Is the EFTA65 my best bet?

I have two kids sharing a spot next fall. The older one is 5.5, 51 lbs, and 46" tall, just moved up to the top slot on the Nautilus, then grew right after he moved. So 17" torso? He can ride well in a booster, but has told me that he'd prefer to keep his Nautilus. (My plan was to sell the Nautilus and buy a Monterey, but things have changed and he'll only be with me long enough for breakfast and school dropoff now.)

The younger one is 4.5, and very petite -- 33ish lbs, and maybe 39". She still fit RF in a Scenera as of early June, and FF in a Cosco HBB for comparison. I have her in the afternoons.

I have seats for both of these kids, but it occurred to me today that if I FF the younger one (which I am fine with... I typically RF her since I'm installing a separate seat anyways, and she fits, but that is not a necessity) it would be easier to have them share one seat instead of reinstalling almost every day.

I know that the EFTA has the infinite harness, the TrueFit adjusts with tabs, and the Frontier is no-rethread, right? But it seems like the EFT65 would be the easiest of these. Is there another obvious answer I'm missing?

I don't want to booster C, she's not ready, even for the half mile to and from school.

Why not leave the straps up in the highest on the Nautilus and use that for both?

Wendy

I thought about that but she's so tiny... I could get away with it (did it once or twice) when he was on the third height setting, but she's still under the second slot. Teeny sliver of a thing.

As long as you can get it tight, it's safe.

But if you want another seat, an EFTA65 sounds great. Or you could wait until the "coming soon" CA65s come out.

Wendy

17" torso, though? Isn't the EFT65's harness about 17" tall? Are you sure he still fits?

I had that thought, Jess... he's ridden in an EFTA recently though (before he hit 50lbs) and fit, and I swear another one of my dck, who is taller than him (in overall and torso height) still fits, too.

I will definitely check him before I buy anything different. My 17" estimation is based on being between the Nautilus' third and fourth harness slots, I haven't measured him.

Wendy, as much as I know it's safe, I have a feeling that it would bug me so much looking at her riding like that every day that I'd end up switching the seats out on a daily basis, which is what I'm trying to avoid. I guess I could give it a shot, I'll have her back on Tues. Maybe she's grown over the summer, lol.

How does the height change on the CAs -- could it be done while installed? What's the top harness height on those? I have some inexplicable anti-CA bias (I don't know why, I'm sure they're fine seats but there's something about them I don't like) so I haven't played with them too much, just enough to feel comfortable discussing them on here.

ETA: I forgot to say thanks! I appreciate everyone's help

I would not get an EFTA65 to harness a kid who is on the top slots of the nauti....I doubt he'll fit, if he does, probably not for long at all. nor the TF or CA65.... The top slots are just not tall enough. Can you check torso height in the seats, installed in the vehicle?
Does your vehicle have LATCH? If it were me, I personally would make the decision to disregard the rule about removing the nauti harness for booster mode, and set up the nauti, LATCH'ed in, with the harness set for the littler kid, and when the big kid is in it, let him use the seat with the seat belt as a booster. Assuming acceptable fit of course. I did this for a while with 2 of my kids until the bigger one outgrew the nauti as a booster completely.

Carrie_R said:

How does the height change on the CAs -- could it be done while installed? What's the top harness height on those? I have some inexplicable anti-CA bias (I don't know why, I'm sure they're fine seats but there's something about them I don't like) so I haven't played with them too much, just enough to feel comfortable discussing them on here.

ETA: I forgot to say thanks! I appreciate everyone's help

Click to expand...

It's 17.5", and it adjusts like an AOE. Handles on top of the headrest. Easy to do installed.

bobandjess99 said:

Does your vehicle have LATCH? If it were me, I personally would make the decision to disregard the rule about removing the nauti harness for booster mode, and set up the nauti, LATCH'ed in, with the harness set for the littler kid, and when the big kid is in it, let him use the seat with the seat belt as a booster. Assuming acceptable fit of course. I did this for a while with 2 of my kids until the bigger one outgrew the nauti as a booster completely.

Click to expand...

