Going shopping today and need some quick advice

First off we are in Canada.

My cousin asked me to go carseat shopping with her today for a new seat for her son. He is currently in a graco infant seat that is due to expire in December (she borrowed it from her sister that she had since new and used for her two kids, acceptable given we know the history).

He is 4 months old, weighs 14lbs, is 25" tall with a 13" torso. Mom is nearly 6' tall and somewhere between 180-200lbs yet dad is shorter at 5'5' and fairly lean so who knows where he will fall in the genetics map down the road.

He is their only child and they drive a Mazda 3.

I have on my list of seats to check out:
-TrueFit ~ is the premier worth the extra?
-Marathon ~ anyone have any experience with the new ones how different are they.
-My Ride ~any reviews on this seat?
-Complete Air ~ it shows 2 versions regular and LX, what is the difference?
-Radian XTLS ~ I am concerned about install ~ anyone installed this beast in a Mazda 3?

Can you please rate these seats in order of which you like best and tell me why.

I know of course it goes with out saying that they are all good and they best choice is the one that fits the child best, installs well, and can be used correctly 100% of the time.

Thanks!

Moved to the Canadian forum.

Wendy

Those are all really good seats. There's no one better than the other, it's just what you prefer, but that is an excellent list of great seats. :thumbsup:

I have a Truefit for my son in the grandparents car, it's a really nice seat and easy to install. It rear-faces to 35 lbs.

I have Radians for my kids in my own car, and I didn't find them hard to install but they are very tall seats. What I like about them is the high rear-facing limit, my son should be able to stay rear-faced in his Radian til he's 4 yrs old, hopefully.

The other seats I have no personal experience with other than seeing them in friends' cars but they are all popular seats used by people who know a lot about car seats so your best bet is to see if they will let you take a seat out the car and see how it will fit, take them out of the boxes and try out the harnesses, put the baby in them if you can and just pick the one she thinks she will find easiest to use for the baby and to install in her car.

Great job with the list of seats!! :thumbsup:

If that torso measurement is accurate you're going to want a tall seat! I would be looking at the True Fit, the Complete Air, and the Radians. Weight wise he sounds pretty average right now, so I would think any one of those three seats should be good. I would skip the MyRide and the Marathon though, because their shells are a lot shorter than the three I mentioned, so they wouldn't be able to keep him rear-facing as long.

Agreed that you already have a great list--I think it'll come down to the one that fits best in the car, and you think they'll have the easiest time using Unfortunately, you're looking at going to at least two different stores to try them all!

-N.

featherhead said:

If that torso measurement is accurate you're going to want a tall seat! I would be looking at the True Fit, the Complete Air, and the Radians. Weight wise he sounds pretty average right now, so I would think any one of those three seats should be good. I would skip the MyRide and the Marathon though, because their shells are a lot shorter than the three I mentioned, so they wouldn't be able to keep him rear-facing as long.

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exactly this. We just went to check out the new MAs and the shell is pathetically short in comparison to the Radian and TrueFit. The extra 5lbs isn't that great when you have a 30lb 36.5" 2 year old.

I was pretty intimidated buying a Radian because "they're bears to install" but I had no issue installing them RF in both my Jetta and Ford F150, with latch and with the lap and shoulder belts. Don't be intimidated by this seat, it's not THAT SCARY!!!

i as well have a 4 month old, 17 pounds.. we bought a graco my ride and we lovee it, very soft and he fits very well and it fits in my car very nice. he is corfortable in this chair. i like to be able to see my baby when i look back like his infant one u can see and i wasnt ready to give that up and in my 4 door sunfire i can stil peek over the top of this seat, which i love . i do also have a mirror that i can see perfectly too. and a bonus it rear faces to 40 ppounds in canada too. i tryed the true fit and i didnt like how he fit in it, but its neat that the headrest can stay off till they are 22pounds like the infant seat.