Need booster recommendation

[randmel]

My daughter is turning 5 next month and is finally 40 pounds. So, we'll be passing on her FPSE to my niece next year.

I started perusing the various posts on booster seats in this forum, and I quickly got very overwhelmed. I just need a bottomline recommendation on the best booster seat to get. I don't need one with a 5-pt harness. I was thinking about getting a simple $50 seat at Wal-Mart, but they all just seem so uncomfortable - and the padded ones are by companies that I wouldn't normally buy something so important from.

It's looking like if I want to get a decent seat (having only now realized that it needs to last several more years), it appears I need to plan on spending about $100 on one. And I need a common enough seat that I can find one at the local Babies R Us -- I'd rather not deal with online purchases.

So, can you give me your top 3 choices and why? Or, could I get by on the simple Graco TurboBooster that doesn't have a back? Or would that be ultimately uncomfortable for her to ride in? Would that be suitable for the occasional ride in grandma's car?

Thanks,
Melissa

[Joni]

If you don't want to spend more than $50, get a Graco Turbo. They have several models of simple fabric that are right around there. The backless boosters are for kids who are over 40 lbs and to be used only in cars with seat backs that are high enough to protect their neck from whiplash. They Turbo with a back has EPS foam in the head rest and is decently padded and can be found anywhere so you can bargain hunt. The next seat I would recommend for that price would be the Evenflo Big Kid. They are a bit cheaper but don't have the EPS foam in the headrest and don't offer as much torso protection. And lastly for a bargain seat I'd recommend the Cosco Protek. It too doesn't have EPS foam and can be a bit more challenging to buckle but it is pretty low priced.
JONI CPST (who dearly loves my daughter's Turbo)

[randmel]

Thanks for the recommendations! What about seats in the $100 range (just for comparison sake)? I was seeing some talk about seats in that range that offer side-impact protection. Is that really a big deal? Right now we are in a Honda Odyssey -- the girls are sitting in captain's chairs, but we may move to an Accord sedan next year.

Update to post: I did some more sifting through posts in this forum, and it appears that the Turbo and Parkway are good choices depending on the pricerange. So, I'll take DD out shopping and go with my gut. :-)

Melissa

[Joolsplus2]

The Parkway is so nice and easy to buckle, my 8 yo really loves that the best of our current boosters (um...we have a few..., lol)...it works perfectly in our Odyssey, too (there's a model at BRU and one at Target, at least at bigger Targets).

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-09/chop-htb090905.php has an article on the safety of highback boosters..."Most of the injuries to children seated in backless booster seats were head injuries."

The Turbo's great, too...it's the same shape, basically, including EPS foam in the headrest, but the Parkway is actually tested extensively to keep the head contained in a side impact crash.

:)
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[Joni]

If you're willing to pay $100, I'd go for the Parkway. I was going back and forth but because I needed to buy 2 boosters, the Turbo's won out but for only one seat, I'd go Britax.
JONI CPST

[randmel]

I went to BRU, and they have a TurboBooster with padding they call Memory Foam or something like that. It's $70. Anyway, it feels much more comfortable than the other TurboBoosters, which are $50 -- and if I were going to get the TB, I would get the $70 one.

And then they have the Parkway -- it's $100.

So for a $30 difference, do y'all vote that I should just go with the Parkway? Where is the EPS foam in the Parkway? Is it throughout the whole seat or just the headrest?

And if the Parkway will make it easier for her buckle herself in, then it's worth the extra money. $50 is a big price difference in seats -- but $30 seems a good bit less so to me.

Melissa

[Joolsplus2]

There's EPS foam in the Parkway headrest (the only place that needs it, anyway)...I haven't taken mine apart lately, but it may also be in the sidewings.
The Parkway's not *that* much easier to buckle (that is, the Turbo isn't rocket science, but I see a lot of kids/grandparents/distracted parents, put the seatbelt OVER the armrest instead of under, on the buckle side, so there's more of an element of 'might mess up and get it wrong'), but it still is my ds's favorite for that reason (he has a lot of boosters, and he loves that easy buckling Parkway best, lol). The Parkway is also bigger than the Turbo by an inch here, an inch there...it really does last most kids till they are out of boosters (the Turbo gets a little tight on bigger kids, and they end up in something else when they are 9 or so, if they are in a car that still doesn't fit them...so if you budget in yet another $14 for a Cosco Ambassador after the Turbo, the Parkway is even less 'more', lol)

:)
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx