Please help me pick a car seat! in Canada

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serenity111

New member

• Apr 16, 2014

• #1

I have been coming to these forums for a long time to find answers to my questions in others posts, but this is my first time posting a question of my own.

My husband's car was recently hit by another driver when it was parked, and our Evenflo Triumph was in the car at the time. This car seat suited us very well, as it is used for both our 30 lb. 3.5 y.o. and our 24 lb. 21 m.o. so the infinite slide harness has been perfect for us. Our two complaints are the difficulty installing the seat and the size of the car seat.

My husband often has to remove or flip the car seat to accomodate passengers (he often drives our 5 y.o. nephew, for example, who needs to forward face), so, since we need to replace the seat, we have decided to look for something easier to install.

We need a tall shell, as my daughter has outgrown her current car seat in my car by height (she FF in my car), but I refuse to let DS ride FF so young, so we will mostly leave it RF. Eventually the car seat will forward face, so the harness needs to be adjustable from the front. Finally we want something easy to install.

At the moment I am looking at the Evenflo Symphony DLX, but would really love some other options.

 

Nedra

Car-Seat.org Ambassador

• Apr 17, 2014

• #2

Re: Please help me pick a car seat!

The Symphony has a short shell, if I am not mistaken. The Evenflo Sureride might be a good fit for you, though. Others to try would be the Chicco Nextfit (very easy to install and tall shell) and Diono Radian (tall shell and you can get an angle adjuster to make it more upright). The trouble with the Radian and the Sureride, though is that they have re-thread harnesses, so not easy to use between two kids. I'd maybe look most closely at the Nextfit.

What car is it going to be installed in? Do you have a budget?

 

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serenity111

New member

• Apr 18, 2014

• #3

Re: Please help me pick a car seat!

Thanks for the help. I forgot to mention that I am in Canada, so I believe the NextFit is not an option for me.

We have not bought a car as yet (our Prius has been written off). We are looking at a 2011 or 2012 Ford Focus or Mazda 3 right now, but that may change.

The shell height is my biggest concern. DD had about 3" above her head in the EFTA, but it looks like she is too tall for RF in both the Symphony and the Triumph with the new height restrictions, as she was 37" a few months ago. I just assumed that the 1" above her head thing would be the height restriction.

Guess I will keep looking. I have about a week to figure it out, so any help is appreciated. If I HAVE to go FF, can anybody recommend a combo seat with infinite/front adjust harness? Budget is flexible, but I don't want to spend extra for no reason.

 

1mommy

New member

• Apr 18, 2014

• #4

Re: Please help me pick a car seat!

Hmm the SureRide is a nice seat for ERF until 40 inches / 40 pounds, but if you want to use it interchangeably it does not have a no-rethread harness. There is the True Fit Premier, but it only Rf to 35 pounds, and there is the Peg Perego Convertible but it is a bit more pricey if budget is a concern, but supposedly has a very easy install. I'm a little confused on if you want the new seat be used for possibly all 3 children at different times, or only your oldest and your nephew? Or if your nephew has his own seat and you just need to uninstall a seat to put his seat in?

 

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serenity111

New member

• Apr 18, 2014

• #5

Re: Please help me pick a car seat!

Thanks for the help again. Sorry that I was not clear.

My nephew only rides in the car a few times a year, but he does not have his own seat, so he uses ours. We generally just flip it to be FF on those occasions.

A couple of times a week, my husband will have either my 1.5 y.o. son or 3.5 y.o. daughter in the car seat, so our preference is to leave the car seat installed RF unless we either need to turn it for my nephew or remove it to fit in an extra passenger. Once my daughter outgrows whichever seat we get RF, we will just keep it FF all the time. My daughter is 37" and 29lbs at her last measure, so I think height is probably a bigger concern. DS is 32" and 24lbs, so he CAN face forward, legally, but I would prefer not to do that.

