[Paul78zephyr]

Note: For some reason this post will not use capital letters. In 'edit' mode the capitilized letters are there,but not when I post it. Sorry for any inconvenience in trying to read this.

Hello all,
We are new members here but we have used the great data and forums to help us make our decision for a new car seat for our soon-to-be 5 year old son (he will be 5 in three weeks) and we wanted to share our recent experience. He had been in an Evenflo Triumph in my car (2001 Ford Escort ZX2, rear seat drivers side) and is still in a Graco Comfortsport in his mothers 2002 VW Jetta wagon (rear seat center). Both of those seats are convertibles and when he was a toddler we initially used them rear facing. As he got older and weighed enough we used them forward facing.

In the last few months we have recognized that he is outgrowing those seats - especially the Triumph. Mostly he's outgrown them in height, not weight, as my son is about 50th percentile for height but only 15-20th percentile for weight. He is currently about 42 inches and 36 lbs. Just for the record both of these seats were very good seats. We had bought the Graco first but what attracted us to the Triumph was its unique side knob mechanism for releasing and tightening the harness straps. This is a very convenient feature especially when the strap adjustment can change day to day depending on if your child is wearing heavy winter clothes or not. I am not sure if current Triumph models have this feature.

We consulted this site and some others to help us narrow down the seat models we were going to look at to replace his current seats. After much 'online' research we narrowed our choices to: Britax Regent, Recaro Signo, SK Radian 65/80, and the Graco Nautilus. We looked at each of them - in some cases traveling nearly 100 miles (round trip) in order to find a real store that had one on display that we could actually look at, have my son sit in, and try out for fit in my car. We eliminated the Radian and the Nautilus based on the poor fit of my son in the seats (they both seemed very narrow). We initially felt the Regent and Signo we very evenly matched in fit, features, color choices and price. In fact the store we ended up purchasing from had both of them and we were able to compare them side-by-side. We initially decided on the Signo based on its [self proclaimed] 'side impact protection' features. We got it home and set it up in our living room as the store's return policy would not allow return after the seat was installed in a vehicle. They are very specific about that and recommend setting the seat up inside your home for initial try out. It was then that we realized that the Signo did not really fit our son as well as we had initially thought. The infinitely height adjustable 'upper wings' with the integral shoulder harness slots is a nice feature, however we finally felt that the fit of his lower body was quite tight. The lower harness strap (the part with the buckle) had only one position and it seemed too close top my sons body for comfort. Also the owners manual that comes with the seat shows at least one photograph of the seat without its lower cushion. We thought that removing this cushion may give my son a better fit but were confused as there was no mention anywhere in the manual of this cushion, its function, or whether or not it could be removed. I placed a call to Recaro at their customer service number to ask about this cushion. I considered this question to be quite straight forward and yet I was bounced to no less that four different people at the customer service center. Ultimately the person that answered my question was quite ambiguous and said that I could “ leave it in or take it out, whatever makes your child most comfortable”. Seeing as I had read nothing like that in the official printed manual I felt uncomfortable with that answer and I did not press them on it. Although we did try him in the seat without the lower cushion, and he did fit somewhat better, in the end I was uncomfortable having my son use the seat in a configuration that did not seem to be ‘officially’ sanctioned by Recaro. And I still felt the fit wes a bit tight and left us with no room for growth. Another ‘flaw’ that we failed to originally see in the Signo is in the harness tightening strap that you pull on the tighten the strap. This strap exits the front of the seat (same as most others) except that it exits at an angle to the release lever. This is due to the strap having to go around a seat cushion-to-seat frame retaining snap that Recaro, stupidly in my opinion, placed directly in front of and below the locking/release mechanism that the strap must slide through when you pull on it to tighten it. So you must pull the strap at an angle to this mechanism which makes it very difficult as the material, at this angle, wants to bind up in the locking mechanism. In my opinion that is very poor design feature which interferes with the smooth operation of a critical and often used adjustment feature. Also getting bounced around at their service center left me with less that full confidence in their overall organization. So in the very end the Signo went back and the Regent came home.

The Regent we purchased is the ‘Onyx’ pattern as my ZX2 has basically a black/grey interior. Installation was very straight forward (as mentioned we had test fit it previously). My ZX2 does not have LATCH lower anchors (it does have the upper tether) so I installed the Regent using the lap/shoulder belt (as I had installed the Triumph previously). Since my son is less that 40 pounds Britax specifies using the ‘long route’ method but this proved to be no problem. Installation took all of 10 minutes.

We’ve had the Regent in my car now for just a few days so I cant give you a long tern opinion but my son is very comfortable in it and its adjustability and ease of harness tightening/loosening seems very good. He is only at the second harness slot up (there are four) and the lower strap has two positions and he is quite comfortable with it in ‘inner’ position which leaves plenty of room for growth to the ‘outer’ position. The only problem I have with this seat, so far, is that when I buckle the harnesses to the lower buckle the buckle does not give that good loud ‘click’ that I’m so accustomed to on both the Graco and the Triumph. This is the only flaw that I have with the Regent at this time.

Sorry for the long post but I hope this info is helpful.
Paul

	Forward Facing Car Seats A forward-facing car seat is one in which the child sits facing the front of the car. The seat should be installed in the back seat of your vehicle. Most forward-facing only seats are for children above 20 pounds.

	Britax - Click for more info Britax International has been producing reliable child safety products for over 30 years. Not only does Britax have decades of experience creating car seats and other children's safety equipment, Britax has a long standing reputation as an industry leader and innovator. Britax International is headquartered in the United Kingdom, but Britax car seats are designed and manufactured at facilities in Germany, Austria, and the United States. In the summer of 2002, Britax strengthened their commitment to creating the safest car seats with the opening of a brand new, state-of-the-art crash testing facility in North Carolina. Britax car seats have a reputation around the world for being some of the safest, most reliable, and best designed child safety seats ever made.