Graco recommends against this, for fear that the child will get entangled in the harness. That said, Piper just finally really outgrew the harness this week, but we used it just a *hair* longer, rather than use a lap belt only without headrest in a 1980s van (and as long as you didn't sneeze it was nearly 100% on the seat, too. Oy, lesser of the possible evils). Then she unexpectedly went to a friend's house. Rather than mess with it there to remove the harness, I told her to just sit on it and use it as a booster. You can buckle up the harness and tighten it, so it'll be hard to get entangled in it, or open it and tighten it. If you are comfortable with that. It IS against Graco's recommendations.

Wendy

Bobandjess, that's definitely an option. The GN hadn't fit N well as a booster, but the last time I tried it I think it was acceptable. While I know that's against Graco's recommendations, knowing myself and the child in question well enough, I would feel comfortable doing it (and have, once or twice. Call it "parental" discretion.) I'm just not sure about doing it on a daily basis, seems like the harness would be uncomfortable to sit on.

Thanks, ladies. Those are things to think about. (I'm still not convinced I've found the "right" answer yet, but it may be that that answer is reinstalling daily. Ugh.)

ETA: Does the Frontier adjust while installed?

I just wanted to follow up on this thread. I took the kids to BRU yesterday, and ugh. I apparently have no options for a shared harness, not even for $$$.

We tried the EFT65, and although he fits now, he's AT the top harness height. I don't need much height, an inch or so, just enough to get him through until May, but I didn't have that. Momentum is the same, Symphony seemed to be a bit smaller. Tried the MA70, same deal. In the CA he had a smidge of height, I might have gone ahead and gotten it except of course that he's over the weight limit. If they come out with the CA65 soon enough, that would be an option but I'm not buying it for only a few months of usage.

Frontier is not adjustable while installed, and from what I found on here he's outgrown the TF as well.

I LATCHed the Nautilus in yesterday for C to use, and tried N in it as a booster today. He fit well, definitely reinforces that it's really best as a booster for kids who have outgrown the harness. The only downside (aside from disregarding mfg rec) to using that plan is that I really wanted C/N's seat center, as I have a LATCHed Monterey pass outboard -- and it needs to stay LATCHed -- and I have a n00b starting in two weeks, who will ride in a CCO. I had wanted it outboard so I could take it in and out as needed, but the world doesn't end if it has to go center.

I'll try the Nautilus in at its highest harness height later this week, and see how I feel about C riding in it that way. Darn kid is such a peanut, she's still under the second harness height at 4.5.

Thanks for everyone's help

On the up side, the salesguy at BRU seemed fairly knowledgeable (even if the other salesguy did try to get me to put N in a backless, so it was easy to pop in and out.) And, I ran into a Momma who lurks here *waves hi!* who walked up when I mentioned something to salesguy about my Radian and interjected with something about them fitting three-across. I was shocked out of my socks that she knew what a Radian was, and after talking to her for a minute I figured she had to be on a carseat board... lol! Was nice to run into someone knowledgeable out IRL.

I can adjust the Frontier while installed. I reach down from above, between the seats. But that may be vehicle dependent based on the contours and everything.

Wendy

wendytthomas said:

I can adjust the Frontier while installed. I reach down from above, between the seats. But that may be vehicle dependent based on the contours and everything.

Wendy

Click to expand...

Yeah, it's not really possible in a car with a high seatback/hard seats, but it would be in a seat with a bench/no headrests, soft seats, I guess (ASSuming that's the kind of car you had luck with...I can't adjust it in my Ody or Escape when installed...the adjuster is just too far back down there in the lower settings )


Carrie... Safety 1st Go? 5 yo seems huge, though, so maybe not...I get about 18" on my Safeguard when it's installed with LATCH, Leah's 43" and has several inches of growing room in it, though.

I really don't feel like he's terribly outside of normal; he's 46" tall in shoes (thank you Cedar Point, lol,) and 50lbs. The other family grows ginormous children, and my part-time kids are teeny, so maybe my perspective's skewed, I don't know.

I don't know that much about the Go, I'll have to look into him. The Frontier's more than I wanted to spend, my hope was to sell the GNE and have a new seat mostly covered. I was trying to explore options yesterday -- my Pilot's seats are pretty flat so I don't know about adjusting while installed. I could try it out sometime.

I HAVE seats for these kids, two each actually, just had started thinking how much easier it would be if they shared. It's four days a week, so if push comes to shove I can just reinstall during naptime. That's what I did last year, and the world didn't end. I just hate to be reinstalling so frequently.

Thanks