Car Seat ?

dizzycooks

@penguingrrl

I am sure I've asked before, but I am now ready to make the purchase.  As discussed, this seat (diono radianR100) is a great, slim convertable carseat correct?  Any fear that my peanut might outgrow it before she's ready?  Currently she is forward facing in a Britax Roundabout which I LOVE, but I'm hoping to buy a little more seat room for the poor middle person by not having two of those.  School me, please!

dizzycooks

Much appreciated!! @rainbowdasher May I ask what type of car you have?

dizzycooks

Now I'm going to AW my purchase...

I got it for $194. I had two promo codes (15% off and 30% off), went through ebates (additional 6% back right now ~$11 back) and will be getting $30 in kohls cash as well which will be spent on fall clothes for my girls . So really it was about $150, not too shabby I don't think.

dizzycooks

Kohls online is where I found it.  I was just waiting to get a 30% off coupon before I bought it  

dizzycooks

Nope, mine is a gray of some sort.  I can't justify waiting or choosing a color if it's going to cost more.  It's a car seat.

dizzycooks

@rainbowdasher pm send!  Also, my link above is the one I got.

penguingrrl

I'm happy enough with my radians. I think there are some other slim seats on the market now, but I haven't researched it a ton since Drew will be 4.5 when our radians expire, so the landscape may change before I'm ready to buy him his next seat (and I most definitely won't be buying a convertible by then because even I have no trouble putting a 4.5 year old FF lol). But as far as I'm aware the radian and foonf still hold the corner on the market for slim tall seats. It will last pretty much all kids long enough to go to a belt positioning booster. That said, very few kids can use it as a booster even though it's now advertised and allowed as such. The minimum weight to use a radian as a booster is 50 lbs, but many kids outgrow the seat entirely by height before hitting that 50 lb weight minimum. In fact, my oldest had a two year gap where she was too tall for the harness but well under 50 lbs. My second had over a year like that as well. 

There are a few quirks to know about with a radian, though.

1) The harness is a PITA to tighten. It has a ratchet system and takes some muscle to get tight enough. (that design is honestly annoying enough that I would be unlikely to buy another radian over it, but is nowhere near annoying enough to stop using the one I already have or to recommend another seat to someone looking for a narrow and tall seat since it's still the best bet on the market for that purpose).

2) There is a piece that must be used if a child under 40 lbs if FF but cannot be used for a child over 40 lbs, so when she hits 40 lbs you'll need to uninstall the seat entirely to remove a piece.

3) There's also a separate piece to allow the seat to be used RF that has to be removed to use it FF.

Louie4real

I have three radians. I love/like them most of the time like penguin said, tightening the straps rf especially is a...process? You first must pull the straps tight from the back of the seat and then pull right like normal. I'll show you if need be