The key is the harness, not the kind of seat it sits in. Convertible or 3-in-1 or harnessed booster all have the same safety tests and certifications, so it doesn't really matter which you choose, as long as you choose a 5-point-harness UNTIL your child meets ALL of these factors: * At least 40 pounds (otherwise submarining is more likely) * Able to sit properly in a 3-point booster ALL the time * The above is usually a question of maturity, and age 5-6 is the youngest a child can be expected to be mature enough and some are not mature enough until much later.
The maturity factor is why my almost 9 year old is still harnessed in my car. I am removing the harness when she turns 9 as she is doing well remembering to sit properly lately. She has severe ADHD and is very squirmy.
I’m always amazed by kids who fit in harnessed seats that old! My kids all outgrew the radian as a FF harness seat before their 4th birthdays and my 8 year old is both too tall and too heavy for a harnessed frontier! My 5 year old is on the top click of the harness in his frontier!
My kid is tiny. She is 59 pounds and 49" tall at a couple months shy of 9. I think that's around 25%.
I’m always amazed by kids who fit in harnessed seats that old! My kids all outgrew the radian as a FF harness seat before their 4th birthdays and my 8 year old is both too tall and too heavy for a harnessed frontier! My 5 year old is on the top click of the harness in his frontier!
My kid is tiny. She is 59 pounds and 49" tall at a couple months shy of 9. I think that's around 25%.
Oh wow, she is petite! My 8 year old is 58” and 86 lbs! My 10 year is is 59” and 80 lbs! Neither even needs a booster to fit correctly anymore.
I’m always amazed by kids who fit in harnessed seats that old! My kids all outgrew the radian as a FF harness seat before their 4th birthdays and my 8 year old is both too tall and too heavy for a harnessed frontier! My 5 year old is on the top click of the harness in his frontier!
My kid is tiny. She is 59 pounds and 49" tall at a couple months shy of 9. I think that's around 25%.
That was me at 11. Seriously. I was literally the smallest person in my class until I hit my growth spurt in 10th grade.
My kid seems to take after me. He'll be harnessed FOREVER.
I switched him a couple months ago from the chicco next fit to a diono radian. It's a high back booster with a 5 point harness. He sits more straight-up-and-down and just seems to have more room. I have no intention of switching him out of the 5 point harness for many years.
We have the Graco tranzitions in my dad's car and I really like that seat as well.
Your 3 year old is the size of my 6 year old! He is still harnessed in a diono radian but I think we are going to run into the issue where he outgrows the harness height before he even meets the weight limit to use the seatbelt (50 lbs.) so I'm not sure what we'll do then.
The key is the harness, not the kind of seat it sits in. Convertible or 3-in-1 or harnessed booster all have the same safety tests and certifications, so it doesn't really matter which you choose, as long as you choose a 5-point-harness UNTIL your child meets ALL of these factors: * At least 40 pounds (otherwise submarining is more likely) * Able to sit properly in a 3-point booster ALL the time * The above is usually a question of maturity, and age 5-6 is the youngest a child can be expected to be mature enough and some are not mature enough until much later.
The maturity factor is why my almost 9 year old is still harnessed in my car. I am removing the harness when she turns 9 as she is doing well remembering to sit properly lately. She has severe ADHD and is very squirmy.
I’m always amazed by kids who fit in harnessed seats that old! My kids all outgrew the radian as a FF harness seat before their 4th birthdays and my 8 year old is both too tall and too heavy for a harnessed frontier! My 5 year old is on the top click of the harness in his frontier!
Isn't the Radian like 56 inches or something for harnessed?
We have one and I was planning on switching it to my car from my my husband's since DD1's current seat expires in May. I hope I don't have to get 2 new seats. Ugh.
I’m always amazed by kids who fit in harnessed seats that old! My kids all outgrew the radian as a FF harness seat before their 4th birthdays and my 8 year old is both too tall and too heavy for a harnessed frontier! My 5 year old is on the top click of the harness in his frontier!
Isn't the Radian like 56 inches or something for harnessed?
We have one and I was planning on switching it to my car from my my husband's since DD1's current seat expires in May. I hope I don't have to get 2 new seats. Ugh.
I think the limitation is the harness has to be above the shoulders and it doesn’t have particularly high harness slots for FF.
I’m always amazed by kids who fit in harnessed seats that old! My kids all outgrew the radian as a FF harness seat before their 4th birthdays and my 8 year old is both too tall and too heavy for a harnessed frontier! My 5 year old is on the top click of the harness in his frontier!
Isn't the Radian like 56 inches or something for harnessed?
We have one and I was planning on switching it to my car from my my husband's since DD1's current seat expires in May. I hope I don't have to get 2 new seats. Ugh.
That’s their stated height limit, but from an actual use standpoint they last nowhere near that long. A harnessed seat is outgrown either at the stated height limit, when the tops of the ears reach the top of the shell or when the shoulders go above the top harness slots. In the US diono does (or did when I was still using them, they often change their rules) allow use when the shoulders went above the top harness slots, but since it was only in the US and not Canada or elsewhere and they’re literally he only manufacturer who allowed it I didn’t feel it was safe and discontinued use once we were even with the top harness slot.
Also, while they advertise that they are high back boosters, they rarely work out for that. The weight minimum to use it in booster mode is 50 lbs, but my kids outgrew the harness by 40 lbs, so there was a 10 lb period (about 2 years) where they were too tall for the harness but still below the weight minimum to use it as a booster. By the time they were 50 lbs the tops of their ears were above the top of the shell and the booster was outgrown.
We recently got the Myfit which is a combo harness/high back booster. He likes it because it's more of a "big kid" seat and I like that he can be harnessed a lot longer.
How do you like the MyFit? We've been looking at getting that seat for DD1 and switching DD2 to the Boulevard Clicktights. I love that it is one of the only harness to booster seats that you can recline and is still a really skinny seat. It's new to the market but reviews I did find look good and that it fits older kids really well. DD loves all the color choices.
The Diono seat my niece has is so straight upright and has very little padding it looks uncomfortable for long car rides.
I like it a lot! In my car DS is completely upright, but to get a good install in H's car, the seat is reclined a little bit. It is definitely slimmer size wise compared to what we had before (Chicco Nextfit). I'm happy DS will be in a harness for longer and he's happy he's in a "big kid" seat.
The only thing I don't love is the seat belt lock off. I much prefer the Nextfit lock off, but don't plan to move the seat from car to car so it's fine.
Definitely a harnessed booster. We have several types by now. The Graco Transitions is a nice cheaper options. It's great for traveling too as it's not wide and light weight. The Britax Frontier is really nice too but larger/heavier.