Hating my radian!

[texmati]

We sprung for the radian earlier this year, thinking that we'd be able to keep my son RF for longer. Although he hasn't yet reached the hieght or weight limit the carseat seams to recline too much to be comfortable, so we've moved him to FF. Has anyone else had this issue? Any solutions?

[~Adorkable~]

if that is the only issue it is easily fixed! is made just for that, 

Diono Radian Angle Adjuster  

in some cars because of the seat shape it does sit really far back for older kids.  its cheep and protects you seat a bit as well.

please consider how much safer it is to keep then rear facing and do what you can to make it work.

here is a amazing video to inspire you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mvoF5uyNw0A

[texmati]

Adorkable! Thanks for the lead on the adjuster. I'm so out of the baby gear loop-- I didn't know that it existed. I'm a little annoyed at having to shell out an extra 10 bucks as this is already one of the priciest carseats on the market, but we do what we have to.
 

[Adaline'sMama]

Hey Texmati   I saw your bowl of rice and just had to pop in. I've missed your posts around here lately. Hope you are well :)

I have a girlfriend who is using this angle adjuster right now for her radian (not sure which model) for her two year old, and it's working great. 

[~Adorkable~]

Texmati, PM your address, i have one sitting at my house you can have. its the least i can do to keep a kid rear facing longer!

I've gone a little carseat safety obsessed lately, I preordered two Foonfs, they just got upped to rear face till 50 pounds! and i thought my twin stroller was costly 

[mama2soren]

TWO Foonfs? *Swoon....*

What colors did you get???

[~Adorkable~]

right now i have an order for  pink an blue ones, im not a fan of the pink/blue thing, but the colors are limited.  i wish they were bolder colors and next summer they are coming out with super fun japanese prints i will lust after.   last week they announced that they are releasing two additional solid colors after th first of the year, i pink one with a black base and a total black one that is the better fabric. if we can hold on that long i may wait for those.

Car seats can cost a lot, but i did the math and even my bigger boy if he stays on his growth curve will not grow out of these till he is 6.5, a very good age for a high backed booster, so i will get nearly 5 years out of them, that is $8.05 a month for his seat. Plus since it is good for 9 years, i can pass it on to another family. my girl being so small could get even more use from it, though i assume i would switch them to boosters at the same time them being twins and keeping things fair and stuffs.

So even when you think im getting two, its 16 bucks a month, i have used 16 bucks a month on a lot of lamer things!!!

not to mention the Foonf will get my kids to their 5th birthday Rear facing!! even by height and thats with my son being 85-90th percentile in height. (he is 50th for weight so wouldn't max that out even with winter clothes on! 

While i would probably leave it up to my kids when they wanted to turn once we get to their 4th birthday, the flexibility is worth the investment and then some

[DahliaRW]

I really wish diono would fix the recline issue ON THE ACTUAL SEAT, not just with the extra adjuster.  It scares me because in my van the radian actually reclined past 45 degrees with my older (2yo at the time) son who had a long torso.  I was able to use some tricks to get it to not overrecline so much, but I'm sure less knowledgeable parents may have it in too reclined.  Definitely a safety issue!

[Maedze]

I agree; I would prefer that Diono redesign the seat to offer multliple built in mechanical angles.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DahliaRW 

I really wish diono would fix the recline issue ON THE ACTUAL SEAT, not just with the extra adjuster.  It scares me because in my van the radian actually reclined past 45 degrees with my older (2yo at the time) son who had a long torso.  I was able to use some tricks to get it to not overrecline so much, but I'm sure less knowledgeable parents may have it in too reclined.  Definitely a safety issue!

[~Adorkable~]

its been a while since i had the seat with me, but dint it have a recline built into the seat? or did that make it go from bad to worse? it was some attachment in plastic that clipped into the bottom or off depending on what you wanted if i remember correctly.

[brigala]

Originally Posted by ~Adorkable~ 

its been a while since i had the seat with me, but dint it have a recline built into the seat? or did that make it go from bad to worse? it was some attachment in plastic that clipped into the bottom or off depending on what you wanted if i remember correctly.

You're right. The problem is that in some cars it reclines the seat TOO much.

It over-reclines in my Civic - 48 degrees - unless I prop it up with the front seats. The angle adjuster fixes that, but makes the seat sit too high and I can't see over it. If they would just make a smaller rear-facing boot instead of boosting the seat's "butt" up with the angle adjuster, it would be perfect.

But the angle adjuster is better than nothing. It works perfectly in my Suburban.

[~Adorkable~]

ok can you not use it without the rear facing boot? yuck  i agree that way to fix the front of the seat being propped up too much be the rear facing attachment should be a small attachment, not propping up the rear of the seat higher to match!

and bracing it against the front seat is a huge no no in most cars since it messes with the airbag sensors and puts the front seat passengers at a lot of risk.  i found when i rear tethered that this happened big time in my car. but since i hated the seat in more ways than the install, i was happy to see it go, my two got returned after 2.5 months of frustrating use.

[Maedze]

You must use the rear facing boot; it's not optional. 

[~Adorkable~]

lame 

[brigala]

Originally Posted by ~Adorkable~ 
and bracing it against the front seat is a huge no no in most cars since it messes with the airbag sensors and puts the front seat passengers at a lot of risk.  i found when i rear tethered that this happened big time in my car. but since i hated the seat in more ways than the install, i was happy to see it go, my two got returned after 2.5 months of frustrating use.

Yeah, I know that won't work in a lot of cars. My car doesn't have air bag sensors, fortunately.