Just bought a Radian 65 at Canadian Tire for $159.99

I just bought a Radian 65 at Canadian Tire for $159.99. I assume this is a good price. Paid only GST. No PST.

Model# C10600
DOM 2006 10 23
Shipped July 22, 2007 to CT
CT part # 46-6004-8
Granite color

Box says Radian 65 but weight limit to 48lbs. Manual says max weight is 65lbs. Max height is 47inches.

Discussed with CT customer service and they said the advertisement for 65lbs was incorrect. Only max 48lbs.
90 day return policy on unused, original packaging with receipt for refund.

Checked out Transport Canada and the safestop strap is recalled on this one.

Opened box and it is stickered to 48lbs. CT said they do not carry a 65lbs stickered version.

How do I know if I have a shortstrap problem?

There is no expiry date. How long can this seat be used for?

The seat is about 25lbs in weight and very top heavy. I got tired carrying it to my car. How can anyone carry this thing around for travelling on airplanes, etc...

I haven't had a chance to install it yet. Still reading the manual. Will try to fit it side by side with an RF center infant carrier and the Radian FF outboard.

Will post more info after I try installing it for fit in car and child.

Awesome! I guess the sale did end last night then hey? They aren't even on the website anymore. Dang!

Since you have an October dom, I'm 99% positive that you do not have a short strap Radian. If you put the harness in the top slots and pull the harness out all the way, how far does the buckle tongue reach? If it doesn't go past the crotch strap it is a short strap one, but I'm betting it goes further out to the harness adjuster.

In your manual it will state the seat is good for 8 years from DOM, so your seat will expire in October of 2014.

It is a heavy seat... people carry it folded up by the red strap or they get the shoulder strap, attach that and carry it over their shoulder. You can also get two shoulder straps and carry it like a backpack. There is also a travel bag it can go in and be carried in that. Or my personal favourite, fold it up and set it in a stroller. Chances are that if you're carrying a carseat, you have a stroller as well.

Safestops are recalled on pretty much all of them before July'07 DOM's. Use the safestop that came with your seat according to installation instructions. Make sure you register your seat and when the new one comes, replace the old one with the new one.

Let us know if you have any questions when installing it. If you have questions, please provide vehicle year/make/model... it makes it much easier for us to help you then. Also if you can provide pictures that helps as well.

Islandmama926 said:

Awesome! I guess the sale did end last night then hey? They aren't even on the website anymore. Dang!

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I was just on the canadian tire website, they do still have them at 159.99, so you know

dd9736 said:

I was just on the canadian tire website, they do still have them at 159.99, so you know

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Yes. It is still on sale for $159.99 on their website.

aidensmom02 said:

Since you have an October dom

In your manual it will state the seat is good for 8 years from DOM, so your seat will expire in October of 2014.

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Should I be concerned that the seat is almost a year old already when I just bought it new? I've lost a year of seat life already. Shouldn't seats have a recent DOM if you buy it new?

SafeRide said:

Should I be concerned that the seat is almost a year old already when I just bought it new? I've lost a year of seat life already. Shouldn't seats have a recent DOM if you buy it new?

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That's why you got such a good deal on it. They're giving a discount for the lost year.

Also unless you have a newborn in that seat (or are planning on passing it down to subsequent children), the child most likely will grow out of this seat before it even expires.

I too think that's an awesome deal and wouldn't worry about losing a year on a seat with an 8 yr lifespan.

aidensmom02 said:

Also unless you have a newborn in that seat (or are planning on passing it down to subsequent children), the child most likely will grow out of this seat before it even expires.

I too think that's an awesome deal and wouldn't worry about losing a year on a seat with an 8 yr lifespan.

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Yep, and in 7yrs, who knows what fun and exciting seats will be on the market, you'll probably be wanting to replace it just for fun.

So I finished reading the manual and sat my child in the seat to adjust the harness before I try installing in the car. I attached the safestop for FF. I noticed the harness is very hard to pull to tighten up. The I checked the back of bottom of the seat and the yoke cannot move past under the seat therefore I cannot tighten the harness anymore. I have the harness slotted 3rd from the top. After being frustrated with the harness I rethreaded the harness to go through the the seat bottom instead of above the seat bottom. Now I can tighen the harness a bit more but the yoke and safestop goes in through the seat bottom. Releasing and tighten is still hard cause the buldging safestop and yoke. I assume I have long straps and not the short ones.

Should I have rerouted the harness? Can anyone post a picture of how the harness should be routed below.

We are expecting another little one and plan to reuse this RF for the baby. Are there shorter straps for a baby using the lower slots?

Can you post pics of how you re-routed it? I just don't understand how you did it.

cdncasper said:

Can you post pics of how you re-routed it? I just don't understand how you did it.

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Yeah, I'm confused too. Pictures would be a great help.

There aren't shorter straps for a smaller baby, but I've seen pictures of newborns in the seat and it has fit them. The harness straps on the Radian are not removable or replaceable by owners.

The Safestop is also NOT put on when Rearfacing, so that would eliminate the bulge from the safestop.

I am also confused about how you re-routed it... it needs to be routed per the instruction manual.

The belt straps were originally routed down between where the back of the seat and the seat base meet (along the part where the seat folds). This is where the yoke and harness would bind and get caught.

I rerouted it through the slot in the bottom of the seat. If you look at the seat bottom from behind you can see a slot which appears to be where the harness should go through.

