Question Britax vs Chicco

[frozenmom]

I am having a hard time choosing between a Chicco Nextfit and a Britax Clicktight, either the Boulevard or Advocate. My Daughter is 18 months and very tall and skinny, 60% for height but just barely 20 lbs. I would like to keep her rear facing for at least 2.5 more years. The seat will need to be easyish to install since it will go between my mom's and mil's cars. One is a camry and the other is an altima. Both have latch where the car seat will be so I am leaning more towards the chicco in that regard. But the nextfit doesn't have the safe cell base which sends me to the britax. I like the deeper sides on the nextfit but worry about it getting too hot in the summer. Has anyone used both or have strong feelings one way or the other? TIA

 

[Unregistered]

I haven't used a Chicco, I have several Britax convertibles though. I just wanted to mention that you will only be able to use the latch up to a certain weight and then you would have to worry about achieving an easy seat belt install. If it's a seat you are going to switch back and forth a lot over time I would definitely go for a clicktight.

 

[1mommy]

Really either would be more then enough to keep your daughter rear-facing until 4, if you are going to be moving the car seat frequently (like say once a week or more) then I would suggest getting a second car seat for your moms car vs just one to switch back and forth, both seats are heavy, and while the Britax has the easy seat belt install, its still a pain to switch cars often and increases the chance it will be installed wrong. You might want to go to babies r us and try them out in the car and place your daughter in them and see if she has any opinion. If she doesn't and you will infrequently be moving the car seat I would go for the Britax ease of install (and the cute patterns)

 

[JillianMarie]

FWIT: my son has always been tall and skinny and our Britax convertibles served us very well, RF and FF, plenty of room and comfy. (from 16 months to 4.5)

My friend lives in very hot Sacramento and LOVES her Nextfit for her daughter, but she is a shorty, so I can't offer her opinion on that part.

switching out a britax seat is heavy and bulky and easy to forget the tether at rushed times, (i.e. pin it behind the seat and have to start over) but I really find both latch and belt installs easy once you do it semi-regularly.

 

[aporthole]

I had a NextFit for a year and sold it a few months ago to fund a Boulevard ClickTight. I much prefer the Boulevard for daily use. It is easier to load my daughter in and easier to buckle and tighten the harness. They were both very easy to install but the NextFit drove me crazy with the difficult to tighten harness and the buckles always being stuck under my daughter's bum. The curved seat back of the NextFit also made her very slumpy and hunched over. The Boulevard's seat back is flatter and seems more comfortable. Both are great seats overall, but those are my nitpicky issues I had with the NextFit.

 

[henrietta]

I agree that if you will be needing to use a seat in your Mom's car often, buy two seats. The Britax CT's are very, very heavy! I would not to move ours very often, certainly not several times a week...maybe twice a month. But that's about it.

The Boulevard and Advocate CT's will last longer rear and forward facing than the Chicco, although I think the Chicco will last most kids plenty long enough. But the Blvd and Adv have a top harness height of 19.5" and allow it to be used rear facing until your child's head is up to the red adjustment handle for the headrest when it's extended all the way up (or till there's one inch left above their head...I've got to double check that!) I also felt like the Chicco was just too deep for me to get my little one in and out easily. She loves the Advocate CT (and hated her previous seat, Combi Coccorro).

 

[lgenne]

I'm pretty sure all the CT models and the Nextfit will last exactly the same amount of time RF for the vast majority of kids. They're all outgrown by weight before height, and they all have a 40 lb weight limit.

They will be outgrown at different times for FF.

 

[Nedra]

I had a NextFit for a year and sold it a few months ago to fund a Boulevard ClickTight. I much prefer the Boulevard for daily use. It is easier to load my daughter in and easier to buckle and tighten the harness. They were both very easy to install but the NextFit drove me crazy with the difficult to tighten harness and the buckles always being stuck under my daughter's bum. The curved seat back of the NextFit also made her very slumpy and hunched over. The Boulevard's seat back is flatter and seems more comfortable. Both are great seats overall, but those are my nitpicky issues I had with the NextFit.

Ha! I have a Nextfit in my car and a Boulevard Clicktight in my in-laws' car and I feel exactly the opposite! The Nextfit is much easier for me to use. While I feel like a clicktight is perhaps the better move in terms of easy seatbelt install and usability as the child nears booster age down the road, I vastly prefer my Nextfit for ease of loading/unloading and harness adjustment.

This probably depends a lot on the vehicle (my Nextfit is in a lower-to-the-ground vehicle than my Boulevard CT, so it's not a direct comparison for me). I have also never actually installed the Nextfit with the seatbelt, so I don't actually know how hard it would be to do that.