I will definitely check out the car seats recommended. We will make room in our budget for any seat that meets our needs.

 

1mommy

New member

• Apr 18, 2014

• #6

Re: Please help me pick a car seat!

serenity111 said:

Thanks for the help again. Sorry that I was not clear.

My nephew only rides in the car a few times a year, but he does not have his own seat, so he uses ours. We generally just flip it to be FF on those occasions.

A couple of times a week, my husband will have either my 1.5 y.o. son or 3.5 y.o. daughter in the car seat, so our preference is to leave the car seat installed RF unless we either need to turn it for my nephew or remove it to fit in an extra passenger. Once my daughter outgrows whichever seat we get RF, we will just keep it FF all the time. My daughter is 37" and 29lbs at her last measure, so I think height is probably a bigger concern. DS is 32" and 24lbs, so he CAN face forward, legally, but I would prefer not to do that.

I will definitely check out the car seats recommended. We will make room in our budget for any seat that meets our needs.

Click to expand...

OK, I understand now I would say a no rethread harness sounds like a good investment for your needs right now. Keep a few things in mind while looking at seats:

I think that the TrueFit has an older date of manufacture and I read that it is being discontinued so if getting the whole life of a seat is important to you be sure to check the manufacture and expiration date.
The TrueFit also can take up a lot of room front to back if front passenger leg room is important to you. (I'm short so it doesn't matter to me)

The Peg can only be used no more then the 7th click on the headrest up (can not be used rf on the top 3 headrest positions) so be sure to sit your daughter in the seat (at the right angle) to make sure she can fit RF in the seat. Once it is installed at the proper angle in your car some people find that their child gains a lot of room to grow vs being upright on the floor.

If none of those work for your daughter rf, I would suggest buying 2 budget seats, one ff harness to booster for your dd and one convertible for your d.s. so you can still keep your D.S. rf as long as possible.

 

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serenity111

New member

• Apr 18, 2014

• #7

Re: Please help me pick a car seat!

Two car seats is not an option as my husband drives other people to work and only has room for one seat. DD is rf in my vehicle, and will likely remain so for a couple of years as yet. Both kids do 95% of their travel in my car, so I am probably being a little crazy to worry about an extra 6 months of rf in DHs car, but it is worth at least trying. Going to check out the peg tomorrow, and looking for a place that sells the true fit locally. Thanks again for the help!

 

1mommy

New member

• Apr 18, 2014

• #8

I read you may be able to find them at target, if you call to ask, be sure they check if they have any floor models.

 

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serenity111

New member

• Apr 19, 2014

• #9

So budget has suddenly become a major concern. The latch strap on DS car seat is refusing to move, and I cannot get a good seatbelt install in outboard seats in my car. Centre install is not an option as my seats do NOT puzzle with each other. So the new plan is to get DD a ff/booster combo, put DS in her old seat, and we still need a seat for DHs car. So it looks like the peg is out. Probably going to get the true fit. The only other seat that looks interesting is the maxi cosi pria, but they seem to be scarce in canada.

Any suggestions for a good ff/booster combo that has easy latch install and isn't to heavy? My husband and I both prefer to latch install, so we would prefer a seat that will allow us to use latch as long as possible.

 

Keeanh

Well-known member

• Apr 19, 2014

• #10

I just want to mention that both your children would probably be on the 3rd RF slot in the Sureride, so it likely wouldn't need to be rethreaded anyways.

 

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serenity111

New member

• Apr 20, 2014

• #11

I will definitely check out the sureride, and see if that might work. All the no rethread car seats seem to be massive. It just seems unlikely that both kids will always be on the same harness slots for the next few years. It was easier to buy seats when I didn't have a clue how many options were out there.

 

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serenity111

New member

• Apr 20, 2014

• #12

Checked out the sureride, and DS is not tall enough for the third harness height. Looks like it will be the true fit for us. Thanks again everyone who offered advice.