Booster recs for 6.5year old

[grandisp]

Hello,
I'm new here and hoping for some advice. My DS is 6.5, about 49" and 55lbs or so. He is currently in a Radian, but I recently saw some discussions about whether or not a 5 pt harness is really safer for kids after a certain age/size. So I'm thinking about just going to a booster for him.

Currently we do have a Nautilus that we use for him in DH's car - we have been using it with the 5pt but I plan to try it out on him as a booster and see how it fits.

If we want to go all booster, I would need to replace his Radian with something else. I drive a Honda Pilot (2010). I have been looking at the IIHS site and have bookmarked the Diono Monterey, the Graco Highback Turbobooster Elite, and the Britax Frontier 85. The Britax seems really pricey after just having purchased the Radian not so long ago. Also I have not been thrilled with our latest Britax for DD (age 2yrs 3mos in a Marathon) as far as ease of use and cleaning mainly.

I am open to other suggestions and wonderng what your first recommendations would be for a child of this size and age. FWIW, he is not able to completely buckle/unbuckle himself in either the RAdian or Nautilus (maybe lack of motivation though) and I would love something he can do himself completely with another child on the way in June. But that's not my #1 priority obviously.

Thank you so much for reading and for this great informative site!

 

[ketchupqueen]

Welcome to car-seat.org! It's nice to have you here. And congratulations on the new baby on the way!

First off, there is no empirical evidence that either harness OR booster is safer for a child that size and age. If he is happy in a harness and you have no difficulty with it, and he fits well, there's no NEED to move him to a booster. That said, it's a good age for him to be learning to use a booster properly, at least part of the time, if you're ready for that stage. My eldest daughter started learning to use a booster for short trips just before 6, was in one most of the time by almost 7, but did not learn to not slide out when sleeping until 7 1/2, so she was still in a harness for long trips on which she would sleep until then.

I wouldn't buy a Frontier just for booster capabilities unless I intended soon to pass it down to another child and get a different booster, personally. I'd focus on dedicated boosters instead, because why pay for functionality you don't need?

The Monterey and the TurboBooster both fit most kids your son's age and size pretty well, though you should of course try them out before buying. The Monterey would last significantly longer than the TurboBooster, but the Monterey is wider which causes slumping for some kids. Other seats to look at might be the Britax Parkway SG or SGL, the Recaro ProBooster or Vivo, the Chicco Keyfit Strada, among others. I advise just going to a store and trying them all out if you can- see what features you do and don't like and how the fit is on him in your car, which is the most important thing! Ease of buckling may also differ for different boosters.

Will you need to have three across seats in either car? If so, you may want to keep him in a harness in that car, as it tends to be harder to buckle a three across with a booster where you have to mush your hand down than a harness that you just do up front. On the other hand as you say, having one that can get himself in and out can definitely be nice!

Let us know if you need more information or have more questions, and good luck!

 

[Irishmama]

Hello and welcome to car-seat.org! :happy-wavehello: