their Alberta branches:
http://www.sja.ca/english/offices/alberta/index.asp

I wasn't able to find any info on training/clinics on the AB website
but perhaps if you call they can steer you in the right direction.

I hope this helps a little!
It can be really frusterating, I know! Here in Ottawa it used to
be the fire stations that installed the seats but when my DD came
along they weren't doing checks anymore and I got NOWHERE trying
to find a tech here. Thankfully, things have changed. I hope they are able
to help you!
Let us know what you find!

Holly