Frontier Booster vs Harmony Dreamtime Booster

[lhafer]

I have a petite 6 year old who rides in a Frontier 85 in my minivan. She was harnessed until recently and now does great with the belt. She does struggle with the shoulder strap getting twisted, and sometimes it takes her a while to actually get the buckle done, but she can. I think the shoulder strap of the belt becomes an issue because the seat back of the Frontier is still in a low setting (because she's petite), and it goes between the headrest and the back of the seat for now until she's big enough for a higher setting.

I originally got the seat because I liked that it harnessed and then goes to a booster. I had a Nautilus and got the Frontier, which she is more comfortable in the Frontier. But I know many have complained about the Frontier in Booster mode. Now I am beginning to see why. I kind of hate to give up the seat as it's expensive, and it's a perfectly good seat. Just wondering if another seat would be better as a booster. Or should I just stick with the Frontier?

I've been researching the Harmony Dreamtime booster, and was wondering if anyone can give me insight on the differences between the Frontier85 (booster) and the Dreamtime Booster.

She rides in a Harmony Youth seat in my DH's sportscar on very rare occasions and for very short distances (quick trips to the store).

ETA: I also have a 2 year old, but she's in a Radian XTSL and will be in that thing forever as she's on the smaller side as well. So handing down the Frontier to her is not something that I'm really considering.

ETA (again): I have the Frontier LATCHED/Tethered in my car. Is it weird to have a booster seat that's not attached to the actual seat of the car? Does the Harmony provide some sort of attachment for the car?

[lhafer]

Anyone? No one?

[Joolsplus2]

I think (in my humble experience)it takes all 6 year olds longer to buckle a booster than a harness, so I wouldn't promise the Harmony would be easier. It's a very short seat, but she should fit in it now, and it's nice to have a highback hanging around the house that's easy to move if you need it in another car, especially with another kid who can use it, and the price is so nice, so I might personally go for it, and let her grow a little more so the Frontier is easier to buckle. No attachments for the Harmony, you'll need to buckle it in when she's not in it (though if you forget, it will certainly not be a huge projectile risk in a crash---innocent wink and whistle because I rarely buckle up my light boosters when they aren't in use even though the manual says to)

[lhafer]

What is it about the Frontier that people don't care for in the booster mode? Or I guess - why is the Parkway preferred over the Frontier as a booster? When I was on the Britax site, I did the little "fit your kid" quiz, and the Parkway wasn't even an option after I put her stats in!! I got all of the convertible seats and the Frontier!

I'm not worried about her taking a bit longer to buckle/unbuckle in the booster mode. She couldn't do the harnessed crotch buckle on the Frontier by herself AT ALL. The button was too hard for her to push in. So she's VERY happy she can buckle herself with the seat by all by herself now. And the belt fits her well. I'm not sure i need another seat - we just deal with the twisted seat belt occasionally.

Does anyone know if the Harmony Dreamtime booster fits in the back seat of a Hyundai Genesis Coupe with the back on??

[AnnieW625]

DD1 back in October when we used the Frontier on a long trip as a belted booster had a hard time buckling it, the belt locked way too easily and even I had issues with it. She has grown maybe 1/2 inch since and we haven't tried it, but I still can't see it being easy for her to buckle herself into because she is still only 45" tall and quite skinny, 45lbs on most days.

Had I known about the Harmony high back last fall I might have checked that out, but my DD1 is really happy with her Graco high back turbo booster (which she picked out because it had pink flowers on it; she was adamant that it was going to be that seat!). She has no issues buckling herself at all and once we got the right height on the highback portion of the booster at the right level she has had little to no head slump. Her worst complaint about the seat is the mesh fabric, but that was her main complaint about the Frontier 80 too, and honestly she doesn't complain about it as much as she did last summer with the Frontier 80 (yet).

[Joolsplus2]

Is your dd 40 pounds yet? Parkway has that as the minimum weight, so that would be one reason it doesn't come up on the fit your kid thingie (if she's 40, gosh, hmmm...not sure what the issue is)

[lhafer]

Is your dd 40 pounds yet? Parkway has that as the minimum weight, so that would be one reason it doesn't come up on the fit your kid thingie (if she's 40, gosh, hmmm...not sure what the issue is)

That might be the problem. She's actually right at 38 according to the scale at the dr office last week. In the last 2 years or so, she's gained a total of 2-3 pounds. She's 43.5" tall. As I said in my OP, she's petite. But she sits great in her seat. She doesn't really move around, and knows how to sit safely.