convertible that is easiest to tighten

We need to start thinking about a new convertible seat for DD who is currently in a SafeSeat. I'll need 2, one for our vehicle and one for my parents vehicle (she's with them 5 days per week). My mom has a tough time tightening her straps on the SafeSeat. It's hard on her shoulder and wrist (she's just retired from her job that wrecked her body so these body parts won't be getting better anytime soon!). So, I'd like to pick one that is easier to tighten than the SafeSeat.

Their car is an '07 Yaris. And I want the same seat for both vehicles preferably, so that when straps need to be moved on one, I can do it on the other at the same time, etc. (makes life easier to not have to worry about the fit of 2 different seats). We currently have an '05 Escape but might be getting something new...but don't know what yet! Might be an '08 Highlander.

So, would the Marathon or Radian suit us better? (ease of tightening and fit in a Yaris and some unknown vehicle!) and are there any other seats coming out that I should wait for? She's likely got 2 inches yet in her SafeSeat, so I've got a bit of time.

I actually really like the Evenflo Triumph Advance. It RF to 35 lbs (vs only 33 for the Britax & Sunshine Kids seats) and has a 50 lb FF limit. It also has a infinite harness height, so adjusting that is EASY. The harness tightens down using knobs by the hips and I really like the way it works. It's not the old double-harness thing from the original Triumph. It's also more than $100 less than a Marathon.

Thanks, I will go check it out! I hadn't heard of that one yet. Then after that, I could move her to a FF with harness/booster combo to harness her to 65 and then be used as a booster. That would work for me. Off to check it out now...

Okay, I am totally liking this seat! LOVE the harness tightener knob, that would be way easy for my mom to use. LOVE the infinite slide for harness height. LOVE that it goes to 35 pounds rear facing.

Now, I have a couple of questions:

1. when can we get it here? (or is it here already?)
2. does the EPS foam provide side impact protection?
3. how is the padding on the child's back? I find many seats have nothing behind the fabric cover, other than plastic, which means that the -30 temps make that plastic mighty cold and it transfers that cold right through the fabric to baby's back and I HATE that!

technogranola said:

Okay, I am totally liking this seat! LOVE the harness tightener knob, that would be way easy for my mom to use. LOVE the infinite slide for harness height. LOVE that it goes to 35 pounds rear facing.

Now, I have a couple of questions:

1. when can we get it here yet? (or is it here already?)
2. does the EPS foam provide side impact protection?
3. how is the padding on the child's back? I find many seats have nothing behind the fabric cover, other than plastic, which means that the -30 temps make that plastic mighty cold and it transfers that cold right through the fabric to baby's back and I HATE that!

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1. Evenflo told me via email it will be available in Canada early 2008.
2. EPS foam provides some side impact protection. Rf'ing as well as a 5pt harness in general provide a large amount of SIP. We don't have any harnessed seats with more SIP available here anyways.
3. Can't speak for padding because I haven't seen it, but I've heard it's very comfy.

We'll have to wait and see what rf'ing weight limit it has. Right now there aren't any seats available on the CDN market that are certified for use above 30lbs, even when their sister seats in the US are rated higher. Hopefully this will change with this seat since there's no legislation preventing the higher rf'ing weight limit. Supposedly there was at 1 time and that's why none of the other seats have the higher weight limit anymore... manufacturers just haven't bothered to raise them again. Transport Canada has told me that manufacturers are responsible for setting the weight limits provided seats still meet standards, and that if we want higher rf'ing limits to contact the manufacturer... so I'm hoping maybe Evenflo will take the lead when the new triumph advance arrives and that it will have a 35lb rf'ing limit.

And in all honesty, I don't think you're going to find another convertible with a harness adjuster as smooth as the safeseat 1 - with the exception of the britax roundabout which is smaller than the MA and will be outgrown rf'ing by height not long after the safeseat, then outgrown ff'ing often by 3yrs old... so just not a good value for your money. The SS1 adjuster is really one of the easiest that I've used, so if you end up with another seat besides the triumph advance, your best bet may be to have your mom not loosen and tighten the harness everytime... although she'd still need to be able to tighten it when needed & then might have troubles buckling the seat if the harness was already tight.

Hopefully the triumph advance shows up before your dd outgrows her SS1. Those last few inches in the SS1 can take a good while to come on, so it's reasonable to think she could make it through March unless she has an all torso growth spurt.

