graco nautilus question

[LiLStar]

I've been pretty set on moving dd to a nautilus once she outgrows her marathon. Her shoulders are about level with the top strap slot now.. so one good growth spurt and she needs a new seat. I was reading some reviews that say the crotch strap is too close, even with their skinny kids. Is this a genuine problem? Was it a previous model that had the crotch strap too close, and maybe recent models are better? I've always heard such good things about the nautilus but hearing this gave me some hesitation on buying it

[surrogate]

I have one and it is right on both of my childrens crotches.  They are not big boys either (5y 46" 37lbs and 3y 44" 36lbs).  If I had to choose again I would go with a frontier 85.  HTH

[love4bob]

Ours is right at my girls crotches too or a little in front. It is really close though, they should have added one more slot. I still really like our Nautilis' though!

[ssh]

My DD loves her Nautilus. The crotch strap is snug but has never bothered her. We've had it for over 2 years. We're about to convert it to a high back booster.

[love4bob]

Originally Posted by ssh 

My DD loves her Nautilus. The crotch strap is snug but has never bothered her. We've had it for over 2 years. We're about to convert it to a high back booster.

The strap never bothers my DDs either, and I would buy(and most likely will) another Nautilis for DD3.

[Drummer's Wife]

It doesn't bother my almost 4 yr old, though I agree it's really close. I'd buy it again, and much prefer it to the seat he rides in in DH's car.

[The4OfUs]

My 46-pound, 43 in, 4-1/2 yo has made no complaint about her Nautilus...and she complains about EVERYTHING that bothers her.  

[LiLStar]

Hmm.. I wonder if its more of an issue with boys than girls. I think some of the negative reviews I read were written by parents of boys. I hear the same criticism about the marathon, but dd doesn't complain about it. I guess I'll just find a store where she can try it out and see if she likes it. We better hurry, because that fraction of an inch could come overnight, so I better be prepared!

[kittie313]

Another mom of girls who has no problems with the Nautilus strap.  Erm let me rephrase that actually.  When my 6yo was in the Nautilus that my 3yo rides in she had no issues with the strap at all (we moved her to a highback booster last school year despite not being 40lbs because she was mature enough to ride properly in it).  She was WAY too skinny to pull off the Nautilus in booster mode though, so we just passed it down to her youngest sister to ride in when she hit the top slots on the Marathon FF (she outgrew it RF by weight before 18mo, it was one of the 33lb models).

Then last year we bought my 4yo dd a pink floral Nautilus for her 4th birthday, and the last few months she has complained like CRAZY about the bottom strap hurting her parts.  I'm thinking it may be time to juggle seats around so my 4yo dd is in the Radian80 for a while instead, or digging out our Regent to see if its expired yet (she only needs to hit 38lbs before I'll consider letting her go into a booster, she's mature enough and has done it a few times before in a pinch but I'm more concerned where so so small because of her health problems).  She cries and complains the entire time we're in the car that her parts hurt when she's buckled in the Nautilus.

My 3yo has yet to complain though.  Although she has never ridden in it with panties (we just potty trained last week and are still a bit gun-shy about accidents in the car or out and about) so I can't comment on that.  She's 43lbs and built in such a way that she WILL use it as a booster later when she's old enough (dh let her go in a booster once over the summer for a car ride and she did beautifully, then got shewed out by me when he told me because of her age)

[Boot]

my 3 1/2 year old ds complains that his new nauti is 'not comfy'. He has to make sure his bum is right back before we do up the straps. I think the cushioning is also thin compared to the radian. I'm going to move up to the next shoulder slot and see if that helps but I do wish the crotch strap had another slot further out. It's annoying but I suppose we're just going to have to live with it. I would definitely try it out first.