Booster Seat Width

[devon]

My 6 year old (will be 7 in October) is 52 inches tall and about 58 lbs.  He, until recently, was in a Graco Nautilus and a Radian 65.  He is pretty much outgrown the two carseats now by height - his shoulders are just above the top strap.  We've moved him into a Sunshine Kids Monterey Booster in place of the Nautilus (i like that the Monterey can latch in, and we had it for his backup booster last year when we carpooled).

We're talking about what booster to get for our other car.  We obviously have the Nautilus which can be used as a booster.  The sticky point is that the second car is a Corolla.  We currently have the following configuration:

Radian 65 FF, Britax Decathalon RF, Radian 65 FF. 

The other Radian is for our 4 year old who will be in that for at least another 2 years.  The RF Britax is for our 2 year old DS, who is a peanut (26 lbs, 32 inches) so he'll be RF for quite a while still. 

We want to still be able to fit all 3 in the Corolla.  So, it depends on getting a narrow booster.  We can replace the Britax with his old Radian RF for our youngest child.

What is the narrowest "good" booster?  My son is average build with long legs and a big noggin :) 

Also - are the Turbo Boosters any narrower then the Nautilus?  We had thought about getting one of those to try as we like the Nautilus as a booster, but the darn thick armrests and non-retractable cup holders make it too wide to fit in the corolla.

thanks!

Devon

[Grace and Granola]

I'm glad you posted this!  I was just coming here to scream about our Apex.  As a car seat, we love it.  As a booster, I find it to be so wide I can hardly buckle them.  I have two boys in boosters and I am ready to convert them back to carseats.  I can't wait to hear the replies to your question!

[MacKinnon]

There is a database maintained by car-seat.org members here

Yes, the Graco TurboBoosters are narrower than the Nautilus, by a fair amount actually, like two and half inches? Because of the built in cup holders on the Nauti.

The TurboBoosters are a good start, actually. They are one of the narrowest, they are affordable and easy to find, so if you pick one up at Target and it doesn't fit, it's easy to return. However, there just simply are not boosters that compete with the width of the Radian. My husband has a Vibe and the only way I was easily able to do three across was with a Coccoro or Radian RFing in the center, that opened up enough room to fit a booster on the side. I could fit the TurboBooster, the Recaro Vivo, Evenflo Big Kid and an old style Britax Parkway. They all fit, but puzzling with the position of the side impact protection made the Big Kid fit the best. I think if you can use the Radian RFing, Radian outboard, you should be OK with most of the dedicated HB boosters.