Diono RadianRXT Convertible Car Seat

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 10 x 17 x 28.5 inches ; 24 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 31.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B005MQRAAK
• UPC: 677726169306
• Item model number: 16930
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: 675 in Baby (See Top 100 in Baby)
• 9 inBaby Car Seats Car Seats Convertible
  

By : Diono
List Price : $339.99
Price : $289.00
You Save : $50.99 (15%)

Product Description

Color: Shadow
The Radian RXT 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 pounds, forward-facing children from 20-80 pounds in 5-point harness, then converts to a booster for children up to 120 pounds. It’s built for strength and safety with a steel alloy frame, reinforced sidewalls, adjustable head support and our patented SafeStop energy absorbing harness. EPS foam surrounds the child's head and body to provide complete side impact protection. Our unique Superlatch system makes installation easy. The Radian RXT is NCAP crash tested, the industry benchmark for verifying child seat performance in severe accident conditions, and the only car seat rated for latch use with a child up to 80 pounds. The Radian RXT sits low on a vehicle seat for easy child boarding, features memory foam padding and infant support pillows. Expandable sides and a longer seat bottom provide extra room and comfort for your growing child. One cup holder is included, with the option to add up to 4 cup holders. In addition to all this versatility, it folds flat for travel and storage, has a 10 year life and offers amazing safety, comfort and convenience your child won’t outgrow.

 

Diono RadianRXT Convertible Car Seat

 

Product Features

• Adjustable head support, reinforced for complete side impact safety
• Infant body support cushions
• Expandable sides and longer seat bottom for leg support and comfort
• 12 height positions a for adjustable head support
• Fits 3 across in a mid-size vehicle and offers more shoulder space