	Rear Facing Car Seats A rear-facing seat is one in which the infant faces the back of the car. Always install a rear-facing seat in the back seat of your car. This is the safest position for an infant. NEVER place a rear-facing seat in the front seat of a vehicle with passenger airbags.

	Convertible Car Seats Convertible seats are for infants and toddlers. The seat can be used as a rear-facing seats for younger children, and switched to a forward-facing seat on the child's first birthday if the child weighs at least 20 pounds. However, experts recommend keeping the child in a rear-facing position until he or she outgrows the weight or height allowed by the safety seat.

	Britax Regent - Click for more info The Britax Regent is the safe way to carry your older and larger passengers, all the way up to 80 lbs. Known as the "king of all car seats," the Britax Regent will accomodate your little king or queen for far longer than traditional car seats or booster seats. The Regent features a large roto-molded shell, comfy extra-thick comfort foam, washable covers, Patented Versa-Tether™, flexible buckle LATCH system, patented HUGS™ system, and tangle-free polyester 5-point harness.

	Graco - Click for more info Graco is one of the world's best known and most trusted juvenile products companies. They started the entire juvenile products industry with an invention called the Graco Swyngomatic. Since then they have invented products that have changed the way that parents travel with their children such as the travel system, which has made it so parents can lock an infant car seat into a stroller easily, without waking their sleeping baby. Their Graco SnugRide Infant Car Seat is pretty much synonymous with the term “infant car seat” because of its safety and design features coupled with its affordability. Today Graco continues designing and developing top-quality products that inspire parents and keeps children safe. Check out the new Infant Safe Seat Step 1 and Toddler Safe Seat Step 2 for proof of Graco’s continued commitment to child safety.

	RECARO - Click for more info With over 100 years of company history and long standing experience in vehicle seat construction RECARO knows how to make long journeys a pleasure for the whole family. Materials, design and technical highlights ensure a pleasant journey for adults and children alike. RECARO uses its strength as the premier mobile seat manufacturer to engineer an innovative line of products for your children. No other manufacturer can apply experience from production vehicles, commercial vehicles, and race cars to design toward the comfort and safety of children.

	Graco ComfortSport - Click for more info The Graco ComfortSport is a well-priced convertible child car seat, with all the key features you'd expect, including a 5-point easy-to-adjust harness, a two-piece harness tie (chest and crotch), washable fabric, and a indicator that lets you know if you've installed the seat safely level. Various "soft goods" options are available in the different models, ranging from no extra soft goods (Prague) to the Metropolitan's detachable head support, harness covers, and toddler pillow.

	Sunshine Kids - Click for more info Makers of a number of accessories geared towards making parents lives easier, Sunshine Kids has recently embarked in a new direction. In 2005 they unveiled their first car seat, the Radian. Their years of experience working in children's products focusued on child comfort and parent convenience shine through in this unique convertible car seat. The Radian is packed with safety features and is the first ever folding convertible car seat appealing to parents who car pool or travel often.

	Sunshine Kids Radian 80 or 65 - Click for more info If "the Sunshine Kid's Radian 80 convertible car seat is (probably) the only car seat you will ever need," the "probably" part of this statement comes into play when you directly compare the Radian 80 with the Britax Regent. While the Radian 80 has a very high weight capacity, the seat width is only 10" vs. the Regent's 14" seat. The Britax Regent may be a bit wider, but it is very bulky, is only forward facing, and does not fold like the Radian 80. Because the Radian 80 is so narrow, you can potentially put three of them side by side in the back seat. Three Regents side by side? Impossible.

	RECARO Signo - Click for more info The RECARO Signo car seat is the premier convertible child seat RECARO produces. With its 5-70 lbs weight capacity, adjustable harness, and forward or rear-facing convertibility, the deluxe RECARO Signo may be the only car seat you will ever need. The Signo offers the same basic features and specifications as the RECARO Como convertible, but adds a few features - such as double wall head support and infinite harness adjustment settings.

	LATCH LATCH stands for Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren. It is a system mandated by the Federal government in an effort to standardize and simplify the installation of child restraints without using the vehicle's seat belt system. New vehicles and child safety seats manufactured on and after September 1, 2002 will be equipped with the LATCH system. Cars, minivans, and light trucks will be required to have anchor points between the vehicle's seat cushion and the seat back in at least two rear seating positions, and a top tether anchor (with the exception of convertibles). Child safety seats will have a lower set of attachments that fasten to the vehicle anchors. Most forward-facing child safety seats will also have a top strap (tether) that attaches to the top anchor in the vehicle.

	Graco Bravo Nautilus 3-in-1 Car Seat - Click for more info Graco, an industry leader in juvenile products, knows that your child's safety is of the utmost importance to you. Graco designs its products with your child's safety in mind, while at the same time ensuring that you get optimum value for your money. In both regards, the new Nautilus 3-in-1 MultiUse Car Seat fits the bill perfectly. The Graco Bravo Nautilus 3-in-1 car seat is designed for both versatility and safety, offering right-size comfort and protection as your child grows. Nautilus is a harness seat, a high-back booster and a backless booster. Because it adapts as your child grows, from age 1 to age 10, you can buy one Nautilus instead of a toddler seat, booster seat and backless booster. That's one seat instead of three--a fantastic investment that doesn't compromise on safety. Nautilus is the last car seat you'll ever need to buy! You get three products for the price of one!