Diono Radian RXT Reviews

Jess & Drew

I'm usually a Britax lover, but I'm in the market for a convertible carseat and am kind of liking the idea of an all-in-one (rear facing, front facing, and booster) that is good for 10 yrs.

Any one have this seat? What are your pros and cons? How about the height for rear facing? It's a few inches taller than the Britax seats, and I'm worried that the front passenger seat will be useless with this thing behind it. If you have had both a Britax and this seat, then I would love to hear your comparative opinion. Any info would be greatly appreciated as there aren't any stores near me that carry it for me to see in person.

Thanks!

penguingrrl

I have two radians (different models from before the switch from Sunshine Kids to Diono, but there haven't been huge changes since) and absolutely love them. They have a tall useable shell, but are narrow and don't have a large base, so they don't take as much room as you would think for the amount of space.

For RF there is a weird boot that needs to be used. It can tend to make the seat over reclined in some vehicles (I haven't had it happen in hondas, volvos or VWs). There is now a separate product  you can buy from the company called an angle adjuster, which I highly recommend. With that you can get a pretty upright angle RF, which is great for the person in front of them (especially since Diono has no stated minimum angle, so as upright as you can get the seat is fine). I have tall long-torsoed daughters and my youngest made it to 2y 9m RF in it; my niece was safely RF at over 4!

For FF it's a fairly upright seat and I've had no complaints. Diono is the only company that allows a seat to be used FF when the shoulders are above the top harness slots. In the tech world there's a bit of discussion and some techs gladly will use it that way, others do not. I personally stop using it when my daughters hit the top harness slots.

The booster, however, is all but useless. Heightwise the booster is outgrown pretty much at the same time as the harness (and exactly the same time if you use it with the shoulders above the top harness slots). It also has a 50 lb minimum to use it as a booster. My kids are abnormally tall and long-torsoed, but my oldest outgrew the harness at just 40 lbs, so we would have needed a different seat for 10 lbs before she could use the radian that way (our model doesn't allow use as a booster anyway, so it was a moot point). So you will need a dedicated booster when the radian is outgrown.

But I wouldn't let the lack of booster use stop you from getting an otherwise great seat. The other seats to look at for much longer RF and FF use than Britax (based on shell height and top harness slot heights) are the clek foonf and graco size4me70. I personally avoid Britax convertibles right now because most competitors have seats with taller shells, which translates to longer use for most kids (the vast majority of kids hit height limits light years before nearing weight limits).

penguingrrl

I just remembered my single complaint with this seat. The harness tightener is not smooth like on a graco or britax. It goes  part of the way smoothly then is a ratchet system so you have to tug-release-tug-release and sometimes I have to use a knee to keep DDs seat in place while doing it because even with a really tight install it will almost seem to loosen. But I've always been someone who rarely messed with loosening or tightening the straps so it's not a big deal to me.

Jess & Drew

Thank you! Lots of great info that I wouldn't have even thought of asking about.

penguingrrl

Glad to help! I forgot to ask how old your LO is. The angle adjuster is allowed after 12 months, although many techs will use it a bit earlier, when the child can sit independently and you would be willing to install another seat more upright. It can't be used before then, though, because kids do need to be fairly reclined until they have good head control.

MrsJetSet

Agree with previous post.

The seat does take up quite a bit of room behind the seat in our current body Outback. For us the seat is still usable but a little annoying for my tall DH.

I love the sporty blue fabric. It seems like it will wipe clean easily from the inevitable spills. Dd stays relatively cool in it. It also does really good things for her blue eyes but that isn't a good reason to buy a seat ;

I didn't like the ratcheting tightener at first but it has grown on me and I think that the grandparents actually do a better job getting it tight enough than they did with our keyfit.

gimmietimmies

Penguingrrll said everything I would have said. Ours is currently installed rf 3rd row in a Caravan, and occasionally in a Mini, with an angle adjuster in both. I actually prefer installing it in the Mini, it's easier. I've been pretty happy with it so far, we've had it for about 18m. Honestly, I've had far more difficult and frustrating seats, and only one that was easier. But as far as longevity, we really need this as its the tallest option in our market, and we've got tall kids.

Jess & Drew

Thanks, ladies. DD is 5 mths and rather large and long, so toting her around in the infant seat is getting to be difficult. DH and I are both tall people, so that was my concern with the front seat becoming useless. I think I'm pretty much sold on this seat.

gimmietimmies

We're all tall here too, kids and all. I'm 5'9", dh is 5'11", I am more than positive our girls will exclipse our heights, so I feel the pain. FWIW, the Radian gave me more than enough room in the Mini, compared to the Snugride 35 that we had in there - it took up all the available space.

funkymonkeyohyeahhh

We switched from our infant seat to the Radian at 5 months. Our infant seat was a hand me down from my SIL and we hated the way it buckled and N didn't like being so reclined anymore. We never took it out of the vehicle, so there was no "convenience factor" lost. Anyway, we love the seat. N is a much better car rider in it, too.