Convertible Booster / 5pt harness

[Katra1]

My DS is outgrowing his carseat, I need to get another 5pt seat for a while. I've heard of the new convertible 5pt boosters, and know my son fits the requirements - but I'm not sure of the brand names. I'm willing to buy upper end, and would like to avoid anything made by Graco or Cosco.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

[kellyotn]

How heavy/tall/old is he? Most combo boosters have harnesses that max out at 40 lbs, so if a child will likely hit 40 before they are old enough for a booster (meaning 4 at a minimum), a higher limit seat must be choosen.

Unless you are in Canada?? Their combo boosters go to 47 or 48 lbs. Just checking!

The nicest combo booster is the Recaro Young Sport. It makes a STELLAR (side impact, etc) booster once the harness is outgrown. But, my daughter was too close to 40 for it to work for us.

The Evenflo Generations/Bolero is nice. It uses Evenflos knob adjuster, which is a love or hate deal. Makes a good booster.

The Graco Cargos are very nice harnessed (just get a front adjuster model), but so-so as boosters. Lots of people use them just for harnessing then move to a better dedicated booster when the time comes.

Larger limit seats -

Cosco Apex 65 - combo booster that harnesses to 65 lbs. Good harnessed, good booster. Needs a high-ish seat back though. (The midpoint of the child's head must be at or below the vehicle's seatback/headrest.) Big drawback as it won't work at all in lots of bench seats or other low seats

Britax big convertibles (MA/Blvd/Decath) will fit most kids until 5-6, they'd be a good option if you'll have another child that can use them. (ie, if DS is 3 and can use it for 3 years, then another child gets to use it). I just bought my 3.5 year old DD another MA because she's nearing 40 lbs and the Apex wouldn't work in our truck. I got it on sale, so I'm not too upset that it won't get used up.

Sunshine Kids Radian convertible is a bit taller in slots than the Britaxes. Very high quality. Some install issues FF with seatbelt in certain cars.

The biggest seat is a Britax Regent, it harnesses until 80 lbs. Most kids will fit in this seat until 8-9, some higher. This seat does not become a booster but lasts for SO long that a booster will likely not be needed at all.

[Katra1]

He is 30lbs and around 38".

[Scatterbunny]

For a 2.5 year old, 38" 30# child, if you definitely want a combination seat that will harness to just 40 pounds, I would go with the Recaro Young Sport. It has the most height growing room, best sleep support and side impact protection and is the highest quality, IMO, of all the combination seats (combo seats are the harnessed-to-booster seats you're talking about; convertibles are seats that are rear-facing for kids up to 30/33/35 pounds and then forward-facing to 40/55/65 pounds).

Are you comfortable with your ds moving to booster mode at 40 pounds (4-5 years old), or would you like something that will harness longer than that?