Titan to 50 vs. Apex Harness Height?

[claudsmonet]

What are the differences?

What are the differences in harness height between the apex and other higher weight seats?

Thanks!

 

[MomToEliEm]

Here is a list of seats with slot heights and weights:

Britax Regent - top harness height is 20 inches. Can hold children up to 80 pounds. Requires a top tether after 50 pounds.

Recaro Como/Signo - top harness height is around 19 inches (Signo is 18 inches, Como is 19 inches) and harnesses up to 70 pounds. This seat also rear faces so it can be used for babies up to school age.

Sunshine Kids Radian - top harness height of 18 inches. Can hold a child up to 65/80 pounds (depending on the model you buy). This seat also rear faces so it can be used for babies up to school age.

Cosco Apex 65 (also referenced as Safety First Apex, Safety First Biltmore and a few other names) - top harness height is at 17.5 inches and can harness up to 65 pounds. After the child outgrows the harness, the seat does convert to a booster. This seat does require a headrest behind the seat so it will not work in cars without headrests or tall seatbacks.

Britax Marathon, Boulevard, Decathlon - top harness height is 17 inches. Can hold children up to 65 pounds. This seat also rear faces so it can be used for babies up to school age.

Fisher Price Safe Voyage (based on the Britax Marathon shell)- top harness height is 17 inches. Can hold children up to 55 pounds. This seat also rear faces so it can be used for babies up to school age. This seat is being discontinued so it is hard to find.

Evenflo Triumph Advance (don't confuse with the original triumph which is actually a very short harnessed seat)- top harness height of 17.5 inches. Can hold a child up to 50 pounds. This seat also rear faces so it can be used for babies up to school age.

Safeguard Child Seat harnesses to 65 pounds. Top harness slot is 19" high.

SafeGuard Go Child Restraint harnesses to 60 pounds. It's harness is a little different and it depends on the seat back. Requires a top tether for installation of seat.

Evenflo Titan - top harness height of 15.5 inches. Can hold a child up to 50 pounds. This seat also rear faces so it can be used for babies up to toddler and maybe preschool age.

As you can see from the above list, the Titan isn't a good choice when looking at seats that will last a while. When they modified the seat, they changed the weight limit, but didn't alter the top slot height. At least with the evenflo triumph advance, they increased both the weigth and height.

 

[joolsplus3]

And when most of us measure the Titan we actually get more like 14 inches... nowhere near as high as that 15.5 they claim. Kids tend to ougrow it by height at age 2-3 and more like 25 pounds.

 

[mainemom]

How do you measure the harness slot height? What should be the bottom point?

 

[MomToEliEm]

How do you measure the harness slot height? What should be the bottom point?

Whenever I was measuring my britax regent for harness height (there was some issues on the board where people were saying 19 inches - 22 inches for slot height so I wanted to check for myself), I put the tape measure starting at the point where the seat was more flat then upright (I did measure a little bit of curve at the bottom of the seat, but since my child's back rested against it, I felt it was included in torso height). I then measure up to the bottom part of the top harness slot.

I know some people look at the middle or top of the slot for measurments (the regent has pretty large slots), but I think bottom part of the slot seems more logical as that is where the harness will rest with tightened.

Hopefully this is what you were asking. I wasn't sure exactly what your question was though.

 

[VoodooChile]

FWIW, my dd has a looooooooooong torso (she's finally starting to grow legs now), and was dead even with the top slots of the Titan at 16 months and about 26 lbs. Not worth the $$, IMO.

 

[thepeach80]

I thought the Titan was about 16", but when I tried AJ in it last time it was more like 15". Definitely taller than the CS, which I think is about 13", but not as tall as I once thought.

 

[snowbird25ca]

I tried my 3.5 yr old dd in both at BRU tonight. Her shoulders are over the top slot of the Titan deluxe and are slightly below the 2nd to top slot of the apex with the toddler padding still in.

For comparison, she's in the top slot of the Radian (just moved a few weeks back,) and was in the top slots of the MA when it was still her seat.

If you don't need a seat that can be used rf'ing, I'd go with the apex provided you have a tall seatback or good headrest support. There is years difference in the growing room between the 2 seats.

 

[mykidsmylife]

I have the Apex and Johnathon at 5 years old, 46" has 2" of growth left in the Apex. I put him in a Titan and his shoulders are an inch ABOVE the top slot.

The Titan is a total waste of money! He would have outgrown it at the same time her outgrew his all-in-one car seat.