# Graco Nautilus vs, Britax Frontier



## JenMidwife (Oct 4, 2005)

I'm looking for subjective information folks...

I've read reviews on BRU & Amazon... I'm not too concerned w/ difficulty installing (dh calls me the car seat wizard







) but read quite a few reviews about people complaining about the poor quality of the Nautilus fabric & the Nautilus being *very* upright & difficult for kids to nap.

What's been your experience? I seem to have only read good things about Nautilus here.

FWIW we had a Graco SnugRide that we liked a like & dd is currently in a Marathon which we love- so I don't have any brand loyalty!







: The booster will be for dd when new baby moves into the MA (we makes giant babies, so it might be sooner rather than later







:.


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## frostysarah (Nov 24, 2006)

We have a Frontier. It was easy to install in the station wagon, much trickier to get a good install in the Mini, which has bucket seats. I think we'll never, ever uninstall it in the Mini, that's what a pain it was.

When we went car seat shopping, I had the Nautilus, Regent, and Frontier on my list. He refused to even sit in the Regent. The Nautilus, he sat in and freaked out. The head wings are really big, and my son did not like that aspect at all. He yelled for me to let him out and wouldn't get back in. The Frontier also has head wings, but they aren't as prominent, and my son doesn't notice them.

I was super glad we went car seat shopping in person, even though we had to drive two hours to do so. I had assumed he would like the Regent best, even though it was last on my list, because it's big and cushy.

I would agree that the Nautilus fabric seems cheaper. It also somehow seems less padded than the Frontier, although they're both less padded than Marathons. I felt the same way about the Graco ComfortSport versus the Britax Marathon and Roundabout.

That's a pretty rambly reply, especially from someone who doesn't have a Nautilus, but there you go.


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## cognito (Nov 30, 2007)

I've had the Nautilus for a couple months. My little guy climbs up in it (with velcro shoes on) & the cover is still in new condition. It's even one of the meshy covers. He's a car sleeper & does great in it too.


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## Lily's_Mom (Feb 11, 2008)

We have the Frontier and I think it's great! So far I've installed it in 4 different vehicles: a Ford Fusion, Chevy Avalanche, VW golf, and a PT Cruiser. I tried the short belt path, and always found the seat to be too loose, so I've only used the long path. In my mom's pt cruiser, it took us half and hour to buckle it in, and I think I hurt myself...the seat belt had not a millimeter to spare! But other than the long long-belt path, it's been great so far!


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## DahliaRW (Apr 16, 2005)

We love our nautilus! No problems, no issues with the fabric, ds sleeps in it just fine. It's a breeze to install and my favorite part is that the harness is super easy to loosen and tighten. I just couldn't justify the extra $100 for the frontier that didn't have any extra harness height.


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## thepeach80 (Mar 16, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DahliaRW* 
We love our nautilus! No problems, no issues with the fabric, ds sleeps in it just fine. It's a breeze to install and my favorite part is that the harness is super easy to loosen and tighten. I just couldn't justify the extra $100 for the frontier that didn't have any extra harness height.

Pretty much what she said.







I hear the Frontier lasts a little longer as a booster, but we'll get a new booster anyways, so that didn't matter.


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## alysmommy2004 (Jun 23, 2006)

I don't have either, but I've played with them a little (not enough to really say which I find better). I slightly lean towards the Britax because I have had a lot better luck with them the past few years (mostly in regards to customer service). One thing I did want to point out though is that the Nautilus has a 6 year expiration and the Frontier has a 9 year expiration. So that may be something to keep in mind.


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

You might also check out the safeguard. pricey, but- best.seat.EVER

-Angela


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## thepeach80 (Mar 16, 2004)

Lisa, be serious, the time I keep a seat for 6 yrs, let alone 9, the world will end!


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## DahliaRW (Apr 16, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *alysmommy2004* 
I don't have either, but I've played with them a little (not enough to really say which I find better). I slightly lean towards the Britax because I have had a lot better luck with them the past few years (mostly in regards to customer service). One thing I did want to point out though is that the Nautilus has a 6 year expiration and the Frontier has a 9 year expiration. So that may be something to keep in mind.

The nautilus is good for 6 years in harness and hbb mode and an additional 3 years as a lbb.


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## alysmommy2004 (Jun 23, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *thepeach80* 
Lisa, be serious, the time I keep a seat for 6 yrs, let alone 9, the world will end!









