Vest-style harness vs travel car seat for 32mo

[waltsa]

Hi! I am looking to buy some sort of travel car restraint for my LO. LO was ~37" and ~31 pounds at their 30m check up. We will begin use of the restraint when LO is 32mo. The restraint will first be used for 6 days' travel in a rental car. There will be some highway driving during the trip. An adult can sit in the back with LO. Then the restraint will be used for car-pooling three days a week. There will be limited highway driving for car-pool. An adult will not be in the back and there is no need to fit three across for car-pool. LO will use their regular car seat rear-facing until they grow out of it in that position. I know it's best to keep LO rear-facing as long as possible and that there are some potential difficulties with something like Safe Ride 4 Kids or WhizRider, but the compactness and weight of these are incredibly appealing and I'd much prefer either of those to a standard travel car seat. How does age vs size play into safety in the vest-style restraints? How difficult is it to properly install a normal rear-facing travel car seat correctly? I had to have a CPST install our regular car seat. I'd also like to stay away from toxic chemicals as much possible, to the vests appear to win there as well.

Thanks!

 

[ketchupqueen]

Hi! There are no vests approved for your child's age. Except in extraordinary (special needs medical, mostly) situations, I wouldn't recommend it for a 3 year old; generally a 4 year old.

If you'd really like a travel seat that's very compact (such as if you're going on a cruise), the Wayb Pico is an option; it can be very difficult to install with seatbelt in some cars, but if you're renting a newer car it will have lower anchors, which will work well in most cases.

It can also be used on the plane which is important as your child is extremely unlikely to fit the plane belt.

Or, we can recommend a lighter conventional seat if you would like, or there's always the option to take your regular seat along and use in the plane and rental car.

 

[waltsa]

Hi,
It is not possible for us to travel with our regular car seat, clek foonf. We'd never be able to get it installed correctly and it's way too heavy. We already have a CARES harness for the airplane. We need a safe car seat that is 1) easy to install properly 2) light weight 3) compact. The Wayb Pico is out of the price range. What recommendations do you have?

 

[waltsa]

Hi! There are no vests approved for your child's age. Except in extraordinary (special needs medical, mostly) situations, I wouldn't recommend it for a 3 year old; generally a 4 year old.

If you'd really like a travel seat that's very compact (such as if you're going on a cruise), the Wayb Pico is an option; it can be very difficult to install with seatbelt in some cars, but if you're renting a newer car it will have lower anchors, which will work well in most cases.

It can also be used on the plane which is important as your child is extremely unlikely to fit the plane belt.

Or, we can recommend a lighter conventional seat if you would like, or there's always the option to take your regular seat along and use in the plane and rental car.

Hi, What are your recs for a lighter travel seat that is easy to install correctly? Would be willing to pay a higher price if it has no chemical flame retardants.
We already have a CARES harness. If we could take our regular car seat, we would.

 

[ketchupqueen]

Carseatblog has a list: https://carseatblog.com/25408/recommended-carseats-for-airplane-travel/