car seat/ accident update, plus: Boulevard or Marathon?

[Deleted]

Follow up to my car seat/accident thread yesterday: I talked to the insurance adjuster, and said that if I'm not comfortable with the seat, then they will absolutely reimburse me for a new one. Im relieved it was so easy!

So, now I'm trying to decide what to get. We love our Britax Marathon, but the accident hasreally shaken me up, and I'm considering buying the Britax Boulevard now. (Its only $25 more and insurance said I can just pay the difference)

Who has the Boulevard? Can your child still see with the headwings? I think that's my biggest concern right now.

And, if anyone has a Britax car seat in the color "Kiwi" (or any other light colored seat), how does it hold up to spills? Does it get trashed pretty quickly?

[redheadbaker]

I replied to your other post -- glad to hear the update!

We replaced our Marathon with the Chicco NextFit -- DS is very tall, and the Britax seats are not the best option for ERF for tall kids.

I think we have a Boulevard in S.O.'s car (we originally had a Cosco Scenera and hated it).

[Brie]

I have no input on Britaxes but big hugs to you. I was in an accident when I was pregnant for C and it really shook me up for awhile. Take it easy!

[penguingrrl]

How big is your kid and how long do you plan to keep her RF? Britax seats actually aren't the best for that because they have shorter shells and less legroom than some other options on the market. The chicco nextfit has a taller shell and is comparably priced. My kids are in radians, which I'm very happy with. I chose them because my kids are tall with long torsoes and outgrew marathons entirely before 3 (we had a marathon in my aunt's car).

[Deleted]

Thanks, Brie. Its scary how quickly things happen! I'm just glad it was pretty minor, compared to what could've happened.

penguingrrl & redheadbaker - DD is pretty short, she's about 31" at 20 months, which I think is only like 25% for height (and she's only 1% for weight), so I don't really anticipate the shorter shell being a huge problem. I've been really happy with the Britax seats, so I think I'm going to stick with them. After the accident, I told DH that she's going to rear facing until she's 16.

[penguingrrl]

Sounds good! I've heard that for kids under the 30th percentile a Britax will last perfectly well! Having kids on the opposite end of the scale (my 4 year old is off the charts tall!) I always like to give that warning since I was really disappointed with how quickly our britax was outgrown (RF by 18 months, FF by 3! Had it been our main seat it would have been replaced at 18 months, but instead I moved our seats for them every time they rode in my aunt's car since it was infrequent). Since she's petite another britax should be fine for you guys!

Glad everyone is okay!

[waterchurch]

We have a Boulevard, that we got through the registry rewards so I didn't compare or anything. I really like it, and DS seems comfortable. It seems like he can see fine? I can't ask him yet. :-)

[Deleted]

May 15, 2014 11:37:04 GMT -5 waterchurch said:

We have a Boulevard, that we got through the registry rewards so I didn't compare or anything. I really like it, and DS seems comfortable. It seems like he can see fine? I can't ask him yet. :-)

How do the headwings fit? Is there a lot of room? I'm afraid of them making her head hot.

[Deleted]

May 15, 2014 11:25:14 GMT -5 penguingrrl said:

Sounds good! I've heard that for kids under the 30th percentile a Britax will last perfectly well! Having kids on the opposite end of the scale (my 4 year old is off the charts tall!) I always like to give that warning since I was really disappointed with how quickly our britax was outgrown (RF by 18 months, FF by 3! Had it been our main seat it would have been replaced at 18 months, but instead I moved our seats for them every time they rode in my aunt's car since it was infrequent). Since she's petite another britax should be fine for you guys!

Glad everyone is okay!

Thanks for the info! I really appreciate it. I would be totally disappointed if I had spent that much on a car seat and it didn't last very long. I suppose she could always have a massive growth spurt, but I guess that's just something I'll have to risk.

[penguingrrl]

May 15, 2014 11:48:09 GMT -5 @roseyposey said:

May 15, 2014 11:25:14 GMT -5 penguingrrl said:

Sounds good! I've heard that for kids under the 30th percentile a Britax will last perfectly well! Having kids on the opposite end of the scale (my 4 year old is off the charts tall!) I always like to give that warning since I was really disappointed with how quickly our britax was outgrown (RF by 18 months, FF by 3! Had it been our main seat it would have been replaced at 18 months, but instead I moved our seats for them every time they rode in my aunt's car since it was infrequent). Since she's petite another britax should be fine for you guys!

Glad everyone is okay!

Thanks for the info! I really appreciate it. I would be totally disappointed if I had spent that much on a car seat and it didn't last very long. I suppose she could always have a massive growth spurt, but I guess that's just something I'll have to risk.

Glad to help! I learned the hard way that britax didn't work for my kids lol! It sounds like your daughter will be fine in them and they are cushy and easy to install, which is nice! My kids were tall from birth on, so while you always have that risk I think it's a safe bet that she'll fit in it as long as she needs to . 

[MrsDarcy]

We have the Britax Boulevard. We really like it, and the headwings seem to be comfortable for our son when he falls asleep. He was rear facing until age 2, and he's average in height. I would agree that he can't see out as well as in the car seat in my mom's car, for example, but they're there for side impact crash reasons, so I'm fine with that. Also, we've been really happy with Britax's customer service as well.

I chose the Boulevard over the Marathon for increased safety.

[skib]

May 15, 2014 11:48:09 GMT -5 @roseyposey said:

May 15, 2014 11:25:14 GMT -5 penguingrrl said:

Sounds good! I've heard that for kids under the 30th percentile a Britax will last perfectly well! Having kids on the opposite end of the scale (my 4 year old is off the charts tall!) I always like to give that warning since I was really disappointed with how quickly our britax was outgrown (RF by 18 months, FF by 3! Had it been our main seat it would have been replaced at 18 months, but instead I moved our seats for them every time they rode in my aunt's car since it was infrequent). Since she's petite another britax should be fine for you guys!

Glad everyone is okay!

Thanks for the info! I really appreciate it. I would be totally disappointed if I had spent that much on a car seat and it didn't last very long. I suppose she could always have a massive growth spurt, but I guess that's just something I'll have to risk.

I adored our Boulevard. DD was RF in it from about 9 months to just over 2 years old, and FF in it until almost 3. She's a VERY tall girl, and was totally fine in it RF. She was probably 37" tall by the time we turned it around. If she'd been shorter, we would have kept her RF longer, but at that height she was starting to get a little squished.

We now have a Frontier, which we also love.

[waterchurch]

May 15, 2014 11:46:17 GMT -5 @roseyposey said:

May 15, 2014 11:37:04 GMT -5 waterchurch said:

We have a Boulevard, that we got through the registry rewards so I didn't compare or anything. I really like it, and DS seems comfortable. It seems like he can see fine? I can't ask him yet. :-)

How do the headwings fit? Is there a lot of room? I'm afraid of them making her head hot.

This is what it looks like on my kid. He does get sweaty in his car seat but I think that would be true no matter what seat he was in. They're not like a vice or anything.

[Deleted]

May 15, 2014 12:58:47 GMT -5 waterchurch said:

May 15, 2014 11:46:17 GMT -5 @roseyposey said:

How do the headwings fit? Is there a lot of room? I'm afraid of them making her head hot.

This is what it looks like on my kid. He does get sweaty in his car seat but I think that would be true no matter what seat he was in. They're not like a vice or anything.

 Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I think I'm going to go with the Boulevard, in the Laguna color. Amazon reviews said its a little bit cooler than the all black/onyx color.

[waterchurch]

I'm glad you found that picture helpful, lol. I was having a moment of self doubt. It's so dark!