Radian 65 Limit Question

[JuneNov]

I have an older Radian 65 (actually 2 of them). the manufacture date is 09/2006. I know that the rear facing limit on this seat in Canada is only 30 lbs. Right now my 16 month old is 27-28 lbs. I am not comfortable with the idea of turning her FF when she hits 30 lbs (which could be soon?). Is there any leeway in these limits? I know that limits are limits and I guess I am really just thinking out loud here. It also states 32" as a hight limit and she is pretty close to that now as well. Am I wrong in thinking that it would be better to keep her RF even once she is a little over 30lbs than to turn her FF? I really don't want to buy 2 new seats if it can be avoided.

 

[hrice]

Weight limits are set in stone. You can keep your child in the seat until 30#. Once she weighs 30.1 you will need a new seat or to turn her FF. How tall is she? Could you get a Scenera 40rf? My almost 3yo still fits RF in the Scenera. Or a longer lasting seat would be the Evenflo Triumph 65.(is that the right name for Canada?)

Your child will likely make it to 2 in your Radian and possibly longer. My kids take forever to gain weight. So you have time to save up.

Sent from my iPhone using Car-Seat.Org

 

[JuneNov]

Thank you. I am hoping that her weight will start to slow down - she gained 4lbs in the last 4 months which seems like quite a bit! I guess I will just monitor it and see how long it takes her to get to 30 lbs and re-assess at that time. Do you know if the Scenera RF to 40lbs in Canada? She is 31.5" right now.

 

[snowbird25ca]

Weight limits are set in stone. You can keep your child in the seat until 30#. Once she weighs 30.1 you will need a new seat or to turn her FF. How tall is she? Could you get a Scenera 40rf? My almost 3yo still fits RF in the Scenera. Or a longer lasting seat would be the Evenflo Triumph 65.(is that the right name for Canada?)

Your child will likely make it to 2 in your Radian and possibly longer. My kids take forever to gain weight. So you have time to save up.

Sent from my iPhone using Car-Seat.Org

The Triumph 65 unfortunately only has a 30lb rf'ing weight limit in Canada. Evenflo has infant seats that go to 35lbs, but haven't yet raised the weight limits on their infant/child or infant/child/booster seats.

Thank you. I am hoping that her weight will start to slow down - she gained 4lbs in the last 4 months which seems like quite a bit! I guess I will just monitor it and see how long it takes her to get to 30 lbs and re-assess at that time. Do you know if the Scenera RF to 40lbs in Canada? She is 31.5" right now.

If she's just gained 4lbs in the last 4 months she'll probably sit at the weight she is for another 6 months before gaining more than a lb. My kids when they were younger used to do that - they'd sit at the same weight, maybe gaining 1lb, and then poof would gain 4 or 5 lbs within a short period of time. As they've gotten older their gain has evened out more, but they still have those distinct periods where they eat more and gain weight faster.

The Scenera is rf to 40lbs in Canada if you buy one now. I think I'd probably spend a little more and go with a guide 65 or complete air 65 to get a 36" height limit and longer use out of the seat. Both of those have a 40lb rf'ing weight limit and a 65lb ff'ing weight limit and your radian would have just a 48lb weight limit based on it's age and expires in 2 yrs anyways. Some parents make the choice to disregard the numerical rf'ing height limit and go by the fit of the child in the seat instead, but it's not something that I can recommend to you. I wouldn't fault you for it if you did it - but I won't tell you to do it either.

The Scenera ranges in price from $65 to 90 depending on whether you find it on sale or not, while the regular price on the guide 65 at walmart is $125. That extra money gets you higher harness height, higher ff'ing weight limit, and it actually takes up less room rf'ing as well. So if it's in your budget, I'd go for either it or the Complete Air. The Complete Air 65 would last even longer than the guide 65 but regular price is $199. It does go on sale though, so if you watch over the next 4 to 6 months you may get lucky. (It just came off sale a few weeks ago when it was on for $129.97 at BRU - fabulous price.)

 

[JuneNov]

Thanks for the reply. My plan was to RF her to 30lbs and then FF until the seat expires in 2014. Then she would move into her brother's Nautilus because he will be ready for a dedicated booster by then (he is now 4.5 and 48 lbs and is still in the harness). But I didn't expect her to be so close to 30 lbs so early. I will see how her weight goes in the next few months. I never heard of the Guide 65 so I will check that one out. I told DH that the two Nautilus seats we bought for DS would likely be our last car seat purchases (well, until we need to get a couple of boosters for him so his sister can have the Nautilus seats). Car seats really take so much planning, especially when you have several kids!

 

[Dillipop]

Thanks for the reply. My plan was to RF her to 30lbs and then FF until the seat expires in 2014. Then she would move into her brother's Nautilus because he will be ready for a dedicated booster by then (he is now 4.5 and 48 lbs and is still in the harness). But I didn't expect her to be so close to 30 lbs so early. I will see how her weight goes in the next few months. I never heard of the Guide 65 so I will check that one out. I told DH that the two Nautilus seats we bought for DS would likely be our last car seat purchases (well, until we need to get a couple of boosters for him so his sister can have the Nautilus seats). Car seats really take so much planning, especially when you have several kids!

Did Canada have different expiration dates for the earliest radians than the US? I know that my 02/06 seat had an expiration of 6 years. When they switched to a 7 year expiry, I think it was retroactive to the 6 year seats, but I don't think the 8 year was retroactive to the 6 year seats. My seat is ready to retire so I haven't looked into it much, though, and the earliest seats might in fact have a retroactive expiry of 8 years. Just something to think about...

 

[snowbird25ca]

Did Canada have different expiration dates for the earliest radians than the US? I know that my 02/06 seat had an expiration of 6 years. When they switched to a 7 year expiry, I think it was retroactive to the 6 year seats, but I don't think the 8 year was retroactive to the 6 year seats. My seat is ready to retire so I haven't looked into it much, though, and the earliest seats might in fact have a retroactive expiry of 8 years. Just something to think about...

The first seats in were 7 year expiry in the manual and then retroactively switched to 8.

 

[Dillipop]

Thanks Trudy. I just wanted to make sure the op could truly use her seat until 2014. I didn't realize that SK had changed the expiry before CA got their first seats.

 

[JuneNov]

Thank you for that. I had contacted SK a few months back to verify the expiration date since I wasn't sure either.