OT- SafeGuard Booster Seat...boosters in general

[amarberry]

There are so many car seat/booster seat experts on this board...I thought I'd see if anyone had any opinion about this booster seat or if there were any recommendations of similar booster seats. A friend of mine has replaced her kids Britax car seats with the SafeGuard Booster for one of the kids and the child seat for the other. She has been raving about them.

My DD is just over 3 yo, 37-38 inches, and about 38.5 pounds. She rides in a Britax Marathon with a 65 pound weight limit in my car, but has an Evenflo Triumph 5 in DH's and my mom's cars. The belts are getting very snug in the Evenflo's and she'll definitely need to move into something bigger before we get to "coat wearing weather."

It seems like a 5 point harness booster is the next step. I know about the Britax Regent, and will probably consider that for my car (which is the vehicle she is in 95% of the time), but if there is something that is less expensive and well rated, I would prefer to consider that for the secondary cars. Are there any others I should be considering?

Thanks!

 

[djmeredith]

In my family (3 nephews) we have tried several different car seats and boosters. Oldest nephew just turned 4...in his mother's car he is still in his Britax Marathon, but in my car and my mom's car he uses the Compass Folding Booster. I first bought the Britax Parkway booster a year ago for him, but that quickly became his mother's "carpool" booster because we like the Compass so much better. I researched the safety ratings and the Compass was just as good as the Britax. Also, the Compass folds in half for easy travel and storage. Although not a safety factor, the Compass has a much better (deeper) cup holder...the Britax cup holder is useless. The Compass is less expensive, in fact I found one on clearance for Target last week for $17!! (Reduced from $70.)

 

[tanyaandallie]

You are right, at only 3 you don't want to go to a BPB. You are much better off replacing the triumph with something that will harness longer. The problem you are going to find is that there is only 1 combination seat that would work for you. It's the Apex, has 17 inch top harness slots (same as the marathon) and harnesses up to 65 lbs. It requires adjustable headrests so if your car doesn't have them, they are out of the question. All other harness/booster combo's will not work for your child b/c they only harness to 40 lbs and you need a seat that harnesses past 40 lbs.

There are ton of other seats out there that you could look at that will keep her harnessed until she is ready for a booster.

The Fisher Price Safe Voyage Deluxe - same shell as the Britax, made by Britax, a no frills britax seat with 17 inch top harness and 55 lbs weight limit. $129 at albeebaby.com

Radian - 18 inch top harness slots, 65 lbs weight limit - $200

Keep in mind that the triumph has a 40 lbs weight limit so you will need to watch her weight closely to make sure she doesn't go over. Also, make sure her shoulders are at or below the top harness slots. Once the shoulders go over the top harness slots, the seat is outgrown.

What is her torso height?

 

[all4fun]

If you like your Evenflo's then They just came out with the new Evenflo Triumph Advance which harnesses to 50lbs and has 17"ish top harness height (infinite harness adjuster which is also nice). I think they run for about $130 right now. FYI they also upgraded the Titan to a 50lb limit but the top harness height is the same as the old one so I'd skip that one.

Just thought I'd add that to Tanya's list above.

If you're looking for an unbiased review of the Safeguard GO seat then this one is pretty good:
http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=5970

hth!

 

[amarberry]

Thank you, thank you!

I looked up the other harness systems with the higher weight limit that were mentioned in the other posts. It looks like all of these are convertible style seats that go up to 50-60 pounds. At that point, they would need to be replaced with a belt positioning booster. However, with the Safeguard GO, it converts from a harness system at 60 pounds to a belt positioning booster seat, so it's like two seats in one. Am I missing something?

The big disadvantage to the Safeguard that I saw in the review that all4fun provided is that there is no head restraint. The vehicle must provide the head restraint, so I would need to confirm that my mother's car had adequate head restraint for DD.

Provided we can resolve the head restraint issue, I'm still leaning towards the Safeguard for the grandma-mobile since it seems to be a 2-in-1 seat. I'm just worried that I'm not "getting" something. Is there any other disadvantages that I am missing to a seat like this one over the higher weight limit convertible seats?

 

[all4fun]

Thank you, thank you!

I looked up the other harness systems with the higher weight limit that were mentioned in the other posts. It looks like all of these are convertible style seats that go up to 50-60 pounds. At that point, they would need to be replaced with a belt positioning booster. However, with the Safeguard GO, it converts from a harness system at 60 pounds to a belt positioning booster seat, so it's like two seats in one. Am I missing something?

The big disadvantage to the Safeguard that I saw in the review that all4fun provided is that there is no head restraint. The vehicle must provide the head restraint, so I would need to confirm that my mother's car had adequate head restraint for DD.

Provided we can resolve the head restraint issue, I'm still leaning towards the Safeguard for the grandma-mobile since it seems to be a 2-in-1 seat. I'm just worried that I'm not "getting" something. Is there any other disadvantages that I am missing to a seat like this one over the higher weight limit convertible seats?

From what I gather the main disadvantages to the GO are the lack of headrestraint, the requirment for a Top Tether (can NOT be used w/out this, unlike regular car seats), and the lack of comfort for the child (not recommended as a primary seat). Also as a low back booster, it requires the child be a minimum of 40lbs which may be a problem for an older lightweight child (like my ds(4) who has a 16" torso but is only 34lbs). Also, other restraints off taller top harness slots. Another thing I personally consider to be a down side to this seat is the lack of side impact protection. Since there's really no seat shell there's no SIP. High back boosters offer 70% more protection in a side impact than Low backed or no booster as reported in this article:
How to best protect children in side-impact crashes


hth