Radian Install

Would the Radian be a good choice for someone who occasionally travels with baby? I want a seat that I can install in less than 5 minutes once I get the hang of it.

How old is the baby? How much does he/she weigh?

I am torn between the Radian and the FP Safe Voyage right now and have found several pros and cons of each.

If the baby is over 33 pounds and is over age 18-24 months, the Radian MIGHT be a good choice. It can be installed in your car and then can fold up (look at the Sunshine Kids website- it shows what I am talking about) when not in use, without you having to uninstall it. However, if the baby is under the above age/weight (keep kids rear-facing AS LONG AS POSSIBLE- even if that means the child is four or five years old!), you need to have the baby rear-facing, if possible and the Radian is pretty big, so it will take up some room.

Unless you are a pro, it is best to try, if possible, to keep the carseat installed and not take it in and out of the car. However, that is not always possible/realistic.

In the cars in which I have installed it, the Radian is not *easy* to install rear-facing, but it isn't terribly difficult either. I had few problems installing it forward-facing.

HOWEVER, despite the experience I had, you DEFINITELY need to try ANY seat you are considering in YOUR car, with YOUR child. The Radian, just like ANY OTHER carseat, installs beautifully in some vehicles but does not install well in others. Try it out.

I have an infant but I am considering using the Radian only for travel until he is forward facing. I have a 45 pound convertible car seat someone gave me for now and it fits nicely RF. If the radian fits in my car RF, I'll use it but I don't need for it to do that because I have the other one.

My concern about installing in 5 minutes is that I have friends with kids and we like to do things like take the babies for a hike. I've been using my old infant seat (he still fits, just doesn't like it) to quickly install him in other people's cars but in a few months this won't be an option. If I had to install my convertible seat every time I went somewhere with a friend, it would be crazy. It takes a while, especially RF where the belt path is hard to reach through. I'd like to have a car seat that I can quickly install in other people's cars on these kinds of occasions.

Hmmm....

Gosh, it depends then. I think the Radian is easy to install in some cars, but difficult in other cars. It is hard to know how well and quickly you will be able to get it installed if you are installing it in friends' vehicles. LATCH makes it a bit easier, but I guess you can't guarantee that each of your friends' vehicles will have LATCH.

Hmmmm...

I'm not sure what to suggest. I'm sorry!

I think other people will probably be suggesting the Cosco Scenera to you.

I can install my Britax Marathon in 2-3 minutes in almost any vehicle, but some of that is practice. I have a Cosco Touriva (precuser to the Scenera) and it's pretty easy to install in most vehicles as well, although if you're using LATCH the Marathon's LATCH connectors are a LOT easier to deal with.