Diono RadianRXT Birth to Booster Seat - Spring

Comments about RadianRXT Birth to Booster Seat - Storm:

Our grandchild needed a larger carseat. This is a very safe and sturdy one. Like the fact that it can face the rear-most safe position.
Only problem-we need to remove the seat occasionally-it is not easy to
install.

Comments about RadianRXT Birth to Booster Seat - Storm:

We have a very tall, skinny baby (98th percentile for height, 50th for weight!) She outgrew her infant seat at 8 months, and there are so many convertible seats out there. We are so happy we went with this seat. It is solid (and heavy, but that's a good thing). We went with the Storm color; it is a great match with our interior, and is soft and cozy, she fell asleep during her first ride in it. For those of you wondering if it fits rear-facing in a smaller car...Yes! It's perfect with the angle adjuster! We have an '09 Prius and it leaves plenty of leg room for the front passenger (my husband and I are both tall, hence the tall child). The latch system makes for an easy install, and I used the tether as well on the front seat leg for added stability. Her seat is as much a part of the structure of the car as my own. Very happy with our decision, and glad that we are set for the rest of her time using a seat/booster!

Comments about RadianRXT Birth to Booster Seat - Shadow:

When we adopted three little boys, (ages 2 1/2, 18 mon, and 5 mon) and ran out of room in our Subarban, some friends recomended that we get these seats. With five kids in carseats (seven kids total), you can imagine how tight it was in our Suburban. The baby would scream in his infant carseat, so we ended up getting four Sunshine Kids ones, one for each little boy and one for my 5 year old sister. They worked perfect! We could easily install three even in the narrow back row of the Suburban, and in the middle row, it was even comftorable to sit next to a carseat (carseat installed in the center seat of the middle row of seats). Really, the base of these carseats only takes up 3/4 of a seat, leaving more than enough room to sit next to one.

Pros: Easy to install in a Suburban.
Cons: HEAVY!

We got a 15 passenger van, ordered 2 more carseats (company changed names from Sunshine Kids to Diono) in the blue and red (by the way, gorgous colors), to have enough to move around from car to car. They are hard to install in the van, as you have to use the locking clip. It took me a few hours to install 4 seats, but now, one year later, I have instalation down to a science.

I don't recomend using these if you want to move them around between cars. They are SO HEAVY! However, if they are just going to stay in one car, these are the best.

Even as a 100% Britax lover, my mom was really pleased with these seats, and says that they are so much better than Britax ever thought of being. The plastic is better quality, the fabric is beautiful (and after a year, still looks like it did when I pulled it out of the box), and the heavy metal construction is so much safer. My dad loves the fact that we won't have to buy anymore carseats, as these will last the kids until they no longer need carseats/booster seats. :)

We have had to take the covers off a few times to wash them from potty-training accidents, and the new Diono ones come off and on like a breeze. The older Sunshine Kids ones, not so much, but we really don't have to wash them very often, so its not a big deal. I love that the buckels are adult sized and not kid sized. It is so easy to get them in and out of the seats! My sister (now 7) is just about 40 lbs and still has plenty of room left in her seat to grow. These seats hold the toddeler's bodies in a very comfortable position, and the head wings are nice because their heads don't fall forward when they fall asleep. The baby, (now almost 2, 26 lbs) is still rear facing comfortably. We tried puting him forward facing, but he was really fussy. If you are planning on rear-facing a baby over 12 months, or have a limited ammount of room, I strongly recomend the angle adjuster sold as an accessory. It sits them more upright. One disadvantage about these carseats is that you can't recline it very far in a forward facing position.

These carseats are great, and if you have lots of kids, I definitely recomend these seats.

Comments about RadianRXT Birth to Booster Seat - Storm:

Whoever design this sit did not kept in mind that a child has to wear either a fall or winter jacket. With this in mind my son who is 3 still fits in the straps. The straps are loose on him but the crouch part is so tight that it is a task to fasten him in.

