Different AO's?

[dragonfly8]

I went into Zellers tonight, and the cashier in the music dept was awesome! I asked her (without even looking to see if they had any) for 4 rainchecks for the AO's that are on sale. She asked if I wanted them all seperate.............yep, works for me!

So I went with her to get the SKU from the display model and noticed that there were 2 of them. I looked at the stickers on each of them, one was RF to 35, FF to 40 and booster to 80 (I think) pounds. The next one was RF to 35, FF to 50 and booster to 80lbs. I made sure she wrote right on the raincheck that I wanted the FF to 50lbs one. It was black and pink, and if the SKU is ONLY for that particular one, well I guess my boys sit in black and pink seats!

Anyhow, I also noticed that the harness bar in the back, on my older AO it specifies the top notch is for use in booster mode only, this one didn't specify that. Does this mean that we can actually use the top notch while harnessing? These ones had no armrests either..........not that I care really, but I"m trying to find it online and cant.
I'm going to wait a bit until I actually need one and pick it up then. So, if anyone needs a raincheck, I"ve got a couple extra!

 

[amyd]

Yes, there are some AOs that RF to 35 and only FF to 40 floating around. I believe the top harness position is not usable on those, but that's stated only in the manual and not on the seat itself. The 35/50 ones allow the use of the top harness slot.

 

[QuassEE]

My son is in an ALL pink seat

-N.

 

[snowbird25ca]

There are 2 main AO's floating around, with 2 versions of each of them (elite and not elite)

The original AO has 30lb rf'ing and 40lb ff'ing. Those seats you cannot use the top headrest position with the harness. It is marked on the shell in 99% of seats unless you have an older one. (Older ones made prior to Sept 06 had 35lb rf'ing limits and 40lb ff'ing limits. So your biggest indicator of whether or not the top headrest position is usable with the harness is the ff'ing weight limit.)

The current AO is 35lb rf'ing and 50lb ff'ing. All headrest positions can be used with the harness and the top harness height is around 17" or so, possibly 17.5" on the elite models.

Within each, there is the AO and the AOE. The seats are nearly identical, the difference is the elite has armrests, and red tabs attached to the headrest so you can adjust the harness height from the front. the elite also has 3 crotch strap positions where as the AO only has one last time I saw it.

2010 AOE seats have a non-removeable base that is significantly narrower and poses no issues with installation - it's a huge improvement. I haven't seen a 2010 plain AO to know if the change was made to the base model or not.

There are some variations in installation instructions between the models, but functionally the AO and AOE are the same. As long as you're getting a 50lb ff'ing limit seat then you know you have an updated model with the top headrest position useable. :thumbsup:

 

[sparkyd]

I'm pretty sure somebody (canadiangie, maybe?) posted a little while ago that she had come across a new AO that had a lower FF limit (less than 50 lbs) and you couldn't use the top harness slot. I could be remembering these details wrong, but I do remember that the thread was about this confusing development where Dorel was putting out another version of this seat that was a step backwards from the direction they had been heading (and also very confusing with different versions of the same seat out at the same time).

Now that I think about it maybe it wasn't an AO but rather one of their other 3-in-1s. I think of them as all the same.

 

[canadiangie]

Yes, there is a AO that rf's to 35lbs and ff's to 40lbs, and does not allow for top bar position use, but does not say so on the back of the seat. It's a non elite version... metal bar on back, no red tabs on front. The DOM's on these seats are current.. like 2010. The pricepoint is generally around $99ish, sold at Zellers. The pattern I've seen is sort of blueish silver and black. I did start a thread a while back and ended up calling Dorel. For the life of me I can't recall what they said about the base being removeable. I know it was removeable in the sense that it could physically be done, but I can't recall if they allowed removal on this particular model.

 

[amyd]

Yes, there is a AO that rf's to 35lbs and ff's to 40lbs, and does not allow for top bar position use, but does not say so on the back of the seat. It's a non elite version... metal bar on back, no red tabs on front. The DOM's on these seats are current.. like 2010. The pricepoint is generally around $99ish, sold at Zellers. The pattern I've seen is sort of blueish silver and black. I did start a thread a while back and ended up calling Dorel. For the life of me I can't recall what they said about the base being removeable. I know it was removeable in the sense that it could physically be done, but I can't recall if they allowed removal on this particular model.

I saw one of these too. It did have a 2010 DOM. The base was removable & was allowed, I believe. We discussed this then, I think, Angie. I'll go see if I can find that thread.

ETA...found it thread here

 

[hipmaman]

all I can say is that I've given up any pretense to keep up with the different AO seats out there I just hope Cosco has been updating the manual correctly for each version because I'm going to have to hit the manual everytime I see an AO comes in a clinic.

 

[canadiangie]

all I can say is that I've given up any pretense to keep up with the different AO seats out there I just hope Cosco has been updating the manual correctly for each version because I'm going to have to hit the manual everytime I see an AO comes in a clinic.

Yup.

 

[jbarro]

I helped my friend install a new Eddie Bauer 3-in-1 the other day. It was 35 lbs rear-facing, 40 lbs forward - no red tabs for harness adjustment. I checked the back, but it didn't have the top harness position unusable warning. She didn't have the manual on her - I'll have to get her to check for me (though it's a non-issue for now as her little guy is only 9 months and still RF). It sounds like a variant of the black/silver cover mentioned upthread.