Radian RXT as booster mostly useless why? and Frontier 85 vs 90

[Unregistered]

What is it about the Radian RXT that makes the booster typically outgrown as the same time as harnessed? The headrest is height adjustable so it can't be that. Is it the fact that for both harnessed and HBB the child height limit is 57"? ie. w/ the Frontier I get a few more inches of child height?

And if my son is something like 85%tile for height and weight, should I get the Frontier 85 over the 90 since it has a higher height limit? Or vice versa since the 90 has a 0.5" higher shoulder height limit? My son has a long torso. As a reference, he is turning 3 this month and is 39 lbs and 39"

(FYI I'm shopping for a booster when his Boulevard gets handed down to his little brother and also for a less expensive option for DH's car and travel purposes.)

 

[joolsplus3]

The Radian has a 50 pound minimum for booster use, and even though the headrest goes up, it's not very tall, so it really all does get outgrown at about the same time. Here's a petite kiddo showing it off.... http://carseatblog.com/14805/diono-radian-rxt/
It's a great seat for rearfacing a long time, and a super choice if you really need a narrow seat in a certain seating position. The Frontiers are really like the mega football players of the seat world, Radian's the nimble track runner
I'd go with the 90 since it's so, so much easier to install than the 85, personally, unless you are up to a slightly bigger install challenge and don't mind the 85. Here's my ds in the 80 (they are all roughly the same: big enough to get a kid to booster age, and big enough to get a kid out of a booster all together, though a backless becomes a personal preference for most kids before then) http://carseatblog.com/5671/too-old-for-a-booster-says-who/

For a less expensive light seat, you can look at an Evenflo Maestro or SureRide (a convertible, but the harness is 19" tall, so you could use it harnessed for years to come for both kids, and it's somewhat recliny and comfy for traveling).

 

[mylittlet]

I would get the sureride over the maestro for a 2nd seat, because the sureride harnessed to 65#, whereas the maestro only harnesses to 50#.

Of the frontier 85 or 90 or radian, I would get the 90. Ease of install. Newer date of manufacturer for handing down to younger one.

We have a frontier 85. Dd is 6y, a little over 60#, over 4', torso is about 19". She has about 1" of torso to grow. Our kids are all very high on growth charts.

 

[Jeni-GAcpst]

Most children outgrow harness seats by shoulder height long before overall height. A way inflated height is basically the manufacturers' way of saying they don't care how tall your child is as long as the harness can safely hold him/her (within weight limit and shoulder below harness slot).

A booster is outgrown when the child's ears are above the shell. The minimum weight for radian booster, as previously mentioned, is 50lbs. That's the weight of a 50 percentile 7yo boy. And an average 7yo boy will have outgrown the shell height of the booster by ears over the shell.
So if the booster fits, it's a great booster. It tends to positron the belt correctly. Unfortunately, only the slightly (to mostly) heavier kids and those with short torsos will have an opportunity to use the booster portion of a radian.

Your other question about height (sorry! I'm mobile and forgot exactly what you asked) is dependent on your child's torso height as well. Is his shirt size large for his age? i.e. if he's 5 and wearing size 7-8 shirts. If so, the extra harness height may come in handy. If not, most kids are booster ready by the time they outgrow most combo seat harnesses.

 

[Unregistered]

Thanks for the explanations. I had not been paying attention to minimum weight in booster mode. (50 lbs sounds so close to where he is now at 39 but I know growth rates are slowing quite a bit now compared to years 0-3!)

I had not looked at the SureRide but will take a look.

It is unfortunate that the Frontier 90 has 1.5" less shoulder height than the Frontier 85.

 

[Jeni-GAcpst]

Frontier 85 goes up to harness height of 20" vs 20.5" for Frontier 90.
The seat belt guide is a little shorter for the Frontier 90 like you said. You might sit down on the floor and measure your own floor to shoulder height. I'm 5'9" and my floor to shoulder height is only 23". Granted, I'm all legs. But after the high back booster is outgrown, a no back booster only costs about $15 and most kids fit in seat belt only around 4'10".
Even with the height difference, I think the frontier seats are the tallest high back boosters available.

 

[featherhead]

Another thing to note is that in some vehicles the Frontier will not fit at the highest position for the booster. It is just that tall!

 

[AZmamaof2]

Does anyone know why the newer Frontier90 and Pinnacle90 have lowered the overall and shoulder height for booster mode?

From 65 to 62 overall height and 24.5 to 23 shoulder height in booster mode

I have a FN85 and I think that my son's long torso will cause him to outgrow the seat long before he reaches the weight and overall heights.

 

[Jeni-GAcpst]

I can't comment on the why, but most kids outgrow almost all seats before stated height. There are a few seats that only harness to 40-50 lbs, but the majority of kids don't hit the 65+ lb limit of other harnesses.

As feather head pointed out, the frontier can't be used to full height in some cars due to height, so the height reduction may have factored the seating head room of cars?
I haven't seen or heard any of the reasons yet, but overall height doesn't mean much to me for FFing seats.

 

[AZmamaof2]

Frontier 85 goes up to harness height of 20" vs 20.5" for Frontier 90. You might sit down on the floor and measure your own floor to shoulder height. I'm 5'9" and my floor to shoulder height is only 23".

That sounded like a fun idea, so I went ahead and had DH measure my sitting height, and it's also 23" from floor to shoulder! Whoda thunkit?!

 

[joolsplus3]

If you click the second link in my first post, you can see that the Frontier 90 even being shorter, is ample for all kids to get to post-highback-booster age. My 12 year old had several inches of shoulder room left to grow, I doubt his torso's even grown that much now that he's a 5-9" 15 year old, maybe I should put him in it and see (and, yes, it would NOT fit that tall in the third row, it had to be in the middle row where the ceiling is a lot taller).