Recaro Young Sport or Britax Regent?

[Conservative Hippie]

Ok, this is my second post for advice, but I figured I would get some good opinions here!

We're starting too look at forward-facing car seats for DD, and I have heard good things about both the Recaro Young Sport and the Britax Regent. At first I was 100% for the Regent, but I recently saw it in person for the first time and it is HUGE! I'm not concerned about it being heavy because we only have one car and will not be moving it. But I am concerned that it is so big that we could not fit two more people in the backseat of our car (Nissan Maxima). We don't need to very often, but I'd like to have the option. The Recaro is slimmer, but I don't really like the style of it as much. It sits up really straight and the "recline" isn't really a recline at all. Also the side-impact wings look like they would really restrict the child's head movement.

Please tell me your experiences!

 

[all4fun]

Is this for your 5month old? If so, then neither of these options would work for you as they are both fwd facing only seats. You LO needs to be rear facing at least one yr old AND 20 or 22lbs, if not longer, so you need a convertible car seat that can be used rear facing up to 35 lbs and then goes fwd facing from between 40 to 80lbs depending on the seat. 1yr & 20# is a bare minimum recommendation and so it's best to rear face to the limits of the car seats (up to the r/fing limit, or until there's an inch or less of shell above the head). This site has compiled a lot of information and list of sources about why rear facing is safest but I can share other links if you're interested in more info: http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx

I know the Britax convertibles work well in Nissans (we have owned two Nissans, and have a Britax Blvd). You might also consider the Recaro Como or Signo, the Sunshine Kids Radian, the Evenflo Triumph ADVANCE (don't mistake this for the older 40lb limit version that has a smaller shell), or the new Compass True Fit convertible, all of which will last most kids to about age five (sometimes older) and harness past 40lbs. If you have any questions about these or any other seat, then just ask. In addition, I'd recommend staying away from the Graco Comfortsport, the Evenflo Titan, and the Cosco/EB/Safety 1st 3-in-1 type seats - these are all safe when used properly, but smaller and won't last your dc nearly as long as the other seats mentioned above, often outgrown by age three, which is way too young for a booster. You just won't get as much "bang for your buck" out of them.

hth

 

[lil mermaid]

OP, the previous poster has given you some great information and recommended some great seats so I don't have much to add there. I just wanted to add that the Regent is not certified for aircraft use, so you wouldn't be able to use it on a plane.

What I would recommend is buying a convertable seat (both of my kids are in Marathons now - we have been very happy with them - but there are lots of other good ones out there.) I'd also buy one of the seats that harnesses past 40 lbs. (all the ones recommended by the PP do.)

The Carseat board on www.babybargainsbook.com is also a GREAT resource and there are a few carseat techs who post there regularly.
Good luck!

 

[juliana_sd]

The Regent is too large for a child under 2. They need something closer to their size to provide better side impact protection. That said, we have one and LOVE LOVE it. I have an Accord and I can fit two skinny adults back there next to it. The middle one isn't comfy though

We used a Marathon after the infant seat and loved that seat as well. DS outgrew the infant seat at 3 mos (too tall... his head was almost at the top of the shell) and then outgrew the Marathon also for height just after he turned 3. (He's almost off the charts for height.) He will probably be too tall for the Regent in a year. (He's 46" and about 52 lbs currently.)

Like the PP's said she needs to stay RF until at least 1 yr and 20 lbs, and longer is recommended. I turned DS forward at about 17 mos.

 

[tanyaandallie]

I agree. Post back with more info. Age and weight and torso height of the child. If the seat is for your 5 mos old, NO to the Regent. You need a convertible.

 

[ChristusG]

Those are both forward facing seats only. Your daughter cannot sit in a forward facing seat until she is a year old AND 20 pounds. However, off-topic, even then I dont recommend turning them. We wait until about 2 yeard old to turn our kids....it is just safer that way.

