What booster seat would you recommend?

[Jewels]

The Apex requires the use of a headrest because it needs the extra support of the vehicle seat behind the child's head. I'm not quite sure how else to explain it any other way except for the back of the Apex isn't a sturdy or solid as some seats so it needs the vehicle seat to help with the support in that area.

 

[tiger926]

The Apex requires the use of a headrest because it needs the extra support of the vehicle seat behind the child's head. I'm not quite sure how else to explain it any other way except for the back of the Apex isn't a sturdy or solid as some seats so it needs the vehicle seat to help with the support in that area.

Thanks - I totally understand that. It worries me a little bit though about how sturdy the seat is since it needs the headrest. Also, does it have side impact protection like the Parkway?

Thanks, Tiger

 

[CDNTech]

No, the Apex is a wide open seat. That said, you are still going to have better side impact protection in the Apex for the simple fact that it is a harnessed seat vs. a boostered seat.

A 5pt harness keeps the child positioned at all times, while a boostered child *may* slip out depending on the type of crash and where they were positioned at the time.

I'm not saying that to scare you, just want to give some facts.

Boosters are still a safe way to transport your child provided they fit them and can stay in position the entire time.

If your headrests slope forward, the Apex will most likely not install correctly... but it's always worth a try.

 

[tiger926]

No, the Apex is a wide open seat. That said, you are still going to have better side impact protection in the Apex for the simple fact that it is a harnessed seat vs. a boostered seat.

A 5pt harness keeps the child positioned at all times, while a boostered child *may* slip out depending on the type of crash and where they were positioned at the time.

I'm not saying that to scare you, just want to give some facts.

Boosters are still a safe way to transport your child provided they fit them and can stay in position the entire time.

If your headrests slope forward, the Apex will most likely not install correctly... but it's always worth a try.

Thanks - the headrests in my new Montana Van slope forward, but we have the Radian in there for her. In my hubby's Grand Caravan, the headrests don't slope forward as much as in my van, so we'll go pick an Apex up at Sears and try it out.

Thanks for answering my question about the safety of the Apex. I totally know that harnessed seats are best because they keep kids more secure than boosters, but I was wondering because the Parkway seems to have bigger side impact cushions, so I didn't know if that made the side impact part of the seat better.

Thanks so much, Tiger

 

[CDNTech]

Thanks - the headrests in my new Montana Van slope forward, but we have the Radian in there for her. In my hubby's Grand Caravan, the headrests don't slope forward as much as in my van, so we'll go pick an Apex up at Sears and try it out.

Thanks for answering my question about the safety of the Apex. I totally know that harnessed seats are best because they keep kids more secure than boosters, but I was wondering because the Parkway seems to have bigger side impact cushions, so I didn't know if that made the side impact part of the seat better.

Thanks so much, Tiger

No problem... and let us know how it fits in the '03 GC... It would be good info to have for anyone else looking.

 

[tiger926]

One more question please - do you find the Apex to be a sturdy seat? I ask because we found the Evenflo Traditions seat to be very flimsy and cheapy. We are glad that our daughter outgrew it after only a few months as we had no choice but to purchase it as Radian and Marathon were not available in our city anywhere.

I find Dorel products are not well constructed, so I am a bit nervous about this seat, but we are going to go and look at it for ourselves tomorrow.

Also, Sears still has the seat listed for only 48lbs in the link I provided above - do you think that's a typo, or do they not have any 65lbs. in stock yet?

Thanks, Tiger

 

[BudgieStew]

Chances are that Sears does not have the 65 lb in stock yet.

From what I've read TRU stores either has them in stock or stock is arriving shortly. Depends on the store.

I looked at it last year and felt it was okay but not solid like a Britax or Radian. If it meant being able to harness my child longer I would buy it in heartbeat. It is still on my list of seats to consider for the future.

BTW Funny thing I said yesterday that I was waiting till snow came before I switched to my Onyx cover and Bam this morning I work up to a tonne of the yucky white stuff.
So I am now officially in the land of boring car seat covers for the next 6 months.

 

[snowbird25ca]

Yeah, I don't think Sears has 65lb seats yet. If your local BRU/TRU has it, then it's the 65lb one because they didn't carry it before the weight increase. It's also available on their site now too if your local store doesn't have it yet.. so you can try the Sears seat and then order online if need be. The slots and install will still be the same.

When I looked at it in BRU I actually kind of liked the seat. I'd seriously consider it if we needed another seat right now.

 

[canadianmom2three]

And to be honest, after our short strap troubles with the Radian, I had breifly returned it and tried a bunch of other options...among them the apex. I did find it to be extremely flimsy, especially in comparison to the Radian. It has those PITA latch clips, rough edges all over, and is definately not solid like the Radian. The stipulation that it requires headrest support from the vehicle says tons to me, BUT if it were the only option to keep my child harnessed I would take it - -after all, all seats pass the same standards, and as long as it is installed and used correctly, it will keep your child safe. Plus I would take a kid harnessed in an apex over seatbelted in a britax booster any day!!

