Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

After trying multiple convertible carseats (thank you, Amazon:)!) We finally settled on the Diono Radian RXT. We have tried the Britax boulevard clicktight, chicco next fit, Diono Ranier and maxi cosi pria 85. I will try to walk you through my though process as organized as possible. If you want to hear only about the Radian, please scroll to the bottom of the post!:) The first seat we tried was the maxi cosi. I couldn't help myself. It looked soooo comfy and plush. I had a mind block already, however, when purchasing it due to the lack of steel in the frame. But the cute colors and comfy appearance took over my better judgement. Installing it was easy, the integrated cup holder was very nice, and most importantly to me- there was SO much leg room. We want to keep our son rear-facing as long as possible, so this was a major perk. The reason we opted to not stick with the maxi cosi, was because it just felt a little flimsy, and the lack of a rear facing tether. Seat number 2 was the Britax boulevard click tight. I immediately fell in love with installing this seat! It was the EASIEST seat to date that I have ever installed. I love the features of this seat: the safe cell for absorbing impact, the side protection, the amount of recline levels, the hugs. I wanted to want this seat so bad. BUT, as I stated earlier, it was SO important for us to have ample leg room for our little guy. The Britax did not provide the leg room we needed and at only 13 months our average size son's legs could already touch the back of the seat. About the same time we bought the seat, Britax revoked the option to rear face tether as well, sealing the deal that it just wasn't the seat for us. Not to mention the crotch buckle was very low to the seat causing the harness to cut into our sons legs pretty bad. Seat number 3: Chicco next fit. I still love this seat. Talk about everything you could ever want in a seat! It is SO comfy, and a breeze to instal. Not quite as easy as the click tight system from Britax, but pretty darn close. So easy that my great grandma could do it, and I am not even sure she would have the arm strength to push down on the Britax seat to get it to lock! The super cinch system is brilliant. This seat does have higher sides which made it kind of cumbersome to load a big baby. The harness straps were easy for us to tighten (some people have trouble with them). The recline positions make it very easy to fit this seat in almost any vehicle. It feels sturdy and comes with a cup holder! Lets face it, if you are spending close to $300 for a car seat, it should come with a d*mn cup holder. I almost want to boycott any business that holds out on customers for not including things to make our lives easier. That said, the cup holder is small. It will fit a skinny toddler cup, but we have contigo flip up water bottles (kid size) and they won't fit. The diono cup holder can fit my 30 oz yeti cup- tight, but it fits. It's a huge deal since we live in Az. Finally the DIONO Radian RXT. We settled with this seat, because in our opinion there was nothing that compared to the strength of this seat. When it is installed correctly, it does.not.budge. I love that we can rear tether it, making me feel even more confident that it is secure. I love the low profile and low sides. We have it installed in the center of our Honda Cr-V and I don't even have to get in the car to get my son in the seat and secure him properly. The cup holder is wonderful. YES the other car seats were much easier to instal, but the diono really isn't that hard once you figure out what you are doing and get a system down. We do it this way, and it works every time: 1. Lay the diono flat on its back, 2. attach the recline foot. 3. roll carseat to its side and drop the latch system down that way ( the pass-through is tight and it is hard to reach bigger hands though). 4. Sit is up where you want to instal and attach the latch connectors to the latches in the car. 5. remove slack 6. stand behind the seat and grab hold of the tightening strap. Rock the seat back and forth from side to side a few times while pulling the strap. 7. Check at the belt bath that there is less than 1 inch of movement from side to side or front to back. Doing this, we don't ever get ANY movement and it takes zero muscle. We always used to angle adjuster and the front seat passengers get their full amount of leg room. Now if the car seat was on either side of the car, the front seats would need to move up a few notches. It is very easy to get the harness tight enough, by pulling the harness straps tight from the back of the restraint. The leg room is amazing, our now 20 month old can just now reach the back seat with his feet. The reason we chose only 4 stars is because I wish that it had some of the other features from the comparable seats: like a no- rethread harness, multiple angles (without having to use a foam piece) and lock-offs. For the price I feel like those amenities should be standard. But since I love everything else about the seat and we don't have to move it from car to car, we decided that it wasn't a big deal…for now. Hope this helps someone who has a carseat complex, like me! OH and the reason we like the Radian over the Rainier was because the head wings felt more stable on the Radian. I don't know if because they added the "extra" side protection on the Rainier that they felt the head wings didn't need to be as sturdy or what; but even without the extra protection, the Radian felt more secure to me!