Anyway I tried installing it FF in the back of a 2001 Honda Civic sedan and could not get it tight with the seat belts in any of the rear seating positions. The car's outboard seat belts appear to stick out infront of the seat causing the inability to tighten the seat. I couldn't install it in the rear centre position because of the slight bump in the middle seating position. Reclining the Radian did not help. The seat would move and flop around.

After a few frustrating hours with the seatbelts, I tried it with latch FF outboard. I had to recline it to the max and it still moves around a bit 1-2 inches but not as much as with the seatbelts. The seat seems to slide. I attached it with the top tether but it was hidden behind the seat. The car's rear seats have built-in molded humps and not real headests. How tight does the top tether need to be?

I also tried RF in the back outboard position. There is not enough room and the front seat needs to be pushed to maximum forward positon leaving no room for anyone to sit in the front seat (airbags infront). How much space is required between the car seat and the front seat? Can the carseat rest against the front seat?

Has anyone sucessfully installed a Radian in a 2001-2005 Honda Civic sedan (2001-2005 Acura EL?) If so how? I read the thread on successfull Radian installs and even a tech failed on a 2004 Honda Civic.

Any suggestions before I return this seat? Do I need a new car?

Yes, there is a small slot, on the part of the seat that folds, that the harness should be routed through.

The Radian is allowed to touch the seatback of the vehicle seat in front of it. You can have the front seat braced against the Radian as along as the front seat is not causing the Radian to lift off the vehicle seat it's installed on... be careful not to push the front seat back too far.

You have switchable seatbelts... make sure you are pulling the seatbelt out all the way (after buckling up the carseat) and then slowly let it wind back up in the retractor. This will switch it to locking mode. If you were to try and pull the seatbelt out now, it would not come out. This may seem stupid, but this is a common mistake that a lot of people make.

FFing Installation...
Recline the base so that the little pop-out foot on the base is down.

Loosely attach tether to tether anchor so it stays out of your way. You will tighten it down at the very end of the installation.

Set the seat in position with the bottom of the seat about 1 inch away from the vehicle seat back. 80% of the vehicle seat back and the carseat back should still be touching as well as 80% of the vehicle seat bottom and carseat bottom should be touching.

IF your seatbelt stalks (short end of the seatbelt, female part of the buckle - think male/female parts) twist, then twist down the buckle stalk one full 360 degree twist. This will help keep the buckle out of the Radian's beltpath and make it easier to get a tighter install. You can twist the buckle stalk up to 3 full 360 degree twists if needed.

Route seatbelt through forwardfacing beltpath and buckle up.

Open the velcro opening on the side of the seat that is closest to the buckle. Pull a good amount of the shoulder belt through this opening. You will pull up and in towards the seat on the shoulder belt to get all the slack out of the lap portion of the seatbelt. Kneel in the seat and pull all the slack out of the lap portion.

Without letting go of the shoulderbelt (you don't want to let that slack back into the lap portion), pull the shoulder portion all the way out of the retractor to engage the automatic locking retractor function. Slowly let it back in. You should hear a ratcheting, clicking sound and if you try to pull it back out, it will not come indicating it is locked. Feed all of the slack back into the retractor, including all the excess belt that you fed through the velcro opening to give you leverage to pull all the slack out of the lap portion.

Test for movement... one hand at the belt path and tugging, not reefing, to see if the seat moves less than one inch front to back and side to side.

It will probably still be too loose. This next part generally takes two people. *Carefully* unbuckle the seatbelt and allow it to retract back into the retractor BUT only 2 - 3 clicks. Then one person will kneel/rock/lean on the seat (especially on the side closest to the buckle) while the other person works like crazy to re-buckle the seatbelt.

Test for movement again. You may need to repeat the above step one more time. This should give you a nice tight seatbelt install.

Tighten down tether so that it is taut and allows no movement of the tether side to side.

This is a picture of the tail end of a lap belt coming through the velcro opening. Your shoulder belt will come through in a similar fashion...
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1421/980610430_5a2b9432f2.jpg?v=1186020305

This is a picture of the FFing belt path with a lap belt installation. You can see how the seatbelt bunches up. This is perfectly fine and will happen with your lap/shoulder belt installation as well...
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1429/980609960_18f7ed2f97.jpg?v=0

This is a picture of the buckle side, again it is a lap belt installation, but yours will look similar. You can see that I have twisted the female end of the buckle down one full 360 degree twist. This keeps the buckle out of the belt path...
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1411/980609912_80dce0ad90.jpg?v=0

LATCH installation...

Use the same tricks of opening the velcro opening and pull the tail end of the lower anchor belt through the velcro opening. Pull straight up and towards the inside of the carseat while kneeling in the seat.

The other thing to be careful of is that your lower anchors are coming UP over the back of the carseat shell and into the FFing belt path... not around the sides of it. This should get you a rock solid LATCH install.

Hope some of that helps you.

It will help me, I think. I want to try a center install in my Civic and knew pretty much everything except the part about setting the base away from the seat bite by an inch or so - that may give me a better fit than when I tried it before. Maybe tomorrow.

mommycat said:

It will help me, I think. I want to try a center install in my Civic and knew pretty much everything except the part about setting the base away from the seat bite by an inch or so - that may give me a better fit than when I tried it before. Maybe tomorrow.

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What year is your Honda Civic? I cannot get it tight FF outboard using seatbelts due to the seat bight. The seatbelts are forward of the seat crease.

2007 Civic. I think I have seen someone mention they got a good install in an 06? I will be trying to put mine in the center. I never did have a chance to try yet, it's pouring rain here.

Unfortunately, I was unable to securely install the Radian in my 2001 Honda Civic sedan therfore I returned it back to Canadian Tire without an issue.