Britax Marathon Convertible Car Seat

Other products by Britax USA

Product Features

• 5 point harness with patented Floating HUGS system and 4 harness heights
• Built-in lock-off clips, Versa-Tether & Safe Guard LATCH Connectors
• EPS and Comfort Foam for safety and comfort
• Rear- and forward-facing recline
• Rear facing: 5 to 35 pounds. Forward facing: At least 1 year old and 20 to 65 pounds

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 32.5 x 20 x 19.1 inches ; 21.2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 21.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• Note: Gift-wrapping is not available for this item.
• ASIN: B000JIMO7A
• Item model number: E9L06E8
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,363 in Baby (See Bestsellers in Baby)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (291 customer reviews)

Product Description

Color Name: New Denim

Amazon.com Product Description
Britax International has been manufacturing innovative, industry-leading child products for over three decades. Their dedication to safety, comfort, and convenience is certainly apparent in this convertible car seat. Its ample attributes—both for parents and baby—and amazing attention to safety standards, make the Marathon a true front runner.

Safety first is a good rule of thumb, and one that Britax certainly heeds. The Marathon offers features you might find on many other car seats, such as convertibility, a five-point harness, and the LATCH system. But Britax enhanced and then went above and beyond the norm when creating the Marathon.

The Marathon can be easily rear-facing installed with today’s LATCH system.

Their five-point harness system is made with strong polyester webbing, fits snugly over baby’s shoulders, collarbone and hips to provide a secure fit, and the straps are designed to remain tangle free. There are also four adjustable height positions so the seat grows with baby. A patented "floating" HUGS™ (Harness Ultra Guard) system better distributes the webbing loads, reducing head movement and minimizing harness irritation on baby’s neck in case of an impact. HUGS also reduces the chance of improperly positioning the chest clip.

Located near a vehicle's seatbelts, factory installed anchor points provide a secure and easy LATCH connection. In conjunction with this push-button release system, the Marathon also offers Britax’s Versa-Tether®, an anchor aid that provides additional security in the forward facing position for children weighing more than 50 lbs. The Versa-Tether® fastens the top of the car seat to factory installed automobile anchor points, minimizing the possibility of a head injury.

The Marathon can also be safely used in cars without the LATCH system.

Need more? The Marathon provides built-in lock-off clips that keep the seat tightly in place when using only traditional seatbelts at installation. A simple handle pull allows the car seat base to be easily reclined when rear-facing. A smooth ride is guaranteed for baby through the comfy padding and soft fabric cover, which is stain resistant, removable, and washable. The Marathon is Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 213 compliant, making it approved for airplane use as well.

It should be noted that the Marathon is larger (28"H x 19.5"W x 25"D) than most car seats, and can be a tricky fit, especially in the rear facing position in a smaller car. Allow for 31" of backseat space to properly accommodate this model. With its bigger size this car seat is also heavier than many. Completely empty the Marathon weighs nearly 18 pounds. But these same features are what allow the car seat to have a higher weight capacity and therefore last well into childhood.

A simple handle pull allows the car seat base to be reclined when rear-facing.

Since car seats are mandated by law, it’s nice to know that Britax is at least making the choice simple for you. The Marathon is easy to install, super comfortable for baby, available in a wide range of colors and patterns, and, most importantly, safe!

Comparing Britax Car Seats
If you’re debating between the Britax Marathon and the Britax Roundabout, think of the latter as the little sibling. They are identical in comfort and convenience features, but the Marathon has a higher weight maximum, and is therefore larger than the Roundabout.
The Britax Decathlon is also similar to the Marathon, but offers two features you might need. First, the Decathlon offers additional padding for newborns with an infant positioning system, giving more peace of mind to first time parents. Second, the Decathlon offers an adjustable three-position crotch strap, which makes the seat more comfortable for toddlers consistently at the top of their height percentage.

Product Description
The standard length of a marathon is 26.2 miles, and the Britax Marathon Convertible Car Seat will cover more than 100 times that distance. The Britax Marathon Convertible car seat is one of the most functional seats to ever hit the market. Slightly larger than other Britax Car Seats, the Marathon is legendary for safety and comfort. It's important to note that the shell of the car seat is a bit bulkier than others, so parents should allow for about 31 inches of seat space when used rear facing. Some of the unique features on the Britax Marathon Convertible Car Seat include a five-point polyester harness with no-tangle polyester webbing, built in lock-offs for the car's seat belts, and a push-button LATCH system with VersaTether. This Britax Car Seat provides the utmost security in both forward and rear facing installations. The Britax Marathon has Expanded PolyStyrene (EPS) padding to protect your baby in the event of a collision. Britax convertible car seats are equipped with their patented HUGS system, which is designed to better distribute webbing loads to reduce head movement and minimize the chance for the webbing's edge to load on the child's neck. The Britax Marathon provides parents with an all around top-rated car seat. However, it might be too large for compact cars. For those looking for a smaller Britax Car Seat, the Britax Roundabout is a perfect choice. It is a little smaller than the Britax Marathon, and it is designed for children weighing up to 40 pounds.

