Help me figure out what car seat to get - Page 2

[kaylee18]

If you can wait till Sept. there are awesome Recaro convertibles coming up. Also two new Britaxes should be available soon, the Advocate and the Diplomat, both of which are rumored to RF to 35lbs., the former being an extended-RF version of the Boulevard and the latter being a smaller version with extended RF but FF to only 40lbs.

[kaylee18]

Oops, I missed the part where you wanted the seat to be less spendy. And the part where Angela already mentioned the new Recaros. I know there are a couple extended-5pt seats that have been introduced recently (though the Regent, as I'm sure you know, is the only current 5pt. with an 80lb weight rating and a strap height to match). Under-$100 seats with extended 5pt. harnessing range from 50 to 65lbs. max weight, and I third the car-seat.org recommendation for details on specs, as well as lots of photos.

[wednesday]

I'm confused over the concerns about a newborn fit, I thought the new seat was to be a second seat for the older child?

A Radian is a great choice for a 3.5yo in a smaller car. It's much less bulky than its competitors that go up to a similar height/weight. Realistically most people aren't going to keep their child in a harnessed seat all the way up to the height/weight limit of say a Regent anyway.