Opinions? TF, nothing or something else?

My car: 2003 Honda Pilot, with occasional rides in 1996 Nissan Altima and 2007 Nissan Sentra.
My current seats: 3 MAs, 1 R65. One MA will expire in March 2009. I have access to an unused Graco SnugRide.
My kids: 23 mo DS, ~28 lbs, ~34 inches tall, baby due 12/30. At birth, DS was 8 lb 3 oz, 21.5 inches long, all torso. He fit in the MA from birth.

I have been obsessing over which seat, if any to buy since before I got pregnant! I tend to over-research things and drive everyone else around me crazy while I do it. I've spent the last few days reading about rf tethering vs. non-tethered seats vs. the anti-rebound foot or bar. I haven't come to a firm stand-point.

Knowing I will still have 3 perfectly good seats when the one MA expires, should I get a TrueFit or other seat for baby? I prefer to get the most bang for my buck (therefore avoiding infant only seats if I can) and was hoping to not buy a new seat until someone outgrows the ones we have or one expires. If I get the TF, it would go in the outboard position in the second row since that's the seat position with the least room.

Should I wait until the ARF TF comes out or have it ready and installed when baby comes? At this point in time, we have the MAs installed and the Graco bucket will be either delivered to us at the hospital or also installed and waiting.

If the baby doesn't fit in the MA from birth, chances are the radian will work wonderfully. You can purchase the comfy soft infant pillows if you don't already have them. There are pics here of newborns in radians and they fit great.

The ARB TF does look great, though, doesn't it? The infant cushions make the TF a great choice for an infant as well. So, if you feel like a new seat, or want 2 seats per child, I would probably get this one as well.

Since you have access to the SR, use that and the March 09 expiry MA for now, then buy the ARB TF later. It is totally worth the wait for the ARB model. (I've seen and played with it and they made several small changes that really make it better.)

If you live in a place that experiences winter--using an infant seat could come in quite handy, esp with a 2 yr old in tow as well. You can buckle baby in the house, get 2 yr old ready, throw a blanket over baby and just click him into the base, and then buckle the 2 yr old up. And just think--no snowsuits to deal with for baby either!

I'm having my baby on 12/30 if not before and we'll be using an infant seat. I do plan to baby wear with a sling or wrap too though. Once it warms up, we'll leave the car seat in the car more and more. My husband says he has no intentions of lugging that seat around...and I don't blame him!

Susan

SusanMae said:

If you live in a place that experiences winter--using an infant seat could come in quite handy, esp with a 2 yr old in tow as well. You can buckle baby in the house, get 2 yr old ready, throw a blanket over baby and just click him into the base, and then buckle the 2 yr old up. And just think--no snowsuits to deal with for baby either!

I'm having my baby on 12/30 if not before and we'll be using an infant seat. I do plan to baby wear with a sling or wrap too though. Once it warms up, we'll leave the car seat in the car more and more. My husband says he has no intentions of lugging that seat around...and I don't blame him!

Susan

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I live in the Seattle area, so our winters tend to be mild. Though the last two have been doozies!
I have back, neck and wrist issues so there's no way I'm lugging an infant seat plus the baby's weight around! If we use the SR, it will be a stay-in-the-car-seat anyway.
I discussed all teh options with DH last night (much to his enjoyment) and we decided to have the SR installed in addition to the two MAs that are already there. If baby is too small for the MA, he will come home in the SR. If I really just don't like the SR, we will buy the TF, or we may wait for the ARB TF.
I know the infant seats are tested and approved and all that, I just don't like that the base is what's connected to the car, not the seat. What if it comes unlatched? My mom says I have OCD and need meds.

rodentranger said:

I live in the Seattle area, so our winters tend to be mild. Though the last two have been doozies!
I have back, neck and wrist issues so there's no way I'm lugging an infant seat plus the baby's weight around! If we use the SR, it will be a stay-in-the-car-seat anyway.
I discussed all teh options with DH last night (much to his enjoyment) and we decided to have the SR installed in addition to the two MAs that are already there. If baby is too small for the MA, he will come home in the SR. If I really just don't like the SR, we will buy the TF, or we may wait for the ARB TF.
I know the infant seats are tested and approved and all that, I just don't like that the base is what's connected to the car, not the seat. What if it comes unlatched? My mom says I have OCD and need meds.

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If I were you, I would just install the Radian for the new baby and just put the Snugride in the secondary car. The Radian will fit a newborn. I wouldn't worry even one little bit about the Snugride coming off it's base; it's one of the seats that passed the flawed CR tests a while ago that mistakenly tested 70mph side impact crashes instead of 30mph side impact crashes. The Snugride has been in use for a very long time and I haven't seen any reports of base failure.

Isn't the lowest slot on the R65 only an inch lower than on the MA? Will that inch make that big of a difference? I don't have the infant insert that comes with the 80 (I have at least 3 different ones that are after-market that I got at my shower for DS-they worked great in the swing LOL).
Right now the R65 is in my mom's car and the expiring MA is in DH's car.


I went to BRU today to play with the TF. I wasn't terribly impressed with the seat pad where the harness is, and the harness was horrid. I don't know if it was because it was the display model and has all sorts of smarties playing with it or what, but it was twisted in every direction! The LATCH belt was all tangled in the harness so I couldn't determine if installing in my car was possible with the LATCH or not. It did fit nicely though!