Question honestly...seat you have to install/uninstall every single use?

which option?

  • nautilus installed - suck it up!

    Votes: 14 34.1%
  • nauti as booster

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Frontier/other hwh seat installed(tell me!)

    Votes: 2 4.9%
  • Frontier used as booster

    Votes: 2 4.9%
  • dedicated booster (which? tell me!)

    Votes: 23 56.1%
  • i would go to extreme lengths not to let dd ride in a metro.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    41

bobandjess99

Senior Community Member
So..I've been waffling here about getting a second seat. i NEED a seat for dh's car. Due to overlapping work schedules he HAS to be able to take dd to achool/pick her up sometimes, as well as the fact that on his days off, if I'm working, he has no way to leave the house.
here's the deal..the seat will have to be installed and then uninstalled every other day or so...like 3 times a week minimum. and, sometimes the time window in which to install it is crazy..like, he would gte home frmo work at 1 am and I would need to have the seat installed by the time I leave for work at 8 am and then he'll be taking it right back out again at 4 pm and then I might have to reinstall it again that night..ugh!
The reason for this is that several times per week he also has to go pick up his older children from their mom's house, and needs every seating position free for that. It is a stupid 4-seater metro, and he has 3 teen boys to go pick up.

DD is about 40 inches, hovers right at 40 lbs, and is 4.5 years old.

I'm so torn, because if it is going to be a harnessed seat, it has to be a HWH, or else it needs to be a booster. Which I am so not okay with, but I'm not sure I have another choice. I love the frontier, but who on earth would install that thing 3 times per week? even the nauti, which is a much easier seat to install for the most part, despite being heavy...ugh...I think I'm just really lazy, but just the thought of constantly having to install seats is making me very grumpy. The apex, as a harnessed seat ( dd has a good inch and a half left) might have been perfect, its so light, but there are no headrests in the back, so she'd have to use that seat in the front.
* sigh* I thought about letting her use her nauti just as a booster...but the fit is really NOt good on her...so i don't knwo if I'm confortable with that either...maybe a vivo? o have no way locally to try that one out though....

Heck, the stupid car is a deathtrap anyway, why am I even caring? What good is a carseat when the car is flattened like a pancake? :mad:

Geez...I'm really grumpy.
but seriosuly..what would you do if you have to constantly re-install a seat several times per week in this situation? harnessed seat? which one? booster? which one?

New car is not an easy or quick option..although we have talked about getting a third vehicle, a minivan, so we can leave the seats installed AND have enough seating positions for the older boys...but that plan would take time to implement, as we have no money and lots of bills....
 
ADS

serabi

New member
How good is your DH at installing seats? Since I'm guessing he'd be the one installing it.
 

BookMama

Senior Community Member
Do you need to use a locking clip, or is the Metro new enough to have locking seatbelts?
 

bobandjess99

Senior Community Member
Do you need to use a locking clip, or is the Metro new enough to have locking seatbelts?

sorry, 98..has switchable retractors, so yes, they can lock, but no latch and not retrofittable.

And no, it would have to be me installing them every single time, he absolutely can not do it. it makes no sense, i can stand there with him and tell him, show him..and he is decently smart and like a billion times stronger than I am..but the seats are ALWAYS super-loose.....he can NOT install a carseat for anything:thumbsdown:...so I'd have to be dragging my butt out there each time they need installed.
He goes along with the super car seat safety and agrees in principle it is a good thing to do, but isn't great about putting it into practice himself...like most other parts of our life..lol.....
 

melniemi

New member
I would get another hwh seat. Would make things a lot easier:) I can't imagine installing seats that often. Otherwise a parkway if you can find one or wait for the new parkway that is coming out. The parkway fits small riders really well.
 

Splash

New member
I'd use a booster in that situation, and make sure he locks the shoulder belt.

Charlie fit REALLY well into the Evenflo Big Kid at about 2ish years old. Amazingly well. I didn't USE it of course, but I was shocked at how nice the fit was on him. Try that.
 

cryswilkins

New member
If you can trust her to sit in a booster then that would be the way I would go. What if there is an Emergency and you can't install the seat? I would think that a properly used booster would be better in that situation.
 

mominabigtruck

New member
There's a pink flowered tb on sale at kmart right now for $39:)

Peyton's probably pretty close to your dd's size right now and he fits really well in Dallas's b505.
 

scatterbunny

New member
I'd use a booster in that situation, and make sure he locks the shoulder belt.

Charlie fit REALLY well into the Evenflo Big Kid at about 2ish years old. Amazingly well. I didn't USE it of course, but I was shocked at how nice the fit was on him. Try that.