But what we did after the infant seat was to get a Britax Marathon. It is rear and forward facing, and is one of the safest seats out there. DD#1 rode in this seat from about 8 months to 20 months rear facing, and then 20 months to 3.5 yeard old forward facing. Then it was time for DD#2 to move up from the infant seat. So we gave her DD#1's Marathon, and bought DD#1 a Britax Regent, which she will be able to ride in for a long time. Yes, it is huge, but it is comfy, safe, and she will be in a 5 point harness for as long as possible.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

Is this for your 5month old? If so, then neither of these options would work for you as they are both fwd facing only seats. You LO needs to be rear facing at least one yr old AND 20 or 22lbs, if not longer, so you need a convertible car seat that can be used rear facing up to 35 lbs and then goes fwd facing from between 40 to 80lbs depending on the seat. 1yr & 20# is a bare minimum recommendation and so it's best to rear face to the limits of the car seats (up to the r/fing limit, or until there's an inch or less of shell above the head). This site has compiled a lot of information and list of sources about why rear facing is safest but I can share other links if you're interested in more info: http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx

This is for use AFTER DD outgrows her rear-facing infant seat, which is for up to 30 lbs. I guess I should have said that to begin with but I sort of assumed no oen would think I was putting a 6 month old forward-facing. I'm the type of person who likes to do a lot of research before buying something like this, so I had to get started early.

Because my infant seat goes up to 30 lbs, I think I want to bypass the Marathon and go straight to a forward-facing that will be good for a long time (both the Regent and Young Sport are for up to 80 lbs).

 

[lil mermaid]

Thanks for clarifying, OP.

If you really do want to skip the convertible ,you may want to check out the new seat that Britax is coming out with in May, the Britax Frontier. I am not 100% sure, but I believe that it is going to actually replace the Regent . it looks like a great seat - harnesses up to 80 lbs and can convert to a belt positioning booster from 40 to 100 lbs! I can't really tell but it does look like it is smaller than the Regent - and, it comes in pink....

http://www.safeandsecurebaby.com/Britax-Frontier-Combination-Booster-Seat-pr-16981.html There is lots of talk about the new seat on the carseat boards, so if you do a google search on it you will find lots of info.

Still, if you do get a convertible, you will be able to keep her rear facing until 33 or 35 lbs, depending on the seat. You may find, also, that your daughter starts to hate her inifant seat before she reaches the weight limit of it...I put DS into his Marathon before he reached the limit of his infant seat, and he was MUCH happier. Just some things to think about.

As a side note, last year we were looking at buying a Regent for my DD, who will be 4 in May. We were planning on putting DS in her Marathon and giving her a Regent. The seat was unbelievably huge - She looked so tiny in it, and she was probably about 30 lbs at the time. I know they say the minimum for it is 22 lbs, but I honestly can't see a kid under the of 3 in it. Anyway, we decided to just buy another Marathon for the baby, and keep her in her own Marathon until it expires in another two years.

 

[all4fun]

This is for use AFTER DD outgrows her rear-facing infant seat, which is for up to 30 lbs. I guess I should have said that to begin with but I sort of assumed no oen would think I was putting a 6 month old forward-facing. I'm the type of person who likes to do a lot of research before buying something like this, so I had to get started early.

Because my infant seat goes up to 30 lbs, I think I want to bypass the Marathon and go straight to a forward-facing that will be good for a long time (both the Regent and Young Sport are for up to 80 lbs).

Glad to know you were already aware of that. Some people don't, really! Even though you infant seat goes to 30lbs your dd may outgrow it by height before she reaches this weight (very common for kids to outgrow seats by height before weight actually). She has outgrown it when she has less than an inch of shell above her head or she's reached the weight limit, which ever happens first. Some petite kids do make it to 30lbs in the Graco SS1 (if that's what you have). The Chicco Keyfit30 has a shorter shell from what I've read.

I would still recommend a convertible car seat because the shell is taller. Also I have a Regent - love it - but I would not put an avg size one year old in one. It is a really big seat. I considered the Recaro YS for my ds before I bought our Britax Blvd a couple of years ago. It is a 40lb limit seat with the harness, so depending on how your dd grows, it may or may not keep her in a 5pt until minimum of four and 40lb. It's a good fwd facing seat for tall and slender kids though. The top slots are 17 or 18" from what I've read (I never could confirm it for myself as I can't find the seat anywhere around me for sale to check it out in person). My ds is slender - he's almost 5yrs old and just hit 40lbs so I'm sure he would have gotten the full use out of the weight limit on this seat and it does make an excellent booster as well (Loved the SIP on it). It's kind of spendy for a seat that only goes to 40lbs imho. I am glad he's in a Regent now - he has quite a bit more growing room height wise and at 42lbs obviously I don't have to worry about him hitting the weight limit any time soon. I also was glad we bought the Boulevard before that. He was rear facing in it until 3.75yrs old when he reached 33lb limit. He outgrew his 40lb limit convertibles that we had bought before that r/fing at 25~ish lbs, 32mos, and f/fing at 34months/27lbs.

