Car Seat Tips

Over the past three years I have purchased a grand total of five car seats. FIVE! I almost can’t believe it, myself. But with two working parents and two crazy kids, we really needed to have two car seats in each car. I’ve bought one on the super expensive side (The Evenflo Medallion V XL), one on the super inexpensive side(the Century 1500 STE Convertible), and all the rest fall someplace in between.

After three years of hassling with “accurate” installation of various makes and models of car seats for a growing baby/toddler, it was a relief to finally hit booster seats at 40 pounds. Of course, there are still way too many choices with these also — backs, no backs, accessories such as cup holders, etc. We decided to go compact for ease in moving into and out of the car. That way when we want to go somewhere “sans kid”, it’s easy to leave behind (or in the trunk if you have a car). It’s also easy to move between cars if you only want to buy one seat but have two vehicles.

Introduction

I recently moved from Idaho to Oregon.

What does this have to do with a car seat? Well, in Idaho the weight requirement for car seats and belt positioning boosters was 4 years/40 pounds.

My oldest son is six and a half years old and has been riding with a seatbelt for two years.

Shortly after arriving in Oregon my mother-in-law informed me of Oregon’s safety requirements. In Oregon children must be in a car seat or belt positioning booster until the 6 years/60 pounds mark has been reached. That means 6 years AND 60 pounds–whichever comes later.

My oldest daughter was outgrowing her Evenflo Triumph convertible car seat but at only 2 1/2 at the time she still need a 5-point harness. Options at that time were limited and we ended up with a Britax Marathon.

The Basics

The Britax Marathon is a convertible child safety seat that is LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tether Child Harness) equipped. The seat can be used rear facing for children 5 to 33 pounds and forward facing up to 65 pounds for children 18” – 49” inches. The Britax Marathon can be used for 6 years before it needs to be discarded, unless it has been involved in a car accident. The seat is approved for aircraft use and comes with a 1-year warranty.

06/28/2001: Updated: Please read Consumers Reports testing results on this seat if you are planning to use this as a booster seat. (Http://www.consumerreports.com) They recommend that this seat not be used as a booster seat. Due to that and other difficulties we have had with the seat since this review was originally written I no longer recommend this seat. For more details please read the update at the end of the page.

As a note, let me begin by saying that this car seat is a Cosco Touriva, not a Tourvia as stated in the title, since Cosco does not manufacture such a model. I was waiting for the typo to be corrected, but have decided to publish my review and move it later if necessary.

I bought this belt-positioning booster seat for my 5 year old about 6 months ago. I wanted something lightweight and easy for my daughter to use. She wanted a backless booster (like her friend has), but I was convinced that the full booster seats were safer - thanks to reviews read here on Epinions. I thought this one would be a good compromise because the back is removeable. I figured if the padded back %26 headrest was too “uncool” for her to deal with, I could always take if off. Turns out she thinks it is great. The booster is built for children up from 30-100 lbs and/or up to 57″ tall.

The Britax Marathon is the Mount Everest of car seats, both in terms of quality and size. Britax has a sterling reputation and I think the reputation is deserved. My overall experience has been a very good one. This is my third car seat purchase in 6 months, so I do have some experience for comparison purposes. My daughter outgrew her Peg Perego Prima Viaggio infant seat before she hit 6 months. I purchased a Britax Roundabout for my small Audi S4 back seat. Finally, I purchased a convertible seat that will last from infant to 65 lbs, the Marathon.

If this review sounds a little familiar, it is because I have already reviewed the Cosco Touriva 22-110. These two seats are very similar, with this being the older of the two models. However, if you look at the ratings I gave each car seat, you will find that they are indeed two different car seats. I will explain why in my review.

Note: This is an update of an earlier review. It turns out that Epinions now has a more appropriate category for this review so I’m moving it. My apologies to those of you who have read it before.

I never thought I would find myself in the position of having to buy a new booster seat after my flurry of purchases this fall. However, most of the seats went back to the store for one reason or another, leaving me with my wonderful Graco Cherished CarGo and my not-so-great Cosco High-Back booster. But things change. Recently I was skillful enough to run over our Cosco seat (don’t ask, and no, there wasn’t any occupant at the time). Sigh… Time to go back and do some more booster shopping.