Car seat thread lol

[RaptorWifey]

Got our car seats last week (Chicco Key fit 30) and test fit them in the trucks yesterday. First of all these seats are ridiculously easy to install and remove with our latches in our trucks. I'm going to return the extra bases I bought just because I can't fathom not having 2 minutes to switch them between trucks.
The seat fits no problem in Night Raptor (SCrew) and doesn't interfere with Joe's settings at all.


In Little Red, (SCab) it still fits but did require the seat to move up a bit. I do sit very far back for my 5' 3" though.

My normal setting


I ended up telescoping the steering wheel and pedals in as far as they could go and only lost about an inch or so on my legs to the pedals, arm wise I'm the same. But I drove with the balls of my feet, so I could stand to be a little closer safety wise. Yukon who is 5' 11" is going to be a tid bunched, but it's still absolutely manageable... And if we are going on big trips we'll take night raptor for the poor dogs sake..lol

A couple pics...

 

[KaiserM715]

Exact same setup I went with.

 

[Wilson]

In a pinch you don't need the base. Just buckle the seat right in, a practice run is recomended. Once they are out of the infant seat is where the one in each vehical comes in handy.

 

[Hazzard]

Just a heads up to all the car seat users, the latching points are generally only supposed to be used until the child is 40lbs. After that the seat belt needs to be used to hold the car seat. I have two bases for the twins and a britax frontier 90 with the click tight for the 4 year old in the truck and everyone fits fine.

 

[aR4CE]

When I transport the family's kids, I always put down a cover (we use happy seats from amazon) to protect the seats.

 

[PGLMike]

I just installed the new modified top tether straps from the recall on my boy's Recaro ProRides. I decided to moved the youngest to forward-facing at the same time but remembered the Jiu Jitsu session I had with my eldest's seat and knew there had to be a better way. After searching for a bit(no owners manual) I found out how to anchor the top tethers correctly.

Routing through the loop and anchoring in the center is the ticket. I had my eldest's seat in there going direct to the tether on the same seat, pretty darn tight, but this is way better. I removed the headrests and now the base is planted in the seat better as well.

I am using a universal water repellent bench seat cover, the boys don't get snacks in the car unless on trips but this keeps off dirt and other stuff pretty good.


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[Reptar]

perfect timing for that post! We're about to turn my son around as well, he's getting too bunched up in the Recaro in the Raptor. Tried to keep him rear facing for as long as possible but it's about that time. Need to do the recall on the forward facing tether then will probably turn him around, so that info will be helpful.

 

[Sinraptor]

I just installed the new modified top tether straps from the recall on my boy's Recaro ProRides. I decided to moved the youngest to forward-facing at the same time but remembered the Jiu Jitsu session I had with my eldest's seat and knew there had to be a better way. After searching for a bit(no owners manual) I found out how to anchor the top tethers correctly.

Routing through the loop and anchoring in the center is the ticket. I had my eldest's seat in there going direct to the tether on the same seat, pretty darn tight, but this is way better. I removed the headrests and now the base is planted in the seat better as well.

I am using a universal water repellent bench seat cover, the boys don't get snacks in the car unless on trips but this keeps off dirt and other stuff pretty good.


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How you do like your Recaro seats? my son (Gunner) is transitioning to the 4 in 1 type booster seats since he is now 8 months. My wife for her vehicle went with the traditional Graco car seat but for the raptor i would like something little more "guy related" brand and would like to go with recaro.

 

[Reptar]

How you do like your Recaro seats? my son (Gunner) is transitioning to the 4 in 1 type booster seats since he is now 8 months. My wife for her vehicle went with the traditional Graco car seat but for the raptor i would like something little more "guy related" brand and would like to go with recaro.

I posted my recaro feedback earlier, but here it is again if it's helpful.

The belts tighten onto the kid super easy. They cinch down tight with minimal effort. The belts to tighten the carseat to the truck though, royal PITA to get them tight. Takes a lot of effort to get it secured sufficiently. We have a chicco in our Explorer Sport and it's the opposite. Hard to cinch the kid's belts tight, but it has a compound leverage strap to tighten into the seat and it's friggin butter to cinch that sucker so tight into the seat it won't budge. The Recaro I have to lay on top of it to push it down and get the seat strap tight.

Height adjustment for as the kid grows is great. Turn the knob on the side and it adjusts shoulder strap height. Chicco has like 2 or 3 settings it clicks to. Recaro is infinite adjustment with the knobs. Nice

Angle adjustment sucks. There's 2 settings IIRC. Neither work well for rear facing in the raptor. I have a towel under the rear portion to get it to work. Chicco has like 9 or 13 angle settings so it fits friggin anything.

One thing to keep in mind with the recaro, the base is tall, and the side bolsters are high, and with the raptor already being tall, you really have to lift the kid up high to fit them in the seat. I'm 6'2" so I don't have a problem, but my 5'4" wife has a tough time with it and has to stand on the running board to buckle him in. Just makes it tougher. The chicco sits way lower and not as tall bolsters (but still plenty high to be safe) so it's easier entry/egress.


Long story short:
Recaro Pros: Kids buckles cinch down nice and easy, height adjustment is infinite with the knob, seat sits high so the kid can see out and you can see them in the mirror easily.
Recaro Cons: Latch system straps to cinch into the vehicle are a royal PITA and tough to get tight, angle adjustment blows with only 2 settings, and seat sits high with high bolsters so harder to get the kid in/out


Ironically the chicco is about the exact opposite. Wish we could piece together parts from several and make one that just has all the best features lol.


I'll update my feedback once we turn our son around. Hopefully seat angles work better with the limited adjustment, and the latch system securing has a little better leverage angles with the seat the other way. Entry/egress should be easier too with going in from the front instead of wedged between the car seat and rear seat back.

 

[PGLMike]

I really like the Recaro Pro's, my wife and mother-in-law went with the Evenflo, don't remember what model but I hate them. Buckles/straps are a pain to cinch down.

The Recaros tighten so the boys are sitting tall with chest and shoulders up. Where the Evenflo tightens and the boys are hunched over. It is not extreme but wanted to comment on the direction the belts are pulled to secure them.

I like the adjustment dials on the Recaros as well, they are way easier to fine tune. As for the base adjustment, after removing the headrests they sit much better. I am still using a pool noodle under the seat closer to the backrest. You can kind of see it in this picture.


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---------- Post added at 05:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:01 PM ----------

One more thing... I think I bought the 1st Recaro as soon as we found out there was a bun in the oven because it was a "Race Seat".



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