My son is going to be 3 in 6 weeks and currently is RFing in a Boulevard. I'm interested in keeping him RF but I'm not convinced on the Radian. I don't want a Complete Air b/c it seems rickety and cheap to me and the My Ride seems like a majorly redundant purchase for an extra couple of months of use (he's REALLY close to the top). The Radian at least could hopefully harness him until he was ready for a booster.
I'm hoping someone will please tell me I'm not going to dislike the Radian after use as much as I dislike it now? My son was 34 pounds dressed last night after dinner, so I'm starting to think I'm going to need a new RFing seat sooner than in a few months. It seems like his spurt has hit b/c a pair of pants that were long a couple of weeks ago seemed to fit fine yesterday. I REALLY don't want to drop another $300 on a seat, but I am too freaked to turn him forward. However, after taking a long look at the Radian up close yesterday, I was bummed about a bunch of its features.
1) No no-rethread harness?!? Come on Radian...that is ridiculous in a top of the line seat.
2) It didn't seem to install at all well with seatbelts in my car and there aren't lock offs. How do you ever travel with a seat that huge that can't be installed with seatbelts well? Please tell me it is easy to FF with seatbelts? I was just in the UK and my cousin's 2004 Volvo XC70 didn't have latch, locking seat belts, or tethers so this is a salient issue for me. The only reason my son was able to use a car seat at all is that my Britax has lock offs!
3) I'm really, really hoping that I can get the RF angle more upright with some more work than I was willing to put in yesterday in the rain with the sales guy breathing down my neck and my son freaking out. Otherwise it is not going to fit in my big ol new car. Unless you are willing to lick the dashboard while you ride shotgun, I'm not sure how that sucker fits in anyone's car outboard.
And lastly, and I consider this a huge bummer, it is made in China! I don't really trust Chinese manufacturing standards for safety equipment. I'm by no means anti-Chinese but I prefer my safety equipment be made in a culture that places more emphasis on consistent manufacturing standards (and my Chinese friends warn of the same thing) - on top of that, I am trying to buy locally to avoid excessive transportation emissions. I do think for $300 the seat shouldn't be made in China!
I'm hoping someone will please tell me I'm not going to dislike the Radian after use as much as I dislike it now? My son was 34 pounds dressed last night after dinner, so I'm starting to think I'm going to need a new RFing seat sooner than in a few months. It seems like his spurt has hit b/c a pair of pants that were long a couple of weeks ago seemed to fit fine yesterday. I REALLY don't want to drop another $300 on a seat, but I am too freaked to turn him forward. However, after taking a long look at the Radian up close yesterday, I was bummed about a bunch of its features.
1) No no-rethread harness?!? Come on Radian...that is ridiculous in a top of the line seat.
2) It didn't seem to install at all well with seatbelts in my car and there aren't lock offs. How do you ever travel with a seat that huge that can't be installed with seatbelts well? Please tell me it is easy to FF with seatbelts? I was just in the UK and my cousin's 2004 Volvo XC70 didn't have latch, locking seat belts, or tethers so this is a salient issue for me. The only reason my son was able to use a car seat at all is that my Britax has lock offs!
3) I'm really, really hoping that I can get the RF angle more upright with some more work than I was willing to put in yesterday in the rain with the sales guy breathing down my neck and my son freaking out. Otherwise it is not going to fit in my big ol new car. Unless you are willing to lick the dashboard while you ride shotgun, I'm not sure how that sucker fits in anyone's car outboard.
And lastly, and I consider this a huge bummer, it is made in China! I don't really trust Chinese manufacturing standards for safety equipment. I'm by no means anti-Chinese but I prefer my safety equipment be made in a culture that places more emphasis on consistent manufacturing standards (and my Chinese friends warn of the same thing) - on top of that, I am trying to buy locally to avoid excessive transportation emissions. I do think for $300 the seat shouldn't be made in China!