Saturday, October 31, 2009

Low Price Britax Frontier Booster Car Seat Rushmore


Well, it was time for another carseat for my almost 4 year old daughter. She had outgrown her Britax Decathlon and I wanted to keep her in a harness for a long time. After researching I found that there really aren't that many seats out there yet that have the higher harnessed weight and height capacities AND converted to a belt-positioning booster, although a lot of the carseat manufacturer's are coming around in this department. Quite honestly, I wasn't even considering this seat because of the price tag. I had my mind set on the Nautilus 3-in-1 by Graco. I tested my daughter in it at Target and it seemed okay to me. I noticed the straps on that seat were placed wrong when I put the head rest in the correct position. Also, the crotch strap did seem a little snug on her. So, I was back to square one.

I did more research and was armed with my list of possibilities. My hubby, daughter, and I took off to "test" out some seats at the stores. We ended up scrapping the idea of any convertible carseats. I was interested in the Radian 65, but couldn't find it anywhere to test out, and I wasn't about to make the mistake of yet another online purchase and not be happy with it (done that before!). We also scrapped the idea of getting seat that didn't convert into a belt-positioning booster. With that being the case, we were left with very few seats to choose from.

Anyway, we tried my daughter in the Nautilus again, and I figured I must have done something wrong at Target, because the one at Toys R Us seemed great. We both liked it. Then, we went down to Babies R Us and looked for some of the other choices and they really didn't have any, but I mentioned the Frontier to my husband. He wanted to try it out, so we did. He really, really liked the Frontier. He thought this was much better quality than the Nautilus. I would have been fine with the Nautilus, but the hubby wanted this one, so it's the one we bought.

Well, I'm truly glad we bought this seat instead of the Nautilus. It's very sturdy and heavy duty. Yes, it's heavy, but that doesn't bother us. It's meant to be for protection. We don't plan on taking out of the van that often, so the heaviness is not a big deal to us. The harness straps are a breeze to adjust. The harness loosens very easily and they wrap around the handles so they are out of the way when my daughter gets in the seat. The crotch strap is on the middle slot setting (there are three slots) and provides plenty of room for my daughter. At 4 years old my daughter is 44 inches tall and weighs 43 pounds and the harness slots are on the third notch down from the top. She still has about 4 inches to grow where she will be able to use the harness. The headrest is comfortable for her and her head does not fall forward when she sleeps. She actually looks very comfortable while asleep. This seat does have a recline block that must be used in the harness mode, which helps while she's sleeping. The cup holders are great too, although they do not fit wide cups. I had to buy some other cups for use in the car.

We have a 2007 Honda Odyssey and I had no problems at all intalling it in the passenger side 2nd row captain's chair. It is installed using the seatbelt because my daughter is more than 40 pounds. I used the long belt path installation with the anchor tether and got an extremely tight fit. The seat does not move at all! You must read the manual very carefully! It can be confusing. I actually got on Britax's website and carefully watched the installation demo video twice before I even attemted to install this seat. It did take me time, probably 30 minutes, because I tried the short belt path first and that didn't do the trick. The seat moved WAY too much! I'm sure as time goes by, I will become faster at installing it. I haven't needed to remove the seat since I installed it the first time about 3 weeks ago. It still hasn't moved or loosened.

I only gave this seat four stars because I think the harness straps are a little too close together and they seem to sit too close to my daughter's neck. A half-inch more on each side would have been nice. Also, the cupholders could be a little more sturdy. They seem somewhat chinzy, but they work. The harness straps do get twisted sometimes and the crotch strap does slide down and my daughter sits on it, but I've learned to grab it and pull it forward before she sits down. The twisting and crotch strap problems are issues I've experienced with every carseat I've owned, even our Britax Decathlon! So, they really aren't an issue. Other than these minor annoyances, this carseat is really great. I'm really glad my husband decided on this seat. He says he doesn't mind paying the cost for safety and reliability.Get more detail about Britax Frontier Booster Car Seat Rushmore.

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This is a fantastic booster seat. Britax has come through once again. I purchased this chair because it's level of safety design is such a high quality. No other combination chair comes close. My son loves sitting in it. It was a bit challenging to install but it is not intended to install and uninstall on a regular basis though. The adjustable arms make it super easy to get him in and out especially when he has fallen asleep. It's very easy to adjust it to the correct positioning. The 3 positioning 2 buckle is also very helpful for getting the right fit. No complaints other than the install. Thank you, BritaxGet more detail about Britax Frontier Booster Car Seat Rushmore.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Discount Britax Frontier Booster Car Seat Rushmore


We owned two Britax car seats prior to the Frontier and were really happy with both. I read the reviews here and was concerned about the difficult and sometimes impossible installation being described. We almost opted for another less expensive but hassle-free brand and model. In the end we decided to give the Frontier a try because of its safety features and our previous experience.

