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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