So very true, lol. Now, for the normal people who aren't obsessed and don't enjoy buying a new seat every time it comes out on the market, they might not mind that long lifespan.


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## All together ooky (Jun 3, 2004)

I have both the Nautilus and the Frontier. The Frontier is in the main vehicle-Nautilus in DH's. I like them both but prefer the Nautilus. I'm really, really disappointed by the Frontier's fabric. You can't machine wash it and mine looks terrible (I still have to call Britax about it). I wish it was plush like my Marathon. I also don't like the silky straps because the buckle tongues slide down everytime I use it. The Nautilus doesn't get as used so I don't know how the fabric will hold up, but at least it's machine washable. My 4-year-old can buckle it too-not so in the Frontier. She has more leg support and sits crossed legged much of the time in the Frontier. I get head slump while sleeping in both.


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## smellyann82 (Feb 6, 2006)

we just switched from an evenflo triumph to the nautilus. we're happy with it. it is quite upright, but dd seems to sleep in it ok...the big headwings are nice. the fabric looks great--much nicer than the evenflo's ever was. i personally think it is a great seat and the price was right for us.


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## khanni (Jan 11, 2008)

We have the Frontier, and my daughter loves it. We sat her in a Nautilus and she freaked out and cried to get out and refused to go anywhere near it again. She loved the Frontier and asked for it in red, so that's what we got. I personally like the straps better than what I felt with the Nautilus. We installed it using the long belt path fairly easily in our Scion XA.


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## Ironica (Sep 11, 2005)

We have a Frontier in our car and a Nautilus for the nanny's car. I haven't personally installed the Nautilus, so I can't compare the installation (and you're not wondering about that, anyway ;-).

The big, big, BIG advantage to the Frontier is adjusting the harness height. True, it's not something you need to do that often, and you do have to uninstall the seat (either seat) to do it, but in the Frontier, there's a lever you pull up, slide the assembly to the right notch, and set it in place. On the Nautilus, you unhook the straps from the yoke, unthread them, re-thread them through the slots in the seat, then work your fingers around a plastic guard with holes in it to help guide the strap UP and over a roller, then back down again so you can hook it back on the yoke. You do that with *each* strap.

The Frontier is also narrower than the Nautilus, and I'm happy that he'll be in a high-backed booster longer with it.


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## pampered_mom (Mar 27, 2006)

I had considered both seats and really wanted to get the Britax, but for us it didn't make much financial sense. We were having a hard time coming up with the $135 that we ended up paying for the Nautilus let alone the $237 we would have paid for the Frontier (we had a 15% off coupon that printed off at the Target register that they would honor online). For me what it all came down to is what DahliaRW pointed out...I couldn't justify the extra cost w/out a more significant difference in harness height (52" in the Nautilus vs 53" in the Frontier). I'd love if ds could be harnessed up to the 80lbs the Frontier is good for, but he'll outgrow the height limit before he even gets to that point.


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## frostysarah (Nov 24, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *All together ooky* 
I'm really, really disappointed by the Frontier's fabric. You can't machine wash it ...

Eeep! Really? We've machine washed ours. We air dried it, but definitely machine washed it. It came out fine. I had thought that's what it said to do.


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## mommyto3girls (May 3, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *thepeach80* 
Pretty much what she said.







I hear the Frontier lasts a little longer as a booster, but we'll get a new booster anyways, so that didn't matter.


Because of the expiration? Just wondering why. I am 110 pounds and 5'2" and I fit comfortably in the Nautilus as a booster. (not actually in the car as I am over the weight limit







and really the shoulder belt guide is about 3 inches below my shoulder, but I could totally use it as a low back booster with no problem if I needed.


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## treehugginhippie (Nov 29, 2004)

Subbing...


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## Labyrinth (Apr 14, 2008)

My almost 4 y/o brother has a nautilus- I really like it. He calls it his "superhero car seat". Him liking it is saying a lot, he has pdd-nos (atypical autism) which causes sensory issues. My other brother (2 1/2) will be getting one after Christmas. We have it completely upright, and because of how the seats are made in the car (they have a slight recline to them) he sleeps in it with no problem. I would imagine that if you have more upright seats you could have to use the recline function- which doesn't recline a lot, however usually the more upright it is the safer. It should be enough to keep your dc's head from slumping in most vehicles. The cup holder is also very nice. We haven't had any problems with the fabric on ours (it's a galaxy I think- there are 4 seat covers, each one seems to have slightly different fabric).

