I know a lot of people love the Cosco scenera as a lightweight travel convertible car seat. What comes next? It seems like my 3.5 yo would outgrow that one soon and she is already forward facing, but she's definitely not ready for a high back booster, and needs a harness.
Our main seat for her now is the britax pioneer but it's heavy and huge. Is there a lightweight inexpensive version of that that people like as a travel seat?
grapefruit / 4584 posts
There is an inexpensive Cosco booster with five point harness - we have it at grandma's house for my almost 5 year old (probably bought it around 3.5).
nectarine / 2018 posts
The Cosco harness booster is outgrown very early in harness mode and does not have a good booster fit for the vast majority of kids.
Depending on your LO's stats you could look at the Evenflo Maestro as it is relatively light weight. (it only goes to 50 lbs)
Also the harmony defender and Graco Tranzitions/Wayz are lighter than your britax and will last quite awhile.
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
@catgirl: both my girls are fairly small- a little under 50th percentile in height and weight usually. So the 3.5 yo is just 35 lbs right now and not sure on height, but she's not tall. I'll look at those too.
honeydew / 7463 posts
I don't have a four-year-old but this is our travel car seat for our tall/sturdy 2 1/2 year-old. It's pretty lightweight, at least much more so than our Chicco next fit that we keep in our car.
When we fly away either roll it on with us and use it or we put it in the Brica travel bag that has wheels/backpack and gate check.
grapefruit / 4584 posts
I'll chime back in to say we also have a Safety 1st guide 65 as a "whoever" seat in my husband's car (so he can take one of the older girls somewhere on weekends), and that easily fits my nearly 5 year old (42 inches, maybe 35 lbs) - I don't remember the exact specifications, but like you, my kids are small, so I expect she'll fit in that at least another year (til 6 yrs), and at that point, she'd be fine to use a vehicle belt booster if need be.
nectarine / 2054 posts
We love the carseat vest - it's amazing for travel, and we use it in taxis in the city too, instead of a carseat. It's really a game changer, and the small size should fit a 3.5 year old nicely.
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
@Beehive: how old was your LO when you started using the vest? Some reviews say it's best for almost 5. I am wondering how she would do, but it would be awesome if that's all I had to carry!!
pomelo / 5866 posts
@Foodnerd81: @Beehive: We use the carseat vest for travel also! Been using it since the month LO turned 4.
I'll probably be ready to re-sell my vest by late Oct. when she's nearly 7 if anyone is interested. Two more trips to go. It's held up really well and we've taken it on at least 10 trips. Depending on how fast your LO grows, you would need to size up. LO stayed pretty petite.
honeydew / 7463 posts
@808love: @Beehive: I'm fascinated by this vest. I've never seen it before. He's only 2.5 so still some time till we could comfortably use it (although he is big for his age). That would be life changing living in a city where cabs are primary transportation! We mostly stay within a walking radius of home because I don't want to deal with a car seat and the subway isn't always convenient. This would be amazing.
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
@808love: our trip would bebin June so we would have to buy before that. At 4 when she started using it, she could sit up properly and use it the right way? I'm worried my LO would be too fidgety and it wouldn't be safe. It's also more expensive than I was hoping to spend for something we won't use that often but it really does sound too good to be true in a lot of ways.
eggplant / 11716 posts
It's kind of pricey, but I think the ImmiGo looks pretty amazing. Since you have 2 kids, you would get more use out of it.
pomelo / 5866 posts
@Foodnerd81: I had LO's grandma who loves to travel buy it for Christmas otherwise I don't think I would have spent so much. LO wasn't fidgety at all. She thought she was a cool superhero.
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
@Anagram: I forgot about that! When it first came out we were so far from forward facing I didn't really pay much attention. Butyeah, pricey!
pear / 1961 posts
We have the evenflo one mentioned above for my 4yo. I wanted something lightweight (to carry) and cheap (in case of loss or damage when checked as luggage). It's been fine! It lives in our basement in the car seat bag, and we use it every time we fly somewhere.
nectarine / 2054 posts
@Foodnerd81: We started using the carseat vest a few months after DS turned 3. It's approved for use by 3 year olds, but his chest was a bit too narrow at age 3, so we had to wait for him to grow into it. He never had any problem with positioning (I think maybe some kids are super squirmy in cars and not able to sit properly - that might be why it didn't work for them?). It has truly been amazing traveling without a carseat and with only the vest!
@SweetiePie: It has really opened up the city for us too - now we can bring the vest with us and set off and go as far from convenient subways as we like, and we know we can always take a taxi back. The years between the infant carseat attached to the stroller and the carseat vest were annoying - stuck using only the subway!
honeydew / 7463 posts
@Beehive: I showed it to my husband and he said "no brainer!" So we're going to order it in preparation for when he turns 3. He's pretty tall and sturdy so I think he'll be OK in it.
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
@SweetiePie: plus if you are in a taxi I'm sure you will be sitting next to him in the back, which I think would help with the squirming.
@Beehive: yeah it's the squirming I'm more worried about than just the size. She's a little short but not particularly skinny. But can get squirmy. I suppose in trips I could always sit in the back with her since DH would be driving.
nectarine / 2054 posts
@SweetiePie: It's not small enough to fit in my purse, but we keep it in our "diaper" bag (now just a tote bag since we don't have diapers anymore) or just under our stroller if we're not taking a bag out.
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