Buy Diono RadianR120 Convertible Car Seat

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List Price: $309.99
Sale Price: $299.99
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program THE QUICK TAKE: The Diono RadianR120 Convertible Car Seat is a very good car seat that should provide many years of use, making it a good value. I don't think it will be the only car seat you'll ever own, but it's a very flexible seat that covers a wide range of weight and height. It's exceptionally well made and has a number of nice features.

FULL REVIEW:

CONVERTIBLE MEANS FLEXIBLE: The Diono RadianR120 is a "convertible" car seat because it can be used in several different configurations and for different size children. It can be used as a rear-facing seat for children up to 45 lbs and 44 inches; as a forward facing car seat for children up to 57 inches and 80 lbs; and up to 120 lbs when used as a booster with the car's belts.

STURDY CONSTRUCTION: We've owned two mid-priced Britax seats, and I always thought they were pretty nice. But this Diono is in a whole different category, in terms of the sturdiness of construction and materials.

LONG TERM VALUE: This car seat may seem expensive. (Or maybe you're used to it by now, from the way all baby gear seems so expensive.) But even setting aside the valuable cargo it carries the several years you'll be able to use this seat makes it reasonably priced on a per-year basis. Even more so if you have another child who can get more use from it.

FOLDS TO A COMPACT SIZE: One of the features I like about this car seat is that it folds to a compact size. To me, that would be most useful for when I wanted to move the seat, or store it in the car to make room to put the rear seats down to carry cargo. With 2 Britax Roundabouts in the back seat, I've occasionally run out of room for cargo. I can't really fit 2 regular car seats in the front seat to make room in the back when I have a lot of cargo unexpectedly.

THE CATCH IT'S HEAVY: Sounds great, right? The perfect car seat. What's the catch, I wondered. I realized when the box arrived and I picked it up. The tradeoff for an exceptionally sturdy, folding seat is that it's heavy. They say it's 23 pounds, which is 6 pounds heavier than the Britax Roundabout. That might or might not sound like a lot to you, but I'm pretty sure the smiling young woman carrying it like a backpack in the picture is saying "Honey, can you take this off my back now? Please?"

That may matter if you travel by air in those early years when your car seat starts to seem like a member of the family because it goes everywhere with you. It depends on your travel style. And maybe whether you get a ride to and from the airport on both ends.

MAYBE NOT YOUR FIRST CAR SEAT: Personally, I'm not sure this would have worked well for us as an infant seat. We got a lot of use out of a snap-in system with a handle that let us carry the sleeping baby in and out of the car, plugged into a stroller, could be used in a restaurant or friends' house, etc. Also, the add-in part that Diono provides for infants seems a little modest, there's not a lot to it.

MAYBE YOUR SECOND CAR SEAT, MAYBE NOT: As mentioned, if you travel a lot with a car seat, the weight of this seat might be a bit much. Also, the seat height is relatively low, to accomodate larger children. That means a 2 year old probably won't be able to see much but door and sky from the seat. (The base of the Britax Roundabout we have is elevated quite a bit.) Not a huge deal, but for amusement and possible car sickness, a slight advantage goes to a higher seat for smaller children.

NOT A SPACE HOG: This Diono seat takes up only one seat, unlike the Britax Roundabout that really takes up a little more. (It mostly wasn't a problem for us, but once in a while we needed to squeeze an adult between two Roundabouts and it was pretty awkward.) If you need to have three car seats, this one plays well with others it's not trying to take up part of the next seat over.

INSTALLATION: If you've installed a car seat before, this one is much the same. The tether to the hook behind the rear seat was a little more awkward than average, but they are always a bit awkward.

Remember to put your weight on the seat and then tighten up the belt to the LATCH hooks, to get the seat as firm as you can.

BOOSTER? Since my children aren't booster age yet, it took me a little while to figure out what that meant. Instead of using the built-in car seat harness, you use the lap-and-shoulder belt in the car to hold larger children in the seat. (The LATCH connectors on the car shouldn't be used to hold the weight of your child once your child gets larger over 80 lbs.)

CUP HOLDER! There are 4 spots (2 on each side) where you can put the included cup holder. The seat is narrow enough that we can put it on the door side of the seat, to allow room for a small booster in the middle seat when we are carrying 3 children in the back.

DIONO? Who? They've been around for several years as Sunshine Kids. I'm not familiar with either company, but the Diono RadianR120 is a very nice, thoughtfully designed car seat. They definitely seem to know what they're doing.

REGISTER: Register your baby products with the manufacturer, so they can find you if there's a recall.

WATCH THE HEIGHTS: We've found our children outgrow the heights before the weights if your children are like that, be sure to keep an eye on the height limits for your car seats, to keep them safe. It seems all manufacturers show the weight limits prominently, but make the height limits hard to find.

