ERF recomendation (crosspost)

It occured to me I should post my question here, since we have different options for seats here in Canada.

DS is 28months old, approx 35" tall and 28lbs. I've had him FF since he was 1yr and 22lb (didn't know any diff at the time) and I now want to switch him back RF. He's about average weight - 50th percentile, and 75th for height, so height limits for RF are probably more of a concern than getting 40lbs vs 35lbs ERF limit.

Baby sister will be here in less than a month. We drive a 4dr Grand Prix 2003. DH is quite tall so I'd prefer not to put an RF seat behind the driver otherwise I'm designated to driving duty on all long road trips, and I feel safer with him driving. (Day to day use I'm the primary driver in this car, so it's only an issue when we go out of town).
Our infant seat is the Graco Safeseat (weight limit 30lb) from 2007. I'd like to install it center backseat.

I need recommendations for an RF seat that will fit DS and still fit passenger Outboard next to the safeseat. I was looking at the MyRide based on reviews, but I hear it has a shorter shell than some other options?
Has anyone tried to fit an RF seat next to a large infant seat in a Grand Prix?

Note that original post is at:
http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=124366

I'm sure you'll get some more suggestions here. It may help to look up the rear hip room of your vehicle at edmunds.com and post back with that. Depending on door intrusion, it'll give us a better idea of what there is to work with.

Also--you can probably put a rear-facing 2 year old behind the driver's seat, up at 35 or 30 degrees. Usually there's quite a bit more flexibility in seating an older child at less of a recline versus an infant at 45 degrees.

-Nicole.

The most narrow ERF seats in Canada are the Sunshine Kids Radians and the Safety 1st Complete Air. Like QuassEE said you can put older children more upright, so it may actually work to put him behind the drivers seat. You just have to try it out.

From zimbio.com : (I couldn't find it on Edmunds)
1379mm rear hip room
1453 mm rear shoulder room

I haven't found anywhere in my city that carries the sunshine kids Radian, and I'm not excited about buying a seat online without being able to look at it in person first.


So you can put a toddler RF at a higher angle? I was going to ask. I think on DH's day off we'll install the safeseat and go see if we can try out the floor models at BRU to see how they fit together.

Where are you located?

I would install the SS1 on the passenger side, outboard (with seatbelt, shoved over to the door as far as it will go without hitting on the door - and thankfully the SS1 base is so easy to install with the lockoff!) and try out other seats both in center or RF behind driver's outboard. Putting the bucket seat outboard will make life simpler all around, in my eyes - less far to stick the bucket in, you can sit beside the RF convertible to buckle in the toddler, and the more upright convertible may leave more room for the driver's seat to go back.

The SK Radians are narrow but often a PITA to install more upright - it depends on your seat. If it works, it will give you TONS of room to grow both RF and FF.

The Complete Air goes in quite upright easily, from what I hear, and is only a little wider (though I think the Radian's base is still a bit narrower).

The fit in the MyRide would depend on your son's torso height, but I would guess it wouldn't leave you a huge amount of room to grow into - I think we have about 1-2" of height left (I'm so bad at estimating, I need to measure!). If you aren't bringing DS to the store, I would at least measure his sitting height, bum to shoulder and bum to top of head, and bring a tape measure to get an idea of fit. I am not sure how it would puzzle with the SS1, but maybe if you were putting it in with the handle down already it would fit ok?

I would try the First Years True Fit as well. I'm not too hopeful about getting it in next to the SS1 but it does make a fairly compact fit for such a tall shell when put in a bit more upright, so it might possibly fit behind the driver's side after all. It would be worth checking it out, in any case.

We're in Edmonton Canada. Do you know of a store here that carries the SK radian in stock?
We'll bring DS to the store with us to sit in the CA and MR to check torso height, we'll just have to uninstall and reinstall his current seat to try out the others.

I just checked on the SK website and they list these dealers (you may want to call to confirm if they have the Radian):
E-Children
10424 169 St NW
Edmonton, AB T5P 3X6
780-489-0707 (I got mine @ E-children in Calgary, I'm sure they'd have them in stock in Edmonton too)

Baby Sam Furniture
5111-99th St NW
Edmonton, AB T6E 5B7
780-988-6438‎

HTH,
Melissa

Snowbird (Trudy) is a tech in Edmonton. See the tech listing thread at the top of the page for more info on how to contact her. I would see if you can get together at a babies r us and try some seats. :thumbsup:

OK. So we stopped at BRU this afternoon.
MR65 is out - DS's head reaches just barely over an inch below the top of the shell.
Complete Air - we took it out to the car on a whim to try, and it seems WAY too big to RF behind driver. We didn't have the SS1 with us, and DS was with us so the Eddie Bauer was in the car, so we couldn't do a lot of playing. I think I may try again with a clean empty backseat and just the SS back there. The CA itself seems like a really nice seat, and DS fits in it great with LOTS of head room to grow taller.
I was also a little flustered thanks to the associate "helping" us, so wasn't really inclined to really fiddle with the seat a whole lot to see if it would work (plus it was windy and icky so we wanted to get DS back inside).....We were originally just checking DS in the seats with intentions to go back without him, but that location appears to be discontinuing the Harvest CA and was selling their floor model for 110$ off, so we wanted to try and get that deal if it fit.

