Foonf First Impressions & Successful Install Photo's, please add your too!

Adorkable

New member
ok just got my 2 Foonfs yesterday and have been adjusting then and reading the manual since then, will be doing the rear facing install later today in my 2-13 Ford Flex with captains chairs.

I wanted to jot down a few first impressions from everyday users, please feel free to add yours if you got one as well or when you do.
 
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Adorkable

New member
for me the first thing i noticed was the weight, these things are really heavy, this is not really a bad thing, but wow.


opps toddler on toddler biting, brb


ok other first impressions:

  1. one of the two seats was missing the manual, I'm sure I can get a replacement, just really glad i bought two or i was be sitting here with no info!
  2. my stickers on the side list the Canada weight (40lb) limits not the US (50lb) limits, this needs to be fixed before my kids outgrow the 40lb thing, i would not want someone to turn my seat away at a airport or something thinking i was going over weight RF. (is there any bigger issue with this that I'm not thinking of?, there was not some last last last minute change to the US weight that non of us heard about?)
  3. the seat has stickers in English on one side and Spanish on the other, i like that they are separate stickers, it makes it more straight forward, though depending on what side is facing out, you could have a whole lot of stuff that you cant understand looking at you, not super helpful. (are Canada's in English and French I assume?)
  4. I love the very smooth bottom of these, finally a seat that will respect my leather upholstery!
  5. the ARB is covers in a neoprene type fabric, this is silly, it is about the worse fabric to use for anything other than wetsuits that it was designed for. at the very least it should just be matching washable fabric to the seat, better yet, why not just some sort of rubber that is easy to wipe off. when neoprene gets wet it tends to take a while to dry, it can get really musty and even mold, not a good thing for something that will have shoes undoubtably resting on it.
  6. the harness tightening is the smoothest thing ever, when putting my kids in it in the living room last night i consistently over tightened it since my past 3 seats took way more effort, it will be a joy to relearn that habit and adjust to this new ease of use.
  7. there are a few places where cut outs in the fabric needed to be made to accommodate various things, many of these cut outs are not hemmed, this is a detail that i would expect a $450 to have paid more attention to.
  8. in general the stitching and cover seem wonderfully made.
  9. The seat cushion fabric is a decent about of work to get off (though certainly doable), i took it off just to look how things were made and see what was involved. will check out the rest of the fabric soon, (will update)
  10. the rear facing LATCH belt is suposed to go in front of the crothc strap acording to the manual, but when the crotch strap is in the forward possition for larger kids, they seem to possibly interfere in that position. putting it behind is not really better, its kinda right on top of each other either way. maybe it will play nicer once installed and tightened down. (will update)
  11. crotch strap had a random piece of plastic fall out of it while i was looking at and how it adjusted, it looks like an off cut and not something that broke off or anything, basically just a small quality control issue when someone was assembling it.
  12. the rear facing latch straps are supposed to go under these very small "Forward Belt Tabs"? I can't see how in the world they would stay under them for even a second. do they expect folks to leave the seat cushion off when installing the seat so that you can place the belt under these tiny tabs?
  13. i always wonder why they dont use the seat lockoffs for the latch straps, but do use some micro tabs that dont seem to do anything, strange.


anyway i
'm going to go back to playing with it and getting it into my car, I'll come back and write more.

please feel free to do the same I would love to hear what other folks noticed first or liked or disliked in general.
 
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Adorkable

New member
  • 14 The slits in the cover do not line up with the opening in the seat itself for the harness straps. But it varies, the second slot for instance (the one that it comes thread into) is pretty close, but the one above that is nearly 1/2 inch lower than the corresponding opening in the shell/frame. This causes the harness to pull up on the fabric and possibly bind on it when adjusting the harness. It might be less of a deal if I was FF, but when RF and needing the harness strap to go up just slightly or straight out from the slot, this makes it deceptively hard to tell what's right. I would think that I need to go off of where it is going thru the shell and its relation to my child's shoulder not the fabric, but I'm also guessing that most folks will not notice or think of that and go off where it leaves the fabric. For one of my twins this discrepancy actually changes what slot to use, so it is not a trivial thing.
  • 15 the manual is really horrid in that they CONSTANTLY refer to other sections and how you need to do that before this and such, but dont give you page numbers. i say this mentioned before and i could not have even begun to imagine how truly annoying it is.
  • 16 speaking of that manual, no where in it does it tell me what i should call 2 Foonfs. I mean what do I have in the back of my car, Foonfs? Feenf? Foonfi? :p
  • 17 there are 4 little rectangular rubber feet on the bottom of base, they pop off really easy, i never messed with them but did notice one pop off while i was playing with the seat in the house, easy to put back on. Then found two, more on my floor after installing my seat. i will have to go out tomorrow and take the seat out to pop them back in. keep an eye on them when installing
 
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Persimmon

Active member
Regarding the OP's point # 11 about the "random piece of plastic" and the crotch buckle, initially I was also confused about it's purpose. Then I figured out it slides in between the stitching on the crotch buckle webbing to hold the buckle more upright. I think it may be to help you thread it through the seat pad. Nice touch but I think they should mention it in the manual so people just don't throw it away in case it falls out.
 
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TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador
Oh you mentioned taking the seat pad off for installation and I seem to recall Chris mentioning that this summer. So you may very well be correct.
 