The width of the seat fits him just right now this sit was made for a skinny child, not a husky or over weight child. There is no room to grow so fitting a 120 lb child I wonder where they will fit unless they are skinny.

The seat is well constructed, a tad heavy to be carrying on the back with a child in hand but would recommend for a smaller child not a growing toddler.

Even though my son is 3 he is the height of a 5 year old. Not over weight he is very musclier but he fits snug in the seat.

The seat is going back. This is the only seat that rave reviews but I sadden that it not going to grow with my son.

Comments about RadianRXT Birth to Booster Seat - Storm:

I bought this car seat in 2010 when it was Sunshinse Kids. I've never had an issue and my son has loved this car seat. It's been with us on many trips both driving and air. I've always felt that is was sturdy and comfortable even when he was an infant. It doesn't recline when it's facing forward but it does for an infant rear facing. Easy to clean and I do like the latch across the chest as others have failed me. We recently had to replace ours due to an accident. We will be purchasing this car seat again.

Comments about RadianRXT Birth to Booster Seat - Cobalt:

We just got this car seat today and it's really sturdy. My 4 month old son usually hate when put in his infant car seat (britax) but with this one he was giggling and happy. I don't know why other people find it tricky to install but we find it very easy. I agree with the other reviews..I wish we bought this sooner and not wasted the money we bought for the britax infant car seat and now stocked in its base in just 3 months upon using it. BTW the cobalt color is more like royal blue in person and we love it!

Comments about RadianRXT Birth to Booster Seat - Shadow:

This is a metal structure car seat that is great. It will hold the baby/toddler for many years. I love that it's easy to get my son in and out. I would highly recommend buying the seat wedge too.

Comments about RadianRXT Birth to Booster Seat - Daytona:

We bought this origonally for our newborn but ended up using it for our 2 year old because it sits more upright than his previous seat did. And we love it! We plan on replacing the old carseat that got handed down to the new baby with this seat also. We'd love to have one for our 4 year old too if we can manage it! We will even be using this on the plane when we fly home.

Comments about RadianRXT Birth to Booster Seat - Storm:

Love this seat. We are expecting our third baby and were dreading buying a newer bigger car and these fit great in our Highlander. We currently have two radians and our infant seat and this was the only seat that could fit. We also went from two Britax seats to these and I will say the Radian feels and seems WAY more sturdy and safer. It is a bit hard to set up three across but that would be expected with setting up any seats three across. Love it and love not having to buy a new car!

Comments about RadianRXT Birth to Booster Seat - Daytona:

Great unit. This is the only car seat you will ever need. A++

Comments about RadianRXT Birth to Booster Seat - Spring:

Received this car seat as a gift, and can not say enough great things! It is beyond durable. We currently use a Britax for our other daughter and this car seat makes me wish I had one for her too. It comes with a super durable cup holder, a must for us. The color is as described and will suit any car interior. If you are looking for a light weight portable car seat, this may not be for you. BUT, if you are looking for a durable and soundly built safe car seat this is definitely for you!

Comments about RadianRXT Birth to Booster Seat - Shadow:

Dioni kindly sent me a Radian RXT Car Seat to review here. From the Dioni web site: "The RadianRXT is a highly versatile car seat that could be the only seat you'll ever need. It comfortably seats rear-facing children from 5-45 lbs, forward-facing children from 20-80 lbs in 5-point harness, then converts to a booster for children up to 120 lbs."UnboxingFirst impressions of this car seat are daunting to say the least. I pulled it out of the box (a big box) and found I had to dig for the instructions right away. It comes in the collapsed mode, which allows you to attach straps and carry it as a backpack, very handy for traveling, say, on an airplane. By the way, this seat is fully airline compliant, so you shouldn't have any trouble bringing it on a plane.Anyway, as per the directions, the base of the seat folds out for use, and does so via a simple-to-operate latch. The back of the car seat holds all the various LATCH straps and belts needed for installation either rear- or forward-facing, as well as a seat belt clip for cars built before 2001 that do not have a LATCH system. Also in the box are the backpack straps previously mentioned, as well as the infant padding you can see in the picture above, which will nicely snug in your newborn. Our son is now about 20 lbs and too big to need the extra padding.First ImpressionsThis Radian RXT is somewhat large, as you can see. Given that it can hold children all the way up to 120 lbs (which is heavier than some adults!), it should be. The headrest portion is adjustable so that the aluminum-framed head supports align correctly with your child's head.Though tall, the seat is not especially wide, a feature Dioni says allows this seat to be installed 3-across in a vehicle. The construction is very strong and durable, composed of both heavy plastic as in most car seats and aluminum framing in certain places.The straps are all adjustable of course, and this was the fastest part of setup for me, in contrast to many other car seats that make you remove covers and padding and whatnot; this was very straightforward to adjust to our toddler's height. A nice feature that complements the adjustable shoulder straps is the tensioner at the front of the seat which ratchets rather than just pulls, so you don't risk getting it too tight all at once when fitting it to your child.It's a big plus to have a seat that you can take your baby home from the hospital in and not have to buy another seat until they're big enough to not need one any longer, so I was looking forward to installing it and trying it out.InstallationInstalling the Radian RXT turned out to be very challenging with our two vehicles that I tried it in. The big disclaimer here is that unfortunately we don't have a modern SUV or minivan, so installation was doubtless more difficult than it would have been had we had one. I first tried installing it in our 2000 Isuzu Rodeo, which unfortunately does not have a LATCH system, and after struggling with it for about 30 minutes and reading the directions over and over, ultimately had to give up. The design of the seat is such that the belt path under the seat is a closed tunnel, which first of all means you need small hands to be able to thread the belts through, which wanted to get hung up inside. But once I got the seat belt through, a larger obstacle cropped up. Because the belt tunnel is so low and closed off from the top (unlike a traditional car seat base), I was unable to tighten the belt enough because the car buckle of course cannot bend around the angle of the tunnel. This was with the rear-facing base attachment properly secured, but it was still as if the belt tunnel was too low to be able to tighten the belt enough. Compounding this in a car without a LATCH system is the fact that you have to secure the belt clip and then fasten the seat belt. However, with the Radian, there was absolutely no way once I secured the belt clip to snake the tightened belt back through the tunnel and clip it into the buckle since you usually have to have lots of leverage to do that, and I'm sorry, but my fingertips just aren't strong enough to manage that.So, on to option two, the BMW 3-series sedan. It's a 2001, so it does have a LATCH system fortunately. However, given the size of the Radian RXT, I found it couldn't be installed behind the driver's seat, which is where the current car seat goes, because the high headrest of the Radian would have meant that the drivers seat would have had to go forward too far for anyone except a little person. I'm sure it would have worked okay forward-facing, but we can't do that until the baby is bigger.So I finally got it installed on the passenger side of the car, but seemed to have a similar problem tightening the LATCH straps, due to the belt tunnel seeming too low. But in actuality, when tightened down as absolutely as I could, the manual says that when gripped at the tunnel, the seat should not move more than an inch in any direction, which it doesn't. However, it didn't seem right at first because shaking the seat from the headrest resulted in a lot of play. I guess this is to be expected since there's lots of leverage there, it's just that the manual didn't say anything about how much the headrest could be expected to move, and it seemed like a lot compared to the compact car seat we were currently using.UseSo the installation was rough, and took almost an hour before it was finally installed. But once it was in, use is as simple as any other car seat, and the quality of the buckles across the chest and between the legs definitely seems a notch above. As mentioned earlier, all adjust easily and connect positively. I also liked how once our son was in there that it seemed more open and airy than a traditional car seat while holding him securely. In any case, I see no issues with further use, and I know it will prove to be an excellent car seat whenever we finally do get a modern minivan.Final ThoughtsThe Radian RXT from Diono is very well-built and versatile. You could buy 2 or 3 car seats for your young one until they don't need them, or you could get the one Radian RXT. It's adjustability and quality of materials is definitely above par. I just wish the belt tunnel had been designed to make installation without a LATCH system less painless. That said, my difficulties with installation could just be that a fault of general ineptitude with car seats, mechanical prowess in many other areas notwithstanding, and not so much a fault with the seat. The Radian has lots of great reviews on [@], including one I read from a lady who has two in her Honda Civic, so maybe it was just a bad combination of an older car and installing while tired. In any case, the Radian RXT is a great carseat and one that I know will be able to handle all the abuse a baby/toddler/child can throw at it.