Honestly, the frontier's price made it a complete no go for us. And graco has a pretty good record as far as recalls go. I think, even if the frontier had been feasible, I would have gone with the nautilus.


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## bobandjess99 (Aug 1, 2005)

They are both really great seats. If you can possibly try both of them, that would be best.
for us, cost was the deciding factor. So we got teh nauti and dd loves it.

For those who are interested, Graco is releasing 2 new nauti's next month, one with a girly print cover (well..sort of..there is some pink and purple in with the gray..) and one witrh the gracopedic foam, so it will be much plusher/padded, in a tan/gray combo.

If you want to use it the entire life ofthe seat, the frontier might be a better choice, because you will be moving a...3.5 year old? into it? Which means the harness and hbb portion of the nauti will expire when the child is about 9...and depending on your child, you migth want the option of using a hbb longer.....so then you would have to buy another hbb, whereas in the Frointier, you will have the option to hbb until the child is about 12...

I know you say you dont care about installs, and that is great up until a point...being willing to work with a *difficult* install is one thing, but a true incompatibility is another..so just make sure each seat CAN go into your vehicles....

Depending on your vehicle's seat slant, one or both of them might end up being pretty darn upright. some people get worse head slumm in a nauti, others in a frontier...YMMV.

We have not had issues with the nauti fabric..but we're also not picky....


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## avivaelona (Jun 24, 2005)

We just bought a frontier today. DS was very uncomfortable in both the Radian and the Nautilus, I'm not quite sure why but the frontier does seem to sit him with a more open hip angle (so not so upright) Also there does not seem to be a seam between the seat and back on the frontier.

So far obviously we don't have too much info on which is "better" since we haven't even used the frontier yet, but what we did notice is that the Nautilus was easier to install, the Nautilus had much better cupholders, the nautilus was slightly easier to buckle and adjust the tightness of the straps and the Nautilus felt lighter to carry. The frontier was heavier, harder to install, has weird cupholders, and it was slightly harder to buckle and adjust the strap tightness. However, The frontier was more comfortable for DS, seemed easier to adjust the harness height and seemed to come with more customizeable adjustments in general. It feels a bit plusher and seemed like there was more of a place for my son to rest his head if he fell asleep. I have been happier with the Britax products we've had overall than with the Graco ones though I can't report significant problems with either. Still I was happy to buy another Britax, though the price difference is formidable we were able to get it on sale which helped.

Also, it came in red which for us is an enormous plus because DS has been protesting having to change seats at all, and red was a huge enticement for him.


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## Polliwog (Oct 29, 2006)

Overall, we love my son's Nautilus. Threading the harness straps to change their height is really easy and the seat is comfy. We've had it since right after they came out and the fabric is in great shape. My son does complain sometimes about the buckle's pressure on his penis but usually if he slides his bottom back he's fine (it's only when he's getting in the seat.)


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## Caneel (Jun 13, 2007)

I am glad I found this thread as I was searching for the same info (comparing the two seats) as I need to replace the seat in DH's vehicle.


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## berkeleyp (Apr 22, 2004)

Quote:

For those who are interested, Graco is releasing 2 new nauti's next month, one with a girly print cover (well..sort of..there is some pink and purple in with the gray..) and one witrh the gracopedic foam, so it will be much plusher/padded, in a tan/gray combo.
How did you find out about this? Do you have a link? I've looked and can't find any info.


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## JenMidwife (Oct 4, 2005)

FYI, we went to BRU & dd sat in both. She was quite happy w/ both of them & the side-impact guards around her head didn't freak her out as I thought they might. In terms of angle, they really seemed *very* similar. I suspect more of it comes down to the angle of your car's seat.

So the plan is to get a Nauti... we're hoping dh's folks might get it for a baby gift for us







:


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## beth37 (Jul 14, 2007)

Thanks to this thread we just bought 2 nautilus', 1 for each of our cars, and DS loves his new seat! He's 23 months, 34.5lbs and 36.5 inches. We just moved him FF since he grew out of his RF seat by weight (well in .5 pounds anyway) and it's like a while new world to him. He fell asleep in it fine too and the head guards kept his head more upright than his last seat. (evenflo triumph advance) I can post pictures if anyone would like. It's such a nice seat and was so easy to install. I'm glad I'll be keeping my baby in a harness so long too.


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