Determining good booster fit

mamakc

Active member
This is my first time sitting DD in a booster. I know the lap belt should be low on the hips/thighs, but not sure what that's supposed to look like on MY DD. If that makes sense... :) I was able to go to toys r us to try the turbo booster to see how it fits. I also tried the Nauti without expecting much out of it.

Here's a picture of her in the nauti as a booster
NautilusBooster.jpg


Here's the turbo booster
TurboBooster.jpg


Do either of these look right? I don't have a lot to choose from around here. Should I order a bunch online and return what doesn't work? Thanks!
 
ADS

finn

New member
The belt fit doesn't look great in either of those boosters, the lap belt looks too high and the shoulder belt looks too close to her neck :(
 

Jan06twinmom

New member
How old is she? How big?

She looks so young and so small. I was wondering how much growing room she has in the Nautilus. It looks like she is small enough to be able to stay in the Nautilus as a booster. Why you are looking at booster seats now?

Melanie
 

Qarin

New member
In early June she was 3.5, 37" tall, 37lbs, so I'm assuming she's just turning 4? That's very early, and she's very small, for a booster, and I think that's well evidenced by the poor fit of the Nautilus and the marginal fit of the Turbobooster. She's just brushing up to the minimum standing height limits of 38" of both of those seats, and it's really asking a lot of a new 4 year old to take over primary responsibility for her safety restraint in a vehicle.

If I had to pick one of those, I'd pick the Turbobooster- better lap belt fit, and the closeness to the neck is not a safety issue except that it's uncomfortable so she's likely to shift it completely out of position.

What are your needs for her using a booster?
 

Maedze

New member
The Turbobooster fit looks fine to me. The lap belt is perfect, and the shoulder belt is fine. It's not a safety issue for it to be 'close' to the neck unless it causes he to swing the belt around her back, which she is unlikely to try in a HBB. (Not to mention, if she tried it, it means she's in no way read for booster use anyhow)

The Nautilus fit is pretty rotten, but it's not news that a little kid won't fit well in the Nautilus in booster mode.
 

cookie123

New member
I'd wait. As long as you CAN harness her, do it another year, then start booster training her at 5.

The TB looks like the lap belt is pretty flat. The shoulder belt is too close and I know from experience that that is uncomfortable even if it's not a safety issue.:)
 

urchin_grey

New member
The lap belt fit looks good on the TB, but I'd honestly wait until she's grown just a bit more to ride in it at all. Like others said, the minimum height on both is 38", so I'm assuming she's just barely made that.
 

mamakc

Active member
DD is in the midst of a growing spurt, but last week she was 39inches tall and 41 pounds. She can be harnessed and WILL be harnessed most of the time. I won't get into my reason for looking at boosters, but believe me I've thought long and hard about it and I am comfortable with my plan.

I asked in my original post if it would be a good idea to buy a bunch of boosters from an online retailer and try them out and send back what doesn't work. Is that something I should do since the Turbobooster doesn't seem ideal? Has anyone done that before? Who has good return shipping? Thanks!
 

mlohry

New member
We had the Nautis for our boys and never like them as booster even when they were closer to 6 and 7 when we tried them. We however love the high back turbo booster for both of them.
 

Maedze

New member
I think Turbo is probably one of the best fits you are going to get, truthfully. The only seat I see maybe being marginally better is the Vivo? But really, the Turobo is fine. There is nothing remotely unsafe about the fit.

I think, over all, she has a shorter neck, and she's wearing a turtleneck, which makes the shoulder belt appear closer to her neck than it really is.
 

Splash

New member
You're really not going to get a better fit in a booster for a small child than a Turbo. Did you screw in the armrests?
 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
I agree the TB is probably the best fit you're going to get. It looks to me like the shoulder belt being too close to her neck is just her position in the picture - as in, I get the idea that if you'd snapped another pic five seconds later, it would look better because she'd shifted her arm or something.

This is really typical with boosters, I do it all the time when I'm trying to take pics of my kids in boosters - I have to take ten just to get one that is a good example of how the belt actually fits.
 

autumnlily

New member
It looks like the Turbo arms are in the tallest setting... I'd venture to say, if they were at the tallest setting - move them down to the bottom setting. The fit might improve a bit :)
 

mamakc

Active member
It looks like the Turbo arms are in the tallest setting... I'd venture to say, if they were at the tallest setting - move them down to the bottom setting. The fit might improve a bit :)

I didn't realize there were different settings! Thank you for that. Like I said, I didn't buy it so I was only getting to "play" with creepy toys r us guy standing there watching. lol
 

mamakc

Active member
Ok so I decided to go out to BRU to try the turbo again w/ the arm rests lower and I tried the parkway too. I think these look SO much better. The lap belt on the Turbo was definitely a better fit than when I tried it before.

Photo0109.jpg


Parkway:
Photo0111.jpg



Thanks for all the tips! I think the Turbo looks like it will work really well for us.
 

urchin_grey

New member
Oh that's loads better! Normally I remember the 2 settings thing. I don't know why they always have the displays on the higher setting, but they do. :rolleyes:
 

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