Which booster out of these two?

Out of the two, which would be your top pick?

  • Evenflo Big Kid Deluxe

    Votes: 6 26.1%
  • Safety 1st air protect booster

    Votes: 16 69.6%
  • Neither (I know of another booster that might work for you and I'll explain)

    Votes: 1 4.3%

  • Total voters
    23
  • Poll closed .

Holly

New member
Below is the "backstory", if you don't care, just choose your first pick out of the Evenflo Big Kid Deluxe or the Safety 1st air protect booster.
....................................................................................................

So, we need to switch dd1 to a booster in February. The FPSVD we have in our truck expires then, and I want to put a harnessed seat in there that ALL the kids can use, but I have no intentions to buy any more harnessed seats.
The plan is to put dd1's radian in the truck and then get her a booster for the car. She'll be 6.5 years old then, and she is already mature enough for a booster. The main problem is that we have to do 3 across the back and it's really hard to buckle a booster because of the narrow space between the seat next to it and the arm rests. We have a turbo booster that fits in the car and she fits well in, but it's too annoying to use because of the buckling issue.

I REALLY want to get her a booster with flip up arm rests, I think that will help a lot with buckling.
There are only a few that have flip up arm rests.
I REALLY want one of the first years compass boosters, the B540 or the B570 but it might not fit in my car with the other two seats we have.
Out of the options, I would really prefer one of those, and I have to at least TRY one in my car otherwise I'll always wonder, I can't let go of the idea of using one of those until I can prove that it won't work.
No stores around here carry those boosters, so I will need to order online. I don't want to have to ship one back, so I'm planning to buy this one from Walmart.com with dh's next paycheck. I'm trying that one first because I can easily take it back to the store, and if dd fits well in it, we'll keep it because it's cuter than the ugly B570 covers and it's cheaper too. If it fits well in the car but the lap belt doesn't fit well on dd (which I hear can be a problem with the B540 or older compass boosters) then we'll return it and try the B570. They are the same width, so I'm mainly checking how one would fit in my car.

SOOOOO, if that won't work, I'll go back to the drawing board, and these are my only other options (unless one of you knows of a booster that I do not):

Evenflo Big Kid Deluxe
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Safety-1st-Protect-Booster-Newsboy/dp/B003VRXQ0U"]Safety 1st air protect booster[/ame]

I'm not crazy about either of those. Which out of the two would be your first pick?
 
ADS

Jessica61624

New member
I really like the air booster. It requires head support behind it though. I've seen them at kmarts if you have those around.
 

monica-m

CPST Instructor
I'm always paranoid that a circumstance where there is no head support would come up and then the Air Protect would be useless. Our coalition gives out the Big Kids and I like them. The flip up armrests are awesome. I voted Big Kid.
 

christineka

New member
The big kid has hardly anything for head wings. I know Abby sits outbord, next to a window. The air protect has massive headwings. That's why I pick the air booster. It's also a super tall booster, whereas the evenflo only goes up to 18 inches.
 

emandbri

Well-known member
I haven't seen the complete air booster in person but I would totally choose that over the evenflo because of the awesome head wings. My SIL just bought one and she really likes it. I recommended it to her because Jools said it didn't fall apart when moving it from car to car and she wanted something she could easily send with her dd when she rides with others.
 

Holly

New member
The big kid has hardly anything for head wings. I know Abby sits outbord, next to a window. The air protect has massive headwings. That's why I pick the air booster. It's also a super tall booster, whereas the evenflo only goes up to 18 inches.

Yes, the booster will be outboard behind the driver. Josh will be turned FF when he turns 3 in Feb or just afterwards, so since he'll be the youngest FFer, he'll be in the center, and I want the booster to be on the driver's side so there won't be a chance that Hannah can unbuckle one of her siblings seats accidentally and both of the other seatbelt buckles are on the other side of the car.
 

