Curious about the practicality of the Diono 50# Booster Rule

EmmaCPST

CPST Instructor
My son is a skinny 3 year old so I'm not really up on what older kids actually weigh, so I was curious, and I looked up growth percentiles: 50 pounds is the 90th percentile for a 5 year old, and the 50th percentile for a 7 year old.

I definitely appreciate what they're trying to do in getting parents to use each function of the seat to the limit rather than moving to the next phase too soon as we so often see in 3-in-1 seats.... but I'm curious for those of you with older kids... how many of you have under 50 pound kids that have outgrown the Radian harness? Is that going to be the odd long torso'd skinny kid, or are we talking about a lot of first graders that are under 50 pounds but have outgrown the harness and are going to be stuck buying another seat?
 
ADS

EmmaGrace'sMom

New member
My 5yo is 41-42lbs soaking wet, at her current trend she'll be 7+ before 50lbs and will probably have outgrown the harness height.
 

bnsnyde

New member
I asked and they said kids come in all sizes. I am sure they do, so there are probably kids who can fit the booster.

My 5-year-old is 46 lbs, but I don't intend to booster him yet when he hits 50 lbs. Boostering is years down the road.

I would get a Diono for the RF capabilities but I'm not concerned about the booster because I know other boosters will fit kids for longer, like the Frontier85.
 

cmm7

New member
I think it would work for Z. She is almost 8 and 58 lbs. She is just a smidge under the top slot, but she hates using the harness on it since it is so tight on her neck. Also, the non-headwing one appears to have the belt guide at the top of the seat and would then give more room as the child could use it until their ears were level with the seat.
 

christineka

New member
My ds is 8 years old, shoulders a smidge above the top harness position, and weighs 57 pounds. My older two dds fit in the radian with ears even with the top of the shell and shoulders about an inch above the top slot at 65 pounds.
 

lanwenyi

New member
My 6yo niece is 44ish lbs and has abt 0.5" to grow in her Maestro. I suspect that she has outgrown the Radian's harness ffing (I have an xtsl, so even if we wanted to, she can't go over the top slots). She'd be one of the kids who have outgrown the Radian harness, but would not be able to use its booster. I suspect the new Diono 3in1 will be basically useless as a booster.

ETA: My other 2 nieces have both outgrown the Maestro by height (therefore both have outgrown the Radian's harness). They are 9.8 and 8.0yo. They weigh 48 and 47lbs respectively.
 
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mylittlet

Senior Community Member
Our kids were all 50# by 5y. So the weight would work for our kids.

It wouldn't work for my niece and nephews. Our nephew is not yet 50# and he is 7y. He would still fit in the harness of his nautilus, but uses it as a booster.
 

Genevieve

CPST Instructor
My almost-7 year old is only 42lbs. He hasn't outgrown the harness yet, but he will soon and it will definitely be before 50lbs. I'm not a fan of the 50lb minimum, though I appreciate the efforts in trying to minimize young kids getting moved to a booster too early.
 

Pixels

New member
A 95th percentile male is 50 pounds by age 4.5. A 5th percentile male is not 50 pounds until 9.

The normal range of heights for a 50 pounds male is 43.75 inches to ?? - The chart doesn't go that high. Average height for a 50 pound male is 47.75 inches.

So what's a typical torso height for a 48 inch child?
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
My 5 year old daughter is not 50 lbs.- around 45, though it varies by day- and has an almost 19 inch torso.

She'd probably outgrow the booster on these seats before she hit the weight minimum.

I think the cupholders are cool. I think the more upright boot, if it materializes, would be awesome. I frankly don't know what they were thinking with this booster. So few kids will be able to use it, and really they didn't do it well from what I can tell, it doesn't adjust and because of the weight won't fit a whole lot of kids who might benefit from it... One would think if they are going to make a 3-in-1/combination, they'd want to do it WELL.
 

libranbutterfly

New member
My daughter is 49 lbs at 6 and a half. She is about 1/2 inch below the top slot in the radian. She rides boostered now nearly 100% of the time though.
 

Brigala

CPST Instructor
The child I babysit is over 50 lbs. Not much over... maybe 52? She will be six at the end of the year. She has not quite outgrown the harness on the Radian, but she's really really close; it comes out right AT her shoulders.

If I had one of the new ones, I might use it as a booster for her in my car. I think I'd actually be able to buckle it (after all, I do install it with a seat belt without too much difficulty), and I haven't found any boosters I can buckle in the tight space. I have an RSTV for when she finally outgrows the Radian all together.

I remain to be convinced that it will make a good booster, though.
 

Lemonade

New member
My 5.5 yr old is 43" and 36# so this seat would not do us any good. He's on the top slots of the radian now, with maybe an inch to go.

I don't like the geometrical look of the booster belt clip on their seat. Just doesn't look like it works well. Plus, I already own 3 FRs and an SGL so I definitely won't be buying a Diono seat for him.
 

Kecia

Admin - CPST Instructor
FWIW, I'm fairly sure there is room for compromise if a consumer's child has really outgrown the harness but hasn't reached 50 lbs yet. I am under the impression that CS will handle those issues and make allowances on a case-by-case basis rather than issuing a blanket statement saying that it is, in fact, okay to have a child under 50 lbs using the seat in booster mode. My point is, if you are considering one of the new Radian 3-in-1 models but have tall thin kids, don't let this one possible issue be a deal-breaker for you.
 

fyrfightermomma

New member
E is at the top slots at 48ish inches and like 38 lbs at 6 years old. E is 37 lbs at 4 1/2 and has like an inch in the harness so yeah for us.....the booster is completely useless
 

nmb

New member
M I frankly don't know what they were thinking with this booster. So few kids will be able to use it, and really they didn't do it well from what I can tell, it doesn't adjust and because of the weight won't fit a whole lot of kids who might benefit from it... One would think if they are going to make a 3-in-1/combination, they'd want to do it WELL.

Marketing.
People by AOE's because the box says you can use it to 100 lbs. so parent's think they'll never buy another seat.
To an avg (non-cso) consumer, why pay $300 for a seat that can't be a booster, when you can buy one that will for $100?
W/ this change, Diono can advertise it as a one-seat-fits-all or only-seat-you'll-ever-need (whether they will or not remains to be seen).
OTOH, this isn't a seat that's sold in most stores (unless they plan to change that, but likely never will be a Wal-mart / Target seat); if most of their customer base is online then they must know that the people buying their seats do more research than average. I would think anyway.


Answering the original question, my son is about 43 lbs & 43 inches tall, he's 4 (5 in Nov), and reached the top harness slot about a year ago. He's not skinny, but he does have a longer torso. No Diono booster for us.

Beyond whether or not any 50 lb kid can use the booster -- those that might be able to use the booster won't use it very long at all. The 120 upper limit is beyond ridiculous.
 

nevaehsmommy

New member
My daughter is 5 and is 50# not sure of torso height but she is even with the top slot on the myride. Maybe a hair over
 

ElfJewel

New member
My 7 year old has about half an inch left in her Nautilus so I think she has outgrown the Radian harness at 46 lbs. My 5 year old has about an inch left at 35 lbs. I don't think I would be able to use it as a booster for any of my kids, only my 9 yo is over 50 lbs and she is close to outgrowing her Monterey.
 

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