Hello,
It's time to move kid #2 into a convertible, and I'd love some advice!
At 10 months, he's reached the height limit of his Chicco KeyFit 30 (he's nowhere near the weight limit). We love the Chicco! With kid #1 (now age 7), we moved from the Chicco into a Roundabout, and we were happy with it (perhaps because we didn't have anything to compare it to). But, it looks like the new Roundabout now only goes to 46 inches instead of 49---and I've got tall kids. My complaint about the Roundabout when my daughter used it was that her legs really didn't have any room when she was rear-facing, and we ended up turning her around sooner than we liked because we were having problems tightening her in properly because of the way her legs were bent (they'd be bent one way when we tightened the straps, but then she'd move them later on in the drive and the straps would be slack). I'm not looking for a convertible car seat to be everything to me---we'll switch into a forward-facing combo-booster at some point (DD is still using her Frontier). Recaros were too new when DD was little for me to feel comfortable being a guinea pig with them, so I don't know much about them, but I like the look and specs of the ProRide. Does the Recaro have more leg room when rear-facing? Marathons have a higher height limit, but since I do plan to move to a Frontier (or the like) at some point again, is it worth it versus a Roundabout? I can't find anything about height for the Dionos, only weight, so I don't know how to weigh them.
Speaking of weight, we will be in Europe for 4 months this fall, so I'd like a car seat that isn't too terribly heavy (the Diono RXT is 26.5 lbs versus 17.6 lbs for the Roundabout) and that I can easily install in a European car and lug through airports and train stations. It looks like you can fold the Diono to carry it around more easily, but its still heavy.
Thanks for reading my ramble!
It's time to move kid #2 into a convertible, and I'd love some advice!
At 10 months, he's reached the height limit of his Chicco KeyFit 30 (he's nowhere near the weight limit). We love the Chicco! With kid #1 (now age 7), we moved from the Chicco into a Roundabout, and we were happy with it (perhaps because we didn't have anything to compare it to). But, it looks like the new Roundabout now only goes to 46 inches instead of 49---and I've got tall kids. My complaint about the Roundabout when my daughter used it was that her legs really didn't have any room when she was rear-facing, and we ended up turning her around sooner than we liked because we were having problems tightening her in properly because of the way her legs were bent (they'd be bent one way when we tightened the straps, but then she'd move them later on in the drive and the straps would be slack). I'm not looking for a convertible car seat to be everything to me---we'll switch into a forward-facing combo-booster at some point (DD is still using her Frontier). Recaros were too new when DD was little for me to feel comfortable being a guinea pig with them, so I don't know much about them, but I like the look and specs of the ProRide. Does the Recaro have more leg room when rear-facing? Marathons have a higher height limit, but since I do plan to move to a Frontier (or the like) at some point again, is it worth it versus a Roundabout? I can't find anything about height for the Dionos, only weight, so I don't know how to weigh them.
Speaking of weight, we will be in Europe for 4 months this fall, so I'd like a car seat that isn't too terribly heavy (the Diono RXT is 26.5 lbs versus 17.6 lbs for the Roundabout) and that I can easily install in a European car and lug through airports and train stations. It looks like you can fold the Diono to carry it around more easily, but its still heavy.
Thanks for reading my ramble!