Booster or laptop?

Splash

New member

• Nov 17, 2010

• #1

Child is 5 years old, 48 pounds, 43 inches. Main use for this seat would be the front seat of a 2008 Ford F-150. Captain's chairs, airbag off.
I don't own a booster, can get basically anything (but the PWSG doesn't fit him well). The only thing I don't like about the laptop is that it doesn't sit completely flush due to the hip and side bolsters on the vehicle seat itself.

Here is a (bad) picture of said cutie in the laptop. (Watch it be enormous)

Which would you choose?

 

Louisa

CPST Instructor

• Nov 17, 2010

• #2

no oppinion, but adorable kiddo!

 

MissAllyLou

New member

• Nov 17, 2010

• #3

laptop !

 

BookMama

Senior Community Member

• Nov 17, 2010

• #4

Since there's a lap/shoulder belt, and purchasing a booster isn't a financial problem, I'd go for a well-fitting HBB over an expired (by two years) Laptop. :twocents:

 

carseatcoach

Carseat Crankypants

• Nov 17, 2010

• #5

If the Laptop wasn't so expired, it would be my first choice. It's all foam, so the expiration doesn't scare me as much as it does other seats, but I just can't justify using an expired restraint when there are other options available to you.

 

Splash

New member

• Nov 17, 2010

• #6

Yeah, I figured someone would chime in on the "expired" issue. For me, though, it doesn't bother me in the least that the seat is 8 years old. It doesn't enter into my thinking on the safety aspect. So, say I had imported this seat last year and it was basically brand new, would you still say booster?

ETA- Okay, say the laptop is a better choice safety wise if it were new. If my choices were buy a booster, any booster, or import the laptop from Germany, which would you pick?

 

carseatcoach

Carseat Crankypants

• Nov 17, 2010

• #7

If it was brand-new it would still be illegal, and I'm kind of a sheep that way.

Make it brand-new and legal, and I'd absolutely use it over a BPB.

 

firemomof3

New member

• Nov 17, 2010

• #8

Charlie looks so cute with his short hair
Thats all

 

TXAggieTech

Active member

• Nov 17, 2010

• #9

Front seat, booster. I wouldn't want a Laptop between a tiny body and an airbag. We were told multiple times not to trust airbag sensors or switches. Do not know if there was any data behind that though.

Back seat, either one.

 

urchin_grey

New member

• Nov 17, 2010

• #10

I dunno, but I must know where I can get my hands on one of these. I might have a nephew who's dad maybe sort of can't manage to use a harnessed seat correctly.

 

scatterbunny

New member

• Nov 17, 2010

• #11

We loved our Laptop (and used it in the front seat of a Ford F-150, also...but ours was a 1993 or 1994, and we used it in the center lapbelt spot), but I would probably choose a booster, as well, for a couple reasons: the age of the Laptop, and the fact that it's in the front seat if a single cab truck. I'd rather have the child sitting a little higher up, and with some measure of side impact protection from booster wings, in that particular vehicle/seating position.

 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus

• Nov 18, 2010

• #12

TXAggieTech said:

Front seat, booster. I wouldn't want a Laptop between a tiny body and an airbag. We were told multiple times not to trust airbag sensors or switches.

Click to expand...

Sensors are questionable, switches are safe. :thumbsup:

I think it would depend on the child. The laptop would certainly do a better job of keeping the child properly positioned, which is important in any case but particularly up front where there are a lot more distractions.

 

Baylor

New member

• Nov 18, 2010

• #13

I gotta say again. Someone should make them.. I know.. cars now are made with lap/shoulder belts however.. Look at all the old cars on the road.. I bet they would sell like crazy. I would buy 4 of them. They seem much easier to use and I would give them out like candy to people I know putting their kids in seatbelts alone because of the hassle of the booster... Rant over...

I don't have any expert opinion about the choice. Just wanted to say.. That child is adorable and looks so comfy in the laptop.

 

Last edited: Nov 18, 2010

X

xmascarolmarie

New member

• Nov 18, 2010

• #14

No advice on the booster but your kids are breathtakingly gorgeous!

 

D

daycaremom2002

Active member

• Nov 18, 2010

• #15

See, I think I might go for the laptop. It keeps him farther back and in position. If he is all the way back in the seat like that, where would the airbag actually be in relation to him? Is he too short? If it would clock him in the chin, then up higher in a booster. But I like that he is so far away from the airbag to begin with in the laptop.

 

monstah

New member

• Nov 18, 2010

• #16

My opinion? I would import a new shield or use a BPB.

I know a seat wont disintegrate a year after it expires... what kind of foam is the laptop made out of? It just makes me nervous thinking the seat is what, 8? 10? years old?

 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician

• Nov 18, 2010

• #17

Maybe the Parkway SGL will fit him better? (Even if you use the laptop now, it won't fit him forEVER, right? )

 

lil.miss32

New member

• Nov 18, 2010

• #18

Dumb question alert:

Can somebody explain to me WHAT a laptop is/does??

 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician

• Nov 18, 2010

• #19

lil.miss32 said:

Dumb question alert:

Can somebody explain to me WHAT a laptop is/does??

Click to expand...

This site's ancient, but the seat is the same... http://www.angelfire.com/wa3/isakswings/lt.html

(if you can figure out how to make the search on this site work, we've got a jillion threads, I can't figure out how to search for them, either, though, lol).

 

4boysmom

New member

• Nov 18, 2010

• #20

Baylor said:

I gotta say again. Someone should make them.. I know.. cars now are made with lap/shoulder belts however.. Look at all the old cars on the road.. I bet they would sell like crazy. I would buy 4 of them. They seem much easier to use and I would give them out like candy to people I know putting their kids in seatbelts alone because of the hassle of the booster... Rant over...

I don't have any expert opinion about the choice. Just wanted to say.. That child is adorable and looks so comfy in the laptop.

Click to expand...

The reason they were discontinued in the US is because of the LATCH rules. It is not classified as a belt positioning booster since it can be used lap belt only and thus must have LATCH, but it too too wide to fit LATCH spacing so it got discontinued.