jujumum
Well-known member
I can't decide what to do and need your professional help. DD will be 4 in December, is nearly 42" tall, and around 35lbs. My original plan was to rf her till 40lbs in a Malibu XT, but sadly (very, very sadly) it will not install in our van (with room for a front passenger), so that is out. She ff from around 2 to around 3, then went back when I discovered this board, and just turned ff again. In our primary van she rides in a ff BV and my ds rides in in a rf in a BV. I figure she has about 1" of torso/1 year of growth ff in the BV. We both love it and thought about getting one of the discounted Meghans from albee, but I'd rather have a seat that I can use for extended rf (either for her or as a pass down to ds) or that can ff for a longer time.
She's been riding ff in the MA, but I'm wanting a new seat since dd is starting to look huge in her MA and it doesn't look like it is offering much head protection as she gets bigger. She has at least an 1" of harness height left. Lots of people here love the TF, so we bought one and fell in love, too. It installs well in our van, has tons of harness room and headwings (although they are about 12" apart vs. the 8" apart BV).
However, this past weekend we took a road trip and the TF is so wide that dd's hips kept shifting to the side in the seat (it was as tight as the harness would go) and she flopped forward with the worst head slump that I've seen in any of my seats. I kept needing to push her head back (I was the passenger). The seat was fairly reclined, but the headwings are so far and the seat so wide that she was a mess.
So, I immediately started to fall out of love with the TF and started to re-consider extending her rf. Enter the Flair MR! We bought it today at Targe, and it installs well in my van and she fits, barely, rf. I think she may fit rf till she reaches 40lbs - perhaps by 5 yrs. This would time perfectly to when ds will outgrow the FPSVD rf and need the MR (I ultimately will need 2 40lb rf seats for ds). But, she doesn't want to rf. She wants to ff.
Here is how she fits in all the seats.
MA. The MA is about 10.5" wide inside.
BV. The BV is about 11-11.5" wide inside, with 8-9" at the headwings.
TF. She would be centered if she would have let me put the harness on, but you can see how wide it is. I measured between 11.5" and 12.5" throughout the seat.
MR ff. The MR is about 11.5 inches wide, fairly consistency from top to bottom.
MR rf. She was not happy that I had installed it rf.
So, here are my options (that I can think of). Please let me know what you think. I'm totally open to new ideas.
Return the MR & TF and go back to using the MA ff until 1) the Frontier finally comes out in Cowmoo, Cougar, or some other plush fabric, or 2) buy a CA and see if that works out rf.
Return the TF, keep the MR and use it ff if she insists, and use it to rf ds till 40lbs (trading in the cover for a Bartlett when the time comes and buying another 40lb seat for ds for the secondary car).
Return the MR, keep the TF and use it ff. Somehow deal with the slump by?? When ds reaches the rf limits of his BV & FPSVD, buy him two US approved MTs which are sure to be on the market by then.
ETA: added the XT. I loved this seat for the few days that I had it. I couldn't justify keeping a convertible that could only ff.
Thank you for all your input!
She's been riding ff in the MA, but I'm wanting a new seat since dd is starting to look huge in her MA and it doesn't look like it is offering much head protection as she gets bigger. She has at least an 1" of harness height left. Lots of people here love the TF, so we bought one and fell in love, too. It installs well in our van, has tons of harness room and headwings (although they are about 12" apart vs. the 8" apart BV).
However, this past weekend we took a road trip and the TF is so wide that dd's hips kept shifting to the side in the seat (it was as tight as the harness would go) and she flopped forward with the worst head slump that I've seen in any of my seats. I kept needing to push her head back (I was the passenger). The seat was fairly reclined, but the headwings are so far and the seat so wide that she was a mess.
So, I immediately started to fall out of love with the TF and started to re-consider extending her rf. Enter the Flair MR! We bought it today at Targe, and it installs well in my van and she fits, barely, rf. I think she may fit rf till she reaches 40lbs - perhaps by 5 yrs. This would time perfectly to when ds will outgrow the FPSVD rf and need the MR (I ultimately will need 2 40lb rf seats for ds). But, she doesn't want to rf. She wants to ff.
Here is how she fits in all the seats.
MA. The MA is about 10.5" wide inside.
BV. The BV is about 11-11.5" wide inside, with 8-9" at the headwings.
TF. She would be centered if she would have let me put the harness on, but you can see how wide it is. I measured between 11.5" and 12.5" throughout the seat.
MR ff. The MR is about 11.5 inches wide, fairly consistency from top to bottom.
MR rf. She was not happy that I had installed it rf.
So, here are my options (that I can think of). Please let me know what you think. I'm totally open to new ideas.
Return the MR & TF and go back to using the MA ff until 1) the Frontier finally comes out in Cowmoo, Cougar, or some other plush fabric, or 2) buy a CA and see if that works out rf.
Return the TF, keep the MR and use it ff if she insists, and use it to rf ds till 40lbs (trading in the cover for a Bartlett when the time comes and buying another 40lb seat for ds for the secondary car).
Return the MR, keep the TF and use it ff. Somehow deal with the slump by?? When ds reaches the rf limits of his BV & FPSVD, buy him two US approved MTs which are sure to be on the market by then.
ETA: added the XT. I loved this seat for the few days that I had it. I couldn't justify keeping a convertible that could only ff.
Thank you for all your input!
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