I Feel Like My Daughter is Safe in this Car Seat

We bought the Nautilus over a year ago for our 3 year old daughter. She had previously been in a Britax Roundabout, but her younger brother grew into it. At this point I feel that the seat has some upsides and downsides.

Pros:
1. Versatile - can be used as a 5 point harness seat, a booster with a back, or a backless booster
2. Comfortable - My daughter has never complained about being uncomfortable in the Nautilus. She has fallen asleep in it numerous times and has traveled in it on trips as long as 4 1/2 hours.
4. Cup Holder - This is my daughter's favorite feature!
5. Cubbies in the armrests - Great for storing toys, snacks, and child-size sunglasses
6. Easy to loosen and tighten the straps
7. Seems sturdy and safe

Cons:
1. The buckle is very difficult to attach and detach! I almost always need to use two hands and as a mom, it seems like I usually only have one free! I much prefer the buckles on Britax car seats - they are so much easier to do with one hand.
2. This seat is wide! It takes up a lot of room in the car.
3. Heavy (I guess a safe car seat is going to be heavy)
4. A pain to take apart and wash. We've only done it once, but after that experience we made a "no eating in the car" rule. We don't want to have to clean it again!

All things considered, I do think I would buy this car seat again.

Super Seat

We really like this seat. We bought one for my oldest daughter almost two years ago, and we liked it so well that we bought a second one for my younger daughter. I didn't even consider looking at another seat, this one does everything we need. The girls love their seats. They sleep in them, and are comfortable for short or long trips. They especially like the deep pockets for toys and the cup holders. The harness is easy to use, and my husband didn't curse very much installing them, so I think that is relatively easy too (we don't have LATCH in our car, so have to do the seat belt and clip routine). I know you can easily spend a small fortune on car seats, but I can't see how a $[...] seat could be any better than this one. Oh, and the Dori color pattern is super cute if you have a little girl. It's kind of hard to see in the picture, but it's a light gray base with a lavender flower contrast pattern and pink piping trim.

Crotch Strap to tight

We originally decided to get the Nautilus because it had most of the features we were looking for and it was cheaper than the Britax Frontier. After less than a week we ended up returning it and spending the extra $$ for the Frontier.

Our biggest complaint was the tight crotch strap. My son is just over two years old and 30 lbs and already the crotch strap is under his butt. Upon reading the materials and contacting Graco you discover that once that happens you can no longer use the 5 pt harness and the seat MUST be converted to a booster. Not only is that not what we wanted but it is illegal for a 2 year old to be in a booster seat!

At the store we got out our measuring tape and Frontier's crotch notches begin where the Nautilus ends! I am convinced that the Nautilus is made for younger naive parents who don't realize how much (and in what ways) their children will grow.

If you have super skinny, rail-thin children maybe this will work for a while. If you have a normal child be prepared to buy another seat down the road.

6-year old has room to grow!

I just wanted to add that my 6-year old boy was using a booster seat & switched to the Nautilus. He is about 50 pounds and on the highest harness setting, but he has room to grow in the harness. He actually prefers this seat to a booster as it is more comfortable for him. His only complaint is when he drops something in the back seat, he has to wait until we stop so I can get it for him and with the booster he could stretch out the seatbelt and get anything anywhere in the backseat. This is obviously what makes the seat safer for him though. He can clip & unclip all points of the harness himself, just as he would unclip the seatbelt himself when using a booster, so there really isn't any difference there. Sometimes, my 2-year-old sits in this seat and she is unable to unclip the harness, so it does have some degree of difficulty for the youngsters. I would definately purchase another one in the future!

Perfect except for the crotch strap

I wanted this seat to work. Everything about it was perfect except for one fatal flaw: the crotch strap. In its furthest position, it pressed against my son's body, and he's only 32 pounds and not even three years old yet. At first I thought I must be doing something wrong, so I put his current carseat and the Nautilus side by side and made him go back and forth between them a million times. I really wanted the Nautilus to work out, but finally I concluded that the crotch strap really is too close. He has plenty of space in his current convertible seat, but it seemed the Nautilus would render him incapable of producing grandchildren in another 25 years or so. I'm definitely not ready to move him to a booster, so I reluctantly returned the Nautilus and will continue my carseat search.