After spending much of my time reviewing convertible car seats I was able to narrow my decision to the Britax Marathon. The Marathon with its five point harness allows your child to remain in this seat until 49" and or 65 lbs, which is equivilent to a five year old. Thats reassuring considering that most boosters start at 30lbs and just use a shoulder/lap belt combination until your child out grows their seat. I also like the fact how easy the Britax Marathon was to install. Just latch in and tether down and your seat is safe and secure.

I made my purchase online at Traveling Tikes whom I have heard many great reviews. They included free shipping and charged no sales tax. They were pleasant and very professional in answering all my questions which is something that is lacking in this industry.

Sincerely,

Alice Lathers

My two-year-old daughter has had the "faux paws" model with dog paws, etc since she was about 6 months old. The seat grows with the kids. She's currently two years old and looks like she has years left in it. We just ordered the All-star seat for our newborn who is due in a couple of days. As soon as he gets out of the rear-facing seat he's going directly into this thing--you don't need any other seat until they get into their booster seats. You can also change the covers and get different patterns (which we haven't had to do for my daughter since the original is machine washable). There is no competition here--this seat is tops. Oh, and it has the LATCH system.
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Buy it if you can afford it (or put it on your baby registry)!

After our son out grew his Graco Snug Ride infant car seat. We started to research convertibles car seats. The Britax Marathon's name came up in every online forum as well as writing reviews giving this seat very high ratings.

We visited a local store in our area who carried the Britax Marathon as we wanted to see how it would fit our child. We were very pleased that the seat has a growth potential of up to 65 lbs and 49" in height. This calculates that on average a child can stay in this seat in a five point harness until the approximate age of a five year old.....reassuring.

As most seats on the market have five point harnesses that have a weight limit of 40lbs. The Marathon would allow us more long term growth instead of transitioning into a booster early on and bipassing the shoulder/lap belt combination.

We shopped online and found that babies r us had a large selection. However the more we researched we found the prices to be considerably lower and made our purchase from travelingtikes.com. They had a great selection as well but the same seat was offered at $219.99 shipping included.

Our seat arrived just a short four days later. The Britax's owners manual was easy to read and the seat installation with the LATCH system was simple to install. However I found it a little more difficult TETHER the seat in the rear facing postion. Once installed the seat was very secure and did not have any movement as compared to the our Graco infant seat.

Our son seemed to be so happy from the get go. The harnesess were easy to adjust and we liked the fact that there was excellent side wall protection. I especially liked how soft the fabric is to the skin and the belly pad that adds a little extra comfort to the legs from the belt buckle in case it may get hot from direct sun light.

We are very happy with our purchase and highly recommend this seat to all.

My son out-grew his Graco SnugRide after about 5 1/2 months, and at first I purchased him a much cheaper convertible seat, and I quickly learned that it would not be sufficient. I have been borrowing a friends Marathon for a few months now, and I finally purchased this All Star seat last week, I am VERY happy with it!

First of all, the Marathon is EXTREMELY safe, and ranked very well in crash-test ratings... which is always very important. It is very easy to install (rear or forward facing), and as long as you have a medium-sized to large car (I have the Honda Odyssey) it should fit with room for other passengers as well. Also, the seat pattern is a very masculine print, which is what I wanted. At the same time it is very comfortable and plush, which means he has no problem napping in it. The cover is easy to wash (which I found out the hard way only a day after I purchased the seat) and it comes out of the washer looking like new. The seat straps do not tangle (VERY important when you have a squirmy toddler) and are extremely easy to adjust. I was also happy to see that it is easy for adults to buckle and un-buckle the seat belts, but for an average toddler, it would be nearly impossible.

All in all, since my son LOVES his seat, and since I am very satisfied with it, I award the Marathon seat 5 stars.

So many convertibles car seat to choose from but the Britax Marathon name kept coming up in every online review as well as every online forum.

I was very pleased that the Marathon can handle a child up to 65lbs in a five point harness. No other seat that I reviewed offered this feature. I also liked the fact that the seat was very easy to use and install with the latch and tether strap.

My son fit nicely at age 7 months and the transition from infant car seat was very pleasant for him as he did not like his Peg Perego Primo Viaggio.

The price for the Britax Marathon retails for $270.00 everywhere. However the price differed tremendously when I shopped online. I did find traveling tikes.com to have the most competitive price at $220.00. Their price included free shipping and I payed no sale tax as I lived outside California.
They offered a great selection of colors to choose from and had the color I wanted in stock.

I believe I made the best choice after very carefull review and hope that this add if published help those whom review my comments.

Britax Marathon was the easy chioce for me. Excellent growth up to 49"-65 lbs as a 5-point harness. The seat was extremely easy to install with the latch system and versa tether strap.

