The best convertible seats?

[momoftwo]

My sil needs a convertible seat for her 7 m-o who has passed the weight limit for an infant seat. They're not super rich. She's a teacher and he is a new salesman.

What would you suggest?
Anne

[niccig]

Can you tell us more about the cars this seat will be used in? Do they have LATCH or will it be a seatbelt install? What's the child's weight etc. What's their budget. Are they planning on having more kids? This all helps to give better suggestions.

Nicci

[momoftwo]

OK, sorry for the lack of info.

They have a Nissan small SUV, can't think of the name. The baby is reaching the limit of infant seats, so that's 20+ lbs, right? I have no idea on budget. They are pretty strapped for a young couple on teacher's budget. They probably are planning to have more. She's my sil, not sister, so I don't have all the details.

Anne

[mommyto4]

Cosco Scenera ($40.00-50.00) or Safety First Uptown ($99.00). HTH.

[niccig]

I'd agree. The Scenera isn't very well padded but kiddos don't seem to care. We've got the older version of that seat, a Touriva, in DH's car. I just orderd a Safety First Uptown to replace it with - it's got more padding, plusher cover and slightly higher harness slots so it should last a little longer. We're going to keep our Touriva as the spare/travel seat.

Both these seats only harness to 40lbs, and as children outgrow seats by height before weight, their child might not be ready for a booster once they're too big for this seat. So they may need to purchase a higher weight harnessed seat later on...but that's at least a few years away. If they do plan on more children, they can pass this seat down to the baby, and get a new bigger seat for the older child.

Also there is a Britax clone seat sold under fisher price but made by Britax. It's similar to the Marathon minus a few things, it goes for about $150 and has a 55lb weight limit.

Sometimes you can get Britax seats on sale - check out Albee baby. I think they had some Marathons for $209, sounds like a lot but over 5 years it's a little over $40 a year.

HTH