What is the difference between the Wizard and Marathon

[jastinker]

I know thw Wizard has the side impact head rest. Is there any other difference? DD is 4 months old and 16 lbs, 26 inches long. I thought I was all set to get a Marathon and then I heard people talking about the Wizard. Any info is greatly appreciated.

[geochick]

The Wizard also has a knob on the side that adjusts the height of the shoulder straps really easily. With other seats you have to unthread and rethread as your baby grows. My son naps really comfortably in his Wizard - the head supports are great. The added head protection was the selling point for me. Good luck.

[eb1]

I was just in a similar position. Ultimately, I went with the Marathon because of two issues that I kept reading about in online user reviews of the Wizard. Mind you, I don't own the Wizard so haven't experienced the pros/cons of it for myself (nor can I verify the two issues below), but these were the problems people reported that made me a little nervous.

# 1 Apparently, if your child doesn't like the "wings" around the head and pulls forward to see around the side, that defeats some of the safety of the seat. I didn't have a chance to take my DS to try out the Wizard somewhere, but I suspected he might be the type to get annoyed that he couldn't see around the side very easily.

# 2 Some children learn how to mess with the harness adjuster knob, and are able to loosen the straps. Again, if your child is the type to do this, that's a safety issue.

I posted a similar question to yours here, just a week or so ago, and all the responses were by Wizard owners who loved the seat.

Tough choice!

[hipmaman]

The difference are what others have said and one more thing to consider...

The Wizard has more height room than the MA. Here is a website a lady put together with comparison http://home.earthlink.net/~broderick/id2.html

We have one WZ for my 3 yrs old ds who loves it. My 5 yrs old dd also likes it enough to choose it whenever we are out and about with just her in the van. She normally sits in her Husky.

[cmferrara]

From what I've read on Britax website is the height room is the same on the Marathon and Wizard. The only difference I saw was the side impact protection.

here is Britax website:
http://www.britaxusa.com

look under products and convertible seats for information on both seats.

We went with the Marathon because of the height and weight limits (allowing for longer usage) my son was also 26 inches at 4 months, and now 6 month check-up he weighed in at 19 lbs 7 oz. and 27 1/2 inches. I also did not think by son would be content with the "wings" on the Wizard which would hamper him from looking around.

[hipmaman]

Yes the height of the seats themselves are the same. But the height of the top harness slots are not. I guess I should have made it clearer ;)

If you look at the website I included, it's a website of a mom/tech demonstrating the difference in harness height for the MA at its top harness slots and the WZ when the headrest/harness is extended at the max height. It shows the 4 yrs old having less harness height (and room above his head) in the MA.

[puppymom]

We tried the Wizard for two months before returning it. Our DS cried everytime we strapped him in, not his style I guess! He likes to be able to look around. We ended up getting the RA, which was just a better fit for our car. He is not a huge boy, so we will get plenty of use out of it. No more screaming, which makes mom happy!

GL,
Dawn