Britax FRONTIER 85 or Graco Nautilus ??

I debated between these two seats as well. My daughter is 5 and just a bit below average on weight/height. We went to the store and had her sit in both of them back-and-forth, back-and-forth about 20 times. We discovered that the crotch strap on the Nautilus sits way too far back- she was almost sitting on top of it. Even though I liked the price of the Nautilus better, we had to go with the Frontier because of the crotch strap. I really feel this is a design flaw- it needs to come up out of the seat several inches up from where it does. Its position also prevented my daughter from being able to buckle herself. You will see this issue come up A LOT on Amazon reviews.
The Frontier took a few times for her to learn to press firmly enough before she could do it on her own. We have no concerns fitting the Frontier into a Nissan Altima, and she is comfortable sitting in it. She has much more room to grow in the Frontier.

My 4 and 2 year olds LOVE their Graco Nautilus! It really is a great carseat because it can grow with them. The 5 point harness can be removed to make it a high back booster and then the back can be removed to make it a regular booster. It has a cup holder and a little "cubby" for them to stash snacks and toys. It is also easy to pop in and out of a car. I HIGHLY recommend the Graco!

we recently purchased the Britax frontier 85 after many research. My daughter loves it, I can see she feel very comfortable in it, the seat gives plenty of room for her, with the arm rest and cup holder, she could actually do a lot without me warrying about her safety. She told me many times, she lovers her car seat, it is easy to put her in and out of the car seat as well. I highly recommend.

I love Britax! IMO, they are totally worth the money. We have 4 right now (2 for each car) and will purchase 2 more this summer when my son turns 1. My oldest is 5 and has a Frontier. My 3 year old has the Marathon. We're going to give the Marathon to our 1 year old and buy a new Frontier for my 3 year old. Great seat! And, Britax is MADE IN THE USA (Charlotte, NC)!

We just bought the Graco Nautilus for both of our kids (ages 4.5 and 2), and we have been VERY happy with them. I love the idea of keeping them in a harness longer, and the seats grow with the kids up to 100 lb! They are affordable too, and my husband said it was the easiest carseat to install out of the several brands/types we've used over the years.

our car was totalled we were hurt my daughter was unscathed in the britax boulevard...the whole door smashed in completely on her side/my side...and she was fine..we replaced it with the boulevard 70 by britax

I did the same thing with my second child. Switched to a booster, learned about extended harnessing, and then put him back into a 5pt harness. I choose the nautulis and LOVED it. I have one for my third child and am considering it for the forth (she has a great car seat but it is really wide and doesn't clean up too well). My second is a husky kid and if fit him well. I don't know about the other car seat though....but the nautulis is SO worth the price.

My almost three year old is about 38 pounds and loves his Britax Frontier 85. I would check the sizing though, as the backseat of our pilot isn't the greatest for it (or any carseat!).

My kid's half sister is in the Britax Frontier. The half-sister is now 7 and fits in it perfectly. But, we have also used the same seat for my 3 year old - so it adjusts and fits well. When my 3 year old outgrows her current seat, we are going to go with the Britax Frontier.

Good luck!
L.

I have both seats.
Frontier is in our van. Nautilus is in my mom's SUV.
No question-the Frontier is the better seat.

I wish we had just bought two of them. She (our DD) will definitely outgrow the Nautilus first. It already looks too small for her. Whereas she sits just fine (plenty of room to grow) in the Frontier. I actually sat them side by side at BRU and there is quite a diffence in the seat size.

Our Nautilus is really hard to unbuckle...I say 'our' cause I realize this might just be my seat; it is really frustrating. Also the cover is falling off for no reason. And the straps seem really flimsey compared to the Frontier.
My cons for the Frontier-don't love the cover. Not sure if they improved it or not (mine is mesh like sports shorts). I know they improved the cup holders since we bought ours.

If you have a BRU nearby I would encourage you to look at them side by side. I think that will really help you see the different levels of quality.
HTH!

Our average-sized 5-yr-old (she's 42" tall) fits well and is comfortable in the Graco Nautilus. We'll never have to buy her another car seat for her, and we will definitely purchase another Nautilus when our son outgrows his Comfort Sport. We have the seats next to each other in our Camry, and I still have (just enough) room to sit in the back when necessary.

