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Originally Posted by Alki Mama  One other idea, and this is what I can tell DH to justify the tremendous expense (ha ha), is that our next kid could use the RF seat when DS outgrows it and then we can buy the Regent or similar for him, then use it for the second kid if everything's not expired by then.
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All right, I crunched some numbers. Someone check my math & reasoning.
Here are the scenarios, based on the highly theoretical idea of having a second child when #1 is 4 years old. That's our "plan," but we know from our work in getting the first one that plans don't always work. That said, I had to pick some sort of numbers to work with, so I went with 4 years apart.
Further, I had to guess on sizes and ages for how long each seat would last each child, and obviously I might not have guessed correctly, and I don't know all the averages (as in, what age a seat is outgrown typically) for the seats involved. I was doing this while we were driving somewhere, in the dark, just to try to get something on paper. (And, it fell under the car in the rain while I was getting DS out of his seat -- but I rescued it!)
Thirdly, I have no idea how big the theoretical second child will be. I'm supposing not a giant like DS, because that was presumably an anomaly, but I would assume above average height and weight because DH & I are (say, 90-95th percentile for both).
Finally, I'm approximating costs, just to have numbers to use. I'm guessing $600 for the Swedish seat with shipping (might be more or less) and $100 for a booster, because I have no idea how much boosters cost. The booster cost doesn't matter for my purposes, though.
OK, caveats taken care of, here are the two scenarios:
Getting a Swedish seat
DS#1:
Swedish seat from 1 year old - 4 yrs -- $600
Regent or similar high-limit FF seat from 4 yrs - 7 yrs -- $300
Booster from 7 yrs+ -- $100
DC#2:
Same Swedish seat from 0 - 3 yrs (till it expires at 6 years)
Same Regent or similar from 3 - 6 yrs (till it expires)
Same or second booster from 6 yrs+ -- $100 possibly
TOTAL = $1,000 (1 booster) or $1,100 (2 boosters)
(Again, what the boosters actually cost is irrelevant, since I'll use the same figure in both scenarios.)
NOT getting a Swedish seat
DS#1:
Current seat FF till ~2 years old (till ht or wt limit reached)
Regent or similar from 2 yrs - 8 yrs -- $300
Possible booster from 8 yrs+ -- $100
DC#2:
RF in convertible with 35-lb RF limit & higher FF limit from 0 - 2 yrs (or whenever 35 lbs/ht limit is met) -- $300
FF in same seat from 2 yrs - 6 yrs (or whenever limit met or seat expires)
If too young for booster, Regent or similar till 8 yrs old -- possible $300
If old enough, booster from 6 yrs+ -- $100
TOTAL = $700 (1 booster for DC#2 only & no extra Regent) or $800 (no extra Regent & two boosters) or $1,000 (two Regents & one booster) or $1,100 (two Regents & two boosters)
Things I've determined from this exercise: It's not much more expensive to buy a Swedish seat, and possibly the same price. A lot depends on the timing and size of the kids involved. If we didn't have a second kid, obviously there's no seat sharing. If we have the second kid earlier or later, it really messes up the figures. And if we have another giant later than 4 years apart, we might need a second Swedish seat!
Another point is that the Swedish seat model puts the cost upfront, and the other way spreads it out over more years. We're poor now, but I've no idea if we might be just as poor in the future, particularly if we have a second kid.
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Originally Posted by Alki Mama Anyone know about air travel with a Swedish seat??
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I'm going to assume US air travel with a Swedish seat is out, but if anyone knows differently, let me know. That said, depending on what seat we bought that wasn't a Swedish one (Regent, e.g.), we might have to buy a separate travel seat anyway. I guess that's a research for another day.
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Originally Posted by Alki Mama And that's assuming I don't get found out by the NHTSA and fined for using an illegal seat!  |
Does anyone have a thought as to the morality of using an illegal seat? Does no one have a problem with it?
And what do you think my risks are for being caught? I was thinking I could drape a light blanket over the bar part that makes the seat look the most different from a US seat. But do you think we'd get stopped at some point just for having a giant kid facing backwards? Even if just as a safety check to tell us no seats in the US allow a child to sit that way at that age?
I was thinking more of height and harness slots. I heard 17" (per this thread) vs. 20" for the Regent. That's a significant difference. But, then, in another thread AdventureDad said his 4-year-old at 110 cm/43.3" had just outgrown his RF seat and gone into a booster. If my guy stayed in the same percentile for height, he'd be about the same at 4 years. So, 4 years old sounds good to me. But is that really true, with 17" highest harness slot? AdventureDad, do you maybe have some measurements around for the harness slots to confirm that?
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