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

95 of 95 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great, but not perfect., March 27, 2007

By	Concerned Father - See all my reviews

Don't get me wrong....I would own nothing other than Britax seats at this point. We have 4 children and we've tried various models. We've donated the others to Goodwill. We currently own 5 Britax car seats for 4 children. We have 2 Regents, 1 Parkway(used as a spare), 1 Marathon, and 1 Roundabout. I feel as though I'm a walking advertisement for Britax and we've been accused of being uptight about car seats.

As far as I'm concerned, there are three main features that we look for in a car seat:

1. Does it fit securely in the vehicle?

Forward facing, this seat is awesome. We don't have the latch system in our van, so we never had the opportunity to use the latch belts although I'm sure they work fine. We use the shoulder belt and we've never seen any other seat get as secure as our seat. When we try to move the seat side to side, the van moves instead. The beauty of the system is that after you've tightened the lap part of the belt down as far as you can, you then slide the shoulder part of the belt into a slot that latches down on the side of the seat. Once you've done this, the belt doesn't develop any slack. Then for good measure, you attach the tether to the underside of the rear of the seat (or a tether hook in some cars). This seat doesn't move after that.

Rear facing, the seat could be improved. This is why the seat doesn't get 5 stars from me. The side lock down mechanism is tightened more by the thickness of the belt. Unfortunately, it can pop open without much pressure. (As a side note, the lockdown on the side of our older Roundabout works great. It is a different design. I'm not sure if Britax thought they were improving and have changed the design or if they have a different lockdown on this seat.) The annoying thing about this is that you have to continuously check to see if it has released.

2. Condition of the straps is important. I haven't seen one manufacturer compare to the quality of the straps. The shoulder straps are thick and wide. They don't fold up on themselves or get tangled. They are also wide across your child's shoulders.

3. Child's comfort. The side guards around the head are great for when they are getting tired and the safety foam is the same as you would find in bike helmets.

Overall, the seat is great. If I could have given it 4.5 stars, I would have. The rear facing problem was minor to us because we could use our Roundabout rear facing, but for someone who needs to use it rear facing for a while, it might be more of a problem. I'm hoping Britax improves that one thing, but overall, this seat is highly recommended by me.

75 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Miracle!, August 16, 2007

By	M. Bostic (West Virginia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This car seat was a life saver!

Our daughter is almost 4 months now and cried everytime we placed her in her infant seat, except on the day home from the hospital. We couldn't drive down the road without listening to screams - the only time we went anywhere was if she was asleep and often she woke up the minute we put her in her seat. My 8 year old and I would both sit in the back seat with her, it didn't matter. I read the reviews on this seat so we went to 2 different stores and placed her in the demo. She was fine. My mother offered to purchase it for us so we got it.

Sketptical?
I was skeptical, so I first took her for a 5 minute ride - no crying. The next day I chanced 15 minutes - still no crying. The third day we went to my mother's - a 40 minute drive each way. Within a week we were willing to try her on a 3 hour trip. She did great!

I think the key for us was my daughter can see out and doesn't feel confined like the infant seat. She spends most trips gazing out the window and quietly sucking her thumb.

Size
I've read people complain about the size, but it fits fine in our Toyota Prius and our Subaru Outback. In fact it actually allows the front passanger seat to be further back than our previous car seat with a base (Graco Snugride).

Buy Two!
We've had the seat now for 3 weeks and no crying! My husband asks me everyday "How was she in the car" and everyday I say "GREAT!" We bought a second one for the other car.

Installation
This is the easiest car seat I have ever installed, we use the latch system in the Prius and in my mother's car. IT is so much easier than the latch with the Graco seat. Using latch it takes only minutes to go from one car to another. In the Subaru we use the regular shoulder/seat belt (it's 8 years old so latch wasn't available). Which I still like better than the Graco.

It is quite expensive, but to us well worth it. If you're still reading this then you want this seat! (It doesn't feed hungry babies, so they may still fuss.)

A year late...

My daughter is 15 months now and the seat is still wonderful! We now have the seat facing forward and we still love this car seat.

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing! , March 1, 2005

By	Mads (Oceanside, CA) - See all my reviews

This seat is really great, I can't say enough good things about it.

First of all, my 7 month old son fits perfectly and rides so comfortably in it. He outgrew his carrier, and I wanted a safe, and snuggly seat for him to move into. He not only loves the look of the cow print (he smiles and laughs at himself in the Baby In Sight mirror!), but the fabric is so plush and soft. If you're going to get a top of the line model, I figure take advantage of the fun prints that are offered! It's great because it is so soft and lush, but he doesn't sweat in it at all, and he's a big sweater! The BRU exclusive fabric, Racer, looks chic, but is very rough to the touch down the center stripe.

Also, this seat was almost too easy to install. It was so simple, I felt like that couldn't possibly be "it". But it was! The LATCH connectors have clicks similar to seatbelts, and easy to pull straps - this was nothing like trying to install the base to my Graco Snugride. I'm confident that the seat is installed properly, and it's not difficult to remove and install quick in another car, if need be. The tether anchor was also much easier to hook up than I anticipated. It's a great safety feature that only Britax has. The seat is large, but does not take up the entire back seat, still allowing two other passengers to ride back there.

While the carrier was great for the early months, this is the absolute best for older babies, and kids. I would recommend Sleepy Wings or extra head support for newborns, however.

The Marathon is the way to go for durability, safety, luxury and longevity for your child. I guarantee that this is worth the extra money! I am forever a Britax customer!

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