Apex 65 musings...

bobandjess99

Senior Community Member

• Feb 7, 2009

• #1

so..on our BRU trip today, we tried the nauti, apex 65 and frontier.
i liked the frontier best, and we'll probably get one, but what surprised me was how much I liked the apex.
DD LOVED sitting in it, she fit really well in it with a good 1.5 inches to grow, the seat was deeper than the nauti, it was really light, and seemed easy to transport and install for a seat that will be installed/uninstalled several times per week..plus, of course, the very low price is nice. The booster fit was REALLY good..better than either the nauti or frontier, but of course that could change with different vehicles, but ingeneral, it looked like the guides on the apex would place most belts better than the GN or BF.

what i didn't like was how flimsy it was..yikes! I can't imagine it NOT shattering to pieces in a moderate accident. but of course, it wouldn't, right?

Plus, the car we need it for does not have headrests, so she can't use it where we need her to use it. but if we could, i would have seriosuly considered it.
I now feel okay about recommending this seat to people who simply can't swing the nauti. (assuming an appropriate vehicle seatback/headrest situation, of course)

 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob

Staff member

• Feb 7, 2009

• #2

Yeah, I have one, and I was really happy with it when I put my daughter's friend in it. It helped convince her mother to spend the money on a HWH seat instead of a booster (though the KDM website did pretty well on that ) although she ended up with a Nautilus (which I'm glad of, as the girl did not have much room left in the Apex and it was incompatible with the vehicle situation they needed (they needed her in the middle seat.)

 

MustangMama

Active member

• Feb 8, 2009

• #3

We just got one a few weeks ago and it is awesome!

I haven't had the chance to use it yet because I don't feel comfortable with the install in my Mustang (it has sloped seats).

But when we went to try out new seats, this one really caught my eye. It felt cheap at first (well, compared to the Nautilus we own) but it grew on me. I wish I could get it installed in my car so we can use it. I really need to wash DD GN.

 

M

Maedze

New member

• Feb 8, 2009

• #4

For what it is, it's really a great CRS. It's sort of the Avenue of the HWH world


The drawbacks are

1. WIDE. Not usuable for three across situations

2. Harness on the short side. No way would you be able to cram a 65 pound kid in there, no matter how short.

3. Headrest issue (of course.)



But other than that, great product, and I'm perfectly comfortable recommending it as a HWH option. The Nauti is better, but the Apex is fine.

 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician

• Feb 8, 2009

• #5

I'd recommend it fast, our BRU stopped carrying them (with the sad result that people buy the 'just as good' Vantage Point or HBB Gotham...or the Chase or Generations if I can at least steer them that way... kids who like 'open wide' seating don't like the Nautilus

 

Shaunam

New member

• Feb 8, 2009

• #6

I really liked it too, which is why we are getting one. I never really considered it until I put DS in it and realized how much room he has to grow. I don't plan on using it 3 across and I don't expect him to last to 65 lbs in it (just until a good booster age). My car doesn't have adjustable headrests, but his ears are no where close to the top of the seat and the apex sits really low. He should be fine in the harness. I may or may not use it as a booster later (and hopefully would have a newer car with headrests by then!).


I didn't think it was flimsy at all. I felt it was sturdier than a scenera anyway.

 

scatterbunny

New member

• Feb 8, 2009

• #7

Re: booster fit being great-was that with the lap belt routed under the armrests, or behind? Because I'm pretty sure it's supposed to go behind the armrests on the Apex, different from all other boosters with armrests.

 

bobandjess99

Senior Community Member

• Feb 8, 2009

• #8

scatterbunny said:

Re: booster fit being great-was that with the lap belt routed under the armrests, or behind? Because I'm pretty sure it's supposed to go behind the armrests on the Apex, different from all other boosters with armrests.

Click to expand...

You know, i probably did it wrong. I didn't even think of it, but now that I went back and read the manual ( with 2 kids in the store, i didn't read it while I was there) I see that you are supposed to route it behind the armrests.....I almost certainly routed it in front of them......well then...now I feel perfectly fine about dissing this as a seat choice, since the belt would have fit just awfully with the correct routing.

But what a great piece of knowledge to have, thanks!

 

Kat_Momof3

New member

• Feb 8, 2009

• #9

well, she only beat me to it.... lol.

I was gonna ask the same question about you getting a good booster fit.

 

CarSeatPoncho

New member

• Feb 8, 2009

• #10

Ok, I just got whiplash -- why does this make the seat belt not fit right? Does the behind-armrest routing make the belt cross above the hips?

 

bobandjess99

Senior Community Member

• Feb 8, 2009

• #11

CarSeatPoncho said:

Ok, I just got whiplash -- why does this make the seat belt not fit right? Does the behind-armrest routing make the belt cross above the hips?

Click to expand...

Yes, exactly.
I had routed the belt in front of the armrests, which is how like, every other seat has you do it, which placed the belt out on her thighs, not up near her tummy at all..so I ASSumed it was a great fit. however, some of the lovely wise ladies here pointed out that the Apex requires you to route it over the armrests, which would have placed it way up high on her tummy, exactly where you do NOT want it.

 

H

henrietta

Well-known member

• Feb 8, 2009

• #12

I had routed the belt in front of the armrests, which is how like, every other seat has you do it, which placed the belt out on her thighs, not up near her tummy at all..so I ASSumed it was a great fit. however, some of the lovely wise ladies here pointed out that the Apex requires you to route it over the armrests, which would have placed it way up high on her tummy, exactly where you do NOT want it.

Click to expand...

I think it just depends on the placement of the seatbelts in the car you use it in. My niece used ours a few times as a booster, and the lap belt portion fit just fine (routed behind the arm rests). She technically still fit w/the harness according to the manual, but the harness was too short, so we took it out and tried it as a bpb. At the time I still had my Mercury Villager, and we used it on the second row bench seat. She was 47-48" tall and maybe 50 lbs at the time.

henrietta

 

Simplysomething

New member

• Feb 8, 2009

• #13

I was surprised to find the Apex is back on Walmart.com, for a long time you couldn't find easy--and it'd say "not available in stores/not available online".

And right now, it's only like 129 there.

 

bobandjess99

Senior Community Member

• Feb 9, 2009

• #14

Simplysomething said:

I was surprised to find the Apex is back on Walmart.com, for a long time you couldn't find easy--and it'd say "not available in stores/not available online".

And right now, it's only like 129 there.

Click to expand...

Actually, I was looking around the dorel website, and not only it is still on there, there is a NEW one on there..actually a rather interesting fabric.print. I really don't see them getting rid of it......what they need to do is reinforce the stupid headrest....*sigh*

Henrietta - of course, I'm not saying it wouldn't fit ANY child, just saying it would have been a horrible fit on *my* child with the correct routing....:thumbsup: