The Graco Nautilus is a new 3-in-1 car seat that goes from a 5-point harness car seat to a booster to a backless booster. Graco bills it as “the only forward facing car you’re your child will need,” but does the Nautilus fill that bill? What about ease of use and, of course, safety? What’s the reality of using the Nautilus compared to what Graco says it should do?
The Graco Nautilus is only a forward-facing car seat and the safest thing for children is to be rear-facing until the limits of their car seat so I would recommend a convertible car seat for as long as possible.
If you do not choose to rear-face past 20 lbs and one year old, then you can use the Graco Nautilus from that point. The Nautilus can be used with the 5-point harness up to 65 lbs or until the child’s shoulders are even with the top slots for the harness straps. My daughter is currently 33 lbs, about 39″ tall and fits in the car seat with the harness straps in the third slots from the top. With two more sets of slots for the harness straps she should have approximately 4 more inches of torso growth before she would outgrow the harness in height. After that point the Graco Nautilus can be used as booster up to 100 lbs. It has an expiration date 9 years from now so it truly should be the last car seat she will need. If you buy the Graco Nautilus car seat for when your child reaches 20 lbs and 1 year old it is possible that you would not ever need to buy another car seat, but another booster might be necessary after the Nautilus expires.
The Graco Nautilus needs some assembly when you open the box, but the assembly is easily accomplished in just a few minutes. The manual has clear pictures with straightforward directions for the assembly. We have installed the Nautilus in a 2001 Toyota Sienna using LATCH and the installation was incredibly easy and took only a minute to do.
The chest clip and the buckle on the Graco Nautilus are both sturdy pieces of equipment and the car seat has nice heavyweight harness straps. I have not had any problems with the harness straps twisting. The crotch strap on the Graco Nautilus has two positions and should be placed in the one that is closest to your child without being under the child. It is easy to adjust the crotch strap position and it provides an additional point of adjustment for comfort and safety as your child grows. The harness straps on the Nautilus are tightened by pulling the adjustment strap at the front of the car seat. For loosening the harness straps you need to reach into the hole and press the lever. I found it easy to adjust as an adult, but it is, happily, at an angle that is difficult to impossible for the child to reach and loosen the straps.
The Graco Nautilus car seat has a headrest which provides some level of side-impact protection in a crash, but also creates a more comfortable car seat for your child. The headrest on the Nautilus is easily adjustable to put it in the safest and most comfortable position for your child as the child grows. The padding in the car seat is very comfortable for my daughter and the harness covers provide soft, protective padding for her shoulders. The Nautilus also has a comfortable cover for the crotch strap that velcros around the strap so it is easily taken off and put back on again. An additional comfort feature on the Graco Nautilus is the padding on the armrests. Finally, for a child small enough to use the lowest slots for the harness straps, the Nautilus has a body support piece that provides an additional layer of comfort, but also helps to position the child correctly in the car seat. The body support piece must be removed if the child is not using the lowest set of slots for the harness straps.
The Graco Nautilus has two other nice features for a child. The first is the cup holder. My daughter loves to have her water bottle right there with her and I love that I no longer have to hand it back to her and wait to get it back. The second feature is the storage in the armrests. Each armrest on the Nautilus has a small cubby so a child can put snacks, a small toy, or sunglasses in there to have them readily available.
I highly recommend the Graco Nautilus car seat. The only negative thing that we have found about the Nautilus so far is that it does not come in better fabric choices – only grey and black. My daughter really wanted a pink seat, but safety and price had to win out over cosmetic issues. Graco has a great reputation for making quality car seats and they have followed in that tradition with the new Nautilus. The safety features, extended-use design, ease of use, and comfort features of the Graco Nautilus combine to create a car seat that will work to keep your children safe and happy for many years to come.