KEEP YOUR CHILD REAR FACING: Finally, Google a little on the benefits of keeping children rear-facing as long as you can. If it works for you, it's the safe way to go. We tried to stick it out until age 2, but finally decided that the carsickness was more of a hazard than facing forward. So as with all parenting choices do what works best for you and your child, they are all different.

INSURANCE INSTITUTE REVIEWS: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has reviews of booster seats, it's a good resource for information if you're shopping for a seat for a 4-8 year old (more or less).

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I will say, this seemed like a very nice sturdy seat. I liked the following things:

1. The fact that it is good from birth (assuming the newborn actually fits well in the seat) all the way through booster age.

2. The 45 lb rear facing weight limit

3. Steel frame

4. It is a very narrow seat which is great for situations where parents need to get three car seats across a back seat.

What I don't like the following:

1. Diono recently changed from the Sunshine Kids name after some really bad publicity around their LATCH connectors coming loose while the seats were installed. I also heard a ton of horror stories around the negative customer support parents received during this. Things like being told they were too fat to install the seat and had broken it, parents returning connectors only to have the same ones returned to them and being told these were the new fixed ones, being lied to by customer service, etc.

2. I hate that Diono/Sunshine Kids claims these Super Latch connectors are good to 80 lbs. To be safe, both the LATCH connector and the vehicle LATCH need to be rated to the higher weight and, currently, there are no vehicles in the US rated over 48 lbs. So, this is very misleading and potentially dangerous information.

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My wife and I recently got this and have been very impressed with it, In 12 years of Law Enforcement experience, I have never seen a car seat made from such durable materials. I feel completely safe putting any of my three kids in this seat. It is heavy, but that is directly related to the high density materials it is made out of. I have seen many car accidents involving young children, and I feel that this seat will provide superior protection as possible and even saves lives.

Honest reviews on Diono RadianR120 Convertible Car Seat

This is my first review on amazon...I read so many reviews before making my decision so I figured it'd be nice to let other parents know of my experience. We have had the car seat about a month now and have only good things to say about it. My 7 month old weighed 21 lbs and was 28" at his 6 mth appt... We plan to keep him rear-facing (and then forward facing) until he graduates high school (that was a joke) so comfort was a close second to safety features when looking for a car seat. He never really truly seemed comfortable in his keyfit 30...but he had a big ol' grin on his face when I placed him on the Diono for the first time. Took him for a ride and he was out cold after 5 minutes. I was initially worried his head would slouch to the side but it hasn't so far. I had also read that it is hard to look out the window because the seat is so low but, if anything, he seems to be able to look out more because there isn't so much padding on the sides. That leads me to the safety aspect of the seat. I don't know much technical jargon but i do know the seat feels very secure with the baby in it. My husband said he had no trouble installing it and the seat feels very solid. The keyfit 30 felt secure as well but the Diono does not have the plastic-y feel to it. I was concerned the smaller sides would offer leas protection but now seeing it in person I don't feel this is the case at all. My baby seems very well protected and the sides (and the whole seat in general) seem very sturdy. Loosening and tightening the straps is also very easy to do which is a big plus in my book. The material is very easy to clean and there was hardly any smell to the seat when taking it of the box (but we still air it out for a few days as is our practice for most things). Okay well hope this review was okay!

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Diono RadianR120 Convertible Car Seat

This is our second car seat after our son outgrew his snap-in system seat.

So far this has been a great seat. It fits well rear facing (center position only) in our 2005 Toyota Prius and 2012 VW Jetta Sportwagan. By well i mean as good as can be expected for a convertible seat rear facing. The front seat backs touch the car seat and the car seat limits how far back the front seats can go, just enough for a 6'1" driver.

The negative feedback on this seat seems to center around the weight. And while it is heavy you need to go to the airport and see all the other parents hauling around a lighter car seat that doesn't fold and is 3 times the volume of this car seat. Use the backpack straps or better yet get the also great travel bag for this--also with backpack straps--and check the car seat at the airport. Personally I'll take the weight in a manageable package over a few pound savings and much larger packaging.

In my experience the only problems are:

1) The fact that this folds does require a bit of "training" on use. You will actually have to read the manual for this seat before use. In a dark rainy parking lot at the airport is not the time to find out how to fold and install the seat.

2) There are ton of straps that are always attached to the back. While I'm sure this is driven by some regulation on car seats that required straps can not be removed to prevent loss. There is about 20 feet of webbing on the back of this things and enough connectors and buckles to go climbing. It would be nice to remove all the front facing tethers until i need them. But it's also nice that I can't lose them. However as a plus Diono has provided latching storage spots for the LATCH connectors.