 

[CDNTech]

:yeahthat: The Apex is definitely more flimsy than the Evenflo, but I agree that I'd rather see kiddo harnessed than in a booster if those are the two options.

As much as you hate SKJP right now, you probably need to weigh that with the fact that she fits the seat with room to grow... which is more important to you, kwim?

That came out wrong... I'm not trying to sound snarky, I just wanted to give you something to think about.

 

[tiger926]

Thanks for all honest answers - my hubby is not budging on any Sunshine products. After receiving our replacement for short strapped Radian in such bad condition, and the customer service issues we've had, we don't trust that company whatosoever. We like the seat, and our daughter fits well in it, but, not being able to trust the company that makes the seat is a big deal for us.

Hearing that the Apex is flimsy is no surprise to us - I was expecting that as most Dorel products are that way, in our opinion. My hubby doesn't want to try it at all due to the headrest issue and I can't say that I blame him - having to use the headrest tells me that the seat isn't sturdy enough, and that is scary to me. Although we want our daughter harnessed for as long as possible (we are putting our son's brand new Marathon out for her to try again tonight, so that should give us a bit more time, unless this growth spurt this month has pushed her over the limit), we feel that having her in a rock solid Parkway, is better than a flimsy Apex. I've seen flimsy seats in my friends/family cars, and they really don't seem like they are that great at all, so we would worry that the harness system wouldn't be that great either.

We just wish we had the same options as the U.S. as we'd have the higher limit Britax seats for our kids as we really feel that money is no object when it comes to our kids' safety.

Thanks - I'll let you all know how it works out today as hubby is home early, and my daughter is interested in getting a new seat.

Tiger

 

[snowbird25ca]

Thanks for all honest answers - my hubby is not budging on any Sunshine products. After receiving our replacement for short strapped Radian in such bad condition, and the customer service issues we've had, we don't trust that company whatosoever. We like the seat, and our daughter fits well in it, but, not being able to trust the company that makes the seat is a big deal for us.

Hearing that the Apex is flimsy is no surprise to us - I was expecting that as most Dorel products are that way, in our opinion. My hubby doesn't want to try it at all due to the headrest issue and I can't say that I blame him - having to use the headrest tells me that the seat isn't sturdy enough, and that is scary to me. Although we want our daughter harnessed for as long as possible (we are putting our son's brand new Marathon out for her to try again tonight, so that should give us a bit more time, unless this growth spurt this month has pushed her over the limit), we feel that having her in a rock solid Parkway, is better than a flimsy Apex. I've seen flimsy seats in my friends/family cars, and they really don't seem like they are that great at all, so we would worry that the harness system wouldn't be that great either.

We just wish we had the same options as the U.S. as we'd have the higher limit Britax seats for our kids as we really feel that money is no object when it comes to our kids' safety.

Thanks - I'll let you all know how it works out today as hubby is home early, and my daughter is interested in getting a new seat.

Tiger

A harness is always going to be infinitely safer than a booster. A harness keeps a kiddo in position so that the crash forces are spread out. There's no escaping a harness and a kid isn't going to have the shoulder portion or lap portion of the belt move out of position in the midst of a crash... There's a thread in the main carseat safety forum about a CDN study done on boosters. Boosters reduced and prevented the type of injury we see from lapbelts riding up, but in the crash the shoulder belt either moved into the neck area, or slipped off the shoulder all together. Some dummies suffered head injuries from impacting the back of the front vehicle seat. They also tested 5pt harnesses in the study and found a huge difference. The thread is called "Super interesting study regarding boosters"

My point isn't that boosters are dangerous, because they do a good job of preventing injuries from the lapbelt, and do allow adult seatbelts to fit properly, but my point is that in a study done, the benefits of a 5pt harness were very clear.

All harnesses have to pass the same standards in terms of abrasion testing. In fact, many manufacturers purchase their harnesses from the same company - IMMI. They're also the company that makes most vehicle seatbelts. IMMI is responsible for all the quality control and abrasion testing. I'm not aware if there's even another source for harnesses...

At any rate, while I understand the concern about a seat feeling flimsy, a 5pt harness is going to be infinitely safer in every type of crash than a booster ever will be. Especially at 4.5yrs old, if there's another option, IMO, it should be used. You can hate companies and hate flimsiness or whatever, I understand boycotting SK because I've considered it - but all seats pass CMVSS standards and that is independent of the company marketing the seat. If it was the difference between a booster and a harnessed seat for a young child, I would get whatever was available that met standards in order to keep that child the safeST. Kids all go into boosters at some point, but the longer it's delayed the better the adult seatbelt will fit, and the more their physical body will have matured as well.

