Combination carseat/booster for small 5 year old?

[iot]

I'm looking for recommendation for a car seat with 5 point harness that works for children taller than 40 inches and that converts to a booster seat. DD just turned 5, she is exactly 40 inches and 40 pounds, so she just outgrew her current seat. I have seen the Nautilus and the Britax Frontier so far. Anybody would recommend these seats or any others? why or why not? safety is of course the main criterion in our search, followed by comfort as we will be doing long road trips.

Thank you so much in advance!

[chickabiddy]

The Evenflo Maestro is the least expensive of the bunch, but it is a fairly short booster and will require a dedicated booster afterwards (some kids will be able to move to a backless booster).

The Nautilus is the only one that converts to a backless booster. Some kids find the seat too shallow.

The Frontier can be a challenge to install.

There is no perfect seat, unfortunately -- you need to decide what's most important to you.

[mommyto3girls]

Nautilus is a favorite at our house. We own 6 of them (we have 3 girls ages 7 1/2, 5, and almost 5) , my bro & sil own 2, and my parents own 2 for hauling grandkids!

[mamasthree]

We have a Nautilus and my mom has a Maestro. The Nautilus has more padding and seems more comfy for longer trips.

[lunarlady]

We like the cup holder on the Nautilus, and DD uses the arm rests to help climb up. We looked at the Frontier, but the way the cup holders slide out they wouldn't be useful in our car (the seats have side padding that blocks the cupholder from coming out). Price was an issue for us too, and I've heard the fabric on the Frontier can wear and fade quickly.

[SweetPotato]

We were less than thrilled with the Nautilus-- my small 4.5 yo sitting on the crotch strap and the harness tightener strap getting really fuzzy in only a week(though the little goody holder was super cool). Returned it and bought Maestro, which we LOVE. The harness weight of 50 lbs should get us safely to 6yo or more, and it is truly lovely to travel with-- VERY light and easy to install. We thought we'd end up using it for travel and buying a frontier for every day, but haven't felt the need (and dd has slept in it on several long car trips as well- no complaints about comfort)