need to buy a convertible today-- RA v. Avenue, help, pls!

[elizardbethday]

I was in an accident last night and need to buy a new convertible asap.

Over the next couple months, I actually need to buy 2 seats: one for my car and one for grandma's car (she has the SR32 right now). One of these should be great for travel (flight + extensive driving in a rental car). Grandma lives 15 mins away so it's fine if her seat is the travel seat. I'm only buying 1 seat now... I have time to search for a good deal for the other one.

DS is 15mos, about 50th percentile. We probably won't be having a second kiddo for a couple years. Grandma drives a YukonXL and I have a 2006 Accord.

I had a TFP in my car; that's the seat I need to replace. I loved it, but DH doesn't like how the harness adjusts. DH has a RA Classic (I guess that's the RA50?) in his car, we really like it except we bump DS's head putting him in. On our last trip, we took the RA b/c it is a little lighter and has an easier install.

Unless there are great deals on a Radian, TFP, Britax, right now, I'm thinking I will be buying the travel/grandma seat now, and waiting on the everyday seat. The Avenue is appealing-- How is the install? Would I be better off getting another RA for this purpose? If so, RA50 or 55?

What do you think? TIA.

[christiedavid3]

The RA 50 and 55 are not the same as the original RA. The one you have is probably the 40, which is quite a bit smaller than the new RA's.

We have an Uptown (which is the older version of the Avenue) and love it for a travel/backup seat. It's definitely not as easy to install RFing as a RA, but it's doable. You'll need a rolled up towel or pool noodle. There are a couple of tricks which make the RFing install much easier, which I learned on this board! :jammin: If you do go with the Avenue, post back and we can help you with the install. Once you do it a couple of times, it becomes a piece of cake. DS is 3.25 and still fits wonderfully in his Uptown. He just now outgrew it RFing by weight (35lb RFing limit), but he still had room by height. It's really a great seat for the price, and works great for travel.

[twowhat?]

We have the Avenue and yes, it's not as easy to install as a Britax. But like PP said, it's do-able. We needed 3 pool noodles (1 noodle cut into 3 sections and arranged like a pyramid underneath) for RF install. Leg room is not anywhere as good as our Radians and I'm not sure how it would compare with the RA. But our girls don't complain (the Avenues are our secondary seats). Nice tall shell, lightweight, and nicely padded too for the price! Padding is comparable to the RA.

For you, my only hesitation with the Avenue is if you travel a lot. Having to carry around the pool noodle sections to get a good RF install could be a pain. The RA is a little heavier but not too heavy, and you'd be able to more easily install it in a wider range of rental cars.

[Momto1]

Ditto both the previous posters. We have both an RA50 and an Avenue. The RA is a breeze to install, the Avenue is easy, but not as easy as the Britax.

I'd have no problem travelling with the RA50, it's not that much bigger than the Avenue. Also, the Avenue has a little flap that comes out from the bottom which I think might be a pain to travel with.