Vent Blah, I hate buying boosters!

I am making myself nuts trying to find a booster to fit our needs, it's not working!
I need a tall booster that will allow my 8 year old to be in a HB booster for a good amount of years. He will use it in the summer in our classic car, need great SIP and head support. I also wouldn't mind my middle DS using the same seat on a regular basis in our van, but we only have latch in the middle of our back row, where MDS sits, so it needs to be narrow to allow us to still fold down 40 split seat that we frequently use.

Seats I am looking at pros and cons:

PKWY SGL: like that it has latch! The SG strap would make our 86Y harness a 5 pt harness in our classic car, and it's nice and tall. Bad- the belt guide is not great for our belt system in our van. This seat does not work on the sides of our vehicle, belt will not retract, works OK in the middle row where latch is.

Monterey: like that it's nice and tall, has latch, looks comfy. Cons- frequent people saying that the wings do not stay together and our boys are skinny and would need the wings in. Also really concerned about recent issues with SKJP customer service issues if I do have a problem with the seat.

Probooster: good SIP. Cons: no latch, not as tall, tipping issues, probably would be ok with our classic car, bench seats, but tippy in our 3rd row van. Really wish it had latch, would probably solve the tippy issues.

Why, why, why is there not a perfect booster? Why can't Graco make a higher booster with latch???? That booster fits my boys so well.

Anyone know if there are any improvements coming to issues with the boosters I listed or something else coming out that would better fit my needs? I could maybe stall off until next Summer if I really had to and I knew something else was coming out to fit more of our needs.

Recaro is supposed to be "working on" a version of the Monza, which would be basically a ProBooster with LATCH. However they're known for taking their time to come to market so who knows if it will be in the next year or not.

In the mean time, based on what you wrote, do you really need it in the van, or just for the classic car? If you need it for the van, well, I don't know what to tell you. If you need it for the classic car only right now, sounds like you have 2 good options to choose from.

one you left out that I'd consider as it's narrow and tall is the Recaro Vivo.

Kat_Momof3 said:

one you left out that I'd consider as it's narrow and tall is the Recaro Vivo.

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I have never personally tried this seat as it's only carried at 1 store where we live and it's not close, but a friend tried it for kids that are similar body type, but younger and felt it was really confining and tight, so I am concerned that with my oldest needing it, he will outgrow it before I need him to be done.

I used the Vivo for a 9 year old.

Besides, confining and tight is good for SIP...

ketchupqueen said:

Besides, confining and tight is good for SIP...

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Good to know, we will see if we can make it to the store the carries it and try it out. What age does it usually fit kids to?

I don't know if you noticed my daughter in my signature riding in her vivo, but for a slim kid, confining and tight means comfortable and more fitted.

My middle son, who has the shoulders of a future linebacker and is chubbier, was still able to fit into it (so comfy that he asked to use it when I had just him with me and his primary highback ride was being washed and it was a backless or the vivo) when he was in the top height slot.

I love the vivo... my kids love the vivo...