ortner.liz
New member
Hello friends! Hoping for some advice. I've got 6 kiddos, so I've been in the car seat world a long time - except it's been about 9 years since I last purchased one!! gah!!! My last two in seats are ages 7.5 and 9.5. They both ride in Diono Radian RXTs, but sadly they are set to expire in a year. They ride most of the time in our 12 passenger Nissan NV van. We also have a Toyota Highlander. The 9.5 year old rides in a booster in this car, and the 7.5 year old rides in an Evenflo which I LOVED because it's super light weight and we took it for travel a lot. But it just expired and I was going to purchase a new one, when I realized the weight limit is 50 pounds for the harness!! Gah!!! she's 49 pounds!!
So - what to do?? It's not urgent, she rarely rides in the other car, but we do need to be able to transport her in it if needed.
I'm imagining when the two Diono's expire, the 9.5 yo will be 10.5, and solidly in a booster so no issue there. We've got plenty of boosters lying around. But the 7.5yo I'd still like to ride in a harness for a bit longer than just 1 more year, I don't want to put her in a booster next year when her seat expires. So.... ideally I'll buy something now that we can use occasionally in the other car, and then will become her primary seat in the van next year. I'm thinking along the lines of the Evenflo seat, something light we can take when we travel (going to Hawaii in June), and something that won't break the bank. I'm not looking to drop $$ on another Diono that I'll only get 3 or 4 years out of.
Please hit me with recommendations!! I'm swamped and don't have a ton of time for research at the moment, so I would very much appreciate the wisdom of those that are in the thick of it right now!
I'm also open to hearing maybe she is OK just going into a high back booster when she's 8.5, but frankly, given that I need a harness seat now for occasional use, I might as well keep her in a harness since I'll have it.
So - what to do?? It's not urgent, she rarely rides in the other car, but we do need to be able to transport her in it if needed.
I'm imagining when the two Diono's expire, the 9.5 yo will be 10.5, and solidly in a booster so no issue there. We've got plenty of boosters lying around. But the 7.5yo I'd still like to ride in a harness for a bit longer than just 1 more year, I don't want to put her in a booster next year when her seat expires. So.... ideally I'll buy something now that we can use occasionally in the other car, and then will become her primary seat in the van next year. I'm thinking along the lines of the Evenflo seat, something light we can take when we travel (going to Hawaii in June), and something that won't break the bank. I'm not looking to drop $$ on another Diono that I'll only get 3 or 4 years out of.
Please hit me with recommendations!! I'm swamped and don't have a ton of time for research at the moment, so I would very much appreciate the wisdom of those that are in the thick of it right now!
I'm also open to hearing maybe she is OK just going into a high back booster when she's 8.5, but frankly, given that I need a harness seat now for occasional use, I might as well keep her in a harness since I'll have it.