Help understanding RF heights with Clek vs Britax vs Rainier

[Unregistered]

Hello,

I apologize as this thread might be multi-part, but I am hoping that someone can help me. I am on the hunt for a new car seat as my LO is QUICKLY outgrowing their infant car seat. I was interested in the following three car seats:

Clek Foonf
Britax Advocate
Diono Rainier

I went to the store to look at all three and noticed that while the clek says that they do extended RF, the height limit is 43 inches, the Rainier is 44 inches and the Britax is 49 inches. I am not too concerned about weight as LO runs on the thinner side (40%), but is very tall and mostly legs (80%). I've heard (and read) that the Britax, while good seats are not good for extended RF as they're short, but from what I'm gathering it's actually the best height wise for extended RF, this can't be correct, right? Am I missing something?

My second question is more towards installing the Rainier using the lap/shoulder belt. I tried to put it in the center of my car (06 Toyota Corolla). The base installed pretty tight, but the top made it so it basically could tip over on its side. Someone told me that the Rainier can't be installed in the center, is that true?

1) Is it possible to install this seat in the center using the lap/shoulder belt?

2) does it need to be tethered RF?

3) is anyone else familiar with you can push the top of the seat and it almost falls over on its side?

Finally my third question is, I know that all car seats are safe, but are there pros and cons to each one that you would say would prevent you from buying or push you over the edge to buy?

Thank you so much in advance.

 

[MommyShannon]

RF seats are outgrown based on where a child's head is in the seat OR they reach a height limit. For Britax, it is outgrown when the child's head only has 1" of shell (not headrest) above it. For an average torsoed kid, that's somewhere around 40-41". The 49" limit is misleading. That is just an overall limit for the seat. It seems a lot of kids actually fit the Foonf RF up until they hit the 43" (Clek considers 43.9 as still 43" btw), so that's it's main limit. The Ranier is taller than Britax but shorter than Foonf and has a 44" limit if they kept it the same as previous versions. I haven't used it so I'm not sure about the install. Another nice, tall option is the Chicco NextFit. Also, the Graco MySize/Size4Me/Headwise and Graco 4Ever are the tallest RF seats available. All the above seats besides the Britax, will get all but the tallest kids to age 4 RF.
ETA: You can find info for most seats here. For RF, the key details are the RF height limit and internal seating height. http://www.car-seat.org/announcement.php?f=61

 

[dolphinparadise]

All 3 of our kids (6y, 3y, 1y) use Radian RXT. The steel frame, compact footprint with ample child room, and extended ht/wt limits are my biggest reasons for choosing it for our kids. All 3 of them actually love them and enjoy using their comfy Radians, which makes it all the better.

No, it does not HAVE to be top tethered RF:

"Rear-Facing Lap-Shoulder Belt
Installation
...
CHECK LIST:
...
Stability of installation can be improved by using top
tether (see page 30 for tether instructions)." - http://us.diono.com/components/com_...ts/Diono_US_ENG_Rainier_Manual_022114_web.pdf

 

[cottonpenny]

We have a Britax Boulevard that I bought for my DS when he transitioned out of his infant seat around 8 months or so. He just outgrew it rear facing at 35 months because his head was within 1" of the top of the shell. He's 37.5 inches tall which is pretty much 50th %tile for a 3 year old. He does carry more of his height in his torso and head than some kids, but it's tough to tell where your kid will end up. But it would be a really oddly proportioned kid to have my son's torso but 11 inch longer legs!

So if it's not super important to you to get to 4 rear facing, then the Advocate is a nice seat.

I decided it was important to me that he be rear facing til 4, so I recently purchased him a Ranier and will give the Britax to DD when she outgrows her infant seat.

 

[Pixelated]

1) Is it possible to install this seat in the center using the lap/shoulder belt?

2) does it need to be tethered RF?

3) is anyone else familiar with you can push the top of the seat and it almost falls over on its side?

Finally my third question is, I know that all car seats are safe, but are there pros and cons to each one that you would say would prevent you from buying or push you over the edge to buy?

Thank you so much in advance.

Welcome

It IS possible to install in the centre using the lap/shoulder belt only, but Toyota doesn't permit the use of the lower anchors in the middle. Now, can you get a good install there with a particular seat? You have to try to know. Oftentimes it's better long term (although can be very tricky in the moment) to use a locking clip on a lap/shoulder belt to prevent the locked shoulder belt from ratcheting up and causing the seat to tilt.

It does not need to be tethered rear-facing, and while I know a lot of people are comfortable doing so with the included D-ring, I'm not one of them because the vehicle manufacturers don't okay it. I DO like an anti-rebound bar though, which accomplishes the same thing but doesn't involve any potentially-not-allowed tethering.

By falling over on the side - do you think it could be due to the locked shoulder belt as I mentioned above? A locking clip leaves the shoulder belt unlocked and eliminates that question. A convertible seat will always move at the head of the seat (toward the back of the car) as it pivots around the belt, and that is the motion that will occur during rebound in a frontal crash, and is normal.