Need new seat for 3 year old - get a Frontier, or a Radian to pass down?

SkylarKD

New member
My daughter is 3 years old, about 38 inches and about 35 lbs.

Her Radian appears to be damaged, so we will probably need to get a new seat. I'm trying to figure out what our best option is, with a new baby on the way (within a month!).

Here's are the two ideas I'm considering:

Option 1
Get my daughter a Britax Frontier now (original model on sale $90 off), and get a Radian for the baby when he/she grows out of the bucket infant seat/carrier.

Option 2
Get my daughter another Radian now, pass it down to the baby later this year, and buy my 3 year old a high back booster then (maybe a Frontier, Graco Nautilus, or another style, if she can ride with just the lap belt).

What do you think?
 
ADS

amyd

New member
Option one is what I would do. Your 3 year old is really not ready for a booster. In Canada a child must be at least 40lbs & should be at least 4 years old (very minimum, 5+ is even better). Also, a booster can never be used with a lap belt, always must have a lap/shoulder belt, so as long as you have a vehicle where she must sit in a lap belt only position, she must be in a harnessed seat.

Hope that helps...let us know if you have anymore questions.
:)
 

SkylarKD

New member
Sorry, I didn't mean just a lap belt, we have a lap and shoulder belt (2007 Honda Accord). So if we went for a booster in 9 months or so, it would probably be a harnessed booster. I was considering a booster without a harness for that point, but it sounds like she will still be too young/small to use a high back booster with seatbelt and would need a harnessed booster?

Maybe it's better off to get the Frontier now while it's on sale anyways, and just keep an eye out for a Radian on sale later this year.

Our Radian is so slim, that I'm worried that a Frontier will be too bulky in our car -not a big deal though, in the grand scheme of things! ;)


(By the way Amy, hello from another NBer - I'm in Fredericton :) )
 

amyd

New member
Oh, okay, good...glad to hear you have lap/shoulder belts...makes things easier. Yes, I would get a Frontier or similar (the Nautilus would be a good choice as well) now for her if you need to replace the Radian. I would not suspect that she will be ready for a booster this year unless she gains those pounds quickly, which doesn't usually happen at this age. Even if she does hit 40 before the baby needs a convertible, I'd still want to keep her harness another year or so, personally. A young child has a tough time understanding the need to sit properly in a booster & that maturity is a huge part of safe booster riding. A good combination seat will be a good investment for your family as well since you will have another little one to pass it down to.
You will find the Frontier (or even a Nautilus) quite bulky after a Radian, I'm sure, but either should fit just fine in your car. Is it Stylin' Mama that has the Frontier on sale? They're great about letting you try seats in your car before you buy. Jenny's lovely to deal with:thumbsup:

It's lovely to see another NBer on here:D Welcome!
 

mommycat

Well-known member
Do you need to have 3 across in the rear, with 3 seats or 2 seats+adult? If so, I would definitely test out the seats before buying. I do agree that you may as well get the Frontier now while you can get it on sale if you want that over a Nautilus. Both would be good options and very similar (I assume that it's the older model FR on sale and not the "XT"), except that the FR gives 9yrs expiry and converts to a HBB only while the GN converts to a HBB and a LBB with 6yrs on harness/HB and 9yrs on the LBB. So the FR is a bit more useful in terms of passing it down to younger kids for EH, but the GN is a bit more versatile.

If you only have the 2 seats in the rear, then it may reassure you that I have a GN in the rear of a 2007 Civic (so smaller than the Accord), and have also tried out a FR in there. They both installed well. I don't think I've ever checked if I could adjust to full height for either.
 

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