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mnhillyer
Member
Diono radian if you need to go three wide with five point harnesses. I have a Graco turbobooster for my youngest and two cosco (cheap Walmart) backless boosters for my older two.
Ichthus
Well-Known Member
Yep. The Diono Radian models are great. I think the Recaro’s we have are about the same size and I slightly preferred them, but Recaro pulled out of the US market. I think we’ve gone to a Graco booster that folds in half, which makes it real easy to store out of the way when you need to move it.
attworth
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Another vote for Diono Radian. We have 3 in my wife’s minivan. We originally bought them because she was going to get a JLU, then baby number 3 came along and the JT was announced. We still love the seats though.
They’re good for 10 years (most seats are 5 year I believe?), convert from infant all the way to booster, have steel frames, are crash tested, and fold up for storage if needed. You can also have the rear facing setup resting on the seat in front of it, per their manual and crash tests, which isn’t something you can do with most seats. This has been necessary in my Land Rover with the baby rear facing. All 3 easily fit in the back of the Landy, which is slightly wider than the JLU/JT. My oldest generally rides in the “back-back” though as it’s a 7-seater.
On the note of the infant setup. There’s an insert you put in the seat. Our baby was around 7.5 lbs when she was born and looked tiny in the seat compared to a standard “baby bucket”, but she was super secure as the insert kept her right where she was supposed to be. And since the seat is good for 10 years we’ll never have to buy her another seat (unless she continues to be dainty and we need to get a new one when she’s 10 as a booster). We did the baby bucket thing for the first kid, but realized it’s a pain in the butt lugging a baby plus a 20+ pound bucket around all the time.
They’re a bit on the heavy side, but if you’re not moving them a lot it’s not a big deal. We moved from Europe back to the US last year and had 3 car seats plus carry ons with us. It was a pain, but being able to fold them was nice, and we bought the Diono travel bags that work pretty well.
They’re good for 10 years (most seats are 5 year I believe?), convert from infant all the way to booster, have steel frames, are crash tested, and fold up for storage if needed. You can also have the rear facing setup resting on the seat in front of it, per their manual and crash tests, which isn’t something you can do with most seats. This has been necessary in my Land Rover with the baby rear facing. All 3 easily fit in the back of the Landy, which is slightly wider than the JLU/JT. My oldest generally rides in the “back-back” though as it’s a 7-seater.
On the note of the infant setup. There’s an insert you put in the seat. Our baby was around 7.5 lbs when she was born and looked tiny in the seat compared to a standard “baby bucket”, but she was super secure as the insert kept her right where she was supposed to be. And since the seat is good for 10 years we’ll never have to buy her another seat (unless she continues to be dainty and we need to get a new one when she’s 10 as a booster). We did the baby bucket thing for the first kid, but realized it’s a pain in the butt lugging a baby plus a 20+ pound bucket around all the time.
They’re a bit on the heavy side, but if you’re not moving them a lot it’s not a big deal. We moved from Europe back to the US last year and had 3 car seats plus carry ons with us. It was a pain, but being able to fold them was nice, and we bought the Diono travel bags that work pretty well.
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Ichthus
Well-Known Member
WELL....for newborns you are still most likely going to want to start with a pumpkin style car seat that locks into a base. Chicco, Graco, whatever...go to Buy Buy Baby and get the one that is the easiest for you to live with.
DO NOT get suckered into one of those package deals with a stroller, etc. The sales person will wow you with single-handed folding techniques and then you’ll find daily use is a joke. My wife went through, I’m NOT exaggerating, a dozen different strollers before landing on something we actually liked. Get a stroller with really big wheels, a short wheelbase, easy to use brakes. Folding it and unfolding is 2% of the use, get a stroller that is awesome 98% of the time. We ended up with a Baby Jogger City Select, but there are now about a dozen similar options. Most are compatible with pumpkin car seats and some can be upgraded into double or triple strollers over time.
Honestly, you may even have transition “Convertible” car seat between the pumpkin and the Diono. It all comes down to child weights and sizes. Hah! And you thought the Gladiator was going to be expensive....
PyrPatriot
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Can anyone post pics of their newborns in the seats? Wife wants pics before she agrees
PyrPatriot
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That isnt the Diono Radian is it? Says BraxtisDon't have a pic of one with a baby in it but I found this awhile back
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Not sure what it is , it was the only pic I have of a car seat in the back of the gladiator. I'm sure there are people on here with the diono car seats maybe they can take one
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Found some link to thread although these are for toddlers in this pic. Don't know if they make them for newborns //www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/car-seats.18208/
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