Convertible Car Seats and the X

[DiamondHands]

Hello my fellow X- (and S)-owning parents!

I'm looking to graduate my 2 1/2 year old to a convertible car seat that'll last him until he's big enough to not need a booster.

Is there any particular brand/model that you guys prefer, or wish you had purchased, for your X or S?

Thanks for your input!

 

[hmcgregoraz]

Hi,

We have not used these in the Tesla yet (X is on order), but have used them in multiple Priuses, as well as other vehicles.

We love the Radian series, we purchased them as SunShine Kids, now it's Diono.

They are narrow, do rear facing, front facing, and now booster (we used them pre-booster).

In fact we recently ordered one for our quickly growing 4.5 month old son. Amazon.com : Diono Radian RXT All-In-One Convertible Car Seat, Shadow : Convertible Child Safety Car Seats : Baby

I forgot to mention, setup a ongoing price alert on Camel Camel Camel for it, current price is ~$288, we picked it up for $214 plus tax.

-Harry

 

[DiamondHands]

Hi,

We have not used these in the Tesla yet (X is on order), but have used them in multiple Priuses, as well as other vehicles.

We love the Radian series, we purchased them as SunShine Kids, now it's Diono.

They are narrow, do rear facing, front facing, and now booster (we used them pre-booster).

In fact we recently ordered one for our quickly growing 4.5 month old son. Amazon.com : Diono Radian RXT All-In-One Convertible Car Seat, Shadow : Convertible Child Safety Car Seats : Baby

I forgot to mention, setup a ongoing price alert on Camel Camel Camel for it, current price is ~$288, we picked it up for $214 plus tax.

-Harry

Hey Harry- many thanks for the tip. Thus far we've been using Britax, so I don't know much about this brand, but it certainly seems top notch from what I have read having looked over your link.

 

[hmcgregoraz]

Hey Harry- many thanks for the tip. Thus far we've been using Britax, so I don't know much about this brand, but it certainly seems top notch from what I have read having looked over your link.

We originally started with Britax, the boulevard specifically, and found it was just too wide to work well in our cars (mostly Priuses), and we had a major issue on an airplane, the buckle was behind the seat, took 3 of us (including the pilot) working together to get it unbuckled. Every flight since then we get a seatbelt extender for the car seat...

The Radian is very very rugged, and has a metal frame, and is much narrower then the Britax. Don't get me wrong, we are using a Britax B-Safe carrier, and love it, but the convertibles get huge.

Another useful link if you travel with kids, is the Boost-A-Pak, for when they are in booster seats. It's amazing for any travel that you rent a vehicle or take taxis or Uber. Amazon.com : Safety 1st Boostapak Belt-Positioning Booster Car Seat : Child Safety Booster Car Seats : Baby

-Harry

 

[LuckyX]

I've had both britax and diono. Currently using diono in my X. They are a pain to install due to the superlatches get in the way and takes quite a bit of pulling and micro adjusting a few days later.

Had 3 diono radians now using 2 radians forward facing in the 3rd row and britax advocate clicktight in the 2nd rear facing.

Britax goes in and locked in about 5mins vs diono 20-30mins per seat.

I chose the diono because of the long term functionality and the narrower profile.

Radian vs marathon are equal in comparison. Both great. Blvd and advocate are higher levels as comparable to diono's top of the line.

 

[DiamondHands]

Really appreciate the tips you guys.

We've got 2 britax advocate clicktights, and as sturdy as they may be, they're super wide!!!

We figured we'll keep our infant in the britax, and perhaps get the radian for our 2 1/2 yr old.

 

[flying_things]

I have one britax and two Diono Radian RTX. Love the radian! It is so narrow so that I can put two radian in 2nd row(one in the middle and one in the side), and one adult can still seat comfortably in 2nd row.

 

[DiamondHands]

You know guys, my only concern with the narrower car seats was whether or not the kids would have enough side collision protection – what do you guys think? Had you considered this when buying your car seats?

 

[flying_things]

Radian has metal frame on the side for side collision prevention, thus it is much heavier than my britax.

 

[DiamondHands]

Radian has metal frame on the side for side collision prevention, thus it is much heavier than my britax.

Thanks

 

[martinicus]

Check out the Clek ones. We just moved our 4 year old into a OObr booster and it's great. Metal frame. I don't have their Foonf convertible but have heard good things. Our favorite convertible is the Peg Perego Viaggio, very nice fabric and looks. Also have a britax boulevard, which is perfectly functional but the britax materials always feel kind of cheap.

 

[DiamondHands]

Done.

Thanks a lot y'all!

 

[bushburner]

I got two radians rxt for my six seater and I love them. Narrow but feel very sturdy. Dont know about other car seats, but with the radians, the one press forward will allow the seats to articulate allowing easy acccess to the third row.

 

[Xminus6]

Yup. We've switched over the Dionos as well for the past few years. They fit well but seem very well built.

 

[flyhigh123]

i have 2 radians and a rainer... both rock solid. except hard to put 2 rear facing in middle and back row.

 

[bushburner]

Make sure you put some type of padding on the top of the convertible car seat to prevent indentation on the seat. I put a microfiber towel in between the seats, trying to find a better looking solution.

 

[DiamondHands]

Make sure you put some type of padding on the top of the convertible car seat to prevent indentation on the seat. I put two towels, trying to find a better looking solution.

Thanks for the tip!

Would you mind sharing a photo showing what/how you mean?

 

[bushburner]

I'll get a better picture later when I get home, this was from a car meet. Notice the bright yellow towel sticking out like a sore thumb.

 

[DiamondHands]

I'll get a better picture later when I get home, this was from a car meet. Notice the bright yellow towel sticking out like a sore thumb.

Dude sweet ride! That's the same color combo we're getting. I see what you mean there with the yellow towel- maybe white foam or a white towel would be less prominent?

Also, did you get your ride wrapped with X-PEL or anything like that? She's looking quite shiny there.

 

[bushburner]

you're going to love the seats. Good eye, the front end is wrapped with Premium shield and the whole car is double coated with 22ple mistico zx1.