Question ERF All in one seat? And which side?

[Missusmac]

I have a 2 year old that is 28lbs and 36in and has always been a little bit tall for her age. We currently have her RF in a Recaro ProRide and she's nearing the 1" from the top limit. I want to keep her RF but would love something that will convert to a high back booster.
I drive a 2012 Toyota Highlander and my budget is around $300.
I love the Recaro's features like the no twist straps, cooling seat material (we're in Texas), and how easy it is to tighten and release the harness. I'm not afraid of bulky/tall seats, obviously! What should we get?

Also, I'm due with another in August (she'll be going into the BSafe), but which side should I put the baby on and which side to put the toddler? I can't put a seat in the middle because the Highlander has a removable seat there to make captain's chairs.
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[joolsplus3]

Welcome!
Really, the only choice that fits your requirement is the Graco 4 Ever (beccause it's tall enough. The other seats that become boosters are quite short). And the extra low sides and deep seat pan will make it a breeze to rearface for a couple more years, I should think. Or just focus on the tall convertible part for now, and a good booster later (most combo seats make fairly lame boosters, no word yet on the 4Ever, it looks nice to me, due to being low and able to reach the buckle, but no kid is actually using it in booster mode yet for a real review!).
Good, tall seats that also make good harnessed seats later would be the Safety 1st Advance EX 65 Air + http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=57533826&prodFindSrc=search&cp= and the Britax Boulevard and the Clek Foonf (Ok, oops, missed the budget part on those ones, didn't I? lol)

 

[MelodyoftheForest]

The Graco Milestone or 4Ever are good in all their modes. The 4Ever does a no back booster too, but is about $70 more expensive. Both are in your budget.

As far as which side for which, I think it is mostly personal preference, but I only have one kid, so can't speak to it directly. Congrats on your impending squishy!

 

[joolsplus3]

And as for where to put who? Whatever's most convenient . I personally found that putting the infant behind the driver was best for me, due to older kids getting in and out of the car more, but you have to weigh how easy it is to get each kid popped in and buckled up, and make sure the front seat passengers are comfortable with enough leg room, or ability to reach back and hand kids stuff and whatnot.

 

[Catalytic]

The Clek Foonf doesn't convert to a booster, but if you are looking at RF for as long as possible, I can say my 42", 41lb 5 year old still has tons of room RF in it.

 

[Missusmac]

Thanks, this is helpful! Is the Foonf something she could potentially be harnessed in until she doesn't need a booster at all? Or until she needs a backless booster?
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[Catalytic]

Thanks, this is helpful! Is the Foonf something she could potentially be harnessed in until she doesn't need a booster at all? Or until she needs a backless booster?
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I'm thinking it probably won't work all the way to no booster (guessing she'll outgrow by height), and I probably should leave this answer up to those who have a bit more experience with different size kiddos. All my kids are short, so we never have height issues with carseats, they're always outgrown by weight first.

I would definitely expect it to take you to a booster seat, though. We're opting to move our son to a FF only harness booster, but there's really no reason we couldn't keep using the Foonf (RF or FF), as it still fits him very well. (And actually, I have not tried the Foonf FF in my van yet, I will do that before I order another seat, but I think FF is going to be awkward with my van for buckling him in, as he can't yet buckle himself.

I missed your price limit, though, the Foonf runs about $450. Their Fllo is a bit cheaper, but I don't really know much about it, as I bought the Foonf when it first came out to replace a defective Radian.

 

[Missusmac]

I'm thinking it probably won't work all the way to no booster (guessing she'll outgrow by height), and I probably should leave this answer up to those who have a bit more experience with different size kiddos. All my kids are short, so we never have height issues with carseats, they're always outgrown by weight first.

I would definitely expect it to take you to a booster seat, though. We're opting to move our son to a FF only harness booster, but there's really no reason we couldn't keep using the Foonf (RF or FF), as it still fits him very well. (And actually, I have not tried the Foonf FF in my van yet, I will do that before I order another seat, but I think FF is going to be awkward with my van for buckling him in, as he can't yet buckle himself.

I missed your price limit, though, the Foonf runs about $450. Their Fllo is a bit cheaper, but I don't really know much about it, as I bought the Foonf when it first came out to replace a defective Radian.

I'm not opposed to buying a Clek, but if it's not going to buy us a lot more years RF then I would rather go with an all in 1. It's so hard to know when she'll reach the limits! Part of me wants to just buy the Foonf/Fllo and worry about the booster stuff later, but the practical part of me doesn't want to deal with buying another seat later on.

