Like the title says, we're in need of a new car seat. My soon to be 17 month old daughter has hit the height limit of her infant carrier/car seat combo. She's still below the max weight of the seat by a solid 8 pounds.

I've looked at several and so far we're currently leaning towards the Diono Radian 3QX. Any experience with those? Any other options we should consider? I'm not concerned about the price as much as I am keeping her safe. She is our only child so multiple seats fitting into a car isn't a concern. We'll end up with at least 2 and possibly 3 depending on how much of a pain it is to move between cars.

Diono Radian 3QX

Our 16 month old rides around in a Graco Safety Plus.

Our twins rode around in them before her.

I feel she adequately protected. But she's my 6th kid and I remember how different the first one was. They all function the same basic way, put the harness up on the upper chest, make sure it's TIGHT, her comfort comes second to her security, and make sure the straps are coming out of the correct hole for her height and most all are safe as they can be engineered, you're only paying more for name and fanciness.

Protect her more with the type of car she's in, wouldn't let mine ride in the 64 beetle or 76 CJ for obvious reasons.

ETA: wasn't implying your transporting your child in anything that isn't safe at this time, just trying to put perspective on safety of cars seats.

Your vehicle owners manual probably has a extensive section on car seats - I'd check to make sure whatever you're buying will match those (LATCH system, etc). Also check your state laws...they may have specific requirements.

Once you've checked those boxes, you're probably wanting some form of 'convertible' model that will grow with her for some time. Usually from car seat to booster seat.

If you're not planning on needing the one you have, and depending on the manufacture year stamped on it, you can normally donate it through agencies, sometimes the fire dept. or hospital, to help those in need.

I'd also recommend one of the seat protectors that go under/behind to keep your seats from getting permanent indents and food/junk in all the nooks and crannies.

Our household is within ~1 inch of being car-seat free...thank goodness...tho to tell you the truth, the cup holders, cubbies, and catching alot of the stuff they drop isn't a bad thing.


Probably plenty of YT vids to help steer you in the right direction.

Good luck!
Boss

I had an acquaintance who was California Highway Patrol and being a brand new parent he double checked my seat install job for me. They will do this for no charge at your local station btw. He said they can’t endorse a brand but check just about any cops personal car seat and it’s usually Britax. That was the brand we had. Also we were in a small fender bender (we see hit, not our fault) when my kids were very small. Not sure if a CA insurance law or national law but my agent said buy new seats and send me the bill and the insurance co HAD to reimburse for new ones 100%. Also instructed Me to cut the seat webbing so the seats in the accident couldn’t be used. Got to test serrated and non serrated blades out.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ElToro,

Ohhh, I can't help from recent experience.
We dropped off our youngest (of six) at college today. Sophomore year, she'll be 20 in January. But I can ask our oldest (will be 33 in March) what she's using. She & her husband have a 2-1/2 year old and a 4+ month old. The older one is a pistol, and if her car seat works for her, it'll work for you!!

We’ve been through a lot of car seats due to multiple accidents in our vehicles during our time as parents, most recently we lost 2 cars in July due to other people’s inattention.

We have mostly used Diono Radians (and their prior name, Sunshine). But we have also used Chicco and Graco. The Diono Radians have been great and protected my kids in an accident on July 4th when someone turned into our lane of travel while we were going 55.

However, we replaced them with Britax this time. A major reason we went with Diono in the Pat was they were so narrow and we had to fit 3 in a row. That is no longer a necessity as our oldest is now out of car seats.

The Britax One4Life ClickTight is amazing. Most car seats are a pain in the A to install, especially if you’re trying to put it in a third row. These are not. They use a standard seat belt and are self tightening. I’ll NEVER use a different seat again.

In the past I’d do anything to avoid having to take out car seats but not anymore. Just last night my wife needed more room to haul some stuff in her minivan. No problem babe. 2 minutes later both car seats were out and the seats were stowed away in the floor. They’ll go back just as fast.

https://www.target.com/p/brita...afewash/-/A-79178893

my kids have been out of car seats for many years, but when we had them, I swore by Britax for most of the time, then switched to Recaro for the boosters. Racing seat tech for my kids, yes please.

Thanks for the advice everyone!

I actually ordered the Britax that thumperfbc linked above from Amazon this morning. The installation and being made in the US vs China like most other seats is what sold me on it. With the ease of install/removal we might be able to get by with one seat for all three cars.

I was a kid in the 50's. "Child car seats," who ever heard of such a thing? It was my mom's arm coming across my chest when she hit the brakes. How did we ever survive?

My wife really likes Graco for all our kids.

One tip/trick I can pass on to you when installing this seat with the LATCH connectors:

1. Clip one side in

2. Center the seat well

3. Make sure it’s leveled properly. We often had to use a tightly rolled up towel to place underneath a gap to help keep level. Very important

4. Now, GET ON TOP OF THE SEAT. I mean like get one if not both knees on it and put your whole weight into pressing it down

5. Now take your other LATCH strap and clip it on and pull that SOB with all your might to tighten
When you get up out of the seat, that will tighten even more rock solid

It’s not fun and you may beat your knees up a little but it makes for a very tightly strapped in car seat.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
My wife really likes Graco for all our kids.

One tip/trick I can pass on to you when installing this seat with the LATCH connectors:

1. Clip one side in

2. Center the seat well

3. Make sure it’s leveled properly. We often had to use a tightly rolled up towel to place underneath a gap to help keep level. Very important

4. Now, GET ON TOP OF THE SEAT. I mean like get one if not both knees on it and put your whole weight into pressing it down

5. Now take your other LATCH strap and clip it on and pull that SOB with all your might to tighten
When you get up out of the seat, that will tighten even more rock solid

It’s not fun and you may beat your knees up a little but it makes for a very tightly strapped in car seat.

That’s what I used to do. Then I bought the Britax ClickTight. Try it, you won’t go back to climbing on the car seat.

Been quite a bit since we used them but Britax was the go to. I could have dragged her behind the car in those and she would have been fine.

Like was said most PD/FD folks use Britax.

Chris

……oh and, sigh, since this is the 21st century Internet and we know the world can’t take a friggin joke anymore …….. I do not nor have I ever condoned dragging a child behind the car. Some adults however……..but I digress.

How do you like the new car seats?

My 5 year old puked in his the other day, so I can confirm that the padding/cover of the seat portion is easily removed and installed.

Thanks to this thread, I went to look at the Britax on Amazon, started reading reviews, and came across this site:

Baby Gear Labs car seat reviews, crash test results

Per their testing, the Graco Extend2Fit seats we bought from Amazon scored highest on actual crash testing, so we see no need to move to a different seat. Also they work up to 50 pounds, so we're OK for a few years for the granddaughters.

I’m a certified car seat installer (yes that’s a thing and it’s a very hard class). Keep your kid rear facing as long as possible, even if it seems like their legs are getting a bit smooshed. A convertible seat with a harness that will turn to forward facing as they grow would probably be your best bet. I can’t recommend a brand but I’d check NHTSA’s website before buying one to make sure there’s not a recall on it.

You want an inch or less of movement where the strap goes across the seat. You can either use the latch system or the seatbelt. The latch systems usually have a 40 pound max rating for the child and seat combined. Feel free to shoot me an email if you have any other questions.