Here is how my installation experience breaks down in my 07 Acura MDX: 5 minutes to review the manual, 5 minutes to install without difficulty, 5 minutes to adjust and check. The other reviews recommending reading the manual are right on. If you follow the simple instructions, there is no problem. In fact, if you try to install this seat without closely following directions, you may install it incorrectly creating a possible safety issue.

My only issue with this seat, which may be applicable to other seats, is that the head rest is so tall that it obstructs my view out of the back window when the Fronter is installed in the center of the back seat. Moving the seat to one of the side seats should solve this.Get more detail about Britax Frontier Booster Car Seat Rushmore.

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I have 2 kids, 3.5 and 19 months. When my 3.5 year old son outgrew his Graco infant carrier, we did a bunch of research and decided on the Britax Roundabout. We love this seat! We bought our 3.5 year old the Alpha Omega Elite when our youngest was ready to move to the convertible seat thinking the elite would be his last seat and he could stay harnessed in it for a long time. The Elite was much less in price than another Britax model but seemed to get good reviews. I realized shortly after buying the elite that after 40 lbs. we would need to switch his seat to the booster mode using the cars seatbelt. I am not ready to have my 3.5 year old in a booster so I did more research. We went with the Frontier because it is the only seat that I've found with great safety ratings that keeps a child harnessed for a long time (80lbs# and then a booster to 100lbs. It also has the highest height maximum which is important since our kids are tall. We've had the Frontier for about 7 months and it is an okay seat. What I love about the roundabout is not true of this seat. Our Roundabout is super easy to install #we've only used it with the latch#, the straps never get twisted, the hooks never fall down under the child. With the Frontier, we use the seatbelt #because 40 lbs and higher shouldn't use the latch#. I can't get a tight/secure fit. My husband can but it takes longer than the Roundabout. The bottom seat buckles always slip to the bottom and I'm always having to reach from underneath my child's bottom to get them out. I've tried putting the straps around the arm rests #as suggested in the manual# which helps minimally. The arm rest get super hot #we're in AZ). I'm not sure how to fix that issue as we have a cold seat that will cover the seat buckles but not the arm rests. My son loves to play with the arm rest which I think compromises his safety since the manual clearly states that they must stay in the "down" position while the vehicle is in motion. My son is often complaining that his sippy cup is stuck in the cupholder. Sometimes, I even have a hard time getting his sippy cup out. When the seat is positioned next to a door, the cup holder closest to the door can't be used. The straps on the Frontier get twisted often. When the grandparents get my son in his seat, they have difficulty doing the straps because of the poor design. The fabric on our Frontier has "grease marks" and doesn't look like it is only 7 months old. The fabric has gotten frayed from velcro on shoes. Our Roundabout fabric is still in great condition. I would love to wash the cover of our Frontier but it says to spot clean only (you got to be kidding me...a child's seat that can't be washed!!!). Our 19 month old is almost too tall for the Roundabout eventhough he is under the 40 inch height maximum. I'm looking at other seats now because I still want my 3 1/2 year old to be harnessed but I'm not that thrilled with the Frontier so I'd like something that my 19 month old could go in and stay in for a long time.Get more detail about Britax Frontier Booster Car Seat Rushmore.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Cheap Britax Frontier Booster Car Seat Rushmore


This car seat is exactly as advertised. Britax consistently gets top ratings for safety. This seat is also very easy to install and use and will grow with our son for several years. A good buy.Get more detail about Britax Frontier Booster Car Seat Rushmore.

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This seat is for big kids to be harnessed-in up to a high weight and height. Parents who are complaining.....1. Read the Manually thoroughly! It's your child's safety! DUH! 2. It's a big heavy seat for a big heavy kid. You can't whip it around like the Marathon or a piece of crap Evenflo, Safety 1st or some other brand that didn't test as well in a crash test and made in China. SO QUIT COMPLAINING! 3. Stop Rushing if your straps are getting twisted. Set the straps to the side before your toddler climbs in and push the button to pull the straps forward to adjust with coats. COMPLAINERS...MAYBE YOU SELECTED THE WRONG SEAT FOR YOUR CHILD'S SIZE??????!?!?!?!!! 4. No car seat in the safety quality compares to Britax. So stop complaining, be happy you can afford the hefty price and be thankful your kids are in the safest possible seat. If you don;t want the hassle of safety and an extra 1 minute to properly secure your child, then go buy a cheap seat for $100 and don't have your kid harnessed in until they are near 90 lbs. This is the best seat...I feel my kids are so safe in this seat. Glad to buy it. Yes, it took an extra manual read and 30 minutes to install, but it's worth it. Don't listen to those complainers. Get more detail about Britax Frontier Booster Car Seat Rushmore.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Buy Britax Frontier Booster Car Seat Rushmore


Before buying Fronter we used Britax Marathon for our daughter and we were very happy with it. So, after lots of research Frotier was our obvious choice. Our three year old daughter also likes her new spacious car seat with cup-holders on both sides. It also feels very sturdy, well-built and safe. However, my major complain is installation. We never had any installation problem with Marathon.

