best travel seat for RFing 40 lb 44 in 2.5 year old?

cwyn · Jan 4, 2017

Our DD will be 3 in several months, but has already outgrown RFing in her current carseat. We don't own a car and only need the carseat for occasional plane, taxi, and rental car travel (roughly six weeks per year). We'd like to get her RFing for at least another year, but I'm a bit lost trying to figure out which RFing seats for a kid as big as ours would actually be feasible for travel (e.g. fit in airplane seats, be easy to install in a number of different unpredictable vehicles). I also worry about weight--we bring our stroller just to haul the carseat, but have often been forced to check it at the airport entrance, and then have had to drag the carseat through the airport to get it to the plane--very unpleasant, and that was with the lightweight Sureride.

I have been looking at the Graco Extend2Fit, although I am not sure about this as a travel seat (weight, ease of install?). But I'm also not sure if there are any RFing seats for a kid our daughter's size that would be any more convenient for travel?

Thanks for reading my post and thanks in advance for any advice!

ketchupqueen · Jan 6, 2017

Hi!

You're right, there aren't really lightweight options for a kid that size. The Extend2Fit is at least compact front to back and not exceptionally difficult to install. If you want to remain rear facing, that's likely your best bet, and get a folding travel cart to haul it.

If you choose to forward face, which is a completely reasonable choice at her size and age, there are more lightweight options though most aren't very much less bulky honestly.

cwyn · Jan 9, 2017

Thanks for the response, ketchupqueen--I ended up ordering the Graco Extend2Fit and just from looking at it and playing around without (without the kiddo), I'm pretty happy with it. It is heavier than the Sureride, but not as much heavier as I had thought it would be, and it looks like it will fit in the same kinds of seats at the Sureride--I did various measurements so I think we will be able to install the Extend2Fit either FF or RF even in a bulkhead seat, since we were able to do that with the Sureride. Thanks again for taking the time to respond to my post!