remember, kids come in all sizes... a 3yr old who is tiny and only 25lbs and wants to be forward facing could use this. Families who just won't keep their kids rearfacing past 2 and have slim/petite kids could use it.
Also, remember they said they want to see it approved for higher weight limits, it just hadn't yet.
there are many on this board, though, with petitie kids (Bram's mom urchin_grey is one who REALLY sticks in my mind... her son is 5 and "pocket-sized") and by the time his bone age is to where she's comfortable turning him, he'll be at most about 30lbs... from what we've seen in crash tests from europe, the pallas/shield actually provides better crash force distribution than a harness, so I know at least for her, this would be the seat I'd be recommending.
it can indeed be used with a lap-only belt, which is a great advantage... we loved that with the britax laptop/romer vario, but as britax says there is no way to make it latch compatible (though I think that this seat shows that it could be done... which is why I hope SOMEONE points that out to Sarah Tilton at Lifesavers), and seats HAVE to be latch compatible unless they are booster seats to pass US standards, they discontinued it.
I still want to see the laptop make a comeback because it was a very inexpensive solution and very travel friendly because of size (and it could definitely have been faa approved, since it could be used with a lap-only belt, though I don't know if it was or not)
Urchin, when did you get these extra boys?? lol... babysitting?
oh, and just to add to what Julie posted (and if you are at lifesavers, Jools, could you please attack Britax with how the Kiddy people made a shield latch-compatible and point out that a latch strap that had connectors that could store on one side of the seat in a pocket similar to the one they'd made for the manual, or in the front even would totally be doable so they could bring this back for easy 3-acrosses, travel seats, and lap-only belts which still exist in cars that are recent) here are some pics of my kids with the laptop
Damian was 6.5yrs, 54", and 63lbs.. so 1" past the height limit... just demo'ing when we first got it to show fit... he has aspergers and LOVED how snug this seat got around him... and honestly, I wish I'd known about this seat when my boys first hit 40lbs, because for the price, I would have had two... but they were discontinued before I learned of them, so there it was... ours was one of the last made and expired in 2008.
Jeffrey was 5yrs old, 47", 47lbs
Ruthanne was 2.5yrs, 33lbs, 38"... 5" over the minimums... as you can see, she slept comfortably in it
about 36lbs, 39", and almost 3 or just past (hard to remember)