We have four kids - 6, 5, 21 months, and 3 months. We've owned 2 graco snugride carriers, a safety first air 35 carrier, 2 britax marathons, a radian xtsl, and now a britax frontier 85. In our honda odyssey we are currently using the 2 marathons, the radian, and the frontier.
The marathons have been great but one is going to expire in a couple months and the other in a year or so. I finally decided on the radian several months ago for the oldest. It's ok, there is a lot I don't really like about it but I can deal so I wanted a different high weight harness seat. The nice thing is that the radian is STURDY. Our marathons are very sturdy as well. The plastic feels solid and sounds solid if you tap on it. They have a decent weight for their size. I've really liked the marathons and we're planning on replacing one when it expires.
Our new frontier 85 came today and it looks nice, was not too difficult to install, and seems to fit our second oldest well - however, it feels cheap. The plastic is cheap looking (around the cup holders - why someone thought it needed two cup holders is another matter). It seems thin and sounds hollow when you tap on it. It's the type of plastic where if you own a toy made out of it you know that toy will break quickly. The seat is lighter than the old marathons despite it's larger size and $224 price tag. The safety 1st carrier we bought a few months ago is nice and sturdy so I'm not sure if it's a new thing with carseats or if it's just the froniter or britax.
Has anyone noticed this?
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