Which brings me to a bigass VENT. I get that none of these associates are techs or even close. And if I go to Walmart or Zellers, I don't expect the associate to be any help. But at BRU, a specialty store, that carries 3 entire aisles of carseats, I expect their staff to at least have SOME knowledge. This girl was borderline RUDE. We ask for an employee to take us out with the seat so we can test it in the car before we buy it, so they send this girl over. As we're walking outside, I casually mention that we're in the market for a seat so I can turn DS back RF. "You're turning him BACK? How old is he?" to which I reply his age. "OH. Well how much does he weigh?" about 28lbs ish........"OH. well you can't RF in these seats at this point." Actually this seat RF to 40lbs, that's why we're considering it. "40 POUNDS??!!?!?1?" In this FABULOUS incredulous judgy tone of voice. I wanted to shake her and tell her, you sell the damn seats for a living. THE SECOND FREAKIN LINE of the info attached to the front seat says "rear faces 5-40lbs". UGH. THe last thing I need when I'm making a major decision regarding my son's safety is some store clerk talking down to me and treating me like I'm an idiot who might be breaking laws by wanting to give my son the best chance possible of surviving a head on collision. She made sure to point out the fact that his kneecaps are now starting to develop (ok, and her point was?.....) and that I need to make sure I'm abiding by Transport Canada's regulations. Why the heck to BRU employees not know that it's not mandatory to switch the kid FF at 1yr?

I bet you can find the SK Radian at E-children. Their address says it is on 169th but you can turn into the parking lot from 170th and their store front actually faces 170th (it was really confusing to me the first time I went there).

Another question:
Before here, I'd never heard that an older toddler can RF at 30 or 35 degrees.....If I buy a CA and it fits at 30degrees RF If I get pulled over in a carseat check will they ticket me? I was under the impression that part of the law requires the seat be used within manufacturer guidelines, and I haven't read the actual manual, so I'm not sure what the manufacturer says re flexibility of the recline....

Go to the toysRus on 170th on Friday night - that is when Trudy works; she is a tech and can help. Unfortunately I know of know other techs working at any store that sells carseats in Edmonton. I bought my radian at Baby Sam (I prefer their customer service over echildren), but again, they know little of extended rfing. There are several lovely techs in the city who can help!

eta: hope that's ok to post Trudy, delete if not; just wanted to help out a mama frustrated with sales staff w/ lack of carseat knowledge!

I am very highly doubtful that anyone would be measuring the angle of the install or complain unless it is very obviously overreclined, but maybe someone in an area where the police actually check anything carseat-related aside from the presence of one can chime i on this?

ETA: I would rather risk a potential ticket and continue to RF which I know is safer from having done research, than have to turn FF because I can't fit a longer-lasting carseat in my vehicle at a 45degree angle and am worried about a ticket.

I actually got pulled over about a week ago for a carseat check. The cop said he knew nothing , and that the health nurses would check.

You should have seen the look of utter shock at my 3.5yo dd rfing in her radian. She asked about her age and weight and the weight limit of the seat. I told her I have several friends who are techs and that I know my carseat stuff. She grabbed to base to check movement (it didn't budge ), and checked the shoulder harnesses on both kiddos. She was impressed and said I could probably teach her something . She did not check the angle, nor did she actually check the seat for its weight limit (my xt has a 35lb limit).

That was my experience, anyway. :twocents:

Thanks everyone!
Methinks I'll be stopping by BRU friday evening!

Your experience at BRU was typical. Many of us have vented here about it and written to them with no results. It is really sad. I wish I could do something about it. I wish they would listen about how they are endangering children.

YAY.

Thanks to Trudy, I got hooked up with the MR at BRU tonight! WOOHOO.
Turns out I'm a moron and a) he had more head room than I thought when I first sat him in it, and b) DUH if you take the infant padding out it gives more room. Silly me.
AND the MR was on sale. Happy Happy Day.

Thanks Trudy!!!!!
(and thank you Syd'smom for the info to go tonight.)

gabemonster said:

YAY.

Thanks to Trudy, I got hooked up with the MR at BRU tonight! WOOHOO.
Turns out I'm a moron and a) he had more head room than I thought when I first sat him in it, and b) DUH if you take the infant padding out it gives more room. Silly me.
AND the MR was on sale. Happy Happy Day.

Thanks Trudy!!!!!
(and thank you Syd'smom for the info to go tonight.)

Click to expand...

You're welcome, it was nice to meet you and your family tonight.

(No need to call yourself a moron - he did have quite a bit more room in the car than he did in the store.)

Kelly - it's fine to post when I'm at work. I post it semi-regularly anyways, and many moms groups know the nights to come in now. You're the 3rd person to tell me of being pulled over in the last week. 1 was a mom who I'd done a check for, 2nd being Gabe's mom. She lives out in Leduc and they actually were picky at checking her seat. She passed with flying colors of course, but mentioned it was as if they were really trying hard to find something wrong. edited to add: I would've loved to have seen the look on the lady's face. Must've amused you.

To answer the question about if they'll check the recline angle, I would say that there is a 99% probability that they wouldn't think anything of a seat installed around a 30 to 35* angle provided it was in the appropriate recline setting etc. The My Ride has a wide range of angle that will still keep it in the green, so you'll have no issue there. And it has a 1" of hard shell rule, so no numbers to worry about either. :thumbsup:

OH, I was using "moron" in reference to self in a very light way. I do that at times.
I'm so excited to hook the Gabemonster up in his new seat. Hopefully he doesn't get too mad about the change in view.

Trudy - depending on the hubs, we'll likely contact you in the next few weeks, likely not until after baby is born, to make sure the seats are installed nicely.