What would be best?

We drive a 2008 Equinox. We have a 10 year old daughter (50 pounds), 5 year old son (35 pounds) and a 2 year old daughter (22 pounds). 10 year old is behind driver in backless turbo booster, 2 year old is RF in middle in scenera (35 pound RF limit) and 5 year old is behind passenger in a Nautilus with the harness.

I want 2 year old to be harnessed past 40 pounds, and would love to keep her rear facing as long as possible. We're going to be getting a Radian, but now i'm not sure if it's better to get one for 5 year old, as he will be harnessed for at least another year, and then pass it on to YDD, or if we should keep him in Nautilus and just get Radian for YDD.

We have a really good install with the 3 seats we have now and I don't want to jeopardize that. I know if we got rid of the Nautilus we would have lots more room, but I don't know what the best thing to do in this situation is.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

First off, I would go to a baby store that carries the Radian, or meet up with someone who has one, to test out the installs. Are you sure that the Radian will work for you RF? It can be difficult to adjust the RF angle and the seat sometimes takes up too much room front-to-back.

So, once you know that the Radian is in fact the ERF seat for you, you could then also see how it works 3-across with the Nautilus/TB, as well as how it would install side-by-side when FF with the Nauti next to it (would be great to also try it side by side with whatever HBB you would like DS to use if it isn't the Nauti).

I would probably just get it for the 10mo. The Nautilus is a great seat, has taller top slots, and a cupholder and cubby holes, and converts to a booster. Unless you are having issues with it, I don't see that it makes sense to replace it with a convertible. I would honestly probably just keep what you have since it works until someone outgrows.

I'll be back, gotta run!

Ok, I'm back. I guess what I was going to say is that if you are anxious to replace the Scenera, the Radian could go to the baby. I didn't get the feeling though that you were itching to ditch it. Installed in the center like it is I would feel very comfortable with it for the time being, assuming that DD has lots of room to grow.

The only other reason I can come up with to replace the Nauti with the Radian is if you are looking to offset the cost of it. Selling the Nauti would give you more $$ back than selling the Scenera, and you could use the Scenera for DD until she needed the Radian, and then move DS into a less expensive booster. Only worry here would be that it might take longer for DS to gain the 5 lbs he needs to use a booster than for DD to outgrow the Scenera RF.

All that clear as mud? I like to talk out every possible angle I think of.

Thanks for your reply. After thinking it over myself, i realized it makes no sense to replace the Nautilus with a radian. DS will be harnessed for a minimum of one more year before we even consider putting him in a booster. we love the Nautilus and so does he.

My main concern was what to do with the 2 year old when she outgrows the Scenera, which I know, could take years. I find it really hard to tighten the scenera straps when buckling DD up. I don't know if this is a common problem or if it's just me. I guess I was wondering if the radian might be easier, although i have read about issues tightening that too.

I have never liked tightening the Radian, though I only used it FF, which I feel might make it harder as the harness is "trapped" between the shell and vehicle seat cushions to some extent. My solution is to not loosen and tighten every time. I actually do this with all my seats, now that it's a habit.

I make very small adjustments as needed once strapped in, either allowing the harness to loosen as much as it needs to "reinflate" the squished kid (usually if they wore a tshirt one day then have a sweater the next, or something, not a big amount - guessing a quarter inch adjuster strap length maybe?) or tightening for the reverse (if it gets warm overnight and they have much thinner clothes, I may be able to pinch a bit of slack that I pull out).

For RF seats, I pull the slack out of the hip straps, then grab the harness or splitter plate on the back and pull down towards the adjuster to give it slack. Then pulling that out of the adjuster is easy, so much so that I may need to "reinflate" the kid a bit afterwards. LOL

If you have access to a Radian at all, it might be worth a try to see if it works for you RF. The next option in narrow RF seats would be the Complete Air.

thank you for the tip. i'll try that out.

Do you know the measurements for the complete air, or where i can find them?

thanks again!@

i found the measurement for the complete air. i think we might try it out. it's on sale at TRU right now for $129