I was curious... what age is your tot now and what car seat are you using? Do you like it?

In my car Abby has been in her Evenflow Triumph 5 since she grew out of the infant carrier. Now she is almost too tall for it and I need to find her something else.

I think that I need to go with one that converts to a booster. I'm going to maybe go look after work today and I've been looking around some on the internet.

Norah & Elliott are still in their Britax Roundabouts. They aren't very tall or big, though, so we have plenty of time before they outgrow these.

Tori...there is a thread somewhere on here about the boosters. We have one in our car that all 3 kids can use. Its a 5pt that converts to a belt positioning booster at 40lbs. Its the Graco Ultra CarGo (they also make the Platinum CarGo). This one and the Evenflo Chase are in the thread. They are both pretty good :nod:
I think Nichole found another that is supposed to be pretty good, but I dont know what it is.......

Thanks Karri!!! I'm going to go and search for it!

If you want to keep the 5-point harness past 40lbs, I think the Britax Regency is one of the only ones that does it. If you don't mind not having a 5-point restraint, another good choice besides those that Karri posted is the Compass B500. It is top rated by a couple car seat safety sites and/or research. Another good choice is the Eddie Bauer High Back Summit. Reviews on that seat however are mixed (because of straps, etc.) and that bothers me a little. Another top-performer (and the seat we bought for DH's car) is the Cosco Protek booster. It is REALLY inexpensive (Walmart for around $30) but the seat is highly rated for safety. We use it without any complaint so far.

HTH!

We have Britax Marathons in the van for the boys, but just had to buy another seat for Jackson in Brendon's car. It's the Evenflo Generations, and it's a 5pt harness to 40lbs and then a belt-positioning booster after that. From what I read, it's a better BPB than the Graco because the seat belt can get stuck in the little plastic clips/holder in the Graco CarGo. The Generations (or Bolero, which is the same but has less extra padding) just has a slot under the headrest to position the seat belt.

The Generations is at Target for $100 and the Bolero is at WalMart/KMart for about $60 or so.

The Generations:
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0006L0S4Q.16._SCLZZZZZZZ_SS260_.jpg

We just converted Alex to a booster seat. We have the Cosco Alpha Omega that converts from an infant seat to a booster. It's not a 5 point as a booster though. :blush: He was just getting too tall to be in the infant seat any longer. He weighs 42 pounds.
http://img.shopping.com/cctool/PrdImg/images/pr/177X150/00/01/81/0f/ae/25235374.JPG (http://www2.shopping.com/xPF-Cosco_Alpha_Omega_22_150)
We got this one at Costco for about $100.

We have the Britax marathon in both of our cars and the g'parents car. It holds a higher weight amount than 40 lbs - 60 maybe? Anyway, Rayna will be in that for a good while yet.

I was actually watching the news yesterday and there was a story about car seats and people putting their kids over 40+ in seats designed only up to 40 lbs. The manufacturer and safety folks were talking about how dangerous this is because ths straps can break in a high power impact, basically ending up in a huge risk of your kids being ejected. They were talking about what a great danger this is, but yet the only seats that are designed for heavier, younger kids are so expensive.

Anywho, this is one area where I decided we were not going to skim and I am very happy w/ our carseat. We will get the same one for #2 when the time comes.

I was watching that too, Sandy. They said that carseat mfgs need to step up to the plate and realize that younger children are heavier these days and start making carseats reflect these statistics.

Raelyn is 15 months and is in a Britax Roundabout.

Morgan is 4.5 and is in a Britax Marathon.

ETA: Morgan is only 38lbs and the Marathon goes up to 65.

I watched that also. Alyssa is in a graco seat. I forget which one off the top of my head but it is a 5 pt harness and it changes into a belt seat. Alyssa is far from 40 lbs so we are good to go on this seat.

We have this same on in Brown
http://img.shopping.com/cctool/PrdImg/images/pr/177X150/00/01/81/0f/ae/25235374.JPG (http://www2.shopping.com/xPF-Cosco_Alpha_Omega_22_150)

i've got all kinds of seats

for gianna (18m): evenflo triumph and a cosco scenera

tony (not quite 4): nania airway (no longer made, harnesses to 50lbs then is a bpb) and an evenflo chase

i also have a cosco touriva and a graco bpb at my mom's

We have the Eddie Bauer 3-in-one. It goes from 5lbs to booster seat. When the new baby is ready for this one we will get a combination one for Emma since I don't see her hitting 40lbs for a few years yet.