What's up with altering the Radian?

I keep seeing threads on this and need someone to enlighten me. SKJP sells wider buckle tongues, tongs, whatever they are. Then they sell a longer crotch strap. Do these go together? I thought the crotch strap was to replace the Canadian and accidental few US made short ones. But is the wider buckle a diff fit as far as metal goes, or just have a wider plastic shape to make it easier to buckle? I've never seen a Radian IRL. A new thread reminded me of all the talk a while back about replacing the chest clip with a Britax one. Does the Radian one suck? I'm confused. Someone fill me in please.

Kimberly

The chest clip that comes with the Radian pulls the harness straps a lot closer together than my Marathon chest clip does (on my Marathon). It makes the straps sit at a weird looking angle as opposed to being straight and it looks uncomfortable for Kira (although she doesn't complain). The opening in the buckle tongues are not as wide as the strap and make it more difficult for the strap to move freely when trying to adjust it.

ETA: If I think about it, I'll get pictures later, but Kira is in day care right now.

The longer crotch strap is a comfort thing, the original isn't a problem for my boys. It's not even available in Canada.

The short-stapped issue was b/c there was a couple batches of seats manufactured with the harness straps several inches shorter than they were supposed to be.

The original buckle tongues are slightly narrower than the harness causing it to fold over and does eventually cause a little wear.

The Radian chest clip is pretty narrow, my boys don't complain, but the harness is pulled against their necks and it wrinkles b/c it's pulled to an unnatual angle. The Radian was originally pictured with the Britax clip (made by IMMI for them and other manufacturers as well) and SK has said that it was originally tested with it.

Thank you! So basically, the crotch strap and chest clip are a comfort issue and the wider buckle tongues are more user friendly? And I got confused between the crotch stap and the short harness straps I guess. Thanks so much for the clarification. Anyone know if SKJP plans on changing the chest clip or buckle tongues? That sounds like a major issue. And changing them out doesn't sound easy. This is prob the seat we'll end up with as long as I can install it, so I'm concerned. From the photos, I always thought the harness straps were close together, didn't register that the "neck squeezing" was due to the chest clip. Dd already complains about it on her Triumph, and she's thin. The crotch strap prob won't be an issue though since she's small.

Kimberly

I think the link in my siggy shows the original strap and tong/ues, right next to the longer strap and tong/ues...I'll go check and edit if I have to... I really like the longer/wider/newer ones, I think all the seats should have them...Yup, it's there, here it is http://picasaweb.google.com/joolstag/LeahInCarseats/photo#5122680017468849458

Saw the photo- thanks so much! The wider buckles def look better no matter what. I suppose the longer crotch strap might be a more subjective preference depending on the child's size.

I wish they would change the tongues, how hard can it be to make them to fit the harness in the first place As of 06/07 DOM it hasn't changed. The chest clip isn't as big of an issue for me since it works (I think it fits small babies fine), the Britax one just fits big kids better. Maybe they thought they could make more $ by designing their own

I have no issues with the chest clip (I also have skinny kids). The chest clip works really well for smaller babies by keeping the harness straps close to them. As the kids get older, I just move the chest clip down a touch... remember a chest clip's function is to keep the harness straps correctly positioned on the child. They are required to be at armpit level because that is how the majority *need* to be to keep the harness straps positioned correctly... the Radian's chest clip doesn't necessarily need to be right *at* armpit level, kwim?

They have kept the buckle tongues as the narrower ones because some people complain that the wider ones slip down to the hips and get lost. Then you have to fish out the wider buckle tongue in order to buckle kiddo up. The narrow ones hold their position better... it's a case of you can't have it all, but at least you can decide which is the lesser of two evils for you. FWIW, my wider buckle tongues have never slipped past the velcro tabs, so we don't have to do any fishing.

Quite honestly, I have no idea what's wrong with the crotch strap length... maybe Canada got the long ones? Aiden's (5.5 yrs, 35lbs, 45") is nowhere near hard to find or too short, so I don't really get the problem.