As others mentioned already, installation is bit difficult for this car seat. This a pretty big size car seat, which is good but works as disadvantage while installing. We never tried use LATCH on our Honda Accord, because car manual does not recommend using LATCH in backseat middle position (and we don't want to install it near window, as it makes child more vulnerable in side impact). Using seat belt, there is two ways to install this car seat - "short path" and "long path".

1. In "short path", if your buckle (where you tug/click the latch-plate of your seat belt to buckle-up) is at least three inch above from the base of seat, this car seat is NOT going to install properly. Because seat belt hole in car seat is too low and buckle get too close to make the seat belt tight enough. The whole car seat moves around. Very unsafe. Most of the Japanese cars and many American cars have buckles a few inch above from base of the seat. I know some cars like Lexas have buckles located almost at the level of seat base. I guess it is going to work for those kind of cars, but I never tried it.

2. The "long path" seems to be safer. However, it requires very very long seat beat. Most of the sedans don't. It does not work in our second car Toyota Camry. My friend tried to use it in her VW Passat and failed. Both cases the seat belts fall short for long path. It's literally LONNNNNNNG path. In our Honda Accord I just manage to install it using "long path", but it requires good amount of time and patience. Little bit of twisting in belt makes latch-plate not reaching buckle and I need to start all over again.

Bottomline: If you are not planning to use LATCH, check what kind of seat belt you have. If your buckle is few inch above from the base of back-seat and your seat belt is not long enough, this car seat might not be suitable.


Get more detail about Britax Frontier Booster Car Seat Rushmore.

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I almost didn't buy this seat and spent countless hours reviewing other seats because of mixed reviews. I am so glad I did. I will try to address the negative things that I read in hopes to save someone else the time I wasted on worrying about whether to purchase this seat. I've owned the roundabout and marathon, so I've had a great experience with britax so far.

I really wanted the 5 pt harness for my 5 year old. I think that other reviewers expect this to work like their britax convertible car seats. This is a booster seat. I can't agree more with other reviewer- you must read the manual!

I installed this in my 2008 Honda Odyssey 2nd row using the long belt installation (which I needed to since my child exceeded the 40 lb limit on latch installation). Not sure why other reviewer (and rep at Britax) said this can't go into 2nd row securely. Lap belt installation with harness does involve a little work to get a tight fit. I would not recommend moving this regularly. I am a 5'8" woman of average strength. It took me about 10-15 minutes to get a really tight fit (there was barely any side to side wiggle). I think a mighty clip would have made it easier, but I forgot to buy one.

Latch installation is different because the base is bigger, but not difficult to install. I actually prefer the latch installation on this seat because you can tighten latch belt by pulling straight back (through the seat) instead of trying to pull at an odd angle on either side of the base.

I read a few complaints about how horrible it is to remove the seat cover for cleaning. It's a more complex seat than the marathon, etc, so there are more things to deal with. I wouldn't say it's hard, it's just more involved. I give this 4 stars instead of 5 because I wish the seat fabric was more like the traditional plush britax fabric. The fabric is more in line with graco, evenflo car seats, so I don't know if it will wear the same.

The straps can get twisted. I noticed that the straps seemed longer than on my son's marathon. I use the arm rests to secure them when child isn't using. I also love that seat can be secured with latch when in booster mode so you don't have to secure seat with belt when child isn't in it. Cup holders seem to be a nice feature.

The last thing to note: although britax highlights that the harness can be used to 80 lbs, it has a 53" height limit, so you may need to go to booster mode long before 80 lb weight limit is reached.Get more detail about Britax Frontier Booster Car Seat Rushmore.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Order Britax Frontier Booster Car Seat Rushmore


I almost didn't buy this seat and spent some time reading through these mixed reviews... horrified! However, I appreciate the fact that I did and chose to purchase this seat. I've owned the Britax Marathon and absolutely loved that seat and so did my daughter's teacher who bought it off of me. It was still in fantastic shape and had never been in an accident, so I sold it and put the money toward this purchase. I bought this seat here direct through Amazon (on sale), for $[...] with free delivery and with the sale of the Marathon, brought this seat price down to $[...]! Worth every penny!

