Advocate vs. Marathon...

Do you think it's worthwhile to upgrade from the Marathon to the Advocate, simply on the basis of the SIP the Advocate is supposed to provide? I know the Marathons are safe, but whenever I see children in Boulevards or Recaro Signos, they just *look* safer to me.

If I did, I would end up with a perfectly good but never-used Marathon. I could give it away, I suppose. I already have one convertible in 'spare' status, and my husband isn't too jiggy with a fleet of unused carseats sitting around.

In a word? Absolutely not.


Ok, that's two words

I agree. Its a lot of extra $. I would stick with the ma.

Kind of like I wouldn't spend extra $ for a cs unless it was a cover I had to have.

I wouldn't trade up a MA for an Advocate, as I'm not conviced about the side air bags. However, I would consider trading up an MA for a sale priced Boulevard in a great cover. The MA would be great to keep as a spare or you could sell it on craigslist. My kids ride in BVs in our primary cars and an MA & FPSVD in the secondary car.

From what I've read on the Advocate the SIP isn't so much for the child in it as it is for any children next to it, correct? So basically the only time it would be useful to have all of that would be in a 3 across with all FF (or two one center/one outboard I suppose). Personally, I feel that even in a 3 across with kids in harnessed seats they shouldn't be colliding with the other seat unless theirs is too lose... so maybe I could justify the price difference if I had two boosters next to it, but that'd be about the only time.

I agree on the BV, if you were looking to make a change, but the MA is perfectly safe as well

I disagree. I think it is worth if for sure. I have never liked the Marathons, becuase I think the blvds offer more protection and I want every little bit that they have.

I have only kept Blvds and sold all my Marathons, before I ever even let my kids rid in them.

Now I just got an Advocate, today actually. And from what I have seen on the Britax video the sip isn't only for the people to the side of them, but does cut down on the force from a side impact.

I feel better having my child in that. I hope to replace all my Blvds with Advocates. Oh and you can get a Advocate for about 282 right now from babycatalog. Plus some cash back. So they really are not that much more expensive.

Personally? I don't feel that the britax seats provide any more protection than say, a truefit, and you can get the truefit for $160 most of the time. It'll last longer rfing and ffing as well.

bobandjess99 said:

Personally? I don't feel that the britax seats provide any more protection than say, a truefit, and you can get the truefit for $160 most of the time. It'll last longer rfing and ffing as well.

Click to expand...

:yeahthat:

Any minimal safety benefit garnered by those ridiculous looking 'air bags' is easily rivaled...surpassed, actually, by being able to ERF in the True-FIT. Britax is BIG into the gimmicks and I wouldn't spend a cent on an Advocate.

I agree with the two above me.

And every single 5-point harness on the market provides considerable side-impact protection.

Oh yeah. Another agreement that the Advocate is a huge amount of money for something that won't be returned to the baby as much as it should be. For that amount of money I expect someone to run in front of a speeding car for my child. Well, not really, but you know what I mean.

Yes, if the seat is installed outboard then the air cushions may provide a little extra oomph, especially if the car doesn't have side curtain airbags. If it has side curtain airbags then I don't think you get any benefit to the airbags outboard.

Other passengers have not been hurt reportedly from striking carseats next to them. In fact there's a benefit to uncarseated passengers to have a seat next to them in a side impact collision. Even without the air cushions. It may be more comfortable to hit the cushions, but it may not. And then on top of that it only helps if the carseat is forward facing. A rear facing carseat will be holding the air cushions about a foot in front of the occupants next to it and won't do a single thing for them.

A True Fit, My Ride, and Triumph Advance are above Britaxes on my list of top five. And the two Britaxes that are on my list of top five are the Marathon and Boulevard. Not the CS versions, just the regular (though if you must have a CS cover then I can see spending the money). The Marathon and Boulevard are pricey, but I can understand their pricetags. The Roundabout, Diplomat, Decathlon, and Advocate to me are not cost effective, and I don't know the last time I recommended any of them. The Roundabout 50 seems to be a pretty decent seat for the money, so that may end up being #6 on my list. But otherwise you can buy any of my top three seats for under $160.

Wendy

Thanks all for the responses. I'm still weighing all the options in my mind, something will gel eventually, I suppose!

Thanks again.