At what age...

B

beetlemama

New member
Would you no longer buy a new RF seat for a child?

Relevant info:
He is currently 2.5 (almost to the day, birthday of 2/15)
His 3T shirts are now too short, so he's moving into 4T for fall/winter clothes
He's 38" and 36 lbs
Riding in a SK Radian XTSL passed down from big sis (expires 08/17)

He will need a new harnessed seat of some kind at the very latest when he's 4.5 and his expires. I read in a few places that installing a FF radian in his current seat (drivers side captain's chair in '14 Sienna) is really difficult, so I may need a new seat as soon as he outgrows this RF (I haven't tried a FF install yet, but searching on this site revealed a few people struggling with it). He's not moving to the third row because I don't want to climb in and out several times a day. I'd rather a new seat than that since he will need one eventually (I'm sure I'd feel differently if this would expire when he's booster age). Also, we carpool and need to be able to fit 3 kids in the third row

I guess at this point I'm between the advance ex 65 air+ and a frontier given his size. He's my last kid, so there will be nobody to pass down to. I'm hoping we have another year RF in the radian, but his head is already completely covering the SK logo, so it depends on his growth.

So, WWYD? What is the bare minimum age you would turn with that large a kid?

Thanks!
 
ADS
K

Keeyamah

Active member
Honestly, 3. And it would also depend on how close to 3 they were before outgrowing it. Like 2 yrs 9 months and outgrown, prolly wouldn't buy a new seat. My goal for my youngest is 4 yrs, 44" or 45lbs (the limits of his Radian RXT). Due to being in a 3 across and massive annoyance with him being rearfacing in the middle (another rear facer and booster on the other sides of him), I may not reach my goals, but I'm not gonna turn him until next spring at the earliest. That's my thoughts on it.
 
Carrie_R

Carrie_R

Ambassador - CPS Technician
That's such a tricky question. I'd like to say 3.5; that's the age at which my brain goes "meh, close enough." But then there's the piece that goes, "but but but but but!!!" and would buy the Safety 1st beast if my nanny charge (5y5m) asked to RF again.

If he was outgrown it NOW, I'd say buy the RF seat. If you'll get a year out of it, that becomes toss up territory, where it depends on your preferences and his. I have a kid who likes to flip back and forth. If he'd hated RF, I'd be at peace eliminating that option sooner.
 
B

beetlemama

New member
Carrie, that's kind of where I'm leaning lol! It would be really easy if he were outgrowing it today because there's no way I would turn an under 3 year old FF (I didn't get either daughter that long, but finances and vehicles were very different, so I did the best I could). At 3-3.5 it's tricky.

At this point he still loves RF. Most of the time he has his sisters (and sometimes their friends) sitting in the 3rd row, so he can see them and chat with them, so I suspect he won't be happy turning FF.

But there's appeal in the frontier since after that I'll only need to pick up a new backless booster at some point down the line and otherwise be done with seats for him. If I get the advance 65 I'll have to get a dedicated high back booster as well (in addition to money I do worry about landfill space and environmental concerns with carseats, so I try to minimize purchases to what I truly need to keep my kids safe on that front).

Glad to hear the replies!
 
Nedra

Nedra

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
Am I super confused? I tried to look up the Safety 1st Advance EX 65 Air + on the Safety 1st website and it wasn't there. I mean, there were other seats that seemed like they were the same seat, but the RF weight limit was 40 lbs. In fact, when I look at the ways to sort the convertible seats by weight and height limits, there isn't an option for identifying seats with RF limits higher than 50 lbs.

I remember when this seat came out and I know that it was reviewed as having a 50 lb weight limit, but only one of the shopping listings that I found listed the specs that way -- the others said 40 lbs. Are there two versions of this seat? Was the 50 lb RF weight limit one discontinued?
 
Nedra

Nedra

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
LISmama810 said:
It still exists. It's a Babies R Us exclusive right now. I'm not sure if it's ever been on the Safety 1st website, for some reason. http://t.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=57533826
Click to expand...

How strange that they wouldn't have it on the manufacturer's website! That would make me really uncomfortable.

To answer your question, OP, I would not buy another RF seat for a kid who has outgrown a high-capacity convertible after the age of 2 --unless I was really excited about the seat and had someone to pass it down to later and wasn't concerned about the cost. I would keep him in the Sunshine Kids seat until he absolutely outgrows it RF, then put him in the Frontier.

That being said, I am planning to buy some new seats to keep my DD RF past 3, but that's not because she will have *outgrown* those seats -- it's somehow different to me to FF because a kid outgrows their seat versus FF-ing because of being evicted by a younger sibling or an expiration date.
 
B

beetlemama

New member
Glad to know it still does exist! Now to decide. Ugh, such a hard decision. My girls both outgrew the radian FF at age 4 and he seems to be growing like they did, so the frontier is tempting on that front alone. Ah well, I guess I'll see when we're getting very close and decide by his age then.
 
B

bnsnyde

New member
I don't really have an age. If I wanted to RF longer, I would.
I have a 99% height kid and we had a Radian, luckily. He made it to a bit over 3 I think.

I just got a Fllo for my 2.5 Yo.
And a Foonf for FF (sitting in box for now). At some point baby will use one, and she'll use the other (hence I am glad I have 2). I want to use the Foonf for FF.
 
Brianna

Brianna

New member
My godson outgrew his Triumph pretty much on his 3rd birthday and he went FF at that point. A Radian was out of my price range but I got a good deal on a FR85 so I went that route.
 
Carrie_R

Carrie_R

Ambassador - CPS Technician
The 40lb one was the original. They updated the seat with new, higher limits and ever-so-slightly changed the name.
 
K

kiloyd

New member
I'm good with FF minimum 2 yrs/30#, with 3 yrs being better.

I would be okay turning him at his age and height.
 
1mommy

1mommy

New member
I allowed my husband to turn my son in his truck at 3 (mainly only 5 minute trips to daycare), and now at 3.5 he is forward facing temporarily in my car too due to some car seat shuffle I had to do.

After I clean the seats this weekend I will give him the choice which direction he wants to face in my car but he will remain ff in DH's truck. I was planning on rf him to 4 or 35 pounds in my car (the limits of the TFP) but I'm ok with turning him now at 3.5.

It's really a personal decision and you need to do what you are comfortable with, but the good news is that you don't have to decide now, you still have time :)
 
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