Your picks for...

Small 7 yr old, 40-ish pounds, unsure of height but I'll say around 43" (not a clue on the torso).

Smallish 2 yr old, *maybe* 30#.

7 mo old, he's chunky, I would guess over 20#, but really don't know

I have a friend looking into seats, she's asked for my input. I just always second guess myself and feel I'm missing something when 'put on the spot'.

She presently has the 7 mo old rf in a Scenera but she doesn't like the seat. She wants something softer, more padded. I told her that was a fine seat, though I understood the lack of padding/plushness. So, she'd like to replace that.

Then..she recently put the 7 yr old on a BPB. I mean *just* recently. Now she asks me if that was a good idea. I said *I* would feel better with one that size in a 5pt harness. She understood and is now looking into putting her back in a harnessed seat. Is double checking the seat she just took her out of to see if she still fits the weight limit. Which I'm sure is a 'no-go' as it was your typical combo seat, going to 40# and the girl is 40 or just above.

Then she has the wee 2 yr old ff in a combo. I *think* she may be considering replacing that seat as well ?? Not positive on that.

So anyway, we talked a bit about keeping the kids harnessed longer...and as I said, seems like she's all for putting the 7 yr old back in a harnessed seat.

I mentioned the higher weight harnessing seats I could recall: Marathon, Radian, Recaro, EFTA, TrueFit...as far as convertibles..for the 7 mo old primarily.
She doesn't want to spend the $ on a Britax or Recaro...plus, those are big/bulky seats and they have 5 kids total going into their 7 passenger van. Space is an issue. So we were leaning to the Radian. As the EFTA doesn't look so slim to me and I just plain don't like the seat, personally. And the TrueFit is kinda 'beasty' too, is it not? At least as much so as Britax and Recaro, yes? So, that brings us back to the Radian. If she can find a deal on that, she'll do it...but she's not liking the $200 price tag of the 65 and certainly doesn't dig the 80's price.

Am I missing other options?

I did later mention the Nautilus for the 7 yr old. She's going to check it out. It's not slim like a Radian but it's comparably sized to that combo she's using now, right? Although, a Nautilus next to the combo in the third row...hmm I dunno

Anyway..am I missing any HWH seats? She'd really rather not go above $150 but if we can keep it under $200 I'd call it good.

I think a Radian and the Nautilus would probably be the best choices. (if just purchasing 2 seats) I can talk to her about reconfiguring the seats/children if the GN doesn't fit well next to the combo where she has those children presently. The Radian would be rf in the 2nd row captains chair, so it doesn't have to mesh with anything. I'm sure she won't want to move him to the 3rd row right now

Oh, vehicle is a Windstar..I think she said a 2000.

(sorry I got rambly)

Radian and GN would be my top picks too, maybe an Uptown for the baby? If not a harness for the 7yo, a Monterey?

she just bought the FP/Britax booster for the 7 yr old
i think she said she's been in it for a month?
(sorry, nak)
but after our brief talk yesterday where i mentioned keeping harnessed longer/to higher weights..though i wasn't pushing anything with the 7 yr old ... she thought about it last night and asked me about it today
if she had jumped the gun in putting her in that, should she still be harnessed at her 40-ish pounds
so I'm impressed that she's even considering reharnessing her...meaning she needs to buy a hwh seat

so i'm not going to bother mentioning other booster options, she has one there when she needs it (I'd like to see her use that for the 8/9 yr old boy who's not using a seat, he too is on the small side, I don't see how he could pass the 5 step test)

I'll mention the Uptown, thanks. Only thing is thats a 40# seat, right? she won't be wanting to make another purchase anytime too soon though...but...she was talking about options for both vehicles..so if she did the uptown for main vehicle, put scenera in 2nd vehicle...maybe she would be so opposed to a hwh seat for the baby when the time comes

thanks jennifer...
I still get all nervous about these seat recs...and she asks lots of questions...I want to be able to answer them all so she really trusts (and therefore heeds) my advice

I agree with the others - GN for the oldest, Uptown for the little one(s). If her kids are all following the same growth curve, the GN can be handed down to the 2yo when she needs it, and the 7yo moved to a booster then.

If she asks for recs on bpbs - I *really* like how our Vivo fits Ryan. It seems even snugger than the Parkway, but even my 12yo can still fit in it!

I think an ideal selection would be a Nautilus for the oldest and two Radians for the 2 yr old and 7 month old. If she didn't have 5 kids in a 7 passenger van, I'd recommend an EFTA.

I have pictures of the uptown here

I think the GN and uptown are really the best bets, too.