Bit the bullet - Radian XTSL

I am a lifelong Britax fan and just bit the bullet and ordered 2 Radian XTSL in Eclipse from the elitecarseat.com sale. Tell me about the Radian, I know it is the slimmest which is why I chose it but how will it compare to the Britax?

I've never used a Britax much, other than testing them in my car at BRU.

The Radian can be a bear to install in some cars, especially with forward-of-the-bight seat belts. Then again, I notice that the Frontier manual actually says it can't be used with forward-of-the-bight lap belts, at least, so maybe that's not strictly a Radian problem.

I chose the Radians over the Britax seats I tried because the Britax ones seem so bulky. In a compact car, I couldn't stand the Britax. I have two teenagers who need to share the back seat with the baby, and when they're not with me, I'm usually babysitting one or more other kids in car seats. The Radian allows everyone to not just fit, but be pretty comfortable.

I also like how solid and substantial the metal frame of the Radian feels. It's heavy and it's hard to move between cars, but the fact that I can fold it up and stash it in the trunk when I need to free up passenger space makes up for that in terms of inconvenience.

The biggest downside on the Radian, IMO, is that it takes a lot of studying to figure out how to use it. Which slots can be used for what sized children in forward and rearward positions? Where does the head rest of the XTSL go? When do you, and when don't you, use SafeStop? I felt like I had to not just read, but study the manual before I could even get the damn seat installed, and I have to read it over again every time I change which car or position or installation type or child I'm using the seat for.

I was hoping it would be easy to install which is what I loved about my Britax, oh well DH is off this weekend and it will probably be here on Friday so we will make a weekend project of it. I drive an '05 Kia Sportage and it is tight in there right now so hopefully this will make it comfortable for everyone. Planning on buying a new car within the next 12 months but will keep the Radians for this car and I will probably get Britax again for the new car because it will be bigger...unless of course I totally fall in love with the Radians which from the description of the usability I am not too convinced.

It can be easy to install, depending on the car. I can put it FF in my Honda or in one of the Captain's chairs in my Suburban in maybe a minute or two flat. RF maybe 3 or 4 minutes in the Honda (haven't tried it RF in the Suburban yet). But in the 3rd row in my Suburban, it takes me about 10-15 minutes outboard and 30-45 minutes (if at all) in the center lap-belt position.

Part of my problem is that I get a lot of kids of different ages and sizes in that seat, and it's not the best choice for that. Once you have it adjusted for a particular kid, it's not really that hard. And if you use it RF to the limits of the seat, you never have to think about SafeStop (It's only used for FF children under a certain weight (30 lbs?) and using Latch (and/or... I can never remember which??) top tether).

I just bought a Radian 80SL in shadow to replace my Britax roundabout 50 in Onyx if that tells you anything!

I have 3 kids and own two radians already.
In my car, it's pretty much a MUST to have at least one radian in order to be able to fit 3 car seats across, but even had that not been the case, I probably still would have picked the radian.

I LOVE the low profile of it, it makes it so easy for the kids to climb in themselves and they blend in with the car easier too (well, they did before I sold their covers and got the girly ones).
I love the sturdiness of the steel frame, I like that they are heavy, it makes me feel more comfortable somehow. I don't move them around tons so it's not a problem that they are heavy.

I love the tall harness slots, they are taller than the britax convertibles so they have a little more growing room.

I love that before we had our third, if I wanted or needed to sit in the back seat, I could fit comfortably next to the radian, and that's saying a lot because I'm very overweight and not exactly small.

They are very easy for me to install in my car, I've never had too much trouble with them.
Before we had our third, I used LATCH because it was super easy but to fit the 3rd car seat in, I had to switch to seatbelt installs (it gives you a lot more space to work with when you use seatbelts because the seats can be positioned closer to the door than they can when LATCHED).
Anyway, so the first time I tried it with the seatbelt, it was somewhat difficult to get it to install tightly, but I attribute that all to me not being used to it. Once I tried it a little more and learned a few tips to help, I was able to get them in easy peasy in about 2 minutes or so and I've been able to do them as easily ever since.

I like that they offer more leg room for a rear facing kid than Britax. My son hasn't complained about the leg room in his roundabout 50, but he has so much more space in the radian and he just looks a lot more comfortable.

So basically, I prefer the radian to Britax because of the narrowness, low profile (no base!), more growing room (straps taller), and more leg room.
Oh, and I like that they can be tethered rear facing like Britax can too.

Well hopefully it will ship today and be here tomorrow (I live in the next state) I will report back on the installation adventure!

Going to re-order through Amazon, Elite Car Seats severely annoyed me today

Brigala said:

The Radian can be a bear to install in some cars, especially with forward-of-the-bight seat belts. Then again, I notice that the Frontier manual actually says it can't be used with forward-of-the-bight lap belts, at least, so maybe that's not strictly a Radian problem.

Click to expand...

Is there a diagram somewhere that shows this? I have no idea what a "bight" is and where a seatbelt might come out of it.

The seat bight is the crack where the seat back and the seat bottom meet. (If an adult was sitting on the vehicle seat, it would be where their rump sits.) Some cars have seatbelts that come out of that crack, others have belts or buckle stalks that sit in front of the bight. We call those forward-of-bight buckles, and they can cause problems with many seats -- especially if they are rigid and not flexible. The Radian is definitely one of those seats.

That doesn't always mean the seat is totally incompatible, although sometimes a successful install is impossible, but it often makes the install much more difficult.

You can see a forward-of-bight buckle in this picture. The coin (I have no idea why there's a quarter in the picture!) is back at the seat bight, and the red button is obviously the buckle. This particular seating position is very difficult with the Radian, and essentially incompatible with the Nautilus. Works great with the ProSport, though!

Getting 3 of the 4 I ordered today, 2 Eclipse and 1 Shadow. Will get the 2nd Shadow tomorrow then decide which ones I want to keep.

Got the 3 seats yesterday and DOM on the Shadow was 10/10, don't know about the 2 Eclipse because I didn't open them. I must say they are heavier and much taller in the shell which I don't think is an issue for us, we're all short here Will attempt an install tonight after the kids got to bed and see how it goes. The 2nd Shadow will be here today too.

*SIGH* The seat is in but it is FF, I can't get it in RF outboard because the shell is so high. In order for it to fit, it had to go in the center and that meant it has to sit next to the Companion. I will probably put the Boulevard back in and use it RF until DD is ready to go RF in a convertible...DH is going to be mad because he helped me install it but I think I can re-install everything by myself.