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Our LO is a couple months away from outgrowing our infant bucket seat and with Canada’s most incomprehensible shopping holiday just around the corner, we are looking to save a bit of cash on a convertible seat.
I’ve narrowed my choices down to the Britax Marathon or the Extend2Fit. From what I understand, the only real advantage to the Britax Marathon is ease of installation. My family has two vehicles, so being able to occasionally switch the car seat over is a huge asset, but it just doesn’t seem worth paying double the price (or more) for that function alone. Does anyone have experience with these seats?
For reference, one of our vehicles is a 2007 Honda Fit and the other is a 2017 Honda CRV.
I was wondering if anyone has tried flying with a rear-facing Britax Marathon. Did it fit or did you run into any problems? I haven’t been able to find a lot of information on this, so any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
I can't help on the Britax Marathon side but we have the Cosco Scenera for travel and it wouldn't fit rear facing when we were in basic economy. It did fit rear facing when we were in the economy plus seats with more legroom.
If you are flying in the states, the FAA requires non infant bucket seats to be forward facing regardless of child age, as well as installed in the window seat. Also keep in mind that the average seat width is 17.5” in case your seat is wider. Be careful of your kiddo kicking/pushing the seat in front of them.
Options: CARES Harness (if you have a car seat at your destination or dont need one like with public transport), Cosco Scenera Next (then can rear face in car at your destination, this is what we use), checking your car seat (not my desired action since baggage isn’t always handled delicately)
FAA site: https://www.faa.gov/travelers/fly_children
The Britax Marathon is the top rated car seat from The Wirecutter. I've found that site to be a bit spotty for consumer electronics but their test methodology seems OK for the child seats.
It's hard to see exactly how bulky the seat is, but this picture from The Wirecutter makes it seem pretty reasonable.
Adding to that is this cars.com car seat check. They claim to use the Britax Marathon in their testing. But the picture of their rear facing child seat doesn't match the info I see on other sites.
Sort of related is this old post from gm-volt.com. Post #12 seems to be positive. Also intriguing is post #3 though my first reaction is that the idea of removing the seat cushion is a bit crazy.
Does anyone here have a gen2 volt and the Britax Marathon they can confirm has enough space when rear facing to get a child (under the rear facing weight limit) in and out? Does anyone have pictures of one of these in a gen2 volt?