Question Seats for 2 and 5 year olds - advice needed!

[sdms]

I have a 5.5 year old daughter currently in a Britax Frontier 85, using the harness. My 2.5 year old son is in a Britax Roundabout, which is about to expire.

Originally, I was thinking I would move my 2.5 year old into the Frontier and get a highback booster for my 5 year old. Now I am thinking maybe I want to keep her in the Frontier with the harness a little longer.

Any car seat suggestions here? Have to buy 2 of the same seat, so would like to keep it down to less than $200 a seat (preferably lower!).
Thank you!!

 

[MommaKellie]

I have a 5.5 year old daughter currently in a Britax Frontier 85, using the harness. My 2.5 year old son is in a Britax Roundabout, which is about to expire.

Originally, I was thinking I would move my 2.5 year old into the Frontier and get a highback booster for my 5 year old. Now I am thinking maybe I want to keep her in the Frontier with the harness a little longer.

Any car seat suggestions here? Have to buy 2 of the same seat, so would like to keep it down to less than $200 a seat (preferably lower!).
Thank you!!

What are your childrens stats?
I would keep the 5.5 year old in the Frontier for as long as possible, or at least until he can pass the 5 step test:

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=9009

Depending on the size of your 2.5 year old is he small enough to rear face longer? If you want to FF him, I would get another Britax Frontier! The new styles are amazingly easy for installing!! Go check some combo seats out at Babies R us and maybe you can get 25% off if you bring in your old Britax!

 

[1mommy]

Do you have tall and or heavy children? If child is not too tall keeping within your budget I would suggest the Graco Nautilus or the Evenflo SecureKid. Both include both a harness and a booster for later on when you feel comfortable boostering your child. If you have a very tall or heavy child the Britax Frontier is your best bet but they are over your price limit and I don't think they are included in the trade-in event because they are "on sale". If you don't mind transferring between cars, one Frontier Click Tight 90 might meet your needs because of the super easy install, it can be transferred between cars without a problem (besides being a bit heavy).

 

[JLSatt00]

After much debate, I just bought a Recaro Performance sport for my three year old. So far we are both happy with the seat. My son says it is super comfy and he has a lot of growing room left. My friend was over with her average sized 7 year old when it arrived and she sat in the seat with plenty of room as well. They normally run around $250, but when I bought last week they were on sale through Amazon for $199. This sale price is what finally helped me decide between this seat and a Frontier.

 

[jjordan]

For a 2.5 year old, I personally would keep him rear facing if at all possible. There are lots of convertible seats under $200 that will rear face all but the very tallest/heaviest 2.5 year olds. If you tell us his weight and height we can narrow it down a bit for you. If you can share his seated shoulder height or shirt size, we can probably narrow it down a bit more.

So I'd plan to get two convertibles for the little guy now, and in a year or so, you can turn him forward facing in them until he is booster-ready. You can use the frontier as a booster for the older child whenever she is deemed to be booster-ready, which for most kids is somewhere around age 6-7.

Incidentally, the 5 step test mentioned above is for using the adult seatbelt without a booster seat, not for moving from a harness to a belt-positioning booster.