Which seat to buy?

[emschwar]

I need some car seat advice. Or really, I just need someone to think outloud with

D is 17.5 months old and a couple months away from outgrowing his safeseat. (He's got about 1.5-2" left of shell above his head.) He rides in a roundabout (RF, of course) in DH's car.

N is just about 5 (in April) and rides in a True Fit in my car and a Marathon in DH's. He's got an inch of torso room left in the MA and a little more than that in the TF.

My initial thought was to get a nautilus for N. But I'm not sure that's the best solution. First, it's $150 I'd rather not spend right now (we're about to buy a house), and my best guess is that he won't outgrow is MA/TF until he's 6, at which point I'm comfortable putting him in a very safe booster.

The Marathon manufacture date is June 2004, so it's got about a year left of life. The roundabout was manufactured in April 2005, so it's got about 2 years.

My 2nd initial thought was to get a scenera for D. It'll get us through until N's done with his seats, and then we can make a decision for future car seats. And $50 is not a bad price to pay. But, after being used to britax seats, am I going to despise the scenera? Is it better to put the $ into a seat we'll get longer use out of, like a marathon for D? (Great timing, to notice his growth just after the sales, huh?) (I'd rather not spend a ton of money right now, with the upcoming house purchase, but really, $200 or so isn't going to kill us.)

Someone help me out here. I'm overthinking this.

 

[glockchick]

My 2nd initial thought was to get a scenera for D. It'll get us through until N's done with his seats, and then we can make a decision for future car seats. And $50 is not a bad price to pay. But, after being used to britax seats, am I going to despise the scenera? Is it better to put the $ into a seat we'll get longer use out of, like a marathon for D? (Great timing, to notice his growth just after the sales, huh?) (I'd rather not spend a ton of money right now, with the upcoming house purchase, but really, $200 or so isn't going to kill us.)

Someone help me out here. I'm overthinking this.

I over think too. See my recent posts.

I can help on the Scenera vs Britax seats. Yes, you'll be disappointed. I bought one for back up and it pains me to use it even just as back up. It seems flimsy, there's no padding and no EPS foam. I know I could never use it for a main seat unless we just absolutely couldn't scrape the money together for something more comfortable.

If you have a MA that exps next year and a RA the year after, can you use the MA for N until it expires and the RA for D until it expires and then worry about replacing? Britax seats aren't that hard to move if you have to. How often do they ride with your dh? If you're only talking about switching cars on occasion, that's what I would do.

 

[solmama]

You could get a Nautilus for N and hand the MA down to D. It can then be used as a booster when he outgrows the harness. OR you could wait for the new Truefit with the Anti-Rebound Base for your little one. It should be out soon. In a year, who knows what neat new boosters will be out (the Clek Oobr and Britax is releasing a new Parkway) for your 6 yo.

 

[mylittlet]

We have a scerena and bv. They are both primary seats for different kids. The bv is for our almost 3 year old ff. The scerena is for our almost 2 year old rf. I don't hate it and think it would work great for you. I bought it for the extra rf b/c it was what we could afford and gave me 2more # rf. My only other option at that time was to turn my 18m old. I don't plan on using it ff in our main car but it will be a back up for our 2 year.

I know it doesn't have foam, but she is 5x safer rf then ff. Also it is super easy to install.