heather57
06-03-2005, 08:03 PM
I promised to report on my pilgrimage to a distant Babies R Us in the "beeg city" to check out the Marathon, Decathlon, Wizard, and Boulevard. So here goes:
First of all, the BRU was out of Wizards and said they hadn't had any in the store in six months. So I only had the other three to compare. One thing I was very concerned about was getting the seat with the highest strap height limits, so it would last my son as long as possible. (I do not have rear shoulder belts in my car so I need a big seat that will work with the lap belt only.)
The Marathon and Decathlon were about equal, strap-height wise. The Boulevard was lower, even taking into account the fact that the head padding makes the straps stick out a bit lower than the actual slots in the plastic body of the seat. The difference was at least half an inch. I had my son move back and forth between the BV and MA several times to check. I also did not like the black velvet on the Boulevard cover. I looked like it would get awfully hot in the summertime. So I ruled out the Boulevard. I liked the Marathon. The Decathlon seemed kind of like overkill for a child of this age. (He doesn't need the baby padding).
We could not find an actual Wizard to examine. But, since the word on this board was that the Wizard had higher strap heights than the Marathon, I decided to buy a WZ online. I got one from babycatalog.com for $199-- thanks for the tip!
The Wizard arrived today. The good news is that my son likes the head wings as pillows, and they don't seem like they'd obstruct his view. The bad news is that no matter how I figure it, it looks like the Wizard's strap heights are lower than those on the Marathon. :( The other bad news is that I am having some difficulty with the installation (see my other post). I'm going to keep it anyway-- it was either that or a Marathon and the side impact protection is a good thing. But I am a little disappointed.
First of all, the BRU was out of Wizards and said they hadn't had any in the store in six months. So I only had the other three to compare. One thing I was very concerned about was getting the seat with the highest strap height limits, so it would last my son as long as possible. (I do not have rear shoulder belts in my car so I need a big seat that will work with the lap belt only.)
The Marathon and Decathlon were about equal, strap-height wise. The Boulevard was lower, even taking into account the fact that the head padding makes the straps stick out a bit lower than the actual slots in the plastic body of the seat. The difference was at least half an inch. I had my son move back and forth between the BV and MA several times to check. I also did not like the black velvet on the Boulevard cover. I looked like it would get awfully hot in the summertime. So I ruled out the Boulevard. I liked the Marathon. The Decathlon seemed kind of like overkill for a child of this age. (He doesn't need the baby padding).
We could not find an actual Wizard to examine. But, since the word on this board was that the Wizard had higher strap heights than the Marathon, I decided to buy a WZ online. I got one from babycatalog.com for $199-- thanks for the tip!
The Wizard arrived today. The good news is that my son likes the head wings as pillows, and they don't seem like they'd obstruct his view. The bad news is that no matter how I figure it, it looks like the Wizard's strap heights are lower than those on the Marathon. :( The other bad news is that I am having some difficulty with the installation (see my other post). I'm going to keep it anyway-- it was either that or a Marathon and the side impact protection is a good thing. But I am a little disappointed.