Regent or Radian

[firstmom7]

Hi everyone! I have a 2 year old daughter that is 27 pounds and 35 inches. She is currently in a Roundabout, but is getting a little too tall for it becuse her torso is long. I am looking to switch to another seat and am going between the Regent and the Radian. Does anyone have these seats and do you have any recommendations.

Also, I drive a Volkswagen Touareg and am planning on getting a minivan in summer 2008. So I do not know if the Regent fits in all cars or not.

Another question about the Regent: When installed in the middle, does it have lock-offs like the roundabout? I am not a big fan of the lock offs because they do not seem to stay locked all the time. I tried using a locking clip instead, but the seatbelts are made very short into the seat, so the locking clip will not work on it. Apparently I was told that Volkswagens and Subarus have a different seat belt material that makes it difficult for the lock offs to stay locked. I guess it is more "silky". When I move her to the outside seat, I will use latch, but for now we are using a seatbelt in the middle seat. So, I would prefer not having lock offs.

Thanks in advance for all the opinions.

-Lori

[Scatterbunny]

Are her shoulders over the top slots of the RA?
Are the tips of her ears close to the top of the seat shell?

Those are the two ways she will outgrow it by height.

At just 27 pounds I'd get a convertible like the Britax Marathon, Fisher Price Safe Voyage Deluxe or Sunshine Kids Radian so she can be rear-facing. It is so much safer. See these links for why:

http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/StayRearFacing.aspx
http://www.thecarseatlady.com/car_seats/rear-facing_seats.html

If she will remain forward-facing, those seats are still worth considering, probably the Radian more than the others because it has taller top slots and it sounds like she is long-torsoed, so the more height room a seat has, the better. A seat like the Radian should last even pretty big kids to age 6.

The Regent is a great seat, though. We have the Husky, the precursor to the Regent, and love it. My off-the-charts-for-height dd will be able to use this seat until she is at least 8.

About the lockoffs--you don't even need to use them, OR a locking clip. Your Toureg's belts lock on their own. You can bypass the lockoffs completely if they are a problem (lately lots of people are having problems with their lockoffs; I highly encourage you to call Britax and complain!!!).