Which booster w/5pt harness is FAA approved?

[jill123]

We will be flying soon and we need to get a second seat for our 3 year old. We have a Regent (love it), but I know it is not FAA approved. Any reccommendations for a second FAA approved seat? My DD is 33 pounds and super tall at 41 inches so Marathon will not work. We need a tall seat. Thanks!

[jill123]

After doing a little research I think the Radian would work well. Anyone have one?

[kellyotn]

Jump over to the Baby car seat board, its a bit more active and that seat is talked about a lot. :) I'm sure you can find lots of info there.

Basically, its a nice seat with some serious installation problems when using the seat belt in front facing mode. Its ok with LATCH, but LATCH on must cars must be discontinued when the child is 48 lbs. So, then you have to use the seat belt. I'd really worry about it for traveling as you may very well end up with a rental car in which is doesn't not install well.

Its unfortunate, because it seems to be a very nice seat with a high limit!

[jill123]

Thank you! I will look on the other board.

[tjham]

Why will the Marathon not work? My granddaughter is 43" and is under the second slot from the top of the MA.

[jill123]

We tried a MA and her shoulders were right at the top slots. I don't want to spend another $250 for a seat she will outgrow in a few months.

[momtoB]

Well I was going to suggest an Evenflo Bolero combo seat but the shoulder heights are the same as the MA so you'll have the same problem with that as the MA (although it does convert to a nice bpb so it would still be usable later on). The Radian might be your only choice out there since your dd is so long torso'd. You might also check the Cosco Apex (also called Safety 1st Apex 65 or something like that) to see how the top harness slots compare to the Radian. The Apex is a combo seat so will convert to a bpb down the road. I'm not sure if it's airline approved or not though. It's about $130 so a bit less expensive than the Radian and also a lot lighter. The Radian is well-engineered but it's also pretty heavy, about 20lbs or so I think. (check out their site www.skjp.com)

hth!

[christiab]

I use a Regent at home, but I bought an Apex 65 for travel. Babycenter, Walmart, and Amazon had the best prices w/ shipping that I found online. Babies R Us is the only place I know of IRL that has this seat to try it out. You also need to know that the top harness slots are hidden under the headrest. There are 4 slots, but only 3 are obvious. It is FAA approved, MUCH lighter than Britax, and OK for the money. You also must have a high-backed seat or a headrest in the car, since the head part of the seat doesn't provide enough protection by itself.

[jill123]

Thanks ladies! I bought a Radian and it arrived today. I haven't tried it out in a car yet, but I will before we go on our trip to make sure it's okay. It's looks like a good seat and my DD has lots of growing room (she's on the second slots from the top). I heard the Radian can be hard to install with seatbelts so we'll see. Our rental car will be a SUV w/LATCH so I don't think we will have problems with that. If the Radian doesn't work out I will check out the Apex. Nothing compares to the Regent though. It fits in my Expedition solid as a rock...it doesn't move a bit! Just can't say enough good things about it...best seat we have ever had. I hope the Radian works well as our travel seat. Thanks again for the suggestions!