One more thought - you could get something like a Cosco Scenera 5pt (very basic, low cost) seat or if you want something that looks more comfy and has additional safety feature of EPP foam for better SIP, get the Safety 1st Uptown. Both rf to 35lbs, ff to 40lbs. When that is outgrown then get the Regent or similar (who knows what else will be out on the market in a couple of years). Like a pp said, the Regent isn't airline approved (and neither is the Recaro YS actually) so if you're going to travel by air, those seats won't be easy to travel with. Just another consideration.

hth

 

[labdogs42]

I would recommend the Britax marathon for after the infant seat. My son still uses his and he is three. That lasted longer than the Evenflo triumph 5 seats we also had. Now those have been replaced with a Graco Nautilus and a Britax Regent (we have a seat for him in my mom's car, too).

 

[Manda]

This is my son in the Regent at about 38 inches and 38 pounds. It's just a cell phone photo, so nothing high quality:

I have a Passat and you can't really put two people in the back seat with him now. We've done it, but you can't really get to the seatbelts for the middle passenger and there's a lot of painful squeezing, LOL. As you can see, it's big, but not ridiculously big around him. Although, at 30 pounds, he was probably a good 6 inches shorter. My son's always been a car sleeper, so I'm not sure how comfy it would have been for him as a little guy trying to sleep in it. It's very wide and I think a smaller child would have a lot of room for slumping. Not sure that I would have felt comfortable with him in it at that size.

Although, if your baby is only 5 months old now and your seat goes to 30 lbs... I would really try not to think about it overly much at this point. Car seats could change a LOT and you could have a lot more options by that time. Just in the last two years, there are so many more options for car seats with higher weight limits. My son was 19 pounds at 6 months, but I don't think he hit 30 lbs until after his 2nd birthday.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

I have a Peg 30/30 and I'm more worried about her outgrowing the height than the weight--she's a tall girl! (At 6 months she's 16 lbs and 26 inches.)

I may look in to getting something basic as a transition.

The Frontier looks a lot like the Recaro YS. DD already hates her infant seat and I think she'll hate the SIP wings being so big on the YS.

 

[all4fun]

I have a Peg 30/30 and I'm more worried about her outgrowing the height than the weight--she's a tall girl! (At 6 months she's 16 lbs and 26 inches.)

I may look in to getting something basic as a transition.

The Frontier looks a lot like the Recaro YS. DD already hates her infant seat and I think she'll hate the SIP wings being so big on the YS.

See, I'm so out of it when it comes to the infant seat selection now.... I didn't even realize that PP had redesigned their infant seat to go to 30lbs. (learn something new every day, lol). Anyway...

As far as the wings go - they may bother her, however just from hanging out on the car seat forums it seems like a lot of kids go through phases where they don't like their car seats, and some people also find that when they switch to a convertible their kids are happier - the seats are a little roomier, and they can also be adjusted more upright once the child has good head control. Sometimes LO just get to the point where they want to see a little better and once they are more upright that solves that problem. The Blvd we have has those same kind of wings by the head and they never bothered my ds at all, so you may be surprised. I just wouldn't rule out a seat like that until you've tried it out, is all.

hth!

 

[tanyaandallie]

Although, if your baby is only 5 months old now and your seat goes to 30 lbs... I would really try not to think about it overly much at this point. Car seats could change a LOT and you could have a lot more options by that time. Just in the last two years, there are so many more options for car seats with higher weight limits. My son was 19 pounds at 6 months, but I don't think he hit 30 lbs until after his 2nd birthday.

I 100% agree with this. It's always good to look ahead, but your baby is still young and likely has plenty of room in her infant seat. There have been so many seats released in the last 2 years. You just don't know what new cool seats will be out when you child is ready to leave the infant carrier behind.

My guess is that she will outgrow the infant carrier before she hits 30 lbs. Even if she does make it to 30 lbs in the infant carriers, many parents find that at some point they are just ready to get their kids out of the infant seat and into a convertible seat since a convertible seat can sit a bit more upright and most parents are not carrying the infant carrier around once the kids get too heavy. Of course, this all depends on the size of your child!

This is totally jmo, but I think a child coming out of the infant carrier would be swallowed in a seat as large as the Regent. It's a big kid seat. It's for kids who are big or older. Does it fit a younger/smaller child? Yes. But, it's super duper wide so sleeping can be a problem for smaller kids. IMO smaller kids are just more comfy in a seat other than the Regent. The frontier is looking promising and might work better for the younger crowd, but I believe it is going to be rated from 2 years up.

