Thursday, March 21, 2013

Car Seats: Chicco Keyfit 30, Recaro ProRIDE, Radian RXT

I guess I haven't posted to this blog in a long time. I had a kid about a year and a half ago, so that explains why. My sister was looking for a new car seat recently for her son who's heading towards two years old now, so I figured I'd review our car seats since we have three different ones now.

The first car seat we had was this Chicco Keyfit 30. This one works for children less than 30 pounds and shorter than 30 inches, so this is for infants. We like this car seat a lot. The infant insert fits well when the passenger is very small. The harness's cam-buckle operation is very smooth, making it work well when you have a child that doesn't want to cooperate. The base clicks in easily to the seat also, and the base has a convenient bubble level and multiposition angle adjustment for leveling. The only drawback I can think of is that the seat + child is quite heavy, so carrying it is hard on the biceps. I don't know if other infant seats are lighter. We used this in a 1998 Camry sedan.

The second car seat we bought is the Recaro Proride Convertible. This car seat is for bigger kids. You can't take this out of the car on a regular basis because it doesn't click into a base like an infant seat. This particular seat has a smooth action cam buckle also which I like. The straps are nice and flexible which is nice for maneuvering them around flailing baby arms. This car seat was hard to install though, mostly because it's so big and tall, but also because the seat belt path is an awkward position for our car. What's weird about this seat is that the seat base is super tall, but the actual seating position is quite small. When setup for rear facing, there isn't much legroom, and the seat is pretty narrow between the side bolsters for a larger child. The height makes it hard to fit in a car with low headroom, AND even if you have enough headroom, I ended up bumping (gently) our kid's head on the headliner quite a few times while getting him into the seat. This is our experience with it rear facing. We haven't tried front facing yet. We use it in a 2012 Honda Accord sedan with no sunroof which has a good amount of headroom for a sedan.

The third car seat we bought is a Radian RXT. We bought this for use in a 2004 Volvo V70. This seat back is taller than the Recaro, and the seat is deeper meaning there's more legroom in a rear facing configuration. It folds up for transport (the reason we bought it), but it is also narrow so people are able to install 3 in a row in a smallish sedan. It seems like the seat is more comfortable in the rear facing configuration than the Recaro because there's more space. However, there are some drawbacks to this seat. Since the seat back is so tall, you need a lot of space to install it rear facing. In our Volvo, I think it would be difficult to install behind one of the front seats; instead, I put it in the middle position. The cam buckle is also more clunky; the action just isn't as smooth when tightening it. I often have to pull pretty hard to make it move just a bit, so now I don't loosen the cam buckle when taking our kid out of the seat. I only adjust the cam buckle when his clothes either make the straps too tight or too loose. Also the straps and shoulder pads are not as flexible as the Recaro.

In summary, we like the Chicco a lot, but neither the Recaro nor the Radian is perfect (at least in rear facing mode). Maybe our opinions will change after switching to front facing.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hay, It`s me. This is Sobuj Sardar . I read your article. i understand something on your article.Britax Marathon 70-g3 Convertible Car Seat is really very specially perfect for our so so cute kids. I purchased them several months ago. There are a plethora of reviews that pit the Britax against the Recaro, so to save you reading time, I'll keep my review brief:

Pros of Both:
-Sturdy, High Quality
-Great padding
-Plenty of adjustment for a good secure fit (and our little girl is definitely behind the growth curve in weight: 1 year old and 17 pounds!)

Thank you
Sobuj

Unknown said...

Hey , I am retu really enjoyed your post .It is amazing great post I have seen ever in this topic.
"Chicco Keyfit 30, Recaro ProRIDE, Radian RXT "
The three car seat is amazing .But my baby is using Britax Marathon 70-G3 .It is not adjastable for my baby.So I will take Chicco Keyfit 30 . It is awesome I thought.
Thank you,
retu

Anonymous said...

Alex,

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Car Seat Reviews

Unknown said...

Very Nice blog content , Its really Helpfull to me same like this reversible car seat