Convertible car seat for 13 months old?
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 at
10:12 am
I am in the market to get a convertible car seat for My 13 months old daughter. She weighs 20 lbs and is 30 inches tall.
I want to keep her rear facing as long as possible and i am debating between Britax boulevard and Evenflo Symphony 65. Which one is better (Ignoring the price factor)?
Also, I have a 2004 Jeep Liberty and 1997 toyota corolla. Any idea whether these car seats will fit in?
Tagged with: britax boulevard • car seat • car seats • convertible car • corolla • evenflo • google • jeep • jeep liberty • script type • text javascript • toyota • toyota corolla
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I have a Britax Marathon CS and love it. I’ve always used Graco and like them, but now that i’ve used a Britax seat, i don’t think i can use anything else! They just have so many added safety features and it’s so easy to install yourself. I got mine rock solid, it doesn’t budge! The belt locks are genious! PLUS Brtiax and Radian car seats are the only car seats you can teather to the floor rear facing, and you don’t even need LATCH, it comes with this thing called a Versa-Teather. Really nice thing to have! I strugled so long trying to install the Graco MyRide 65 i had, and i ended up needing to have the fire dept. do it, and they needed to use a pool noodle. I ended up returning it to buy the Marathon and i’m so happy i did! I didn’t need any pool noodles with the Britax seat. My daughter is 15 months and is still rear facing..i’m like you, i want to keep her rear facing as long as possible.
Oh and i have a 2000 Olds Alero, without LATCH. So my car isn’t that big and this seat still fits well behind the passenger seat.
I have the Britax advocate CS and It is pretty much the same as the Britax boulevard. I Absolutely LOVE it! But while rear facing it did take up a lot of room, People couldn’t even sit in my front passenger seat unless they were pretty small because the seat was so close to the dashboard. It fits really good rear facing in my mothers car though. ( I have a Chevy Equinox and my mother has a Buick enclave). I now use it forward facing and my front passenger seat had much more room. The seat also takes up a lot of my backseat space (I can only fit two car seats in the back, and there is no room for a person to sit without a seat belt with the two carseats).
If you want the longest rear facing ability, the Sunshine Radian XTSL rear faces up to 45lbs. Other than that the best car seat is the seat that is properly installed and fitted for your child.
Britax, you’re paying for a name that used to be the best but has since been met or surpassed by the competion.
A good link for you
http://www.car-seat.org./showthread.php?t=99190&highlight=2004+Jeep+Liberty
I have the Britax Boulevard and I *love* it. it is rated very highly in safety tests, it has a knob that you turn so that the straps adjust without having to rethread them (awesome during the fall/spring when you’re wearing jackets one day and sweaters the next), it’s got ‘click-safe’ technology (which allows you to pull the straps tight and it clicks when the straps are at the correct tightness), it reclines, it’s soft, and the cover is easily washable. it also has velcro so that you can velcro the straps out of the way when you’re putting your baby in. it fits in my dodge stratus, which is similarly sized to your corolla I believe. on the sides of the carseat where your seat belt threads through there is an extra metal snap thing that goes over the seat belt to hold it in place even better. when we had our infant seat, the base moved around quite a bit in the seat belt, even with it tightened as far as I could — the britax is rock solid there and won’t move because of those extra holder things.
all convertibles are big but the Britax’s base is relatively small I found. I haven’t looked at the Evenflo to be honest, but the Britax has lots of little things that make it really worth the money and made me really, really happy with my choice. I was debating between the Graco MyRide 65 and the Britax when we went in to a store looking and comparing different models — and we chose the Britax. we have the gray color and it looks brand new after about 7 months of use and I expect it to stay that way. it doesn’t even look worn.
eta: belt locks! thanks jazlynn’s mom, that’s what they’re called!
I have never even heard of Britax where I live so I cant tell you about that one. We have the Symphony and I absolutely love it. It was so easy to install, its easy to get her into and out of and it does rear, forward and booster. It fits very nicely in my car as well. We have a small Cobalt so it was great it fit so well. I can definitely tell you its a great seat…cant vouch for the other one though.
Neither is better per say – but I would lean toward the evenflo personally – it has a longer shelf life (I believe 7 years) and it does make an ok booster.
BUT – for rear facing – I’d personally look at he learning curve true fit – or the Graco My Ride 65. Both have longer rear facing limits because of the shape of the shells.
I would probably go with the Britax Boulevard. It seems like Britax car seats are the best quality and have some of the best features. Although, I’d compare the two:
http://www.findmycarseat.com/evenflo-symphony-convertible-car-seat-review/
http://www.findmycarseat.com/britax-boulevard-car-seat-review/
Hope this helps!