Tall 5 1/2 y.o. Britax Regent or Safeguard Go?

[Boogiemama]

Our Dear Son has almost completely outgrown his Britax Marathon. I must say to those with younger children the Marathon's are great! My son is tall for his age and although there is plenty of room in the seat side to side for his bottom the Marathon is getting small in the buckle area and his broad shoulders are rounding in the car seat. He is tall and a bit lanky.
I would like to stick with a harness if possible. I do not know when the new Britax Frontier is coming out (or is it really a Regent?)
I considered a non-harness until I read the following-
http://bookmama.wordpress.com/2008/0...utionary-tale/

I live in Los Angeles with plenty of bad drivers. I have been rear-ended multiple times by idiots while I was at a stop sign or stop-light parked.

Is the Safeguard Go better for big kids (with harness) or the Britax?
What about side impact issues? Would the Safeguard Go fit as a 3rd carseat for the occaisional friend in a Blazer if we have one Marathon, and two Safeguard Gos or One Marathon and one Regent and one Safeguard Go?

Any suggestions, we drive alot.

[khm]

According to their website, the GO's top strap adjustment is 17", so if a MA is getting too short, a GO won't work at all with the harness.

http://www.safeguardseat.com/go/specifications.htm

[Boogiemama]

Thank you for the link. I measured Dear son and he is about 17 1/2 inches from seat area to shoulder now (seated shoulder height). The Marathon still fits in height but is too narrow in the shoulder width for him.
I saw the Regent specs and it only goes to 20" seated shoulder height. Is there a harness booster for tall kids?
At this growth rate I do not know if he would outgrow a Regent in one year?? We bought 5 Marathons and I do not plan to get 5 Regents and then 5 of whatever comes out and is bigger. But the description of how a seatbelt improperly fitted can hurt a kid in an accident is gruesome. Harnesses are much more stable and remain in place better than the other type of seatbelt.

[TaChapm]

I believe Julie said that the Regent is the seat with the highest shoulder slots. You must remember that at this age it can take them a couple of years to grow those extea few inches. Jackson could still fit in his Marathon by height (his shoulders were too wide as well) but we went ahead and bought the Regent. He is in the 95% in height and is still in the slots that are next to the top so I think he will have at least another couple of years in the Regent.

[tarynsmum]

Yeah, for the longest use harnessed your best bet is the Regent. There is nothing with a higher top slot. At 5 1/2, his torso height should start to slow down too, so that 3 inches of torso height could take a while to actually grow. You could also look at the Safeguard Child Seat (not the Go, but the actual car seat). It has very high top slots as well.

[Boogiemama]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=azgBhZfcqaQ&feature=related

Public information Public Service Announcement. You tube link to a video a parent made after losing her son in a car crash.
He was wearing his seatbelt in a booster seat and the seatbelt failed.
Just FYI in case you were like me and considering a booster because "everybody else" in kindergarten seems to have them instead of a harness.

[Joolsplus2]

My dd outgrew the Marathon at about age 6. She's now 8.5 and still has at least an inch of torso room in the Regent to grow. My 10 yo still has half an inch of torso room... it's definitely the tallest seat and fits even big kids to at least age 8 . If you can keep cramming him in his MA for another couple months, the Britax Frontier is coming out, it may not be quite as tall as the Regent (I'm not sure), but it becomes a booster later (kids still have to be in boosters after they outgrow the Regent in most cases, anyway).

Yeah, that's really a tragic situation, but remember that kiddo was only 3 and was in a seat that was visibly misused and his seatbelt failed... it was a perfect storm of misfortune that most of us will never face... kids 5 and older are quite safe in boosters (though personally I keep mine harnessed longer )

[Joolsplus2]

Oh, PS, the Safeguard Go didn't last my DD much longer than the Marathon, and it wasn't very comfortable...