The ETA isn't available in Canada yet, it should be here next spring the last I heard. (I'm assuming you're in Canada since you posted in the Canadian and International forum)

The Radian, MA, and Apex (Safety 1st) are all available here and go to 65lbs. The Apex doesn't RF and requires vehicle headrests (or a tall seatback) but it does have 17" top slots and is a booster as well. I have both the Radian and MA, and love them both. The MA is definitely eaiser to install, but after some practice and learing the tricks the Radian has gotten easier. The Radian is the better choice for taller babies, my 38lb 4.5 yr old barely fits in the MA, but has almost 2" in the Radian. Neither is easier to tighten than the other, the only suggestion I have is to tighten the harness before buckling. It may take a couple trys to get it right, but it's definitely easier to tighten when there's no resistance. I don't adjust the RFing harness every time, only as needed. I do adjust the FF seats all the time, but I leave the chest clip undone until after I tighten the harness.

Depending on your budget and if you're going to need seats for younger siblings, the Scenera is a good cheaper option at around 90$. I had the previous model (Touriva) and loved that it was easy to install and use, although only goes to 40lbs and maybe 15" torso (RF to 30lbs, same as the Radian and MA)

Not the Marathon! I find it much harder to tighten than my SS1.

The Triumph Advance won't be here until the new year sometime.

Yes, EPS foam provides a form of side impact protection.

The regular Triumph is nice and cushy, so I expect the same of the Triumph Advance.

The SafeSeat is generally really easy to adjust, so I really hope the Advance comes out before she outgrows the Safeseat.

If it doesn't then I would look at a Roundabout or even a regular Triumph for your mom. Both are super easy to adjust. Neither will allow her to rearface for much longer, but the Safeseat is generally not outgrown until around 2 years old, so you should be okay with FFing her if you need to.

Children under the age of 2 years old are 4 - 5 times more likely to be injured in a collision... which makes 2 yrs my personal minimum for FFing children.

For your vehicle you could do a Marathon or a Radian. Both are excellent choices. How old is your daughter? Height/weight?

supermommyof2 said:

The ETA isn't available in Canada yet, it should be here next spring the last I heard. (I'm assuming you're in Canada since you posted in the Canadian and International forum)


Depending on your budget and if you're going to need seats for younger siblings, the Scenera is a good cheaper option at around 90$. I had the previous model (Touriva) and loved that it was easy to install and use, although only goes to 40lbs and maybe 15" torso (RF to 30lbs, same as the Radian and MA)

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I'm thinking Feb/March for the triumph advance since they said early 2008. But who knows... speculation speculation.

The Scenera has been reduced at wal-mart and is available for $70 now. I don't think it'd be very easy to tighten though given how difficult the 3in1's can be to tighten when installed rf'ing.
And I think the ratcheting mechanism of the MA and Radian would make them difficult to tighten too...

The SS1 adjuster is really so smooth, I can't think of another convertible aside from the roundabout that's likely to be as easy. And for $250 you'd be better getting the current triumph for $150 while waiting for the triumph advance since it's $100 cheaper and has the knobs too... albeit the harness being a little trickier to adjust initially... and that neither seat would have any appreciable room to grow rf'ing once the SS1 was outgrown by height.

Hopefully the triumph advance shows up in time. Crossing my fingers for you.

Thanks for info everyone! And yes I am in Canada.

When we get home tonight, I am going to bring the SafeSeat in the house and get a good idea of how much room she still has in it. I am crossing my fingers that the Evenflo makes it here before she outgrows the SafeSeat. I just think it has some cool features and the harness adjuster sounds perfect for my mom.

Thanks for the suggestions on different ways to tighten the harness. I'll get my mom to try a couple of these methods out on the SafeSeat to see if they work for her. Her poor wrists are just so wrecked, she has some permanent damage that numbed them and she got carpal tunnel surgery on one but it didn't help any so she didn't bother to get it on her 2nd wrist.

Oh, and DD is a tad over 14 months, 23 pounds and I think about 29-30", It is sooooo hard to measure their height!

Just my :twocents:, I wasn't fond of the adjuster knobs. They were impossible to turn when the Bolero I bought and returned was installed in the captains chairs in my Sienna. The seatbottoms are a little raised on the edges and were right against the knobs. I couldn't get my hands in there at all and I have small hands. That was also FFing, I'm guessing it would be pretty difficult when RFing. It might be fine on a flat seat, but I haven't tried it. Personally, I'd rather tighten the belt before buckling, but I'm also obsessed with getting the harness super tight

ETA: another personal experience is that I found it easier to get a good install with the Britax and Cosco seats I've owned (all were super easy) over the Evenflo's I've tried (Bolero and Vision). I suppose I may have not tried hard enough, I did try a lot harder with the Radian b/c it's the only seat that DS1 still fits in

supermommyof2 said:

The ETA isn't available in Canada yet, it should be here next spring the last I heard. (I'm assuming you're in Canada since you posted in the Canadian and International forum)

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:doh:

I feel like such an idjit! I didn't even notice you were in Canada!