We got the Graco Nautilus in November because our daughter was about to outgrow the "cheap" seat we had. She just turned 5 years old, is about 38 lbs and 40-41 inches tall. She fits in this seat great, and will be in the 5-point harness until she is 65 lbs!

I don't know much about the Britax seat. It is a bit pricey for our budget. It holds kids in the 5-point harness up to 85 lbs. If your daughter was a larger child, I'd say you might need this seat. If we had this seat, I think our daughter would be taking her driver's test in the 5-point harness! LOL Technically I could be using this seat as a booster... by both it's weight & height requirements... with room to grow... haha

I looked at both the frontier and the nautilus too. I read alot of reviews and paid particular attention to the ones on http://www.car-seat.org/ - which is a forum for and by carseat techs - so they arent as influenced by "image" as functionality.

Pretty much, the consensus was that they were both good seats, with the Frontier having a little more padding which could make it more comfortable for long car rides - other wise, they were pretty much equal.

We are rarely in the car for more than an hour, and usually not that much. I bought the nautilus at Amazon for $140. The only complaint I have is the bottom buckle - its situatuated sort of far back, so my son (33 months) sometimes sits on it when he gets in, and we have to dig around for it to buckle.

I think as he gets a little older, he will know not to sit on it. He is already trying to help me pull it forward when he does sit on it.

I really like the little storage compartments under the arm rests (great for little toy cars!) and the removable pad is nice - it take most of the daily wear and tear and can be taken out and washed.

Its good up to 65 pounds (I think) with the 5 point harness, and then up to 100 as a regular booster. I think the frontier lets the child stay in the 5 point harness longer.

If money really was no option, I probably would have gotten the Frontier, but at half the price for a really good carseat, I couldnt pass up the Nautilus.

I've been happy with it.

We have one in a Jetta and one in a Hyunda Santa Fe. We also have a Britax Round About for both cars and just enough room for me to wedge myself in between them, if someone is riding in the front.

I love the Graco Nautilus. We have two. Someday we will buy a 3rd one. I feel it is very safe, and my 3 year old is not going to outgrown anytime soon. I imagine he will fit in the 5 point harness well into elementary school!

I have the Britax Marathon and the Britax Frontier and LOVE them both. My 6 year old is in the frontier and she has plenty of room to grow. I have used the frontier in several rental cars including an accord, chrysler 300 and my car is a honda pilot it fits them all.

Good luck!

After I was in an accident we purchased the Graco Nautilus for both vehicles. My 6 y.o is still in it and still has not out grown it. I love this seat. It is safe and easy to use. The only down fall is that it is kind of bulky. We love the little storage pockets it has on the sides. The cover removes so easily if there is a pee pee accident. I would recommend this seat to any one and everyone. It is also about $100 cheaper than a Britax, but just as good if not better.

I love our Graco Nautilus.
My 2 year old is tall and big for her age, and she fits perfectly in it.
My friend's 4 year old fits well in hers, and she's had no complaints with it.
Hope this helps.

The mother's I know that install car seats and do physical and occupational therapy all tell me Graco Nautilus for whenever my daughter gets to that stage. However they also say different seats fit better in some cars than others. If there's a store near you that lets you take a display out to see I'd try that!

I really like the Britax Frontier. We have one and and can easily switch it between a Ford F150 and a Honda Odyssey. My little one is tall- so I went with the Frontier.

I don't have one yet, but I just added the Greco Nautilus to our baby registry! I read TONS of helpful reviews on Amazon (on both of those carseats). Check it out!

Search online and find out which one will fit in your car. These are massive seats and they don't work in every vehicle. Trust me, I invested hours trying to get that Nautilus to be secure in our Odyssey and it never happened. Graco said it had to go in the third row, which was a deal breaker (we're not the Gosselins ... have no need to deal with car seats way back in the third row). Had to exchange it for the Frontier.

We have 2 GRaco Nautilus car seats. One is for my 6 year old and the other for my son who is about to be 4. I love them. We have not had any trouble with the fittings and I like that they will grow with them.