Adorkable

New member
Regarding the OP's point # 11 about the "random piece of plastic" and the crotch buckle, initially I was also confused about it's purpose. Then I figured out it slides in between the stitching on the crotch buckle webbing to hold the buckle more upright. I think it may be to help you thread it through the seat pad. Nice touch but I think they should mention it in the manual so people just don't throw it away in case it falls out.
oh really, glad i have it still, it really looks like garbage. i will go re-
look at the area it come out of, thanks for the heads up!

Oh you mentioned taking the seat pad off for installation and I seem to recall Chris mentioning that this summer. So you may very well be correct.
yeah it has been mentioned that you CAN take the seat off and that it is for threading the seat belt thru on a instal with the belt, but it would be a bummer if you HAVE to do that for a LATCH install.
i will add that the seat does not go back on well, i'm having some trouble having the tabs stay closed, i think i have it now, but it shows me this is probably not something i want to take on and off with every install is i can avoid it!
 

Persimmon

Active member
At least I think the plastic is there to hold the buckle stalk more upright. Now I am starting to wonder if it is just a random piece of plastic and I just made that up. :rolleyes:
 

canadiangie

New member
I might have missed it, but can anyone find if it specifies when to use the larger set of loops on the harness? The baby I worked with was 22 lbs and the extra set of loops got caught right where the seat back turns the corner and becomes the underside where baby's bum would be. The loops were between the splitter plate and seat per the manual, by the way. So we ended up switching to the larger loops, after I combed the manual for any specifics on when to switch. I saw mention of smaller and larger [child] but that was it. Switching to the larger loops solved the issue (the harness is smoother than butter -- it's like you just look at it and its tight -- think Roundabout/Diplomat but ten times smoother!), but I was uneasy making the switch without specific direction.

Anyone?


And I agree, the manual needs a little spiffing up. Lots of "go here" for the answer but no page numbers. :eek:

And yes, heaviest seat EVER. You couldn't pay me to move it between vehicles, and traveling with it? Oh absolutely not -- at least in my world.
 

Adorkable

New member
Switching to the larger loops solved the issue (the harness is smoother than butter -- it's like you just look at it and its tight -- think Roundabout/Diplomat but ten times smoother!), but I was uneasy making the switch without specific direction.

my gut says that the small difference between the "large" and "smaller" loops are to solve just what you solved with them, they really are not that different from each other, its not like they take up a ton of slack or something! its possible that they were vague because in reality both work for both setups.

and yeah on the tightening thing! wow

Pictures?! PLEASE!!! :D :love:

first thing tomorrow! it's a little dark out here
 

gsdguenter

Well-known member
So, I've always had a good impression from Clek and respected then as a company for having quality product, but it seems to me they have dropped the ball a lot with this seat :(

I could be totally wrong, and hope I am. I was convinced I'd love the Foonf, but, meh, all the little mess ups seem to be adding up. Anyone else feel that way?

I don't own the seat, so this is strictly my impression from what I've read here. That certainly makes a difference.
 

Persimmon

Active member
I absolutely love my Foonf. I am so very grateful to have something that I can continue to RF my melon-headed 3 year old and that I am confident my extremely car-seat-challenged husband can use properly every time. Securing DS in his seat is a dream. I am very impressed with the design. Yeah, I had to flip around the manual to get it together but that wasn't a deal breaker for me. Maybe I have been assembling too many toys for Christmas and was just happy to have print instead of just pics. When I was putting it together I was thinking that is it like a Dyson versus a regular vacuum. You can tell they thought about the details. I guess I figure it is a brand new product and it takes time to smooth out every wrinkle. My son is also loves his Foonf. Yesterday he told me he wanted to go for a ride in his new seat. :eek: When does that ever happen?
 

Adorkable

New member
I would not say "they dropped the ball" personally. I think what happened mostly was too much hype and folks starting I think this was the perfect wonder seat and nothing can hold up to that.

You don't even want to get me started with my list of complaints with the Radians I had for a few months!

I'm a trained industrial designer, I look at things with a very critical eye, generally thinking that everything has lots of room for improvement. I'm guessing my perfect seat would cost close to twice as much to make, so all things considering this seat is really impressing me.

So yeah, I'm splitting hairs, I think it is interesting info to share. If one of these things is a non starter for someone, they should know about them before they buy. Most folks will find that is not the case.
 
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gsdguenter

Well-known member
I would not say "dropped the ball" personally. I think what happened mostly was too much hype and folks starting I think this was the perfect wonder seat and nothing can hold up to that.

You don't eve want to get me started with my list of complaints with the Radians I had for a few months!

I'm a trained industrial designer, I look at things with a very critical eye, generally thinking that everything has lots of room for improvement. I'm guessing my perfect set would cost close to twice as much to make, so all things considering this seat is really impressing me.

So yeah, I'm splitting hairs, I think it is interesting info to share. If one of these things is a non starter or someone, they should know about them before they buy. Most folks will find that is not the case.

Good points!
 

hope41more

New member
Regarding the OP's point # 11 about the "random piece of plastic" and the crotch buckle, initially I was also confused about it's purpose. Then I figured out it slides in between the stitching on the crotch buckle webbing to hold the buckle more upright. I think it may be to help you thread it through the seat pad. Nice touch but I think they should mention it in the manual so people just don't throw it away in case it falls out.

You mean like I did :rolleyes:
 

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