I really wanted the 5pt. harness for my 6 year old daughter who has special needs. I feel that the harness system and side-impact head shield gives her the necessary support and protection. The secret to the installation of this seat is reading the manual and watching the on-line video. I took my laptop out to the car and re-watched the video out in the car. It was like having my own personal instructor! lol

I ended up using the long-path method with the versa tether and it fits my 2001 Subaru Outback Limited Wagon beautifully as it was placed behind the passenger seat. Nice and tight. (I made sure to remove the car's head rest as this made for a better snug fit). I checked my car's owners manual to see what kind of seat belts the Subaru had and discovered they use the Emergency Locking Retractor(ELR) System. This is one of the systems poo-pooed by Britax. However, all the passenger seating uses what they call an Automatic/Emergency Locking Retractor System (A/ELR) when a car seat is installed, making for a safe installation without the need for a store bought locking clip. Once the car seat is removed and the seat belt is retracted fully, it goes back to using the ELR system. So I highly recommend that you read your car's owners manual to decipher your own system. The whole install process took me about 30 minutes (because I was learning which install would be best), but next time it would take me less than 5 with the practice I received.

The seat is sturdy and made very well, putting other boosters to shame. I bought the Sahara pattern as it compliments the tan leather seating in the Subaru. The other reason I bought this pattern is that the material is suede and tapestry, not the tricot used in the other seat colors. I think this cover will last longer and not get pulled and torn up by velcro as there is nothing to catch on or pull.

I will update if I find any significant issues arising. My only complaint, and it is a minor one, are the cup holders. They are angled strangely during opening and are hard and flimsy to operate. They feel like they are going to break when operating. Two hands are needed most definitely, so if you are going for a long ride and your little one will eventually need a drink... open it before driving. Neither your child, or you will be able to open while driving. So just be aware. I am surprised by this, but like I said it is minor and doesn't effect me very much. 5 Stars for SAFETY and QUALITY! My seat was not effected by the recall.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to make a comment. If I can I will do my best to help you out.

Britax Frontier Booster Car Seat- SaharaGet more detail about Britax Frontier Booster Car Seat Rushmore.

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I bought this seat for my daughter after a lot of research. I had read many mixed reviews, but went ahead with the purchase anyways because I really wanted the harness height and thought it was my best option. I personally am not very fond of Britax. I feel quality and safety wise they are nothing near the Recaro seats, but I wanted a 5-point-harness for my preschool aged daughter and this seat seemed like the best option. This was not our first Britax, we have a Marathon which is a decent seat, just in my opinion lacking in side protection and quality. There are some pros with this seat. It has a good harness shoulder height and it has the head protection wings. Once you have done it a couple times, it is pretty easy to install with the latch system, but very difficult to get a good install with the belt. But (and it pretty big "but") there are some real cons. The seat feels cheap to me. Like I said, I am a Recaro fan and the difference in quality between this seat and our Recaro Signo, Young Sport and even the Recaro Vivo booster is huge (we have four kids:) The materials used are not great, it's very plastic, and the cup holders will not work when the seat is installed as they cannot pull out. Also, my daughter who used to love to ride in the car constantly complains about how uncofortabale it is. We have tried the seat in the booster form with my older son, and I was extremely disappointed. He is definitely better off in a plain booster like the Vivo or any other brand even the Britax. The seat belt could just not get into, or stay in, the correct position. Also, DON'T get the pink fabric if you do get this seat. It is impossible to keep clean and looks worn right away. For a decently expensive seat, they really chose some cheapo fabric. This is not just my opinion, but it is also a major complaint that is all over other forums and reviews.

This seat is not horrible, jut not great especially for a more expensive. If you want a 5-point-harness for an older child, I would highly recommend the Graco Nautilus (which is actually much cheaper), possibly a Recaro Signo or Como or a Radian. (My four year old twin nieces are still in their Como and have plenty of grow room left). After this seat, I don't think we will ever get Britax again. I know many people are very happy with the brand, but I just don't see the quality or safety features there that can compare to other brands like Recaro or Sunshine Kids. We have had this seat now for much over a year, and I can honestly tell you I am very disappointed. I really thought about giving the seat only one star, but decided on two because it is a good idea, just poorly executed.Get more detail about Britax Frontier Booster Car Seat Rushmore.

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If your considering buying the Britax Frontier you might want to do what I did. I am a former Britax Marathon car seat owner. I bought the Frontier after reading all the reviews, and decdided to test the car seat out. My Daughter Julia rode in the car seat for over a week. I noticed her head falling forward alot and the seat belts way to close to her face. Julia complained alot about the crotch belt area rubbing against her legs. Mind you my daughter is only 2. I hate the belts, they are constantly twisting and are cheaply made. The Frontier overall quality is just cheap. I thought this was made in the USA? Also, I read alot about how hard the car seat is to install, just like anything else read the directions first. I am so disappointed that I am returning the Britax car seat today.Get more detail about Britax Frontier Booster Car Seat Rushmore.