Comments about RadianRXT Birth to Booster Seat - Storm:

This is a very sturdy carseat. We bought this seat for our 2 year old who was outgrowing the rear-facing weight limits of his classic Britax Blvd CS by height and I wanted to keep him rear-facing. The Radian's tall shell and high rear-facing limits make this possible. Based on past reviews of the other versions of the Radian, I was worried this seat would not do well with a center seatbelt install in the back of my small SUV. Luckily I was wrong. I was able to install it within 30 minutes, from opening the box to making sure there was less than one inch of movement at the beltpath when installed. Critical to ensuring the correct install is making sure the seat bottom is in the raised position and the boot is installed. Then I pressed the carseat into the seat bight and pushed and pulled until it was nice and tight. There is more movement at the top of the seat than we had with the Blvd but the important beltpath is nice and tight. I chose the RXT for the high weight and height limits and the fact that it can possibly be used as a booster. It will need to be latched as a booster in my opinion & as the instruction manual recommends (as long as you car latch weight limits allow it- many do not go to 80+lbs) since it will become a major projectile otherwise. I also love the side impact wings since head injuries are so common in crashes. However, the wings are not adjustable like on the Blvd, so only a tall toddler will benefit from them. This works for our 2 year old, but if we are to have another child I'd start out with the Blvd again for the lower wings and then move to the Radian. Very safe and sturdy seat!

Comments about RadianRXT Birth to Booster Seat - Shadow:

After being a tried and true Britax user for my first two children, I did a TON of research when it came to baby #3 and am SO happy with my Radian RXT. First, I was most impressed when installing the Radian RXT in my car {2008 Honda Accord}. I was able, for the first time, to use the latch system which I know is the safest way to install a carseat. I have installed other seats that also use latch but this was so much easier with everything already included and attached right to the carseat. I also found it really easy to "un-latch" when I decided to move the carseat from one side to the other in the backseat. The seat itself looks sharp. I love how it grows with my son (he's a pretty tall little guy). He loves his new seat, and actually feel asleep the very first time we put him in it, so it's got to be pretty comfortable, too! He also loves the cupholder! Having a sedan, sometimes there are three people (usually kids) in the backseat. The Radian RXT is much narrower and lower than our old Britax as well (no more bonking his head when getting him buckled in). It just feels like a safer seat - so much stronger than previous seats we've had. When I was showing it off to a firefighter-friend of ours (to double-check my installation) he also commented on the safety of the carseat. I also really like the weight limits for this carseat. I wish I would've had it when my son was under a year, so he could've remained backward-facing for so much longer, which is now recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. This will be the last carseat/booster that I will use with my son and I could not be more pleased, I just wish I would've had it a lot sooner so I could've used it from the time he was much smaller.

Comments about RadianRXT Birth to Booster Seat - Shadow:

I have 3 kids and this car seat is the best by far. I now have 3 radians and highly recommend. I can get 3 across, it is easy to install, we have been on a few long trips and it is great for all my kids. I have removed the covers and put in the washing machine. You won't regret this purchase!!!