Low-cost combo seats that are good for long torsos?

deanna1ynne · Apr 16, 2014

It seems that everytime I need a new car seat, I end up here with more questions!

We have a 7 month old, 2.5 yo, and 4.5 yo, currently in a portable chicco infant carrier and two radians (2.5 is RF and 4.5 is FF). Size has been a factor in the past -- both my kids' size (very long torso'd) and the car (fitting three across).

The baby's car seat is expired, and I need to get something else. I intend to keep the younger two RF for quite some time and am just looking for advice on whether I should buy the baby a new car seat (and keep the older 2 in their radians), or get the 4.5 yo a new one and just turn his Radian RF for the baby again. We felt really restrained when the first two were both RF, trying to accommodate their long torsos RF, but I feel like I should have more options now that oldest is FF so it might make more sense to buy him the new car seat, instead of the baby.

So what recommendations are there for a good FF carseat that converts to a booster for kids with long torsos? Anything on the cheaper side (cheaper than another Radian, at least

)? Width/Narrowness is no longer an issue in our current vehicle.

Nedra · Apr 17, 2014

Re: New car seat for baby or 4.5 yo?

I'm probably not the best person to answer this, but I see that you haven't had any responses yet so I thought I'd give you a bump and my two cents . . .

I would get your 4.5 year old a combination seat and pass down the radian rather than buying a new convertible for the baby. I think this will be a better investment and you'll get more use out of the life of your seats.

Combination seats I'd look at are:

Frontier 90 (I believe this is the tallest harnessed seat available...I hope someone will correct me if I am wrong . . . it is far from the cheapest, though, and would probably set you back as much as a radian or more)

Pioneer 70 (This seat doesn't have the "clicktight" feature of the Frontier 90 and it has no HUGS pads and a slightly shorter harness. However, the harness height was recently increased, so if you get a recent date of manufacture, you'd have a very tall harness height.)

I personally like these seats and think I'll go with one of them when it's time to FF my child. I don't know a lot about other seats, but here is the list of recommended seats from carseatblog -- scroll down to "Forward-Facing Only Seats"

http://carseatblog.com/carseatblogcoms-recommended-car-seats/

MommyShannon · Apr 17, 2014

I agree with getting a combo seat for the 4 year old. Do you have an angle adjuster for the Radian? It's a separate piece that came out a few years ago to make it install more upright. It might make it too upright for the baby, but it might help with your 2 year old.

deanna1ynne · Apr 17, 2014

Re: New car seat for baby or 4.5 yo?

Hmmm... Thanks for the replies. The more I've thought about it, the more I agree with getting the 4.5 yo a combination seat. While the britax looks really nice, I do think I'd rather get something less expensive. Is there a simple list somewhere that just lists limits on height, weight, and seat-to-shoulder heights of car seats (and combination seats, in particular)?

We don't have an angle adjuster for my 2 yo, but she seems content in her Radian anyway right now... The only issue she seems to have is figuring out what to do with her legs. She can't seem to cross her legs very well, and they often just end up sticking up at an awkward angle. Oh well.

Nedra · Apr 17, 2014

Re: New car seat for baby or 4.5 yo?

deanna1ynne said:
Hmmm... Thanks for the replies. The more I've thought about it, the more I agree with getting the 4.5 yo a combination seat. While the britax looks really nice, I do think I'd rather get something less expensive. Is there a simple list somewhere that just lists limits on height, weight, and seat-to-shoulder heights of car seats (and combination seats, in particular)?

This section of the forums might help:
http://www.car-seat.org/forumdisplay.php?f=67

deanna1ynne · Apr 17, 2014

That is great. Thank you. I'm kind of amazed that so many of them are so small! Great information. Thank you so much!

Nedra · Apr 17, 2014

deanna1ynne said:
That is great. Thank you. I'm kind of amazed that so many of them are so small! Great information. Thank you so much!

