My third child is almost ready to get out of her carrier. We've had a roundabout and my son is in a marathon. We've loved all of our Britax's, but wonder if the decathlon is worth the extra money. Any advice is appreciated.
From my understanding the Britax seats did not do well in the consumer reports testing. I don't have a link but you could google it. I remember reading that Graco seats scored the highest. We have an Eddie Bauer seat that holds a child up to 80 lbs in a 5-point harness.
Have you done any research? What Elizabeth said is innaccurate. Sorry. It is NOT the only one with a five star harness and it is not the safest on the market, for sure. I did a ton of research and then spoke with the local safety seat installing firefighter and he explained the following: Any car seat which works from birth until toddlerhood and beyond is NOT SAFE. He said that ppl. spend a ton of money on these classy big padded seats that are made for all stages and in actuality he said the ONLY safe way is to have them in a carry seat at birth, then a toddler car seat, and then a booster car seat when they outgrow the regular ones. He very strongly tries to explain to mothers how the safety consumers info out there is not conclusive and that they as firefighters have seen the actual results of the wrong size seats being used. After having the lengthy conversation with him I realized my choices were changing quickly. Consequently we did not end up choosing the Britax because he did not feel it was the best on the market for safety standards. I could check which one he recommended but I don't remember what its called because its in our car right now. Good luck with your choice of car seat and may all our precious children be protected inside the vehicles which they ride in.
I have the Decathlon and it is great. I don't have any complaints at all about it. We used the inner padding until my daughter got too big to be comfortable with it attached. It's especially good for tall infants/toddlers because of its height. My daughter seems to be very comfortable while riding in it.
I love it! Very worth the money
Hi K.,
I purchased the Decathlon for my daughter and she loves it. I love the ease of use. My daughter is 2 and 36 inches tall and I love the fact that it goes up to 60lbs instead of the usual 40 lbs. It is very easy to install with LATCH. I move it from my car (Ford Focus) to my husbands car (Lincoln LS) with no problems at all. It is extremely easy to take apart and wash as well which is a biggie!
I did a lot of research and I subscribe to Consumer Reports. I believe it got very high ratings- otherwise I wouldn't have purchased it.
Good Luck and Hope this helps,
R.
K.,
I sent the following email out to my mom's group after I saw this youtube link video (not sure if it is still up, but try to paste it in). From all the research I have done, one should but a five point harness booster seat. I have my 20 month old in the roundabout and I plan on buying the Britax booster with the five point harness. I hear there is a waiting list, so I might get in line for it a bit before my daughter gets to her 40 lbs max.
Good Luck! C.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/babies-kids/child-car-...
http://cpsafety.com/articles/lapbelts.aspx
I watched the below video and then did some research of my own (see above links). Very powerful information regarding the use of the 5 point harness WITH BOOSTER SEATS (not just a lap belt). Worth your time to do a bit of research yourself. It should be noted that you should also consult your car manual for some LATCH systems or rear Tethers can only be used up to a certain weight limit. I tethered my Britax Roundbout and laughed at myself while adding the extra protection...but now I am thankful that I did.....
Click on the link in the attachment, it is very sad
but an important reminder about car safety for the
little ones. Especially because they are starting to
seem so big.
I LOVE my Decathlon. My DD is 8 months old and big (about 30" and 20 lbs).
The reasons I went with the Decathlon (Instead of Roundabout or Marathon)were:
-It is the only Britax with 3 different positions for the crotch strap.
-She can stay rear facing in a 5 point harness to 35 lbs (same as Marathon)
-I intended to keep her in her infant seat for as long as possible, but she outgrew it at 6 or 7 months. The extra padding in the Decathlon is wonderful!
-Britax can be tethered rear facing
-It fits rear facing VERY well in my smallish backseat.
-The "Tiffany" fabric is soooo cute :)
The only negatives I have heard about the Decathlon is that it can be hard to tighten the straps when baby is rear facing. I have had no problems at all getting her nice and snug.
It is essentially the same seat as the Marathon. Same sized shell, just with a bunch of nice padding and the adjustable crotch strap. The padding IMHO is nice for babies on the smaller end of the seat's size range. My daughter loves that she can sleep without her head slumping to the side.
We brought our daughter home from the hospital in her Decathalon and she's still in it 13 months later. It's super easy to install with LATCH or with just a regular shoulder/lap belt. Check out the latest edition of Baby Bargains, www.babybargains.com for a combo of what safety reports and mom's think.
I think I've read it's the only booster seat with a 5-point harness. Maybe I'm wrong, but I've heard good things about it and we're planning on buying one when our son needs it. We have the Roundabout right now and love it.
