Booster for my 5 yr old?

[jdtoyou]

Hi,

Looking for a booster seat for my five year old. She's about 43" and 45-50 pounds. I was looking at the Graco Nautilus at Wal-Mart but it's $150. I started my kids with the Britax Marathon (one still in it) but thought the booster seats would be a lot less expensive.

Is there a quality booster that is not going to cost $100+? Thanks ;)

Justin

[Joolsplus2]

Nautilus costs more because it has a harness... do you still want the harness system? A 'dedicated' booster will run a little less... as low as $60-$80 for a clearance model Britax Parkway or Compass Premier or Deluxe (the B510 model), as high as $150 for a Britax Monarch, $300 for a Recaro Start (worth every penny in construction, despite the cost).

That said, of course harnessing as long as possible is safest, and you'll be using seats till age 11 or so when kids hit four foot nine and fit in the adult seatbelt safely, so that Graco is probably a very good and economical choice (the backless portion of it is even 'good' for 9 years...the highback part does expire after 6 years, though).

[jdtoyou]

Thanks for the reply Jules/Jools.

When you say the highback of the Graco expires after 6 years, that's 6 years after the seat has been put into use, correct? Or did you mean age 6?

[Joolsplus2]

6 years for the seat from date of manufacture :) (made 4/2008? Expires 4/2014, but the bottom/base of the seat will be good till 4/2017)

:) (whoa, that seems so far away! My dd will still be in a booster then, so it's really a blink of an eye, lol)

[jdtoyou]

It sure is!!! :)

I would of course love to keep my daughter in a five point harness! Here's the thing...

My situation is the reverse of most couples in terms of car seats, safety, ect (I doubt there are many dads here??). My wife is a stay at home mom so she is with the kids all day (God bless her). She is not really as interested in safety though, in fact she's pretty lazy about it. She constantly complains what a pain it is using the 5 point with our 5 year old. She just wants to slap a backless booster in the car "like all her friends". She does not even know how to properly install the Britax Marathon in her Odyssey via latch :banghead: , and I've showed her several times. She'll put the seat in the car very unsecured and have my daughter in it :47: She just does not care. She does not even tighten the 5 point properly (even on the 2 yr old) as there is just a ton of slack in the belt. I keep telling her, all it takes is one accident....

[Joolsplus2]

Aw, that's tough. Well, on the plus side, the Nautilus is a very easy to use harness...super duper smooth to pull and tighten... my own dd was buckling and tightening herself at that age, and I had to double check her Marathon because it was so hard to tighten, maybe your dd could buckle a Nautilus herself and it'll be easy enough to tighten? If you find the marital battle is just too tough (I've given up RFing my 2 yo in her dad's car, he wants to see her cute little face...sheesh...), the the Parkway is exceptionally safe and easy to buckle correctly, as is the Compass Premier or Deluxe (B510..did I mention these? Deja vu, lol)...then your kiddo could at least have really good side impact protection and those are easiest for everyone to buckle (no armrests and flip up armrests are easiest to get right... seats with immobile armrests tend to be buckled wrong by people who don't care to learn how to do it right). The Britax Frontier is also a fantastic choice... tall harness, easy adjuster, very tall as a booster, and flip up armrests... not cheap, though... Amazon has a 20% off code if you buy 2 of them... and they are good for a whole nine years, the back and all :D