Yay! I hope you find one that works for you! If you have a store that let's you try then out in your car (my Babies R Us let's us do this if we leave a driver's license at the registry desk), that would be a good idea too.

mom of six · Apr 17, 2014

Putting in my vote for the Harmony Defender. Very budget friendly. Narrow at about 17 inches and upper harness height is 1 inch higher than the Radian. And it is a true combo as it becomes a booster. I was a faithful raidan user through 4 kids and I switched my youngest to the Defender when he went forward facing. I love it.

It is only available through walmart.com. You can do site to store and return in store if it does not work.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/22796374?...91021110&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=45199430110&veh=sem

happiness-and-balance · Apr 17, 2014

Another vote for the Defender. It sounds like it
would suit your situation perfectly! Let us know how things work out

henrietta · Apr 18, 2014

If you have a tight three across, it will be made even tighter when the oldest is riding in a booster, so keeping him harnessed as long as you can may be really helpful. The combo seats can be tough to buckle in booster mode for a three across. In my three across, I definitely won't use our Evenflo Secure Kid as a booster. There's no way I can buckle it. It may be worthwhile to you to also look as the Evenflo Sureride, which is a convertible...but it's narrow and it has the tallest top slots (except for the Britax Frontier..) at 19.5". Our Evenflo Secure Kid 300 (combo seat) does fit in our 3 across (Volvo XC70 wagon) along w/a rear facing Combi Cocorro (center) and a Harmony Lite Rider backless booster or a Cosco Top Side backless booster (neither is easy to buckle).

hths

deanna1ynne · Apr 21, 2014

Hmmm.... I had decided on the Harmony Defender, because it was the tallest of the inexpensive combo seats. But now I'm torn between that and the Sureride with the higher harness slots. I hadn't seen that one yet, because I was focusing on combo seats, not convertibles.... Space in the car is no longer an issue (finally went for the mini van...), but I'm torn between the extra inch of harness height vs being able to go straight into the booster w/o buying yet another car seat in a few years. Ack! Too many choices!

brelza · Apr 21, 2014

henrietta said:
In my three across, I definitely won't use our Evenflo Secure Kid as a booster. There's no way I can buckle it. It may be worthwhile to you to also look as the Evenflo Sureride, which is a convertible...but it's narrow and it has the tallest top slots (except for the Britax Frontier..) at 19.5". Our Evenflo Secure Kid 300 (combo seat) does fit in our 3 across (Volvo XC70 wagon) along w/a rear facing Combi Cocorro (center) and a Harmony Lite Rider backless booster or a Cosco Top Side backless booster (neither is easy to buckle).

hths

the sureride is even higher slots than the secure kid?

happiness-and-balance · Apr 21, 2014

brelza said:
the sureride is even higher slots than the secure kid?

Yup!

MommyShannon · Apr 21, 2014

brelza said:
the sureride is even higher slots than the secure kid?

Yes, about .5-1" taller. It just doesn't become a booster.

brelza · Apr 21, 2014

deanna1ynne said:
Hmmm.... I had decided on the Harmony Defender, because it was the tallest of the inexpensive combo seats. But now I'm torn between that and the Sureride with the higher harness slots. I hadn't seen that one yet, because I was focusing on combo seats, not convertibles.... Space in the car is no longer an issue (finally went for the mini van...), but I'm torn between the extra inch of harness height vs being able to go straight into the booster w/o buying yet another car seat in a few years. Ack! Too many choices!

you had me thinking so I went to the evenflo site to check things out. It says on their site that the harness on the sureride/titan is "Maximum Shoulder Harness Height: Approximately 17.5 inches (44,45 cm)" Now I have myself confused because the sureride isn't mentioned on the evenflo site but the titan is. Let us know what you decide

so maybe they changed it?

now I'm completely confused and I was going to delete this but I don't know where the delete option is.....

Found it on the evenflo site...I didn't see the scroll bar to scroll over to the other seats...SORRY!

henrietta · Apr 21, 2014

deanna1ynne said:
Hmmm.... I had decided on the Harmony Defender, because it was the tallest of the inexpensive combo seats. But now I'm torn between that and the Sureride with the higher harness slots. I hadn't seen that one yet, because I was focusing on combo seats, not convertibles.... Space in the car is no longer an issue (finally went for the mini van...), but I'm torn between the extra inch of harness height vs being able to go straight into the booster w/o buying yet another car seat in a few years. Ack! Too many choices!

