Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 Car Seat, Matrix
by Graco Baby
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List Price: Our Price: $137.50 You Save: $52.49 (28%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $136.95 (click here) Category: Baby Product See more product details |
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Baby Products Reviews of Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 Car Seat, Matrix
Customer Review: yayabobo
Summary: 4 Stars
We Purchased this car seat last fall and have used it now for several months. Over all we really like the car seat. What I did not like most was an easy fix. The material on the Matrix pattern. It is like a netting/mesh over a very nice material. It get caught very easily on things like rings, velcro, or anything small enough to snag. No matter how careful we have been we have many small pulls and a few long one that I cut off. I am planning on using this car seat for alot of years and this would drive me crazy. I contacted Graco and as long as you have the car seat for less than 1 Year they will replace the material. We got the Reese pattern and it is much nicer. This car seat has many features to love, but can be more complicated for someone who struggles with anything that needs putting together. In order to wash the seat there are many pieces. The seat seperates into 2 pieces and it has at least 3 main fabaric pieces to cover them. The seat has many crevaces to get debris stuck in, again not an easy cleaning project. What we really love about the seat is that according to the represenative from Graco the solid seat(back and base) expire in 6 years as most car seats. But what I could not find in the manual is that the base by itself expires in 10 years. So you really should not have to buy another car seat. The laws are changing as to how long your child should be in a car/booster seat. So kids are in these seat to an average of 10 years old depending on the height and weight of the child. We love the cupholder as it is easy to reach and is out of the way. We have a car so we need the middle seat sometimes and other car seats have a cupholder that come out the side. Hope this helps. I would definately recomend this seat.Customer Review: Love this seat!! Former Britax customer
Summary: 5 Stars
Here's how your review will appear:
Previous Britax Owner...Love this seat!, September 6, 2008
Reviewer: Margaret Jones (Glendside, Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
I recently purchased the Britax Regent for my 4 1/2 year old son and was convinced that by spending more money for the car seat, my son would be safer in it opposed to a less expensive one. I couldn't be more wrong. The Britax Regent is a sturdy seat and I am impressed that the harness goes up to 80 lbs and I plan to use it in the future for that reason, but it was such a pain to install. I was looking for a second car seat that had a high harness weight limit and came across the Graco Nautilus. After doing some research on it and having my son try it out in the store I was convinced that this was the seat for us. The install in the car was a breeze with the latch and the tether strap and I actually got it tighter than the Britax Regent. I was so impressed with the seat overall that I decided to use it in my primary vehicle and put the Regent in my parent's car for when they pick up my son from school. The Regent is a great car seat, don't get me wrong but it is large and bulky and it is insanely time consuming to install and to get tight. I am in love with this car seat and only wish that I had discovered it sooner. I still plan to use the Regent when my son exceeds 65 lbs and can no longer be harnessed because the Regent can accommodate an 80 lb child with a 5 point, but I can not get over how impressed I am with this seat. Way to go Graco!!
For more information regarding why it is so important to keep your child in a 5 point harness for as long as possible, please visit www.kyledavidmiller.org
Customer Review: Great for Our Big Girl!
Summary: 4 Stars
Our three year old is 43" tall and 42 lbs (a little more now I'm sure). There aren't many seats to accomodate children in a 5pt harness over 40lbs so I had some research to do. I must say I did LOTS of research before deciding on this seat. From what I gathered it was pretty much between this seat and a Britax. I was not at all pleased on the price of the Britax, if there was another one out there that would do the same thing! Of course safety is first but it doesn't have to be the most expensive, prettiest thing to do the job(not saying this one is ugly)! This seat meets all our expectations and our daughter loves it! She loves the fact that she can actually reach this cupholder. She is very comfortable in it, awake or asleep. It does have the reclining feature, but her head rests comfortably on the side and I've never even tried to recline it yet since she hasn't needed it.
Reason for 4 star review instead of 5:
My one and only complaint (which I had read before purchasing) is that there should be one more crotch strap position farther up. Our daughter fits all right, but when this seat is meant to fit larger children, why wouldn't it have that? I'm sure before she is ready to be in a booster, that part is going to be a slight problem for us as she is pretty close to it now.
Oh and not really a complaint but the cushion (removeable thank goodness) that is on it doesn't fit well when the shoulder straps are in the second (from top) position and the crotch strap is coming out of the last hole. It pushes the cushion down and makes the shoulder straps come out WAY below her shoulders instead of right at them where it should be. No big deal, it was just annoying having to take it out but we're good now.
Customer Review: Great Seat, Fit Our Needs Perfectly
Summary: 4 Stars
I borrowed this seat from a friend to try it out before I bought it. My then 3.5 year old daughter had just outgrown (height wise) her convertible carseat. Since she is below the 40 pound mark needed for a booster (she weighs 33 lbs), she needed to stay harnessed. I choose this seat because she will be able to stay in a five point harness for a long time (65 pounds). Here's my pro/con list:
Pros:
- easy to install in our '99 Corolla; we've had it in all three backseat spots with no problem
- fun amenities for the child (cup holder, storage spaces)
- versatile (harness, booster, backless booster)
- comfortable for child
- five point harness to 65 lbs.
- easy to tighten/loosen straps (but not adjust height)
- My daughter is now 4 years old, 33 pounds, and about 39 inches tall. She fits well in this seat (no issues with the crotch strap being under her when buckled, as some of the other reviewers mentioned).
Cons:
- The crotch strap ALWAYS slides under my daughter when we put her in and we have to dig it out. We are considering adding some velcro or something to attach the strap to when we get her out to alleviate this issue.
- Adjusting the height of the straps involves uninstalling/ reinstalling seat.
- On the seat we bought, one of the sides of the buckle sticks horribly. I have to use two hands (one pressing the button, one pulling up on the strap) to release it. My husband has to do the same. This was not the case on the seat we borrowed. I will be emailing Graco and seeing if there is a fix for this.
- The seat cover is a pain to remove for washing.
Customer Review: Great seat, bad instructions
Summary: 4 Stars
We bought this seat about a month ago for my almost-three year old son because he was almost too tall for the top slots on his Graco comfort sport convertible seat. He absolutely loves it. When we tried it out in the store he was really impressed by the cup holder, he sat there strapped in pretending to eat a snack from the cup. He also loves the little cubby holes in the handle because he likes to hold a toy car or train in the car but he doesn't get to take it in to stores. The cubbies give him a safe and secure place to hide the toys away or to store baggies of cookies or nuts.
It seems very safe and comfortable. We've had one long trip in it so far (6 hours in one day) and we barely heard a peep of complaint from the back seat the whole way.
There are a couple of cons. The assembly instructions are a bit confusing as are most Graco instructions. There are several instructions that tell you to hook things up that are already hooked up. One line says to attach a loop to a hook and said hook is like a tiny bra hook and a bit tricky to find. The seat is also pretty heavy, fine if you're leaving it in one car but it would be a pain to transfer between vehicles on a regular basis. Last but not least, don't let the super comfy padding inside sway you. It feels so comfy but it's only used on the lowest strap setting which is equal to the top setting on a graco convertible seat so I doubt most people are going to use it much if at all. Also the padded bit behind the crotch strap looks like it should be a good feature but it's actually a real pain so that lasted all of two days before we took it off.