Which seat for FF?

whitneyg · Dec 4, 2012

1. Radian R120 - which I already own
2. MA Classic - which I already own but could easily return (just arrived today)
3. Radian RXT - which I would buy if I could sell my R120 or returned the MA
4. BV 70 G3 - which I would buy if I could sell my R120 or returned the MA
5. Nautilus - owned one briefly and returned it because I had a hard time getting the harness tight enough without some serious hard pulling. Liked it otherwise though.

This would be a secondary seat used occasionally in my parent's car. DD is 3 and will remain RF in the R120 or MA classic (depending on what I choose for mom's car) in our car for daily use. I like the idea of getting a convertible instead of a FF only seat to be able to pass it to baby brother eventually. But I also liked the deep headwings of the Nauti. I am worried about what I have read about the RXT wings being annoying, which is why we originally got the R120, but I am not second guessing that. I am also trying to plan for the eventual seat shuffle that will occur when we flip her FF in our car.

whitneyg · Dec 5, 2012

After giving it more thought, I decided I don't want her FF without headwings, so it is either the RXT or Nautilus. Thoughts or preferences on these as FF seats? Particularly ease of install and ease of harness tightening.

VoodooChile · Dec 5, 2012

I've never used the Nautilus (I have arthritis, so I won't use Graco buckles), but we do use an RXT ff with no problems.

Maisie&BodensMommy · Dec 5, 2012

We used my daughter's xtsl (which I believe is identical to the rxt, except it's not a booster, too) FF for a few months, but she just felt squished in it. I don't know exactly why- she is NOT a big kid.
So, I sold the xtsl to a friend and got a frontier, and she's very happy in it.

Athena · Dec 5, 2012

whitneyg said:
5. Nautilus - owned one briefly and returned it because I had a hard time getting the harness tight enough without some serious hard pulling. Liked it otherwise though.

Did they change this along with the buckles? We have the previous version of the Nautilus and it's probably the easiest, smoothest harness adjuster I've used. I don't think I could deal with the new buckles, but with the old buckle, we were happy with the Nauti. However, is your DD tall? In hindsight, I would have moved to the Frontier 85 sooner because my tall kids outgrow the Nauti at 4-5, before I'll booster them.

P.S. I don't own a Radian, so cannot comment on that.

whitneyg · Dec 5, 2012

Yes...the buckle is a bear and the harness took all my might to tighten (on the new Nauti).

MommyShannon · Dec 5, 2012

What about a Complete Air? As long as you don't need it for a baby while they are in a bucket, it would work well for multiple kids rf and ff and is pretty tall.

whitneyg · Dec 5, 2012

MommyShannon said:
What about a Complete Air? As long as you don't need it for a baby while they are in a bucket, it would work well for multiple kids rf and ff and is pretty tall.

My DD has sat in one and told me she hated the wings on that one. She said they were too close to her face. She felt fine about the RXT and Nauti wings though.

I am beginning to think that I am making too big of a deal about this. I suppose as long as the seat is properly installed and used, regardless of the seat, as so many of you are always saying, she will be just fine. It is so easy to get hung up on all of the tiny details and iterations of everything, isn't it? I wish I could have an endless supply of seats to rotate around as I wanted to and as the situation changed.

kam1011 · Dec 7, 2012

My daughter now rides in a nautilus in my van and a radian (120) in my husband's car. She prefers the nautilus. (However she really wants the old My Ride back, but she's too big now.)

rverrone11 · Dec 7, 2012

My 5 year old has been FFing in a Radian XTSL for the past 1.5 years. She loves it! I originally thought the headwings might bother her, but she doesn't mind them at all. One thing that I hadn't thought of when buying it though...the headwings will prevent a child from using it as long as a Radian without headwings because the child's shoulder's will hit the bottom of the headwings once they get past the top slot.

whitneyg · Dec 8, 2012

I ended up finding a sweet deal on a NIB Plum RXT on CL, so we went with that. My DD likes the color and the "pillows" aka headwings and I am glad that I can use it RF now and flip it later when we are ready for FF. If only she had liked the Flora cover, it would have matched my keylime CCO so nicely. Oh well.

We will put the R120 we already have FF in my Mom's car, which might get used once per month for very short rides to preschool and back (10 blocks).

Thanks for your help and suggestions.

Which seat for FF?

whitneyg

New member

whitneyg

New member

VoodooChile

New member

Maisie&BodensMommy

New member

Athena

Well-known member

whitneyg

New member

MommyShannon

New member

whitneyg

New member

kam1011

New member

rverrone11

New member

whitneyg

New member

Car-Seat.Org Facebook Group

Sponsors

Forum statistics