That's so weird, because I see a lot of 2-3yos in Big Kids, and NONE have looked right to me...shoulder belt was always up o the neck. :( Now, I'm sure H would have fit fine at that age, because she's bigger than average, but I think the Turbo is consistently a way better fit for younger booster riders, less flimsy, too, with deeper wings.

To the OP, my first instinct was get another seat to leave installed, but then I saw the part about needing to use all available seating positions for older kids quite often. So, choosing between a harnessed seat that must be uninstalled and reinstalled multiple times a week and a dedicated highback booster for a 4.5yo, 40+ pound child, I'd go with the booster.
 

bobandjess99

Senior Community Member
There's a pink flowered tb on sale at kmart right now for $39:)

Peyton's probably pretty close to your dd's size right now and he fits really well in Dallas's b505.

lol....i think there is still a clearance b510 at our meijer..might have to get it....but since i have no way to try her in it (its in the box, last one) I have been hesitant..but I think baby depot has compass boosters out to try, and we're heading up there in like an hour.....and cost isn't that important....i mean, yes, it is, but for something like this, i'll pull out the "emergency" credit card....so if a frontier is what'll work best, we'll plunk out $220...*sigh*
I have to wait until dh is out of work at 5 to really get an answer, because I need to try out the seats in HIS car...I'm sure the belt fit will be totally different in his car versus mine....
 

scatterbunny

New member
Pay attention to the lap portion if you go with a Compass booster; it tends to ride higher on the abdomen than the Turbo, for younger/smaller kids. :twocents: We loved our Compass, but I don't think it would have fit dd well at just 40#.
 

bobandjess99

Senior Community Member
Pay attention to the lap portion if you go with a Compass booster; it tends to ride higher on the abdomen than the Turbo, for younger/smaller kids. :twocents: We loved our Compass, but I don't think it would have fit dd well at just 40#.

thanks, lol. iIm paying VERY particular attention to the lap portion....and everything else....heck, I'm even considering jnust getting a marathon because it would be super easy to install really quickly on the fly..she has a smidge left in it...*sigh*
 

BookMama

Senior Community Member
Can you and you DH just switch cars? (Assuming you have a vehicle that would accomodate one installed seat plus three belted people.)
 

bobandjess99

Senior Community Member
Can you and you DH just switch cars? (Assuming you have a vehicle that would accomodate one installed seat plus three belted people.)

no, because many times, it will be one person picking up and one person dropping off, so both cars will have to be used in one day with the adult not going home in between ( like going straight to work afterward dropping off, etc. ) also, i can not drive dh's car, my sensory processing issues do not allow me to drive stick. and ya, that would be ideal..heck, it would even work if dh's car had latch, because with DD;s nauti latched in, like it is in my car, we can just have the smallest boy sit in it as a booster and put the seat belt around him without uninstalling the seat...(he actually fits really well in it as a booster at age 11)
*sigh*
Stupid, worthless dumb little car that dh loves..:love:

I think we are going to have to sit down and seriously discuss the van situation again. I honestly am beginning to feel like it is the only situation I will feel confortable with. We were going to get a small loan to add on to our house this summer, but we might have to give that up and get a new vehicle. Or else we could try and fix our old van, but at 8 MPG, driving it 80 mjiles per week to go get the boys is a lot more money in gas than we are used to in dh's nearly 40mpg metro..
*sigh*
Perhaps I'll go buy a lottery ticket. :rolleyes:
 

BookMama

Senior Community Member
I figured there was a reason but just thought I'd throw the suggestion out there. :)

I know what you mean about the Metro's MPG - DH and I had a 1993 Metro for ten years, and there were times when we were able to get 50 MPG! :eek: :love:
 

glockchick

New member
Could you keep the booster in the trunk of dh's car? That way he'd have it when needed, but it wouldn't take up seat space. A turbo booster would work great for that because it would come apart.
 

Lara

New member
I'd get a booster, honestly. I can't imagine having to install/uninstall a seat that much!

I really really like the vivo. if you want pics of a smaller kid in one, let me know (I have pics of dd at 37ish lbs, idk how tall, but she's pretty short :p it fit her extremely well)
 

tanyaandallie

Senior Community Member
I would definitely get a booster. AT 4 and 40 lbs a booster is appropriate. While we would like to keep our kids harnessed as long as possible, that is just not always possible. If your dd was smaller or younger I would say suck it up and install/uninstall but at 4 and 40 I'd go with a booster. I would not want to be installing a seat every day or every other day. It's just not practical.
 

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