I know I'm being blunt, but I think when it comes to safety sometimes you have to forget hating a company & look at other factors. And if you had to choose between serious injury in a booster or a few scratches in a 5pt harness, I think that the brand of 5pt harness really wouldn't matter at that point in time. :twocents:

(I'm going to go look for that booster seat study thread & will post the link when I find it.)

 

[snowbird25ca]

Thread: http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=27576

The first post mentioned the some of the harnesses failing - the seats were tested with dummies that were over the weight limit significantly. Despite the dummies being well over the weight limit, some of the seats still passed and provided protection, which is amazing IMO. Anyways just wanted to expand on that comment right from the start. They used evenflo & graco combination seats with 47 or 48lb limits. The study doesn't say which brand the harness failed on - it sounds like it wasn't a case of harness breaking, but rather it pulling through the shell.

Anyways, I'd highly suggest reading through the study. I'm not someone who advocates to keep kids in a 5pt until they're 8 or 9. I'm fine with a booster by 5.5 or 6yrs old provided a kid is big enough & they have outgrown their current harnessed seat, but I definitely think when there are other options available a 4.5 yr old should absolutely be harnessed.

(Link to study for when this thread comes up in searches: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-01/esv/esv19/05-0258-O.pdf )

 

[tiger926]

Good news! My daughter fits very well in my son's new Marathon - this very long-torsoed beauty still has a lot of room to go. Yeah!!!! My hubby is going to put her Radian in his minivan tomorrow, and she now gets a new Marathon in my new van. We are then going to buy another Marathon (hopefully, I can get the cow print) in April, right before our road trip to Disney World, so that both of the kids have plush, safe seats for the trip. We drive to Disney at least 1x per year - she has ridden in Graco Comfor Sport and Evenflo Traditions. We don't see the Radian being too comfortable as it's very upright, so we figure the Marathons will be great for a long road trip.

My hubby and I looked at each other in amazement a few moments ago, as both other times we have put her in this seat, it looked like she was almost out of it. I'm not sure what we were doing - LOL! The first time, I was not well (pregnant), and so we all went to Toys 'R Us one night, and my hubby had a bit of trouble with the demo seat (we think the straps were messed up), and so we purchased the Radian, as we knew it would allow her to stay harnessed longer. Then, last month, when we purchased our son's new Radian (got it on sale as our brand new Bonnie Togs store is not carrying seats anymore), it still looked like she was near the top. In all fairness, she was bouncing around in it, so not a good fit. So, just now, we read through the manual, and actually made her sit in it as we told her that she was maybe going to get this seat. She got a bit angry and asked about the booster seat, and I told her that it wasn't ready in our country yet, so the store has to get more, but before she can use it, she has to be bigger, like her cousin who just turned 7 (my niece is just starting to use a booster). She was ok with that, because once she sat down in the seat, she said that she loved how soft and fuzzy it was! We have the granite pattern, which she likes a lot.

My hubby and I want to thank all of you for helping us out this week. We really didn't want to spend the money on an Apex, as we find Dorel products aren't any good - my hubby was going to go out and purchase a Marathon for her tonight, if only for 6-8 months, rather than buy another Radian or Apex.

RE: Sunshine Kids. I do want to clarify our position on this company. I don't want any of you thinking that my hubby and I are being silly in our protest against this company. We are seriously concerned that we got a used seat for our short strapped replacement - each day we worry that the safety or integrity of our daughter's seat is at issue. Tonight my hubby actually said that he would like to get rid of our Radians (we still have the short strapped one here as well) because he doesn't trust the company at all. We'll talk more about it later when our daughter is in bed. I just wanted to explain - I don't want some of you to judge us, that we were thinking of putting our daughter in a Parkway, instead of buying another Radian. It was because we were worried about having a problem with our Radian, since the two that we own, have had problems - we thought we had no other choice since our daughter has a long torso and didn't seem to fit in the Marathon, then to buy a Britax Parkway. This was a hard decision for us as we are so vigilant about child safety - we are the only friends/family who own Britax or Radian seats. Plus, most of our friends place their kids in boosters well before 40lbs and buy cheap seats. We are constantly encouraging people to keep kids rear-facing and in harnessed seats, so this week when we noticed her getting tight in the other seat, we were so troubled by having to make an actual decision in putting her in a Parkway. It didn't sit well with both of us, as we know harnessed seats are best, but we didn't know what else to do - thank God she fits well in the Marathon!

We are so happy that she seems to have a ton of room left in the Marathon - her ears are inches away from the top of the seat - she is also 41.5" tall, and about 42lbs in weight.

Thanks for all of your help - love this board, Tiger