Britax Marathon Review

Living in LA, we spend way too much time in the car. Especially with driving my 2 step-kids back and forth from school, soccer, and dance class. Add a baby-soon-to-be-toddler to the list along with all of her doctor appointments and playdates, and my life OFF of wheels is pretty rare during the week. So, when it came to looking at car seats, I had to nail this one on the head the first time around—no time for dilly-dallying here. I have to say, this was the easiest item to check off of my ENDLESS first-time-baby-mommy list of “stuff”. I had an idea about what I wanted ahead of time, well at least, what I wanted it to look like. I should have been thinking safety first, obviously, but I was preggers and all messed up in the head at the time, and I knew I would get around to that part eventually. I had noticed the cute “Cowmooflauge” covered seats in the back seat of a few stylish mommy cars, and knew it would work for either a boy or a girl which was important since we weren’t finding out the sex until the birth, and there’s always the chance of another one. If you’re not big into Cow print, which I could see being a little much for some moms (being in traffic on the 405 is busy enough), it also comes in a ton of other colors and patterns. It fit my cute-ness criteria, but now, let’s get to the important stuff—was it the safest? Happily, I discovered that heck yeah it was safe! Even though I looked at cuteness first, when it comes down to it, I’ll sacrifice my aesthetic standards for the safety of my little lady. This little number just happened to be rated very high by moms all over the web and in baby gear stores and boutiques in LA. Some of its safety features that sealed the deal for me include side impact protection, a five-point harness, a patented energy-absorbing versa-tether, harness ultra guard system, and energy-absorbing foam liner. Now a lot of those terms sounded like Martian jargon to me, but after reading into it and learning about how all of those things put together really would make a significant difference if (God-forbid) we were ever in an accident. At this point, I really didn’t want to buy a seat without any of those features.

So, cute? Check. Safe? Definitely. Comfy for the baby? Well, Eliette definitely thinks so, and I would totally want one in my size if someone drove me around all day. She loves this thing! Shortly after she learned the word “cozy” she even used it when referring to her car seat.

It’s definitely on the pricier side of car seats, but the fact that Elie could use it from her rear-facing infant stage through her toddler years (up to 65 lb.), plus all of the safety features made the extra money seem well worth it.

Because this seat falls under the “convertible” category, meaning it goes from infant through toddler years, it isn’t necessarily compact. It’s big, which could be a problem if you have a lot of passengers and / or a tiny car. BUT, it is surprisingly easy to install and take in and out of the car, even with it’s pretty massive size. I was able to get it in pretty quickly and stress-free after transferring it from one car to another after just a couple of times (which you WILL have to do eventually).

This is a great baby item to re-use. The quality of this seat is high, and after putting it to the test with a very messy baby for almost 2 years, I would have no issue using it again for the next baby, or passing it along to a friend when we’re done with it. After throwing the removable cover into the wash, which I do every couple of months, and giving the seat itself a good vacuum, it looks brand-new, and is still just as safe as it was when I took it out of the box.

• Eco-Awareness:
  
• Luxurious:
  
• High-Design:
  
• Good Value for your Money:
  
• Good Gift:
  
• Appropriate for Ages:
  6-12 months