When your baby is ready to move from the infant seat, I'd go to the babycenter car seat board or to www.car-seat.org. Or post here b/c some of us crazy car seat folks are everywhere!

 

[sahm1000]

Both of my daughters (ages 4 1/2 and 2 1/2) are both in Britax carseats. The oldest is in a Wizard (now discontinued but it has side impact protection) and the youngest is in a Boulevard (it also has side impact protection). Both of my girls were in these seats around 4 1/2 - 5 months old. I realize that you are looking at the Britax Regent because it offers some extra weight allowance but as many others have said this may not be the best fit for such a young child. Another thought to consider is that I have always been told that car seats need to be replaced every five years due to the deterioration of the plastics used in them. Keeping this in mind my 4 1/2 year old, who will be 5 in July, is in the 95th percentile for height and 75% percentile for weight and is far from outgrowing her Wizard. Since she will be soon going on 5 years from the manufacture date on her car seat we will soon be replacing it for the Britax Frontier shortly after her fifth birthday. I also anticipate having to buy another Frontier when my youngest is closer to the same age due to the five year limitation rather than the size limit. I would think that unless your child is very exceptionally large that you still might be in for two more car seat purchases! It sure does hurt the pocket book but you can't put a price tag on safety!

 

[MissMommy928]

This is for use AFTER DD outgrows her rear-facing infant seat, which is for up to 30 lbs. I guess I should have said that to begin with but I sort of assumed no oen would think I was putting a 6 month old forward-facing. I'm the type of person who likes to do a lot of research before buying something like this, so I had to get started early.

Because my infant seat goes up to 30 lbs, I think I want to bypass the Marathon and go straight to a forward-facing that will be good for a long time (both the Regent and Young Sport are for up to 80 lbs).

ETA: I sooo have to read the entire thread before I go rambling LOL!!!!

Just to clarify, the YS does NOT harness up to 80 lbs. Its a harnessed seat until 40 lbs and then it converts to a belt positionning booster.

Britax will be discontinuing the Regent and replacing it with the Britax Frontier. The Britax Frontier is a high weight combo seat with 9 harness adjuster slots with true side impact protection and then it converts to a belt positioning booster. The harness weight for the Frontier is 65 lbs (just like it is with every FFing Britax) Please, please, please, please PLEASE consider RFing your child to the maximum weight limit their seat, not just the 1 yo/20 lb rule; It is so much safer if you RF your child as long as possible

How is your child fitting in their infant seat right now? She can continue to use it as long as there is one inch of hard plastic shell above her head, and she stays under the 30 lb weight limit your seat has. If she's a peanut, she'll probablly get a great use out of her infant seat- if she's a little giant, you'll probably have to buy a convertable before you can switch to a FF only seat. I would not recommend FF any child before 2. That's just my professional opinion. I know it's legal to do it before that age, but the benefits of extended rear facing are countless.

Please remember that car seats are only good for 6 years. I know you want to do your research early and I really applaud you for that, but you want the most time you can have with your seats. Don't buy them too early or you'll risk the chance of it expiring before you get the full intended use out of it.

Hope that helps!

 

[puffkin]

Here is a picture of my son in the Regent. He was not quite 13 months in this picture:

He is a pretty big kid....he outgrew his carrier about 5 months old for height and weight and was in a Marathon. I didn't like the other seat we had (Alpha Omega) so we moved the Marathon to my husband's Corolla and put the Regen in my car since I primarily drive him around. I really like the idea of the new Frontier seat though for the Corolla as I doubt we will get much more than a year out of the Marathon......I know it is "possible" but ridiculous to try and fit the Regent in the Corolla.

 

[MissMommy928]

I know it is "possible" but ridiculous to try and fit the Regent in the Corolla.

Aww... it's not rediculous. Just cramped I've fit an outboard Regent and a RFing Marathon in a Corolla before. It's posible, you just have to do a back seat mommy workout!

 

[Conservative Hippie]

Ok, now I'm reconsidering the Marathon. I could keep her RF longer (because right now I'm thinking she's going to make it to 30" before 30 lbs). At what age did your children outgrow the Marathon?

 

[lil mermaid]

Ok, now I'm reconsidering the Marathon. I could keep her RF longer (because right now I'm thinking she's going to make it to 30" before 30 lbs). At what age did your children outgrow the Marathon?

My DD is still in her Marathon with quite a bit of room to go! She will be 4 years old in May. She is about 35 lbs and 39 1/2 inches.