Client Critiques

Unboxing:
Initial impressions of this auto seat are daunting to say the least. I pulled it out of the box (a big box) and discovered I had to dig for the directions perfect away. It comes in the collapsed mode, which permits you to attach straps and carry it as a backpack, incredibly handy for traveling, say, on an airplane. By the way, this seat is completely airline compliant, so you should not have any difficulty bringing it on a plane.
Anyway, as per the directions, the base of the seat folds out for use, and does so via a easy-to-operate latch. The back of the automobile seat holds all the many LATCH straps and belts necessary for installation either rear- or forward-facing, as nicely as a seat belt clip for cars built just before 2001 that do not have a LATCH process. Also in the box are the backpack straps previously mentioned, as nicely as the infant padding you can see in the image above, which will nicely snug in your newborn. Our son is now about 20 lbs and as well huge to need the additional padding.
Initially Impressions:
This Radian RXT is somewhat substantial, as you can see. Offered that it can hold young children all the way up to 120 lbs (which is heavier than some adults!), it will need to be. The headrest portion is adjustable so that the aluminum-framed head supports align appropriately with your child's head.
Although tall, the seat is not especially wide, a feature Dioni says makes it possible for this seat to be installed 3-across in a automobile. The construction is incredibly robust and durable, composed of each heavy plastic as in most car seats and aluminum framing in particular locations.
The straps are all adjustable of course, and this was the fastest component of setup for me, in contrast to quite a few other car seats that make you take away covers and padding and whatnot this was extremely straightforward to adjust to our toddler's height. A good function 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 finding it too tight all at when when fitting it to your child.
It really is a huge plus to have a seat that you can take your baby home from the hospital in and not have to order a different seat until they are big adequate to not need 1 any longer, so I was seeking forward to installing it and trying it out.
Installation:
Installing the Radian RXT turned out to be highly difficult with our two autos that I tried it in. The large disclaimer here is that sadly we don't have a modern day SUV or minivan, so installation was doubtless extra hard than it would have been had we had one. I very first tried installing it in our 2000 Isuzu Rodeo, which sadly does not have a LATCH method, and soon after struggling with it for about 30 minutes and reading the directions more than and more than, ultimately had to give up. The style of the seat is such that the belt path below the seat is a closed tunnel, which very first of all signifies you require tiny hands to be in a position to thread the belts by means of, which wanted to get hung up inside. But as soon as I got the seat belt via, a bigger obstacle cropped up. Due to the fact the belt tunnel is so low and closed off from the top rated (as opposed to a conventional vehicle seat base), I was unable to tighten the belt enough considering that the automobile buckle of course cannot bend around the angle of the tunnel. This was with the rear-facing base attachment adequately secured, but it was nonetheless as if the belt tunnel was as well low to be in a position to tighten the belt adequate. Compounding this in a automobile with no a LATCH method is the fact that you have to secure the belt clip and then fasten the seat belt. Then again, with the Radian, there was completely no way once I secured the belt clip to snake the tightened belt back through the tunnel and clip it into the buckle because you usually have to have lots of leverage to do that, and I'm sorry, but my fingertips just are not sturdy enough to manage that.
So, on to choice two, the BMW three-series sedan. It really is a 2001, so it does have a LATCH process thankfully. Having said that, offered the size of the Radian RXT, I discovered it could not be installed behind the driver's seat, which is where the current automobile seat goes, simply because the high headrest of the Radian would have meant that the drivers seat would have had to go forward also far for anybody except a small person. I am positive it would have worked okay forward-facing, but we cannot do that till the child is larger.
So I finally got it installed on the passenger side of the automobile, but seemed to have a similar issue tightening the LATCH straps, due to the belt tunnel seeming also low. But in actuality, when tightened down as definitely as I could, the manual says that when gripped at the tunnel, the seat must not move far more than an inch in any direction, which it doesn't. Then again, it didn't appear perfect at 1st due to the fact shaking the seat from the headrest resulted in a lot of play. I guess this is to be expected because there's lots of leverage there, it really is 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 employing.
Use:
So the installation was rough, and took just about an hour prior to it was ultimately installed. But once it was in, use is as rather simple as any other vehicle seat, and the top quality of the buckles across the chest and among the legs without a doubt seems a notch above. As mentioned earlier, all adjust very easily and connect positively. I also liked how as soon as our son was in there that it seemed far more open and airy than a conventional auto seat although holding him securely. In any case, I see no difficulties with additional use, and I know it will prove to be an wonderful auto seat whenever we ultimately do get a modern minivan.
Final Thoughts:
The Radian RXT from Diono is rather properly-built and versatile. You could obtain 2 or 3 automobile seats for your young one particular till they don't require them, or you could get the one Radian RXT. It is adjustability and excellent of materials is absolutely above par. I just wish the belt tunnel had been designed to make installation with out a LATCH program much less painless. That said, my difficulties with installation could just be that a fault of common ineptitude with automobile seats, mechanical prowess in a great number of other regions notwithstanding, and not so substantially a fault with the seat. The Radian has lots of superb critiques on Amazon, which includes one I read from a lady who has two in her Honda Civic, so maybe it was just a poor combination of an older auto and installing even though tired. In any case, the Radian RXT is a awesome carseat and one that I know will be in a position to deal with all the abuse a baby/toddler/youngster can throw at it.

I bought this for air travel, and my rating reflects that usage. Look at this a 4 star rating for fixed usage.
As I comprehend it, this seat manages a smaller footprint applying a steel frame. This is terrific if you need to have slim seat, mediocre if you need to carry it.
Pros:
really good crash ratings
slim size offers a lot more area for adjacent seats or passengers (albeit not significantly a lot more area)
fold for carry/storage
rated for a wide range of youngster sizes (i.e. it converts into a belt positioning booster for bigger/older kids).
Cons:
heavy and bulky for airline travel (at 24 pounds--according to the manufacturer--it is as well heavy for my average size/strength wife to carry comfortably for more than a few minutes when managing a smaller carry on)
included shoulder strap encourages shoulder carry at the similar height as a toddler/preschooler's head: this needs extreme vigilance on the part of the carrier so as NOT to hit the kid in the head whilst walking.
LATCH is a single unattached strap, as opposed to two straps permanently affixed to the seat. This results in a bit way more side to side movement in the seat (as compared to my Britax Marathon)
Upper latch strap is at the midpoint in height of the seat (compared with leading attachment of the Marathon). This outcomes in a bit a lot more front rear and side to side movement than the Britax.
the airplane seat belt buckle was positioned in the center of the seat behind my child's back and bulged out with small padding. in short, this was uncomfortable for my son. The Britax did not suffer from this flaw.
In summary, disappointing for air travel I consider there have to be better options.

 

Diono RadianRXT Convertible Car Seat