Car Seats - McHenry, IL

Sunshine Kids Radian and Safeguard child seat and go booster are all seats for bigger kids that have very high weight limits and also high height limits for the 5 pt booster (in addition to the previously mentioned Britax Regent). I'm currently trying to decide between the 3 I mentioned for my daughter come December when we'll need her current seat for our new baby. I'm leaning toward the safeguard child seat, though it is very expensive. We currently have a Britax carseat, and I like it but I think the other seats have features I like better than the Regent. Check out www.elitecarseats.com for some good user and expert reviews on different seats.

It is definitely safer to keep children in a 5-pt harness as long as possible! (Heck, we would all be safer in a 5-pt harness!) Most of the seats have high weight limits, but it is important to remember that children typically grow out of their carseats in height before weight.

You have a couple options...

Britax Regent- It is 5-pt harness to 80 lbs and had top harness slots of 20" It retails for approx $270

Apex 65 - It is 5-pt harness to 65 lbs and then turns to a belt-positioning booster until 100 lbs. The top harness slots are 17.5" (though some designs like the brown 'elite' one is rumored to have higher slots). The thing about the Apex is that you must have high seat backs in your car, as the headrest of the Apex depends on the headrest of your car. It retails for $130.

Sunshine Kids Radian 65- It is a 5-pt harness to 65 and has top harness slot to approx 18". I have heard that some people have problems installing it in their cars. It retails for approx $180.

I personally have the Apex 65 for my 4 year old twin boys and it works great for us. They are both in the 90-95% for height and I believe they will still have at least 2 years in the 5-pt before we switch it to a BPB. We have a 2007 Honda Odyssey and a 2001 Ford Windstar and it fits great in both vehicles.

You can get a ton of carseat info and advice at www.car-seat.org There are several carseat techs there that regularly post and help people with their carseat issues. :)

We recently got the Cosco Apex Booster and have been very happy with it. The five point harness is good up to 65 lbs.

I am in the same quest for my 16 month old. For my 4 year old, we have the Britax Regent and I really like it. The straps twist (which I was told never happens with Britax, but it does for many people now that I have researched more), but they don't twist as bad as other car seats I've had. My 4 year old loves his soft seat. It is wide and tall, so it will fit him hopefully until he is out of a car seat for good. I, personally, feel kids should be in a 5 pt. harness for as long as possible. It's safer.

Geri mentioned the available ones, but there are also some new ones coming out this summer/early fall. Recaro (they are right up there with Britax on safety- they make race car seats) is coming out with a Recaro Como and Signo that is a convertible that has a 70 lb. weight limit and 5 point harness until 70 lbs (Como should be out anytime now, Signo they are saying Aug/Sept). It'll be in the $200 price range somewhere. Evenflo is coming out with a Triumph Advance and Titan Advance that has a 5 point harness until 50 lbs. I have read some Babies R Us' have the Triumph Advance already in the store, and it is around $140.

I am personally waiting to see the new Recaro's. My 16 month old is too small for a Regent, but the other Britax's aren't tall enough for him (he's almost outgrown the height on those).

Another tidbit, Target.com (as of yesterday) is having free shipping on 2 or more baby items. Most of the car seats (check under the product details tabs to see for sure) you buy online can be returned to the store. So, they sell a lot of car seats on line that you can't find at almost any store around here, so I bought 2 and plan on returning one (or both) to the store. That way I can try them out without driving all of kingdom come to find a store that has it.

Good luck, what a pain- car seat shopping.

I.-

I bought the Britax Regent because it had the 5 point harness. It was up there in price www.tinyride.com (free shipping) but well worth the money to me and the weight limit is 80 lbs! It also has the tether strap which I love!

Good luck and I hope this helps-
Jackie