The hands down easiest to tighten harness is on the Britax Roundabout. No contest. You need to consider whether it will meet your other needs & budget, but when it comes to adjusting the harness, nothing else comes close. (The Britax Decathlon has a similar adjuster mechanism and goes to 65 lb in the US, but I haven't tried one IRL, and I don't know if that seat is available in Canada.)

UlrikeDG said:

The hands down easiest to tighten harness is on the Britax Roundabout. No contest. You need to consider whether it will meet your other needs & budget, but when it comes to adjusting the harness, nothing else comes close. (The Britax Decathlon has a similar adjuster mechanism and goes to 65 lb in the US, but I haven't tried one IRL, and I don't know if that seat is available in Canada.)

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Nope, not available in Canada. We have RA, MA and parkway & that's it for Britax.

technogranola said:

So, would the Marathon or Radian suit us better? (ease of tightening...

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We have both of these seats, and, unfortunately, neither one is much to write home about in terms of ease of tightening. Of the two, the Marathon is easier because you can at least tighten up the really loose harness with a single pull before doing the annoying tug-and-release, tug-and-release ritual. On our Radian you pretty much have to do the incremental tugs from the beginning. On the other hand, the Radian at least 'holds' the adjustment strap firmly after each tug; on the Britax seats I find that I have to manually rock the locking mechanism back down onto the adjuster strap to keep it from releasing the slack I just pulled through (only near the end of tightening, when the harness is already pretty snug).

I'm not personally familiar with the seat you have now, but since others have said that it is really easy to tighten, I think you will not be pleased with either the Marathon or the Radian in this respect. If your mom has trouble tightening the harness on your current seat, you may have to switch to just leaving the harness in a pre-set position, and fiddling the child in, rather than loosening between uses.

Katrin

I sent this e mail to Evenflo yesterday, and this is the response as well:

Hi,



I was wondering if it is true that the Evenflo Triumph Advance seat will be coming onto the Canadian market? If so, when can it be expected? And who will be selling it?



Thanks in advance,

Brenna van Boeschoten

Hello Brenna,



Thank you for your inquiry regarding the Triumph Advance seat.



I will be more than happy to assist you with your question. The seat will be available through Toys R Us/Babies R Us in December. Should you need any further assistance, please feel free to contact Evenflo ParentLink at 1-937-773-3971, Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm EST.



Again, thank you for emailing Evenflo. We appreciate the time you took to contact us.



Jessie Holman

Senior ParentLink Representative

Evenflo

On our Radian you pretty much have to do the incremental tugs from the beginning.

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I can just pull mine (DOMs 08/06 & 06/07), I didn't know some Radians had a ratcheting adjuster

My trick for tightening is to use two hands, left hand closer to the end of the adjuster strap at about the same level as the base with some slack in between, then push the strap down (between the seat and my left hand) with my right hand. I find this is way easier than just pulling strait down on the adjuster.

:yeahthat: I use that same trick for tightening my Radians and have no problems when fowardfacing... it is still harder than the Roundabout or Triumph though.

That's great news about December in stores... now to see if it happens.

brenna7777 said:

I sent this e mail to Evenflo yesterday, and this is the response as well:

Hi,



I was wondering if it is true that the Evenflo Triumph Advance seat will be coming onto the Canadian market? If so, when can it be expected? And who will be selling it?



Thanks in advance,

Brenna van Boeschoten

Hello Brenna,



Thank you for your inquiry regarding the Triumph Advance seat.



I will be more than happy to assist you with your question. The seat will be available through Toys R Us/Babies R Us in December. Should you need any further assistance, please feel free to contact Evenflo ParentLink at 1-937-773-3971, Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm EST.



Again, thank you for emailing Evenflo. We appreciate the time you took to contact us.



Jessie Holman

Senior ParentLink Representative

Evenflo

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That is awesome news! Everyone cross your fingers for me that it does come that soon! I checked DD out today in the SafeSeat with her fleece snowsuit on (it will be her regular wear for the next several months) and she probably had a couple inches to the top of the fabric, so likely a bit less to the top of the shell. She also hasn`t grown in height since about 12 months (at least not that I could easily measure!), so I expect a growth spurt sometime in the next couple months. I will try and get a picture of her today or this evening and maybe people can tell me what they think with regards to how much room she has left.

supermommyof2 said:

I can just pull mine (DOMs 08/06 & 06/07), I didn't know some Radians had a ratcheting adjuster

My trick for tightening is to use two hands, left hand closer to the end of the adjuster strap at about the same level as the base with some slack in between, then push the strap down (between the seat and my left hand) with my right hand. I find this is way easier than just pulling strait down on the adjuster.

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I will make note of this tip if we do end up with a Radian, thank-you!