"Sell" me a seat...

zeo2ski

Well-known member
I will soon be needing another seat once we're certified foster parents. We will be fostering infants only and have a snugride, but an older baby obvisouly may be too big for that. The smart plan is probably to just use the SR as the foster baby seat and then deal with it if we should happen to have a larger infant placed with us--our local walmart is open 24/7 and sells scenaras so that's sort of my back up plan in an emergency. But the real issue is I haven't got a clue what the next seat should be anyway!

Still with me? Originally I thought my 2 year old would be outgrowing RFing height on his MA before weight (his was the 33 lb limit), then I freaked out and wanted headwings (all this was while trying to come up with a convertible for my then 6 mos old) and I ended up getting them both BLVDS with the 35 lb limit and passing the 1 year old MA to a friend who was going to buy a MA anyway. The plan was to pray the 2 year old would make it to January in the BLVD (height wise) and then get a radian XT because I wanted to RF tether AND have headwings on something with a taller shell, and nothing was being sold that fit those requirements at the time. So since then, my toddler has been packing on the pounds and growing only in legs, so he's now 33.8 lbs with clothes, shoes and a dry diaper...I'm thinking with how much height he has left (2-3 inches) he'll hit the RFing weight before height. Which means my "plan" has to be scrapped and we're at square one if we're entering the world of forward facing! (Which by the way I'm scared to death of).

So I've got a tall, average-to-heavy 2.5 year old to get a seat for ultimately. I could always get another convertible because that's more versatile for my unkown future of kids, but a FFing seat would also last longer in the long run, and bottom line is I want them in a 5 point as long as possible.

How's that for back story? LOl. Now my actual question: what seat do I get? Specific, huh. Really I'm open to any and all suggestions. I have a 98 suburban and any seat that's FFing will have to go in the center row because of the way my TA shinanigans work. I would also prefer to have a FFer in the center seat which is a lap only belt. I need good side impact protection since I'm paranoid, lol.

I have some ideas but want to hear your open suggestions first, so bring em on please!

Thanks
 
ADS

Pixels

New member
I'd suggest a Nautilus for your older DC who will be FFing (once he is FFing, that is). It harnesses (up to 65 pounds??) and then converts to a highback and then backless booster. Use the Snugride or RFing Boulevard that you already have for foster infant.
 

diaperjoys

New member
fwiw...we own a '99 Suburban, and I'm not sure how similar that is to yours (we were told there were big structural changes in '00, but the several years before that were essentially the same). Anyway, the Radian is a no-go in our vehicle. Wendy and I spent a couple hours trying every possible installation trick, and we just couldn't get it to install well. I think we did find one rear facing location (in the third row) that went in okay, but the seat would have been worthless once it was time to turn ff, and who wants to crawl through the cargo area to buckle/unbuckle. Anyway, doesn't sound like you are that interested in the Radian anymore now that your little guy is approaching ff weight, but thought I'd mention it anyway just in case it ended up being helpful.
 

Kat_Momof3

New member
I would get a Nautilus or Frontier for the 2.5yr old and save the boulevard (which is a great seat with lots of life left) for your foster child.
 

zeo2ski

Well-known member
I'm not sold on the Nautilus because it seems like taller children are having to go to the backless mode at 7 or 8. I like the idea of the regent, it's just a beast of a seat!

The Frontier is barely on my list because I have a tough car to install seats in and the frontier seems to be a tough one for many. I will have to give it a try though. I'm not really concerned about the seat having the ability to convert from harnessed to booster/backless modes, because I'll be able to pass it down to the next child and I will want to get a booster that actually fits my child at that time which is way down the road at this point so it's hard to tell what we'll need then.

The radian does install--like you, I spent a few hours wrestling with it. I was able to get RFing in all locations except the second row seat that flips down, but FFing was just not happening in ANY seating location! So I got some more tips on here and tried again. Still nothing. I tried a new trick combo nearly every day for two weeks before I finally got it, and it ended up being rock solid. I had given up so many times before that....but it finally worked. Recline mode, pulled out from the bight, twist the stalk 2 or 3 full turns and the latchplate 180 degrees, and I forget what else, but the thing that finally did it (in combination with the above) was pressing only DOWN in the seat as I buckled it, not back against the seat.

So aside from convertibles and the nauti, frontier, and regent, what other HWH seats are possibilities?
 

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