Car seat dilemna: Updated ? which 5 pt seat for big kid?

futrkingsley · May 2011

So I was rear-ended on Monday. I was at a complete stop, waiting to turn, when another car hit me. It was a city street so low/moderate speed, but he didn't even hit his breaks, just plowed into me. My rear bumper was badly damaged and has to be replaced, not repaired. The trunk of my wagon was dented and is being repaired. There was no other damage, like to the frame, axels, etc per our mechanic who inspected the car and the body shop.

My insurance company at first said that the car seat in our car, which was NOT in use, did not need to be replaced. But when the estimate for the damage came back and my agent and I realized I'd been injured, they changed their tune and advised me to get a new seat, and destroy the old seat. I'll be reimbursed for the expense.

After I posted, I decided to get two new seats. One for my car and one to replace the almost outgrown one in DH's car. I don't know which one to get. DS is a big kid and I want to keep him in a 5 point harness for as long as possible. He's almost 3, 40" tall and 35+ lbs. The seat we have to replace is a First Year's True Fit and we really like it. It goes up to 65 lbs. in the forward facing harnessed position and I was thinking of getting something that goes higher but that just leaves a Sunshine Kids Radian and the reviews for it are not that great -- it seems hard to use if you don't use Latch (and we won't since our car doesn't have center latch), and the weight/height limits seem inflated so many kids outgrow it before the stated limits. I'm inclined to get the same seat we have again but if there's something new/better I'll get that. Any ideas?

I want two long lasting seats that allow a child to forward face with a 5 pt harness til they can practically drive themselves. Should I move to a booster with a 5 point harness?

Thanks!

hersheykiss · May 2011

Personally, I would get 2 new seats. I don't have any recs for new ones though.

alibee09 · May 2011

My friend who is really into seats LOVES the True Fit. Her favorite seat is the Boulevard/Marathon but she says the True Fit is amazing as well, just that the installation is a little more difficult.

futrkingsley · May 2011

alibee09:
My friend who is really into seats LOVES the True Fit. Her favorite seat is the Boulevard/Marathon but she says the True Fit is amazing as well, just that the installation is a little more difficult.

Yeah, we love the True Fit too. It has served us well. It's huge and really safe and now that he's FF he's happy as a clam in it.

Buying two of them though is a huge hit, even if we get reimbursed for one of them.

alibee09 · May 2011

futrkingsley:
alibee09:
My friend who is really into seats LOVES the True Fit. Her favorite seat is the Boulevard/Marathon but she says the True Fit is amazing as well, just that the installation is a little more difficult.

Yeah, we love the True Fit too. It has served us well. It's huge and really safe and now that he's FF he's happy as a clam in it.

Buying two of them though is a huge hit, even if we get reimbursed for one of them.

I know I've seen good deals for certain patterns on Amazon -- but hey, what about this. Email me the deets on your kiddo (height, weight, age) and the constraints you want (cost) and I will forward them to her. She has encyclopedic knowledge on seats, no lie, I am sure she can recommend something. alibee at gmail.

DandaLion · May 2011

We have the sunshine kids radian and I love it. We don't use the latch because DS is RFing and the seat has to be in the middle to fit. Its not a seat we take in and out of the car frequently. DS is really tall (as am I and his dad), so we went with what would work for us long term. Its a heavy seat, but it has a steel frame. Its also really narrow, which I love, because I have fit 2 large adults on either side of it as well as another car seat. I can understand people not liking it if you frequently have to swap it in and out of cars, but for us it works perfectly staying in my car since that is what he is in about 90% of the time. SO's car we just have the cosco scenera and use that in any other car we need or if we travel.

fjaril · May 2011

if you don't need rear facing, the recaro prosport is a 5 point harness that goes to like 90 pounds. That's what my kiddo is in.

futrkingsley · May 2011

fjaril:

if you don't need rear facing, the recaro prosport is a 5 point harness that goes to like 90 pounds. That's what my kiddo is in.

The one I found online said it goes to 70lbs, which is great, but I'm concerned about the seat height. Like how much room there is for growth with shoulder straps and seat height. I wish I could see this in person!

futrkingsley · May 2011

DandaLion:
We have the sunshine kids radian and I love it. We don't use the latch because DS is RFing and the seat has to be in the middle to fit. Its not a seat we take in and out of the car frequently. DS is really tall (as am I and his dad), so we went with what would work for us long term. Its a heavy seat, but it has a steel frame. Its also really narrow, which I love, because I have fit 2 large adults on either side of it as well as another car seat. I can understand people not liking it if you frequently have to swap it in and out of cars, but for us it works perfectly staying in my car since that is what he is in about 90% of the time. SO's car we just have the cosco scenera and use that in any other car we need or if we travel.

We have Scenera too but DS is just about too big for the shoulder straps FF so it has to go too.

As for the Radian, how is the seat belt install? Is it hard to do? And how do you adjust the straps? We are looking at a center seat, forward facing seat belt install with tether. It will rarely if ever leave the car. Have you had to take off and clean the cover? That was listed as a huge negative in reviews I read.

fjaril · May 2011

buybuybaby carries it.

my kiddo is only on the second level of the seat height adjustment and there is a lot of room to grow.

I'm not sure where you are located, but if we aren't too far away you can see ours

risysmama · May 2011

futrkingsley:
alibee09:
My friend who is really into seats LOVES the True Fit. Her favorite seat is the Boulevard/Marathon but she says the True Fit is amazing as well, just that the installation is a little more difficult.

Yeah, we love the True Fit too. It has served us well. It's huge and really safe and now that he's FF he's happy as a clam in it.

Buying two of them though is a huge hit, even if we get reimbursed for one of them.

Not sure if you're still interested in the True Fit but I just bought 2 from dealomite.com for under $220 shipped (for both!!!). I got the Premier for my car and the Recline for DH's car. They're not as cheap as when I bought them, but they are much less than other sites like Amazon. Here's the link.

https://www.dealomite.com/Toys-Games?search=true+fit&y=0&x=0

DandaLion · May 2011

futrkingsley:
DandaLion:
We have the sunshine kids radian and I love it. We don't use the latch because DS is RFing and the seat has to be in the middle to fit. Its not a seat we take in and out of the car frequently. DS is really tall (as am I and his dad), so we went with what would work for us long term. Its a heavy seat, but it has a steel frame. Its also really narrow, which I love, because I have fit 2 large adults on either side of it as well as another car seat. I can understand people not liking it if you frequently have to swap it in and out of cars, but for us it works perfectly staying in my car since that is what he is in about 90% of the time. SO's car we just have the cosco scenera and use that in any other car we need or if we travel.

We have Scenera too but DS is just about too big for the shoulder straps FF so it has to go too.

As for the Radian, how is the seat belt install? Is it hard to do? And how do you adjust the straps? We are looking at a center seat, forward facing seat belt install with tether. It will rarely if ever leave the car. Have you had to take off and clean the cover? That was listed as a huge negative in reviews I read.

The seatbelt install was no more difficult than in any other seat IMHO. I took the cover off when we first got it to scotch guard it. It was kinda a pain, but so was our.infant seat cover (chicco key.fit). I went for the height on the seat based on how tall he is already. The cosco seat wont last us very long, but we knew that when we got it. It will last us until he is forward facing and then we will get him something that will last him longer. Buy buy baby carries the radian and they let me try installing it before I bought it. I would highly recommend doing that before buying it. We got ours on clearance at bru because it's a discontinued color. It ended up being $205. I read many of the same reviews you did, but the pros far outweigh the few negatives for us.

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Car seat dilemna: Updated ? which 5 pt seat for big kid?

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