forward facing carseats?

My son is starting to get uncomfortable in his carseat which is rear facing right now. We need to buy him a new one when we switch him forward facing since the seat he is in is 5yrs old (it was one of our girls carseats from when they were born). So I am wondering what a good forward carseat would be good to get for someone who is tall (he's in the 95% for his age) and hopefully one that will turn into a booster seat when he outgrows the straps. I really would like to not spend more than $100 but obviously if I need to I will work it out so we can spend more on his carseat. I have tried looking but they all seem to be the same.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Oh if it makes a difference I have a Toyota, Sienna mini van.

Thanks

 

I'm not sure what is available in that price range, but we have the Radian65 seats and I think we paid about $150 for them. They go up to 65 lbs with a 5-pt harness.

 

We have the same ones as Trish - they're great!

 

If you want really inexpensive ones I recommend getting high back booster seats with a five point harness. They are very safe. A woman who works for the county installing car seats and educating parents about safety told me about them. My in-laws got them for their car and they work great. http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-...asin=B000FJQL8Q

 

We LOVE our Evenflo Triumph (have 3). The new ones are rated for 50 inches or 50 lbs. They are really comfy looking and the kids sleep really well in them. It doesn't turn into a booster and costs about $129.

 

that high back booster recommended above will not help as the harness is only good for 40 inches/40 lbs and your kid is big. I have two Fisher Price Safe Voyage that go up to 55 lbs and 49" for my boys. They are about $129 online. I hope to keep them in it until 5-6ish :a_smil09:

check out www.car-seat.org for lots of helpful info :winking0009:

ETA: I had a rental sienna and if you have LATCH the FPSV fit great in either 2nd or 3rd rows with LATCH and tether :a_smil09:

 

We have the Gothams (which we use on trips, otherwise they're in my parents' car) and they're pretty handy - you'll want to watch that minimum weight rating tho'. (I don't know if your son is heavy on weight as well as tall for age) The 40lb limit on the harness isn't a dealbreaker, since it's designed as a booster you'll be using the car's own seatbelts with it until 80lbs.

They're not really much bigger than our Britax Wizards, tho'. They're rated to 65 lbs, and we figure by then the car seats would be well worn in and in need of replacing anyway. So far they're working great for us - don't really see our boys (admittedly, not 95%) outgrowing them anytime soon.

The more expensive seats aren't necessarily any safer. Mostly easier to install and position properly. I find it way easier to move the Britax seats around than the Gothams, but they're so much heavier/bulkier that's why we ended up with the spare set for traveling. (that, and we won't grief too hard if the airline breaks a $40 seat rather than a $250 one!) But if your seats are staying in the Sienna and not moving around, you could go with just about any qualified seat. Hit a Toys R Us or someplace that carries a lot of different brands and see what works with you and your son. Good luck!

--> Andy

 

Thank you all for your responses. My son is 50% for weight so weight I am not really worried about but the height I am.
I am going to be looking into all those seats. They will be mainly staying in my car unless for some reason my dh would need to put it in his but that would be very rare.

 

What is your state's law requirement? It really is best to stay rear facing even after they turn 1, it's not about weight but more so about muscular and neurological systems than anything else.

We have Cosco's Alpha Omega Elite seats and they are the only seat I think we will have for the babies as well, rear face 5lbs to 30, forward 30-100 with 5 point up to 45 lbs. It is really a great seat for the money. I think we got ours at BRU during a baby sale for about 145.
I now have 2 of them as well as an Evenflo Truimph that is quite short and stout, a Graco ComfortSport which is total crap in my opinion.