Holly

New member
I just realized tonight that the air protect booster is just as wide as the compass boosters! The measurements for the widest part (at the arm rests) is 19 inches! Same as the compass boosters.
If the compass booster doesn't fit, the air protect won't either (unless it somehow puzzles differently). So it's probably going to have to be the Evenflo Big Kid Deluxe if the compass booster doesn't fit in my car. :(
I sure hope it does!
 

Traquy

New member
Holly, I hope the Compass works for you! I have one that I also ordered through Wal mart and after a 2 week vacation to Grandmas (in Utah, St. George and drove up to Logan for a wedding...I grew up in Orem and miss it) I give it a definite thumbs up. I was also worried about the fit and tried it out in the car before we left the Wally World parking lot. The shoulder belt fit is perfect and the seat belt is not accross the thighs, but it is low on the hips (fits the "crook" of her hipbones, I can feel them above the seat belt). FWIW she is 4 and quite tall and lean. She sat in it correctly the vast majority of the time. I kept an eye on her in the rear view and I only had to tell her to sit up once, otherwise she sat up straight and even fell asleep (still in position, head just leaning over against the headwings).

I had her use the seat a few times around town to see if she would sit still and stay in position and I was very impressed with her. I made sure she didn't eat any snacks in it or drink anything so I could box it up and send it back if she just wasn't ready for a booster yet. We still use the Frontier in my car for main use, but the Compass 540 was great for vacation (fit in a large suitcase) and for use by babysitter and on playdates.

Good luck with it, come back and let us know how it worked. I love ours. Which print did you order? ETA: just read your original post and you ordered the exact same one we have! It's super cute in person, I love it. It matches our Red Rock Frontier and the fold up feature is definitely a huge plus.
 

Holly

New member
I haven't ordered it yet, but I'll do it as soon as dh gets paid which should be around Oct 1st-3rd. I grew up in Orem too, my parents still live there!
 

KaysKidz

Senior Community Member
I ADORE that cover and would love to have one for DD when the time comes but I'm sure it will be long gone by the time she is ready for one. :( I actually debating buying it and just putting it away for a few years. That's how much I love it. LOL

We are getting the B530 (only cause I had to have the air camo cover!). I actually really like the booster and it fits really well in our cars (I bought one as a gift for someone else, so got to play with it). The folding feature is a HUGE selling point for me so that dh can store it in his trunk when not in use....and the flip up arm rests for easier buckling were the big selling points.
 

katiesmommy

Active member
What boosters have you tried there? Have you considered trying an Original Parkway? Maybe the lack of armrests would make it puzzle better?
 

Holly

New member
What boosters have you tried there? Have you considered trying an Original Parkway? Maybe the lack of armrests would make it puzzle better?

Yes, I tried an original parkway. It was difficult to buckle because of the sides of the seat kind of contour out, so they still get in the way of buckling.

I've also tried a turbo booster, a monterey, and a harmony dreamtime. They all fit in the car but were very difficult to buckle (Hannah had a bad fit in the monterey too).
 

katiesmommy

Active member
I can see that. It's just going to be a difficult position to fit. It's sounding like your best bet is the big kid.
 

Holly

New member
Sorry, I bet you are all sick of me by now.
I was just thinking about this some more today. I'm going to have Josh FFing in the spring, so there will be two FFing radians plus whatever booster for Hannah.
Right now I have 2 ffing radians and a RF radian, so I was looking at the footprint (widthwise) of the RF radian trying to picture a booster there instead and it seems SOOO narrow of a space that I got really nervous and almost decided to go straight for the big kid.

I think I still want to try the Compass just in case, especially since it won't cost anything to just try it, the shipping is free and I can return it to the store for free if need be, so it really can't hurt to try it.

But then I was thinking, I used to have a RFing RA50 where the RF radian is now, and it fit fine no problem. It's wider than the Radian, I checked the car seat measurements section and it says that the RA50 is 19 inches in the widest spot, same as the compass booster. And in the compass booster, the widest spot is arm rest to arm rest, not the base, so the arm rest closest to the door can even take up a little more space since it will be "in the air" instead of on the seat, if that makes sense.

So knowing that, does it seem a little more likely that this could work?
 

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