I especailly liked the head support on the side which is reassuring for side impacts. The marathon is well padded and my 7 month old Jack looks so comfy in his seat that I wanted to jump in there with him.

There are better prices online as one amazon consumer stated in her review online about traveling tikes.com. They are selling the same marathon at $219.99 shipping and tax included. They had a great selection of patterns to choose from which made it easy for me to make my decision.

Im one totally satisfied consumer!

With so many baby car seats to choose from out there its no wonder why it can become so confusing. Infant car seats, convertibles and boosters. 20lb's, 40lb's 65lb's Yikes! What's a mother to do?
I did my research and found that the Britax Marathon gave me more value and safety for my buck than any other car seat on the market. The Marathon is a Convertible Child Seat with LATCH that can be used rear facing for children 5 to 33 pounds and forward facing up to 65 pounds. The child's height should be between 18 and 49 inches. Not to mention that your little ones are secured by a five point harness that displaces the energy evenly across their precious little bodies. The Marathon with its patented lock-off, versa-tether and latch belt make this the easiest and most secure seat to install. Even though I was not thrilled about the color choices for my son online. I chose the Racer pattern and found the best price of $219.99 offered at travelingtikes online including shipping and I paid no sals tax. Do yourself's a favor and invest in your child's safety. I know that when I get behind the wheel of my car that I feel more confident now knowing that I have a Britax, than when we had our first infant car seat. Happy travels!

What a great seat!!! Excellent growth for the long term. I especially like the sides of the seat that offer great side impact protection. Also a five point harness that accomodates a child up to 65lbs and 49" in length. The 5-point harness was super easy to use and adjust. Seat installation was a breeze with the latch system included.

I bought my seat online at travelingtikes.com who's prices were far lower than any other advertised price by more than fifty dollars shipping included.....right on! I purchsed the tan seat "portland" that best matched our car interior.

Im so happy that Britax is rated so well and that their seat is such a household name which made my purchase that much easier to research.

My little guy is styling!!!

We purchased the Britax marathon seat for my daughter (now 2) when she outgrew her carrier. I debated about the cost, but after reading the outstanding reviews for this brand, I convinced my husband that this was the seat our daughter needed...and deserved. The seat is comfortable, sturdy, and very easy to install...my daughter loves it. Just to reinforce the safety aspect of the seat, my husband & I took our seats to the local DMV to have them installed properly...the techs there told us that this was the safest and best seat that we could get. Talk about a confidence boost!
My feeling is that if you can afford this seat (and even sacrifice a bit), make every effort to get it. You take the time to ensure your safety, why not your baby's.? I am having baby #2 in 7 weeks and am already picking out a seat for her. I am so hesitant to transition my 2-year-old into a booster seat because I think that the Britax seat is the safest one for her. Wish I could keep her in it forever!

I own two of these car seats and love it. The only negative is the pads keep falling off on my son's seat. I also find it a little difficult to remove and wash. Only because I don't take it apart that often. Other than that great car seat. The only car seat my husband feels the most comfortable with for the kids.

I bought this carseat when my daughter was 6 months old. She is now 3yrs old and This carseat is this working great! The installation with the latch is so easy! Adjusting the strap is fast, never had a problem taking off the cover to wash it or anything. I recently had another baby and I was thinking of giving the new baby my 3yr old Britax Marathon seat and buying a booster for my 3yr old. I got the Eddier Bauer high back booster...It took forever to install and the latch was a piece of crap! I took it back and bought my 5 month old her own Britax so that my 3yr old could keep her Marathon. Its worth every penny people...It really is!

The Britax Marathon is wonderful. As a concerned parent I wanted a seat that would offer a 5-point harness for as long as possible. Thats where the Britax Marathon shines through all the other seats that I reviewed. The Marathon allows any child to remain in this seat up to 49" in length and or 65 lbs. Thats equivelent to a five your old.

Not so happy with the color selection that Britax offers for a boy. I choose the portland print that was offered online from travelingtikes.com at $219.99 including free shipping. They also offered many other prints at the same price for substantially less than most other companies online.

The seat arrived shortly thereafter and was nicely boxed. I did have difficulty finding the instructions that were tucked underneathe the front seat fabric which I thought was a strange place to put them. However the seat was extremely easy to install and did not take up much room in my VW Jetta.

Wonderful Seat and price!

I was so excited to order this seat, i loved the britax companion and was sure i would love this one too. I ordered the All star blue shown as a gorgeous aqua blue and was really disappointed in the actual color of it. Its really gray in color and nothing like the picture they have on their site. which was the main reason i picked this print. but thats the only negative thing my son LOVES this seat its really comfy and he loves falling asleep in it definitely not like store brand ones. the comfort and safety provided definitely makes it worth the price.
So basically love the seat Hate the color of the true all star blue (the should call it gray)