I'm trying to think through how to best utilize my seats. By the time baby 2.0 grows out of the recaro RF-around 2 1/2- so 3 years from now, I'll have a 5 year old... Who will still need another seat if the little one takes hers. I'm just thinking out loud here. I guess I can't avoid buying at least two more car seats at this point if I want to ERF. Oh well.
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[Cnidaria]

These seats will allow a child that is more tall than heavy to rear-face the longest:

Britax Clicktight Marathon, Boulevard, or Advocate
Chicco NextFit
Graco MySize/Size4Me/Fit4Me/Headwise/Contender
Graco 4Ever
Graco Milestone
Safety 1st Advance EX

With the exception of the last one, they are all outgrown at 40 lbs rear-facing. The new EX version of the Advance RFs to 50 lbs and also has a very tall height limit.

The Foonf and Fllo are also quite tall for RF in addition to having the 50 lb RF weight limit.

Of those, as has been mentioned, only the 4Ever and Milestone convert into boosters. But a Graco MySize/Size4Me etc plus a dedicated high-back booster when the time comes is less than $300 total, for example.

As for forward-facing longevity, a tall child is probably going to outgrow a FF harnessed seat by shoulder strap height. All of the above seats will probably get most children to a good booster age, except very long-torsoed kids. The Britax Clicktight Boulevard and Advocate have 18.5" top harness positions. The top harness height on the 4Ever, Milestone and Advance EX is 18", and on the Graco clones and NextFit is 17.5". Clek Foonf and Fllo are 17". An inch in these heights represents about a year.

I agonized a lot about rear-facing longevity and forward-facing longevity when we were picking out a convertible for our older son when he was 10 or 11 months old. I now think I shouldn't have been so concerned about FF limits because it made the most sense to get a combination seat for the older one when the younger one was ready to move from the infant seat to a convertible. It seems like with carseats, it can be too hard to plan too far in advance, and it might be best to just choose a seat that's best for one's current needs.

The carseat market has also changed *radically* in the four years since we were looking for that convertible. None of the above-listed seats were on the market then. And the seat whose FF limit I spent so much time thinking about, we are never going to use FF.

 

[1mommy]

I agonized a lot about rear-facing longevity and forward-facing longevity when we were picking out a convertible for our older son when he was 10 or 11 months old. I now think I shouldn't have been so concerned about FF limits because it made the most sense to get a combination seat for the older one when the younger one was ready to move from the infant seat to a convertible. It seems like with carseats, it can be too hard to plan too far in advance, and it might be best to just choose a seat that's best for one's current needs.

The carseat market has also changed *radically* in the four years since we were looking for that convertible. None of the above-listed seats were on the market then. And the seat whose FF limit I spent so much time thinking about, we are never going to use FF.

LOL! I'm sorry but that's exactly what us car seats nerds all do, analyze and over analyze and think about it till our brains explode.... then in a few years everything has changed and all our plans change.

Very good advise, think about what you want for your child NOW, which is a long lasting rf seat. Most kids outgrow by height rather then weight so I'd look at the list above and use that to narrow down your choices. Unless your daughter is very tall or has a very long torso any of those seats should get your daughter to a good booster age (around 5-6 ish) then you can pick out a dedicated booster which are often lighter easier to buckle then combination seats and allows you the fun of going car seat shopping again (and you can allow her to have a say in which one she wants)

 

[Catalytic]

LOL! I'm sorry but that's exactly what us car seats nerds all do, analyze and over analyze and think about it till our brains explode.... then in a few years everything has changed and all our plans change.

Very good advise, think about what you want for your child NOW, which is a long lasting rf seat. Most kids outgrow by height rather then weight so I'd look at the list above and use that to narrow down your choices. Unless your daughter is very tall or has a very long torso any of those seats should get your daughter to a good booster age (around 5-6 ish) then you can pick out a dedicated booster which are often lighter easier to buckle then combination seats and allows you the fun of going car seat shopping again (and you can allow her to have a say in which one she wants)

Ugh, yes, carseats and strollers....when we found out #5 was on the way (11 years after our baby days were supposed to be over), the first thing my husband said was "OMG, how much are you going to spend on carseats and strollers THIS TIME??????"

The answer to that is, now that that kiddo is 5 years old:

Chicco KeyFit30 (awesome, loved it)
Radian XTSL (this is a doorstop in the basement, couldn't pay me to put my baby in it)
Britax Advocate 70 CS (returned cuz didn't fit the car)
Graco MyRide 65 (love it)
Clef Foonf (love it)
Britax Frontier (being delivered today)
and ??? (Probably a Britax Pinnacle, will decide after I play with the Frontier)

Snap and Go stroller (for the infant seat, I don't believe we used it even once lol)
The First Years Indigo Stroller (wanted to love it, but it broke waaaayyy too easy sadly)
Joovy Kooper (really nice stroller, used it a lot, but wanted more recline)
Britax B-Agile (LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE (and more LOVE) this one!!!)
Chicco Capri (this was an emergency purchase, I used it once.......)

We're done with strollers, at least, but I make no promises on the carseats :jive: