Sunday, February 27, 2011

Ordered- check! Delivered- check! Satisfied...not sure yet

We finally went ahead and ordered Brynna's new "big girl" car seat. We ordered it Monday (and got it for a STELLAR deal!) and it was sitting on our front porch Thursday when Batman got home with Little Miss. (Hooray for Dia.persdotcom!). We put it in the car on Friday (RF of course).

We got her the SK Radian XTSL in flora. I'm overall happy with it... I think.

It's been a bit of an adjustment transitioning from her infant carrier. More for me than for her. The Chicco keyfit we had was just a dream and I was kind of in love with it (even though I HATED infant carriers before I had B). It was so easy to use and relatively light weight (well, without her in it).

See, the thing with the radian is- it's heavy. Mind you, I won't be taking it in and out all the time the like the ic, but still- moving it from my car to Batman's or to my IL is going to be a PITA! Plus it's bigger... I knew it would be, but that's just an adjustment to make too. And I kind of hate how it tightens the shoulder straps. It's this "one-click-at-a-time" kind of contraption and I either haven't really figured it out yet or I'm just destined to hate it (anyone else out there with the xtsl that can help me out here?).
And there's no sunshade. Poor girl had sun in her eyes all the way home from church (yep, this is the second time we've gone- go us!) and it was just awful to hear her pitiful cries (granted, we live a mile and half from church so it wasn't a long trip) ;-) I know I could get a little shade to put in the back window- which we may end up doing- but I really HATE these things and my back window is already hard to see out of since her little mirror is back there already.
I guess a couple of these issues are problems I would have with ANY convertible car seat though, so I can't really blame the radian for those. I think it's just going to take some getting used to.
I do love the fabric (both color and texture)! And I like how it fits in the car- there's a little more room for people who get stuck in the back with her ;-)
And I really like that it's just so safe!
I guess I can get used to the other things.

3 comments:

Shannon said...

I don't have any experience with that carseat, but our Britax isn't the lightest thing either and moving it from car to car sucks! I'm sure that would suck no matter which seat you had. Hopefully you will get used to the new seat quickly.

Happily Married said...

We have the same carseat in a different pattern. The ratcheting to tighten the straps is how it works and we HATE that part of the seat but we love just about everything else. The other part you commented on - about it being heavy & a PITA to move from one car to another are two other things we disliked about it too. The only other two things we don't love about it is that there is no cup holder and no arm rests but we knew about those before we purchased it. Overall we love this seat a LOT more than the ones we saw & tested in the store but there's still some things left to be desired. If only these companies would let a mother design their products!!!! Hey! Maybe that's an idea we can take up!

Kitty said...

This is exactly the carseat we have, color and all, and we love it! I hope you love it too!!!

:) Kitty