booster with harness recommendation

My child is 3 years old, not quite 34 pounds, but 41.5" tall. She has thus outgrown her convertible carseat by height, but is not ready for a traditional booster that only buckles her and the seat in with a car seatbelt.

Also--we live in the city and do not currently own a car, but hope to get one sometime in the next year. First and foremost, safety is our #1 concern, but we'd also like the seat to be somewhat portable until we get our own car. (for taxi use, friend's car's etc.). We currently use a carseat backpack bag for her Britax Roundabout. It would also be nice if this was the last seat we had to purchase for her, but not necessary. Our state law requires Age 8 in boosters.

What would you recommend we purchase? I have looked at the Safeguard GO, the Graco Platinum Cargo, Britax Regent, etc. which all have different pros/cons.
Thank you in advance.

I would say that the Cargo would be a good choice for a seat for you DD for now. It isn't to heavy, I have had it install easily in many different vehicles, and the shoulder slot heights are pretty good. It will also depend on how long her torso is. Some kids have very long legs and short torsos, so would last longer in a seat than a child with the same overall height, but a longer torso.

Just be aware with this seat you will probably want to buy another seat that will harness her for a while longer if she hits 40 pounds before she is 5 or so. It should last her for at least the next year or so though until you get your own vehicle and can get her a seat that will last a lot longer.

I have no experience with the Safeguard seat or the Regent, but the Regent is heavy and I believe you must have a top tether for the GO. I would suggest the Radian, but I know it has compatibility problems in some vehicles.

I am sure that some techs will show up soon with more suggestions. I have never had to deal with installing in a Taxi, so it may be more of a challenge than I know.

Good luck.

I've used all the seats mentioned in the original post for my now 6 year old daughter. The previous poster is correct that the SafeGuard Go requires a top tether anchor for use in harnessed mode. If you could be certain that the vehicles you would be using are equipped with a top tether anchor, and also preferably lower LATCH anchors because the Go is more LATCH installation friendly, then it's probably your most portable alternative.

The Radian is heavy, but can be folded up and carried with a shoulder strap, or with two straps backback style, or in an optional carrying bag, but it's still heavy. The Radian does has a steep installation learning curve, and it's another seat that's generally more installation friendly with LATCH than a seatbelt, depending somewhat on the vehicle. I took the Go along for use in a rental car over the Radian for a family vacation earlier this year.

The Regent is pretty much the antithesis of portable and would be extremely cumbersome to move or carry around. It's a good primary seat to keep a child in a 5-point harness as long as possible, but not good for taxis or occasional use involving frequent moving and installing.

The CarGo is lighter to carry, and potentially the most compatible with a wider variety of vehicles, provided your child isn't tall in the torso and over the top shoulder harness slots already. My older daughter outgrew a Graco Platinum CarGo by height between age 3 and 4, when she was approx. the same overall height as the OP's daughter. My DD is all torso, though, and a leggier child could potentially fit heightwise much longer.

I'd probably go with a CarGo as well. It has high slots, the same as a Marathon (So if your daughter is just outgrowing the Roundabout now, then she's probably got another year or more in the CarGo, at least) with a 40 pound limit that may or may not be an issue. They're generally not too expensive. They make lousy boosters, though, so be prepared to use it as a harnessed seat only.

Since taxis are a common transport for you I'd avoid the Radian like the plague. It can be very tough to install with the seatbelt, and I'd bet it's no guarantee that a taxi will have LATCH. For the same reason I'd avoid the Go.

Wendy

Thanks for the initial advice. We're still making the final decision and I have a couple of more questions.

1. I've read alot of reviews about the Graco Platinum CarGo stating that it "falls apart", has no cushioning, etc. Do you agree or disagree? We measured our daughter and her height is apparently all in her legs--so she'd be good with the harness heights on this until she reaches the 40 pound limit. One thing I also don't like is there is no top tether,right? Anyhow, just concerned about the quality and possible "falling apart" since we install/uninstall and carry around the seat each time it is used.

2. The Regent is put on hold until we own a car, and then that's what we will prob. buy.

3. The SafeGuard Go is still in the running. We went and looked at it and here are my questions: Other than the harness, it seems to offer no other protection except what a backless booster would do. This makes me nervous even though it has high safety ratings.

Also--more general info on usage: You'd be surprised that taxis almost always have top tethers and LATCH, and it's pretty easy to flag the right one down or send it on and get another one that does. As for friend/family cars, situation is the same--mostly newer cars--fairly easy to be sure of this.

Thanks for the help!

hat215 said:

Thanks for the initial advice. We're still making the final decision and I have a couple of more questions.

1. I've read alot of reviews about the Graco Platinum CarGo stating that it "falls apart", has no cushioning, etc. Do you agree or disagree? We measured our daughter and her height is apparently all in her legs--so she'd be good with the harness heights on this until she reaches the 40 pound limit. One thing I also don't like is there is no top tether,right? Anyhow, just concerned about the quality and possible "falling apart" since we install/uninstall and carry around the seat each time it is used.

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That sounds more like a Turbobooster problem than a CarGo problem. The CarGo doesn't come apart, so if it's falling apart it has ISSUES. As for cushioning, you can get different levels for different prices. Some have more, some have less.

All seats have top tethers. The CarGos actually allow the use of the tether in booster mode I believe.

2. The Regent is put on hold until we own a car, and then that's what we will prob. buy.

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A good plan. I can't imagine keeping that next to me in a restaurant.

3. The SafeGuard Go is still in the running. We went and looked at it and here are my questions: Other than the harness, it seems to offer no other protection except what a backless booster would do. This makes me nervous even though it has high safety ratings.

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The harness offers a lot of side impact protection and it prevents the child from moving out of position, but otherwise it has no shell and so nothing more that is offered by a "real" seat.

Where have you seen the safety ratings? Safety ratings are generally not published. Ease of use ratings are, though.

Wendy

I just have to pipe in and add that since you first started looking at seats, there's a new one that has become available from Graco called the Nautilus. It's also a combinatin seat with a 65lb limit for the harness and tall top slots, then converts to a booster. They're just showing up at wal-mart's now, so still aren't the easiest to find, but over the next month they should get easier and easier to find.

Just giving you another option. (There are tons of threads with pictures around here if you do a quick search.)

Thanks for the Nautilus info--just checked it out and looks great. After looking at the instruction manual and the Graco website--neither listed the weight of the seat--which is a BIG issue for us! I called Graco and the Nautilus weighs 21 pounds.

I think we will buy the CarGo (8.5 poundsfor now and even when we have a car someday in the future I think after reviewing features of both seats I would go with the Britax Regent. I really don't like having to assemble the Nautilus, and all of the 3-in1 conversions are great, but to me make it seem less sturdy. Just an un-trained opinion

But for now--lugging a 21 pound car-seat is not a good option!!
Thanks again!