TrendZ Fastback Pics...

Checked this out at BRU - its a really cool seat. Wish they would have made the top slots at least 18", but oh well, and there is a problem with the harness adjuster - see the last pic for that problem and please chime in on it.

My favorite part - install. This seat has rigid latch and it is great great great. You just hit the release levers, the rigid latch connectors pop out, you slide the seat onto the latch in your car, push the yellow tabs and push the seat back into place - rock solid install in less than 2 minutes my first try. I installed the seat in my 2010 Toyota Prius.

DD just turned 4 in December. She is currently 31 lbs, 39" tall with a torso that is about 15.5" - she is very leggy.

She would be on the 6th harness slot (there are 8 total), with about 2" of harness height to go.








Bottom harness height is about 12" - I could have pushed down on the seat pad to show it a bit more accurate, but you get the idea.




Top harness height is 17" - again, could have pushed down on the seat pad to show it a bit more accurate - its hard to hold a tape measure, push down to get accurate length AND hold a camera and take a pic.




Internal seating width is about 11" going out to about 12" between the cupholder and media holder.




Top Harness Position from the side




The harness could be a problem, I am not sure, I put the harness down lower and was trying to tighten it and couldn't. I uninstalled the seat and found that the harness splitter plate stops the harness from getting any tighter - because of the way it is routed? Any insight on this?



There are 2 positions for the crotch buckle that measured at 5" and 6" - and the crotch buckle is a decent length.
Internal seating depth is about 12". DD also has a Maestro and this seat gives her a bit more leg support than the Maestro.
Overall its a pretty cool seat, just wish the harness wasn't routed so strange and if they could have gotten to at least 18" harness height it would be even better.

Are you saying you couldn't tighten the harness correctly on an actual child, or that you couldn't tighten it completely at the lowest height, without a child in it?

Qarin said:

Are you saying you couldn't tighten the harness correctly on an actual child, or that you couldn't tighten it completely at the lowest height, without a child in it?

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I could tighten it with DD in it, but she is on the 6th slot. So I took the seat out, lowered it down to the lowest position and tried to tighten it without a child in the seat and just by eyeing it, there is no way (that I could see) that it would actually tighten fully on a smaller child, there was noticable slack.

Hm. I'm not really up on my weight-to-torso-height estimates, but I wonder if your eyeballing was based on the proportions of a thin child, while with a 22lb minimum and 12" low slot the baby that would fit would be thicker than you think. Hard to know!

I hope that it doesn't turn out to be a problem, since many, many parents who would put a 22lb 1 year old forward facing don't see a loose harness as a problem.

Qarin said:

Hm. I'm not really up on my weight-to-torso-height estimates, but I wonder if your eyeballing was based on the proportions of a thin child, while with a 22lb minimum and 12" low slot the baby that would fit would be thicker than you think. Hard to know!

I hope that it doesn't turn out to be a problem, since many, many parents who would put a 22lb 1 year old forward facing don't see a loose harness as a problem.

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It could be, I want to try it with a smaller child and see what happens, but I don't have one or know one that would work - lol!

Did you try it in booster mode? I am curious to see how the fit is.... seeing as the FR85 offers a good fit but a huge seat to lug around imo, the Nauti is so/so fit wise, and the Maestro is short..... this would be great is the fit was good.

Mags462 said:

Did you try it in booster mode? I am curious to see how the fit is.... seeing as the FR85 offers a good fit but a huge seat to lug around imo, the Nauti is so/so fit wise, and the Maestro is short..... this would be great is the fit was good.

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Here it is - not the best shot, but I bet with a little adjusting, removing the harness so DD wasn't fidgeting so much that the booster fit might be decent. Tell me what y'all think as I really have no booster experience at all, lol!

Lap belt looks borderline, just barely acceptable but I'd worry. She's just barely at the minimums for the HBB (30lbs, 38"), so I have some hope that the fit is better, maybe even good, for kids more solidly in range. I like to pretend that someone who buys a seat that harnesses to 70lbs won't rush to boostering when the still has plenty of comfortable room left in the harness.

Qarin said:

Lap belt looks borderline, just barely acceptable but I'd worry. She's just barely at the minimums for the HBB (30lbs, 38"), so I have some hope that the fit is better, maybe even good, for kids more solidly in range. I like to pretend that someone who buys a seat that harnesses to 70lbs won't rush to boostering when the still has plenty of comfortable room left in the harness.

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When I was looking at it there were people in the aisle looking at boosters for their 3 year old I overheard them saying that she would fit because she is 35lbs! I very nicely told them that they should look at keeping her harnessed a bit longer as it is much safer - they were looking at the Maestro when I left

I have tried her in several boosters for fun and none of them fit her well - not a one, this one is probably the closest to good that I have tried - all the more reason why she will stay in a harness. She has a tiny little frame

Looks promising in booster mode

SavsMom said:

When I was looking at it there were people in the aisle looking at boosters for their 3 year old I overheard them saying that she would fit because she is 35lbs!

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Oh, yes, I know that people put their 30lb 3 year olds in boosters, I was just saying that I like to pretend that people who buy a seat that harnesses to 70lbs (like the Fastback) will wait longer.

From the side it looks like the Nautilus' cousin.

Forgot to add that the harness adjuster is super easy to adjust with the seat installed, you can easily do it with one hand.

It looks nice. I like the looks of it better than the Securekid. How did overall width compare to the Maestro?

I went over and took a look at the TrendZ with Matthew. We tried that and the Maestro. The harness was hard to deal with, he couldn't get it buckled. The tongs didn't snap in with an audible click until they were both in, and it kept getting twisted inside the slots for the harness buckle. The crotch strap was way underneath him which I didn't like. And heavy! It must be the heaviest seat ever. I could barely pick it up off the floor when I was done! Course, I'm old. I couldn't figure out how the latch worked and no one helped us.

So then we tried the Maestro. Matthew liked it better and could get it buckled. It had the old style buckle on it. I might stick with the Secure Kid 400. I wish I liked the cover.

The harness on the Maestro seemed like the one on the Nautilus, as well as the buckle. Which is why I said it was the old style. I got confused until just now. I wonder if they had the wrong harness in it. I might have to go back and check.

I went there today and wanted to play with it buy dd was asleep. She isn't even 22 lbs at 2 years old so she would be a good example of a tiny child to try it. I'm stopping by there again tomorrow and I will try her in it.

firemomof3 said:

Looks promising in booster mode

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I agree. It looks like w/an average size 5 yr old, it would probably work pretty well.

henrietta

SavsMom said:

The harness could be a problem, I am not sure, I put the harness down lower and was trying to tighten it and couldn't. I uninstalled the seat and found that the harness splitter plate stops the harness from getting any tighter - because of the way it is routed? Any insight on this?

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The harness does have a strange setup. If you notice the way it is routed, when you adjust the seat back down the harness splitter plate goes up giving you some slack. So while there is a maximum tightness you can achieve, it shouldn't be a problem for small children that meet the minimum requirements. However, if you have a tall and skinny kid then I'm pretty sure you'll run into a problem.

My Son is not skinny, he is actually pretty big. When we went to his last appointment he was still 90 percentile for his height and weight for his age. When the seat back height was adjusted properly there is so much slack in the harness I maxed out the tightness (hitting that harness splitter plate). It is tight enough to keep my child in, but not as tight as I'd like it to get it. It seems that the harness setup works in reference to height.