Where to find a Radian 65 in Calgary? And MA fit in vehicle?

[Unregistered]

We currently have two Britax Marathons for my 18 month old daughter, one in each car. Now our new dayhome provider has asked that we provide her a carseat and it can only be the Radian 65 so it fits with all the others in her van.
While I think I am ok with this (its a good seat for our tall skinny girl and at some point we'll need to take her on a plane again) but my husband is balking at the price for a *third* seat. We can't even give up one of our MAs and modify our drop-off/pickup routine as it won't fit in her van (she has 4 kids of her own plus 2 daycare kids).

So... where do I find a Radian 65 that won't break the bank in Calgary? I had never seen them before she asked. Anyone familiar with online suppliers that will ship to Calgary? Are there any other seats that would be less $ but would meet the qualifications?

I also have a question/concern about how our MA fits in our vehicles (subaru outback and honda CRV), we have had to remove the middle seat headrest so that the top of the MA can curve over the back of the seat... If we didn't do this, the only point of contact would have been between the headrests and the base of the carseat - its wouldn't have sat flush into the seat. Is that normal? When I bought it I only researched the seat itself, not how it would fit in our vehicles. I'm worried about when she gets taller that there will be no headrest or protection behind her head, since she's supposed to be in this seat until 65 lbs... She'll be 15 before she's 65lbs the rate she's going... :)

[snowbird25ca]

I'm moving this thread to the Canadian forum where you'll get some more specific answers. :)

[tcottawa]

Yes, it's ok to remove the headrest to get a good install on your seat, forward-facing.:thumbsup: Just don't lose it! The seat itself has all the head protection your daughter will need until one of two things happen - her shoulders are above the top harness slots, or the top of the shell hits the top of her ears. Then the seat is outgrown by height. Many children are ready for a belt-positioning booster at this point.

Can I ask how much your daughter weighs? You should be aware that the current recommendation is to keep children rear-facing until the weight limit of their seat (probably 30lbs for your marathon) as long as they fit it for height (have at least 1" from the top of the shell), especially if they are under two.

re: the radian. It's hard to tell if any other seat would work; the Radian is the narrowest seat on the market, so you'd have to try other seats to make sure they'd fit. There is a website (I think carseatdata.org) that has measurements for all the seats, but in this situation I think you'd need to do an actual install with a seat you could return. Maybe try the graco cargo?

[Unregistered]

She's only 22 lbs. I had no idea she should still be rf until 30 - no where does anything say that. I turned her because she had run out of leg room, her legs were crunched up and she couldn't sit properly anymore. She's 33 inches tall. Was I supposed to leave her like that?

P.S. to the moderator, thanks for moving the post, I intended on posting under the canadian / international forum but somehow that's not where it ended up.

[Unregistered]

Answering and hijacking at the same time! ;)

As far as rear-facing - yes, the best practice has always been rfing to the limits of your carseats and luckily most convertibles now rf to at least 30lbs. The lenght of your daughter's legs doesn't really matter - you just need at least 1" of shell above her head. My dd is 2.5yrs, 27lbs and 33-34" tall and still rear-facing.

My hijack is: What is the rearfacing weight limit on the Radian 65 (as compared to the Radian Premiere)?

[featherhead]

My hijack is: What is the rearfacing weight limit on the Radian 65 (as compared to the Radian Premiere)?

Both are only 30 lbs still. The Radian XT is 35 lbs though.