True Fit vs Marathon or Boulevard

[star04]

Which car seat takes up more room? Which has easier installation? I want to compare the seats before I buy a Britax. Thanks!

[jjordan]

The marathon and boulevard will take up the same amount of room, and the truefit slightly more. They are all typically easy to install but the Britax seats in particular have the reputation for easy installs. It does depend on your car though.

[AnnieW625]

I would look at the True Fit and the BLVD. My DD didn't like her Marathon from the time she was 12 mos. old until she was around 2/1/2. I am not really sure why but for the 20 minutes or so she was in the seat most days she didn't like it. She never complained about the Triumph 5 we had in DH's car for her; that had a little extra padding. She is now in a Britax Frontier, which has head wings, and a no rethread harness and I like those features soo much that if I have to get another convertable for my car I'll most likely go with something that has headwings like the BLVD, or the True Fit (which I believes has similar options).

[vonfirmath]

My son LOVES his Marathon. Liking/not liking a seat is very much individual kid preference. I'd take YOUR kid to the store and see which seat YOUR kid shows interest/lack of interest in while sitting in the (admittedly not the same as a car install) store. Rather than make decisions off of how another person's child likes a particular seat.

Here is a thread about the Boulevard vs the marathon. http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=5365

Personally, cost, the fact that the Marathon has a tad bit more growing room, and concern that my son would not like his view cut off by the headwings caused us to go with the Marathon.

The True Fit was a new seat when I bought my Marathon and I was not ready to jump on a new seat, esp. one with a continuous loop harness (these frustrate me). It's a perfectly good seat though with some advantages of its own. And it looks nice.

The marathon and the Boulevard have rear-facing tethers. If you buy the upgraded True Fit (true Fit Premiere?) you get a anti-rebound bar that does essentially the same thing (and also solves a problem the original True Fit had in the harness adjuster getting buried in the seat) but it moves the price up equivalent to a marathon so obviates the price advantage the True Fit has.

Here's a review of the True Fit: http://www.thingamababy.com/baby/2008/06/truefit.html

[arivecchi]

Out of those options, I'd go Boulevard for the reasons mentioned by Annie.

[christiedavid3]

We have a Boulevard and a True Fit and love them both. They are comparable in ease of use and comfort. The advantage the BV has over the regular TF is the rear-facing tether. The TF Premier has the anti-rebound bar though, so essentially the same as the RF tether.

The TF has taller top harness slots so can be used longer than the BV.

DS has never been bothered by the BV wings, in fact he really likes to snuggle up to them.