What is the narrowest/compact FF car seat for a toddler?

[L'sMommy]

Ok, before people start telling me that it is best to RF a toddler/kid as long as possible, please know that DS is RF in a Radian XTSL in our daily driver. We do have another vehicle (a sports car) that we miss driving because infant seats cannot fit in the back seat. Now that he is old enough and weighs enough to FF we can finally use that vehicle for short trips from time to time (or when DH wants to take DS somewhere by himself and leaves the daily driver for me; i don't drive the other car as it's a manual). I need a narrow FF seat for that car. Shockingly, the Radian actually fits in it when FF but I don't want to get a second Radian and it's too heavy to keep shuffling it between cars. so, I'm looking for other FF suggestions that are narrow like the radian.

[lowrioh]

We have a Mustang and our Britax Roundabout fits in very well in the back seat. We were to have it RF as well but it took a lot of gymnastics to get DD in and out.
Is there a reason you don't want another Radian besides cost? You can get a Radian 65 for $184 from babycatalog.com and have diapers.com price match and then do the 10% off first time customer and 10% Bing cash back which would make it ~$150.

ETA: babyviva also has the Radian 65 for $184

[arivecchi]

I do not know of any other car seats that are as narrow as Radians. I used my XTSL FFing when we travelled with my two DC in the Caribbean and I loved it FFing so much more than RFing. Having said that, in order to give you other recs:

how old is your DC?
how tall is your DC?
how much does your DC weigh?
what car will this second car seat be in?
any specific features you want - such as SIP?

[jjordan]

The Evenflo maestro is one of the narrower FF only seats, and it is also light and easy to install (from what I've heard).

[Joolsplus2]

If that car has a top tether anchor I'd strongly recommend another Radian, because it has the safestop feature to help reduce neck and chest loads on young FF toddlers, to help prevent head and neck injuries. Britax seats also have a super narrow base and a rip stitch tether that reduces neck loads. If the Kiddy Life Plus were out yet, I'd say go for that, it has a shield which is the safest way to put a young child forward facing (allows neck and shoulders to move forward at the same time, rather than the head ripping forward by itself)...that's not coming out till Summer, though, I don't think.

[L'sMommy]

Thanks all. No, I am not averse to getting another Radain. I'm just the type of person who has to explore all the possibilities before making a decision.....just wanted to see what other FF options were out there. DS is small....20 lbs and not sure of height but he's short according to the growth curve.

The car is a Porsche and the challenge is that it doesn't have a top tether or LATCH (even though it's only 4 yrs old).

[AnnieW625]

Thanks all. No, I am not averse to getting another Radain. I'm just the type of person who has to explore all the possibilities before making a decision.....just wanted to see what other FF options were out there. DS is small....20 lbs and not sure of height but he's short according to the growth curve.

The car is a Porsche and the challenge is that it doesn't have a top tether or LATCH (even though it's only 4 yrs old).

Go over to Car-seat.org as I believe one of the moderators there Wendy at one time had or has a Porsche, she might be able to help.

Also butting in for Jools, but is this the line that you are talking about? http://www.mykiddy.de/index.php?cat=c5_KIDDY.html . If so they look really neat! How come though some of the models aren't shown with harnesses?

[L'sMommy]

Jools - I looked up the Kiddy Life Plus seat and funny enough, the car seat that Porsche makes is that same seat (probably that manufacturer - but the sales guy didn't know the mfg when I asked). We put that in the porsche but DS is too small for it (meets weight requirement but his chin touches the part up front), and it's VERY restricting...he can't even move his arms around that much. I like the 5-pt harness much more, but I see what you are saying from a safety perspective. It certainly would protect a child in an impact.

[Joolsplus2]

No top tethers in a convertible I can understand... no Lower anchors in a car that new? You're 100% sure on that?
Try the Radian in any case, don't use the safestop if you have no top tether.
As for the Kiddy, cool you tried it. When you have so little room for head excursion, you need as much confinement as possible (heads striking seatbacks is what causes the most head and neck injury, and there's simply zero room for movement in the back, so as much as you can keep the kiddo back, the better the odds of surviving a crash without injury). He's just too small to FF in it, or any seat, but I won't harp, I promise. The Britaxes fit rearfacing, but not forward facing, in Wendy's Porsche, the seats are too scooped.

[L'sMommy]

I doublechecked the manual and there are no lower anchors. Only the coupes have top tethers. It looks like convertibles don't have any anchors at all, and the latch system is available only in the front passenger seat. When we bought the car (pre-pregnancy), they told us that most porsche owners put the car seat in the front after disabling the air bag.... I guess there's not a high demand for proper child restraint systems in porsches!

So - can we use the radian with just the seat belt? I don't want to not take the car when all 3 of us need to go somewhere. Right now, his infant seat is in the back, but no one can sit in the front seat because RF takes up so much room. So, when it's just DH and DS needing to go somewhere, they take the porsche. Otherwise we take the daily driver.

[Joolsplus2]

Yeah, any seat can be installed with just a seatbelt...as long as it installs tightly, with less than an inch of movement at the belt path, it should perform reasonably well, the Radian is a bit better than others with regards to lowering head excursion, so if it works, that would be best.