Here's some thoughts:

Harmony Defender 360: 10 year life span (great with multiple kids!), easy to buckle and adjust harness, good booster fit, looks like a big kid seat

Evenflo Sure Ride-longest lasting in a harness for under $200 (if your kiddo is tall & thin-a more solid kiddo may feel squished), definitely cheapest option w/coupons/sales to fit a kid that age & size

The Harmony Defender likely makes a pretty easy to use booster seat, but I'd bet using a dedicated booster seat is easier for you AND kiddo and might last longer as a high back booster. I know that's true for our Evenflo Secure Kid, although it does still fit my 8 year old as a booster.

The Graco Nautilus is easy to use as a booster, but may not be as easy to buckle for some kids as the Graco Turbo high back.

Since you have plenty of room (minivan) and 2 long lasting convertibles available already, personally, I'd take your 4 year old to look and try out seats and see what he likes and finds comfortable.

deanna1ynne · Apr 25, 2014

We went with the Harmony Defender. The selling point for me was the longer lifespan. Even if I have to buy a dedicated booster for my oldest down the road because he outgrows this one too quickly or some other such thing, the long lifespan means I can just keep passing the older seat down to a younger child and will probably get close the full 10 years out of it, forbidding an accident.

It came in today, and seems to fit him well, though I found it a little complicated at first (I've just never done much with anything other than Radians). In particular, I wasn't getting anywhere close to the shoulder height I thought I should be, but it turns out that was just because the height is dependent on the harness slack.

Thanks so much for you all of your advice! You all are lifesavers when it comes car seat shopping time!

brelza · Apr 25, 2014

MommyShannon said:
Yes, about .5-1" taller. It just doesn't become a booster.

Thanks! I have a sure ride sitting in my kitchen right now. Going to see if it fits in my husband's car tonight. I did look at the surekid too. I loved the way my son fit in the sureride and I'm thinking we can use this and then move into a NBB when the time comes. It's easy enough for my husband to use too. Since he's our last (most likely) there really is no littler one to pass the seat down to.

deanna1ynne · Apr 25, 2014

So I have a slight problem with my Defender in the mini-van that I'm concerned about, and I'm not sure if I should start another thread for it or not... So please tell me, if so!

We're installing it using a seat belt (since the LATCH is only good through 46 lb), but the carseat is a fair bit narrower than the width of the seat, and no matter how tight I seem to get it, it still moves side to side more than an inch. I really can't get any more slack to tighten it further. With my Radians, this wasn't such an issue because the top tether kept it in place more, but the top tether on the Defender slides back and forth (I don't know how to describe this, if you haven't seen it, but in the place where it attaches to the car seat, it actually just attaches to a sideways strap so it can slide from left to right). The result is that the whole car seat can shift from left to right pretty significantly.

How do I fix this?

ETA I do put both knees on the seat to press down and back as much as I can.

safeinthecar · Apr 25, 2014

deanna1ynne said:
So I have a slight problem with my Defender in the mini-van that I'm concerned about, and I'm not sure if I should start another thread for it or not... So please tell me, if so!

We're installing it using a seat belt (since the LATCH is only good through 46 lb), but the carseat is a fair bit narrower than the width of the seat, and no matter how tight I seem to get it, it still moves side to side more than an inch. I really can't get any more slack to tighten it further. With my Radians, this wasn't such an issue because the top tether kept it in place more, but the top tether on the Defender slides back and forth (I don't know how to describe this, if you haven't seen it, but in the place where it attaches to the car seat, it actually just attaches to a sideways strap so it can slide from left to right). The result is that the whole car seat can shift from left to right pretty significantly.

How do I fix this?

ETA I do put both knees on the seat to press down and back as much as I can.

Try reclining the vehicle seat while you tighten, then pull it back upright. (using normal strength to do so. If you have to get behind the seat and push it upright it's overly tight and you might do something bad to your seat belts.)

Low-cost combo seats that are good for long torsos?

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