Cocorro or Guide 65 or something else for plane trip + small car?

We have a 4 year old and a 1 year old now. The 1 year old has outgrown his Chicco Keyfit.

Carseats we have include a Frontier 90, Evenflo SureRide, SK Radian XTSL, Cosco Scenera.

We're going on a plane trip in less than a week. I was planning to bring the SureRide for the big guy. I'm kind of over the Scenera; it has served us extremely well over the years but I'm just sort of tired of it. :-D I was thinking of getting a Coccoro for the little guy (he's just a hair under 22 lbs and 30.5"). I need a seat to use in my Mazda 3 for him after we get back from this trip, and I'd like it to take up as little front-to-back room as possible. I don't really care that the Coccoro won't last very long; when he outgrows it we'll figure out what to do then.

On the other hand, maybe it's just silly to get the Coccoro and we should get a Guide65, which would also take up little front-to-back space and would last a lot longer. It also occurs to me that on the plane we could put the older one in the Guide65 and he could still have full use of the tray table, right? Will the SureRide install RF in the average plane seat? Will the Guide65?

I am skeptical of traveling with the Radian because it's so heavy and we'll already be wearing backpacks.

What would you do?

I would buy a Maestro for the big one and a CCO for the little. Love both of those seats!!

Well, I wasn't going to buy TWO new seats . . .

And darn it, the red CCO was on Amazon for $191 or something for several days, and now it's $240! Grrr!

We have a CCO, an Easy Fit 65(BRU version of the Guide), and a Sureride. I like the CCO the most of the 3 except that is outgrown so much sooner than the other 2. My next favorite would be the Easy Fit for travel because it is so much more compact than the Sureride. The Sureride is ok but it is my least favorite of the 3 for travel because it is just so much bigger than the other two options. We haven't rear faced the Sureride or Easy Fit on an airplane but I thini the Easy Fit/Guide could do it no problem. The Sureride may depend more on size of the plane.

We have traveled with our CCO, (in addition to using it daily with my kids when they were 9-24 months), for the last five years give or take. We purchased it for my now five year old, and have used it a ton. My almost three year old just used it FFing on a cross country trip. It flies and installs in most cars like a dream. My only beef is installing it RFing on an airplane the plane buckle sits right under the child's bum. It seems uncomfortable. I am not sure if a belt extender would help with this. We are expecting another little one in Feb, so I am anticipating more years of heavy use.

Thanks for the thoughts. The "extra" $50 that it now costs on Amazon is really holding me up. It doesn't seem reasonable to spend that much for a seat that'll get used on one trip (? - we don't have any others planned, but who knows) and very occasionally otherwise. We aren't planning on having any other kids.

(dismayed smiley) The Guide is almost certainly the more sensible choice.

The Coccoro is just so darn cute! :-D

KelliBella said:

We have traveled with our CCO, (in addition to using it daily with my kids when they were 9-24 months), for the last five years give or take. We purchased it for my now five year old, and have used it a ton. My almost three year old just used it FFing on a cross country trip. It flies and installs in most cars like a dream. My only beef is installing it RFing on an airplane the plane buckle sits right under the child's bum. It seems uncomfortable. I am not sure if a belt extender would help with this. We are expecting another little one in Feb, so I am anticipating more years of heavy use.

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I think the CCO seems more uncomfortable installed forward on a place because the buckle is against the back, than rear with the buckle under the bum - but it doesn't matter what I think and my son never complained

I loved my Coccoro so much, for travel and for daily use.

thekatie said:

I think the CCO seems more uncomfortable installed forward on a place because the buckle is against the back, than rear with the buckle under the bum - but it doesn't matter what I think and my son never complained

I loved my Coccoro so much, for travel and for daily use.

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Actually the cco has an enclosed belt path ff so the buckle won't touch the child's back. Think classic britax marathon.

I adore my cco.

abigaylebelle said:

Actually the cco has an enclosed belt path ff so the buckle won't touch the child's back. Think classic britax marathon.

I adore my cco.

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Yes, this. It's totally seperately from kiddo. Love. <3

abigaylebelle said:

Actually the cco has an enclosed belt path ff so the buckle won't touch the child's back. Think classic britax marathon. I adore my cco.

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Haha, just kidding. Yes it does, I was thinking Scenera, which we used before I bought the Coccoro. Haven't used either seat in several months, not since my son outgrew the Coccoro but he still never complained about a buckle under the bum

I settled on the Guide 65 and went to Walmart (ugh) yesterday to pick one up . . . and the only two they had were in boxes that were completely and utterly destroyed.

They seriously looked like they had been run over by a truck. All of the other seats' boxes there were fine!

Stupid Walmart.