[Erinity]

He's a big boy, about 38 inches tall. We have the Britax Roundabout, and he's 1 lb away from needing a new one. I've been looking at various carseats for ages and it's time to decide. He's front facing, the Roundabout couldn't accommodate him rear facing as long as I'd have liked.

So the ones I'm considering are the Britax Frontier, Graco Nautilius, and the Radian 80. We have a Cosco Scenera we had bought last year to travel on a plane with and pretty much hated it. Only really appreciated it since it was light to carry though the airports.

We will be flying again this May, so I'm leaning towards the Radian 80, but we could probably use the Scenera again if the Radian's vastly inferior to one of the other two.

I was considering getting a marathon as an in between, but if he grows like his 1st cousin (who he's been following in a growth curve) he'll be out of that in less than 2 years, so it seems a bit of a waste.

Any advice? Thanks in advance!

 

[painefaria]

We have the radianXT. I like the seat a lot. I like the side wings that the XT has. I find that it installs much better as a forward facing seat than a rear facing seat so you probably will not have the issues that are talked about around here. I will say that it is a heavy seat. We have a true fit and it weighs at least 5lbs more. It is nice that it folds easily. I really like the seat. It was our seat of choice. It is on sale at elitecarseats.com right now for 269 for the XTSL

 

[chickabiddy]

Where are his shoulders in relation to the top strap settings on the Roundabout? (This will help us know how other seats may fit.)

 

[ElaynesMom]

The marathon won't last you as long as any of the other seats, so I'd skip it.

If he is 1 pound away from outgrowing the rouandabout, then he's also 1 pound away from outgrowing the scenera as they have the same weight limits, so you probably won't be able to use it when you fly in may.

If you went with the radian you could probably turn him rf as it rf to 45 lbs, and you could also use it when you fly. After he outgrows the radian ff you'd obviously need a high back booster.

 

[Erinity]

His shoulders are about even with the straps, on the top place. I think he's pretty evenly divided between his legs and torso, as is his father (6'6"). Our scenera says it goes up to 40 lbs, while my roundabout says 35. So I figured it would be possible to get one more trip out of it if needed.

How do kids do with being turned rear facing after being front facing for a long time? I intended to rear face him for ages, but he outgrew the roundabout RF so fast. He also no longer sleeps in the car since he's been front facing, which sometimes is frustrating.

 

[chickabiddy]

Both the Scenera and the Roundabout rear-face to 35# and forward-face to 40# -- but a forward-facing seat is outgrown by height when the child's shoulders are above the top strap settings, so even if you have more time by weight than you realized, it seems as if he's very close to outgrowing it by height so it's probably time to shop.

The Radian80SL would be an excellent choice if he's 34# now -- he could use the seat rear-facing to 45# and then forward-facing for a while (kids do NOT make it anywhere close to 80# before outgrowing the seat by height).

 

[ElaynesMom]

As the pp said, though he hasn't outgrown either of your seats by weight ff, he has outgrown them both by height.

I'd go with the radian80sl to rf him too and then just get a hbb later

 

[mamasthree]

Just to make you aware, the Nautilus or the Frontier will be the last seat you'll need...you will need to buy a HBB after the Radian. Of course, you can't rearface with either of those, but if you don't plan on rearfacing or if you don't plan on handing the Radian down to a sibling, you may be better off with one of the others.

The radian is heavy, but it does fold and come with a carry strap. I for one would not want to lug mine anywhere and would get an inexpensive & light seat for travel.

 

[DahliaRW]

A radian and rf him.

 

[Erinity]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamasthree The radian is heavy, but it does fold and come with a carry strap. I for one would not want to lug mine anywhere and would get an inexpensive & light seat for travel.

Do you ahve any suggestions on a travel seat?

We do not have a second baby yet, but are planning on trying, soon. Who knows when we'll be blessed though. I'm hoping soon enough so we don't have to rebuy car seats, but definitely know to check expiration dates before hand.

 

[Erinity]

We ended up ordering the Radian and the bag that you can get with it, my husband is confident he'll be fine carrying it through the airport.

Thanks for all the help!