safeguard GO

[cmmama]

hi all,
so, I'm really digging this seat in concept. I like the lightweight portability aspect and the booster option (DS is heavy/tall enough to use it booster mode if we had to in any given vehicle).

I'm thinking about it as a second seat for Grandma's car but it'll be a second seat that gets a lot of use. When DH is out of town--which is 3-4 months a year --we tend to go to Grandma's, so it'd be the main seat during that time period.

I've read mostly glowing reviews about it. Does anyone use it regularly (as opposed to just on the occassional trip) and can speak to what you like/dislike about it. Also, has anyone installed it using belts rather than latch and if so, how did that go? DS is getting closer to the LATCH limits everyday :)

on a somewhat related note: is it the harness aspect that makes high-weight FF seats and harness boosters safer for the kids or is it the harness in addition to the shell and EPS foam? The safeguard GO, b/c of its design, would appear to have less of the latter, yet I'm wondering if you don't get less shell anyway once you move away from a convertible, regardless of which seat you move into. In the end, I don't want to sacrifice safety for portability.

thanks for your input

[bensmom]

I have a Go that I use for travel and I love it for my now 4 year old. We've been using it for 1.5 years (right when he turned 3). Having said that, I personally would not buy it for using all the time. My DH and DS don't love the way the harness tightens.

Do you fly to grandma's? Could you just get a seat (Nautilus?) to leave there?

A couple of comments - yes, it can be used as a booster, but it's not a quick conversion to a booster. I've also been told that it's not easy to put everything back together to use the harness. If you think you're going to use a booster, definitely not the seat I'd get.
How tall and heavy is your DS? I'm guessing that my DS will be pretty close to too tall before the LATCH limits are reached (unless it's a 40 pound limit).

I have installed it with a seatbelt. I found it hard to do with a lap belt. It's not terrible with a lap/shoulder belt, but it's definitely a seat that is designed to be installed with LATCH. It also MUST have a top tether.

On the last question, it's probably both things that are helpful (sorry, ds2 just climbed into my lap making typing difficult)

[Kungjo]

We have the Go and have used it for 2 years as a travel seat when going to visit the grandparents and also as a 2nd seat for DH to take our oldest DD to school in the mornings. It works fine for us. I love the portability for air travel and orginally got it for that reason. It's lightweight and easily fit into the overhead bin on the plane so I wouldn't stress about it being damaged in the cargo hold or gettting lost.

I haven't tried it in booster mode yet because DD #1 is pretty petite. When she outgrows it harness wise, I will probably just pass it down to DD #2 to use.

The Go is currently installed in out car using LATCH. Since it's not a heavy seat, it can remain in LATCH mode till your DC reaches about 65 lbs.

We like it well enough, but we have the ability to pass it onto a 2nd child child when the first outgrows it. Do you? I think that it's a neat seat to have, but when DD #1 outgrows the harness height, I plan on getting her a booster to replace this seat and let DD #2 use this one. DD #1 is still currently in a Regent in the main car.

Let me know what specific questions you have and I will try to answer them. HTH