Nautilus straps too short for very large children (???)

I encountered a truly huge baby today... I thought he was maybe a 50 pound three year old, just at a glance...the way he filled out that small umbrella stroller was misleading... it turns out he's 18 months old, and the mom says he's 35 pounds. She was complaining he didn't fit in his convertible (said it was the $350 one, so I assume the Boulevard...not that it's that much, but still, WAY too much if your one yo can barely be buckled into it!). Anyway, I rethreaded the GN and moved the crotch strap out, took off the covers...he would have been at the second to top slots... and there was just barely any adjuster strap. It was pretty roomy on him, but she was concerned it wouldn't last another year and 'with a coat on, no room at all!' (I tried to tell her no coat, but she pointed out he'd BE that big next year, coat or not...good point...).

Anyway, I tried to see if the adjuster strap should be over or under something down on the bottom of the seat, to make it longer? But there's a bar it seemed to have to go over on the back, no way to go between the seat and the bar to eke out more strap length.

I recommended the Regent or Apex (curse BRU for not selling them anymore) since they are wider and cheaper than the Frontier (and he wasn't even 2, I'd hate to recommend it when he's technically too young...).

But... anyone else ever encountered WAY too short of a strap length for a larger kid on a GN? It was a brand new model, I yanked it out of a box we got last week or so...I wanted to compare it to our older model but didn't get a chance. (and for that matter, have you seen a Britax have too short of a strap adjuster? She said it was impossible to buckle up his BV )

Because the straps route up and over the bar on the back, every time the harness is moved up a slot the straps get longer. I suppose a really short torso'ed child that was on the heavy end of things could have a problem with the harness not being long enough, but most kids are going to be moving up a harness slot before outgrowing the available length of the slot they're on. If he was pretty much even with the 2nd ones, he may have needed to move up to the 2nd from top in the vehicle and would've gained a bunch more strap at that point.

I know Graco does tend to make their straps just long enough to fit kids at the higher end of the seat, and while some parents hate that, I secretly like it - it means that if a parent does decide to cram their kid in with a snowsuit near the upper ends of the seat limits, the harness is pretty much forced into being close to tight enough. And maybe it makes more parents question the bulky clothes to begin with? (Amazing that this lady feels the need for a bulky snowsuit in your climate. )

Aw, see, now this is even worse, I PUT it in the top slots (because rerouting those boogers twice was beyond the scope of my patience at that point, lol)...but I could see how that SHOULD have loosened up the harness a bit. Sigh.

Yeah, I do kind of appreciate that there aren't extra meters of strap dangling on that seat to encourage misuse...and yet I felt that mama's frustration with wondering how that very large child could possibly be contained for another couple of years. Sigh.

Maybe mom was wrong about his weight?

Not sure, would seem odd to have a batch of harnesses too short - it happened with the Radian but SK now claims it was purposeful...

Having used both an Apex and a Nauti, if he's doesn't have much strap left in the Nauti, he'll have NONE in the Apex.

My DD who is 5 has no strap length left in the Apex and has about 3-4" in the Nauti.

Yeah, I think maybe he could have been heavier than 35

And yeah, I thought maybe the strap was kind of short on the Apex... I hope she can find a Regent, I really do

I think the straps are way short on it... Aiden is 40lbs soaking wet (maybe 41lbs) and with it adjusted to the top slots (where he needs it), there was maybe 3 - 4 inches of left over adjuster strap when tightened properly. To loosen to get him out would leave me with *no* adjuster strap. I honestly don't see how this seat can fit a bigger kid comfortably. :shrug-shoulders:

I think I noted that concern somewhere in my comparison thread as well... yep, post #21.

I know that Ian doesn't have much left on his. When he loosens the harness it goes right to the ends, and he's not loosening all that much. Got a new harness system in the mail the other day, but the kids just got home from MIL's house, so I haven't had the energy to mess with it. Wonder if there is any difference...

snowbird25ca said:

I know Graco does tend to make their straps just long enough to fit kids at the higher end of the seat, and while some parents hate that, I secretly like it - it means that if a parent does decide to cram their kid in with a snowsuit near the upper ends of the seat limits, the harness is pretty much forced into being close to tight enough. And maybe it makes more parents question the bulky clothes to begin with? (Amazing that this lady feels the need for a bulky snowsuit in your climate. )

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Actually at least IME people just move to the booster too early

ksera05 said:

Actually at least IME people just move to the booster too early

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Yep... that's my worry and experience as well.

MomToEm said:

Having used both an Apex and a Nauti, if he's doesn't have much strap left in the Nauti, he'll have NONE in the Apex.

My DD who is 5 has no strap length left in the Apex and has about 3-4" in the Nauti.

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:yeahthat:

I put a big 4 year old in my Apex and it had like 1/2 an inch, if that, coming out the adjuster when she was buckled. And she's big but not any bigger than, say, your average 6 year old.

Wait for it.

I'm 5'1" and 80 lbs I can just barely buckle myself into the Nautilus. The straps are shorter than the Frontier (on that one I can buckle myself and still have more slack than is safe!) but they're not super short.

I doubt he was only 35lbs. My friend's son is 13 months and about 30lbs. Fits in his EB AIO fine. On the top slots mind you, but still has a bit of room.

He has to be more than 35lbs. Avery is 18mos old and 35.3lbs, and there is about 6in of extra strap when she is buckled. She's on the BOTTOM slot height, so she has a ton of less strap length available than he would have on the top slot.

ksera05 said:

Actually at least IME people just move to the booster too early

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Can't do that with an infant seat which was what I was talking about thinking of other seats with just barely long enough straps. :thumbsup:

I can see that being an issue with a combo seat though.

Here's the thing with the Nauti... the lower the slots, the less harness strap length you have to work with. The good news is, you will never have a strap that goes all the way to the floor (ala Regent)... the bad news is that this is NOT for the super chunky kids.

The great news is that this helps make it IMPOSSIBLE to use it with a bulky coat (one newer review on BRU actually was complaining they had no leftover strap when using a winter coat and that they were returning it because of this .

And when the straps are too high, you really don't see the benefit from the strap length that you do when the kid is actually tall enough to use them.

But for this kid, I'd still say that she needs a Regent like everyone needs water.

(Do you hear me Britax... people still need the Regent!!!!)