The Product: Convertible Car Seat (5-65 LBS)

Although a convertible car seat can be used from birth, it's most commonly used once your baby has outgrown their infant carrier until the time that they move into a booster seat. The seat is used is the rear facing position until your baby is at least one year old and 20 pounds. At this time, it is used in the forward facing position. It is important to to read the manual for your specific car seat because the latest guidelines are always changing.

Recommendation: Britax Marathon Convertible Car Seat Review

Britax has developed one of the best reputations among car seat manufacturers and a loyal following of parents, thanks to their focus on safety and ease of use. Unlike many other brands, they give special attention to side impact safety and to the fit of the seat in the rear facing position. We have three Britax seats (Diplomat, Marathon, Boulevard) and have been very happy with all of them. I get asked a lot about buying the Britax Roundabout versus the Britax Marathon. Hopefully, this review will help answer that debate, the Britax Marathon is not necessarily better than the Britax Roundabout, it really depends more on your individual needs and the size of your car. If you are interested in the Marathon Car Seat, I would also suggest that you check out it's cousin, the Britax Boulevard, which is the same size seat with added safety features.

Some features that differentiate Britax Car Seats:

• Locking clips which make the seats very easy to install using a regular seat belt in the case that you are traveling or don’t have LATCH in your car.

• An industry first reversible tether (Versa-Tether). When the seat is the rear facing position, the tether is attached using a special clip to the underside of one of the front seats. This feature dramatically improves installation and security. One you see how well this works, you will be surprised that no other companies offers this features.

• The Britax LATCH clips, which you can see in the picture (above right) are designed like seatbelts and are extremely easy to attach and release versus other seats. They also store away inside the seat when not in use.
  
  
• Built in Lock-Offs, both forward facing and rear facing, are designed for easy reach and operation when using traditional belt routing.

The Britax Marathon is sort of the big brother to the more popular Roundabout (See Britax Roundabout Review). The primary difference between the Roundabout and the larger Marathon is size, although the Marathon also has slightly better side impact protection than the Roundabout because its taller sides allow for more EPS foam. The Marathon is designed for up to 65 pounds (Rear Facing: 5 to 33 pounds Front Facing: 1 year old and 20 to 65 pounds), meaning it can prolong the need to switch to a booster seat.

As a first time parent, it’s tempting to just go with the smaller seat, thinking that you will worry about what comes next when the time comes, which is what we did. However, you will really realize the value of the larger seat when your child turns about three and outgrows the 40 lb limit. It’s much safer at this age for them to continue to be in a five point harness then a traditional booster sear and this is what most experts recommend. The problem is that if you have a seat with a 40lb limit and don’t want to use a traditional booster, you then have to buy another expensive in-between seat which is essentially a booster with a five point harness such as the Sunshine Kids Radian Car Seat or the Britax Frontier

If you have two cars, you may want to consider purchasing one Roundabout and one the larger Britax Seats (Marathon/Boulevard). This way you will have one seat that will last longer and another that will fit better in the smaller car and which you can use for travel. This is what we did and what we have recommended to all of our friends.

Britax seats are worth the premium. They are extremely safe and are easy to install and remove from your car.

Devil's Advocate:

The Marathon is big and is really better suited for a mid size or larger automobile. If you have a smaller car, you should test it out first in both directions to make sure that it doesn't require the front seats to be too far forward. Although it may be approved for aircraft use, the Marathon is can be too big to lug around the airport and may not fit well in your seat, depending on the plane. The Britax Roundabout or Britax Diplomat on the other hand will fit fine.

Recommended Accessories:

• Gogo Kidz - Very clever attachment for Britax car seat that lets you use the seat as a stroller for traveling, especially in the airport.
• Dex Carseat Travel Bag - Durable nylon bag for traveling with your car seat. An absolute must for airplane travel.