Yet another Radian/convertible question(s!)!

[MrsGoose]

Hi!
I have an 06 Ford Escape. I want to have DD (currently 6.5 mos) RF as long as possible. My bro & Sil have a Radian and love it, but have my neice FF in it. I'm wondering if I'd be able to have a radian RF in my car? I checked carseatdata and it isn't listed for my year. Anyone have any experience?

Also, we fly/ travel a lot so i want something that is easy to transport/possibly use on an airplane/easy to install in different cars. Would I be better off going with something different?

She's a fairly averaged sized baby. 60-70% percentile.

I want something that is fairly easy to move the straps as well.
Thanks so much!

[arivecchi]

Go to www.car-seat.org (http://www.car-seat.org) and look for the Radian Successful Install Thread. You can search for your car model there. In the alternative, you could post there and ask whether anyone has even installed a Radian in your type of car. I really wanted a Radian, so I simply ordered one from diapers.com as they have free returns. Fortunately, it worked in my car. :) The Radian folds for travel and you can buy straps to carry it as a backpack.

[Lyndsy]

I also just ordered my radian from diapers.com. I got a price match from babycatalog.com since they have their radians 20% off. Then I got an additional 10%off for a first time purchase. I got my Radian80SL, reg 269.99, for 194.00 with free shipping. It will be here this week and if I can't get a good install RF, I'll return it for free. I'll probably by a cosco scenera for an extra car/backup seat since it's really lightweight and very inexpensive and gets good reviews. The radian does fold, but it's very heavy so you probably wouldn't want to carry it far.

[arivecchi]

I have a Radian and a Scenera for travel. Love the Scenera for travel!

[AnnieW625]

Don't own a Radian but one of the carseat board moderators JoolsPlus2 has an Escape I believe. The Radian does fold for traveling and I have seen it installed on airplanes with no issues, but from what I have heard from friends who have the seat it's a beast and it's heavy because of the all steel frame. We had a smaller Evenflo Triumph 5 (now discontinued) seat as DD's primary seat in DH's Corolla and that was a great travel seat. If you are going to need a secondary seat for a second car you could look at a Cosco Scenera, a Safety First Avenue, or a Britax Roundabout that might be easier for travel.

Good luck!

[Joolsplus2]

Radian does fit RF in the Escape, but it really comes forward in between the two front seats, and I was too tall to drive in front of it when it was behind the driver. If you have cloth seats you may be able to get it more upright so it's not encroaching into your front seat space so much. Forward facing it's fine, MUST be installed with LATCH in the outboard position (seatbelt won't work), and installs fine in the center with the seatbelt, but only in upright mode.

Go ahead and try their seat in your car, you may find it works fine, and it certainly is compact (not light, though) for travel. Roundabout 50 is also a fairly light choice that will install fine RF and FF (and the 35 pound limit is adequate to get most kids rearfacing to age 3).

[MrsGoose]

thanks everyone!
Does this seat work to be in an airplane seat?

Jools, we do have cloth seats, and MH and I are pretty short... I suppose RF in the Center seat is best? I'm looking at the XTSL.

I guess I just don't know how to make this decision... everyone i know loves Britax. I just want to do what is safest!

Eventually we will have more kids, so I like the idea of something lasting us awhile & will more easily fit next to other seats...

[Joolsplus2]

Yeah, if you have cloth you may be able to push the rearfacing boot down really hard into the seat to make it more upright so it'll fit better in the car. At least that's my hypothesis (mine are leather and hard...no squishing is happening there!).
The quality of the Radian is at least as good as a Britax, it's just a lot trickier to learn to install (and I find it's easier to love seats you can actually find easily in local stores with super cute covers... Britax has THAT going for it!).

[maestramommy]

Forward facing it's fine, MUST be installed with LATCH in the outboard position (seatbelt won't work), and installs fine in the center with the seatbelt, but only in upright mode.
.

Jools, is this true for all cars, or just the Escape?

[Joolsplus2]

I've seen some cars where the Radian practically stands up when rearfacing, and some where it's almost lying down. I'm not sure if it's just leather versus cloth, or if some cloth is super duper squishy, and some leather might be similarly squishy (Like Lexus is really poufy and there's 'extra' there, compared to a Mercedes is just tight as a drum) I think we need a poll to find out if cloth or leather affects the angle of install! But yeah, I was just thinking of the Escape in this instance.