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I purchased the Diono Travel Bag for my daughter's car seat to take on vacation. First, I'm a stickler at keeping our things as clean and damage-free as possible. I wanted this bag because I planned on gate checking the seat. I never check it in at the ticket counter because I've seen car seats falling off the trolley on their way to the plane. The baggage handlers don't even notice and sometimes the seats get run over. Not happening to our seat! The bag comes with dual straps so you can carry it as a backpack. However, if you own a Diono Radian RXT, you know very well how heavy they are. I wasn't going to put my husband through that so I also purchased a $22 luggage cart so I could just pull it behind me. It worked out great! Once it was time to gate check the seat, I just folded the luggage cart and stuck it in the bag too so it wouldn't get lost. The bag itself is made well. The zipper is pretty heavy duty and did not rip. I will have to update this part once we've used it more, but for now I feel it's a must-have for traveling.
Luggage cart: Sparco Compact Luggage Cart, Easy-Grip Handle, Flip-Out Support Platform, 150 lb. Capacity, Chrome
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Update: Diono sent me a new bag which fixes my only real problem with the product. There are now two strap attachment points on one side of the bag. So it now works great in shoulder bag mode. The really amazing part of this is that when talking to customer service months ago I said that if they ever fixed this problem on the bag I would like a new one. And then it just shows up last week.
Original review:
So first off this is a substantial bag that fits the Radian 120 like a glove. The fit on the width and height is perfect, there is a bit extra on the depth at the top but this leaves you enough room to shove the rear facing booster and a jacket in if needed.
The materials are very thick with firm foam padding in select areas. Inside there are three skinny pockets that will let you stash the shoulder straps at check-in. Again this is heavy luggage fabric not gym bag fabric. After one trip with the bag as checked luggage there are no signs of wear. I expect that this bag will last as long as the seat.
Now for the two problems. All the images on the packaging show two compression straps on the top sides of the bag and metal attachment points for the shoulder straps on the four corners and the middle top position. This should allow you to use two straps with the low side and high center attachment points as a backpack. Or use one strap with the two points on either side and carry it as a shoulder bag. What you actually get is a bag without the compression straps and missing one of the high side mount points. This causes the following problems.
The lack of compression straps feels like it allows the top of the seat to fall away from your back in backpack mode, this makes it less comfortable to carry then a good backpack. I will say that compression straps may not help this much as the bag is a very snug fit to the seat already. And that i feel like loose straps are asking to get ripped off in airline baggage handling. So if this was the only problem I would be giving it 5 stars.
But the big problem is the only set of side attachment points is on the opposite side from the grab carry handle on the bag. So once you take the bag off your shoulder you have nothing on the top side to pick the bag up except the long shoulder strap. There is a nice padded grab handle but it's on the bottom and is sitting on the ground at this point. This is really simple and obvious problem that should have been apparent to the designers the instant they saw the first prototype.
Update: I emailed Diono customer support the same comments in this review and got a prompt reply thanking me for my feedback--which they passed on to the product manager--and included his responses. He said the packaging image was incorrect and changed after the start of production. Also that the compression straps were for another use and they never appeared on a shipping bag. He also commented that changing the shoulder strap to the same side was a good idea and would be investigated for future models.
They also offered to replace my bag but said the replacement would likely be the same as the one i have. I declined the offer.
+1 star for great customer service.
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We choose the Radian carseat because we travel. We travel A LOT. The portability of this carseat sold me on it over the Britax seats. I purchased this bag to allow us to lug the carseat around more easily.
The bag is ESSENTIAL for travel. Without it, my husband who was flying solo with the baby wouldn't have made it. Unfortunately, after the first trip, the bag is already ripping at the seams and has a hole where the strap attaches to the bag. I'll be contacting customer service for a replacement.
Honest reviews on Diono Radian Travel Bag, Black
Most photos of the travel bag still show a "sinching mechanism" on the top sides of the bag, which would be required for removing slack from the bag. The actual travel bag no longer comes with this mechanism. So, it's not actually possible to remove the slack from the bag. And there is a lot of slack in the bag enough that if you're doing more than 20 minutes of walking with it, you will feel it. (we're traveling to London where we will be carrying it on our backs for a couple of hours at a time in order to get from airport to where we're staying and back)
I've also seen a lot of pictures showing a woman comfortably carrying the Diono on her back despite the fact that it's quite heavy. So, I was planning on carrying it on our trip. However, because of the slack in the bag, I don't think there's any way that I would be able to safely carry it.
My husband is 6' tall and weighs 81 kg (roughly 180 pounds). The car seat covers his entire back and still has enough slack that it makes him lean back a bit.
Also the plastic base to make the car seat rear facing requires a fare bit of manuevering the first few times to get it into the bag and get the bag closed. Don't give up. It is possible.
With that said, it is very sturdy. We're sure it will keep the car seat safe and clean, which is what it needs to do most. And, if we were driving duuring our trip abroad rather than taking public transport, the slack in the straps would be a non-issue.
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Just took our new Radian carseat on two plane trips, the bag did well. I was traveling alone with a toddler, so I had to get kid+stroller+carryon+big checked bag+carseat from the car in the parking lot to the check-in counter. Last time it was easy, just snap the infant carseat onto stroller, this time I had to try something else, in comes the backpack mode of this travel bag.
Pros: It was better than single shoulder strap carrying of the carseat (yes it was heavy, but that is the carseat itself at that weight the only thing that would help is backpacking padded waist strap).
It fits the Radian XTS with rear facing attachment and blanket/jacket and other things that made my check-in bag overweightand it is free luggage.
The placement of the back pack straps without over doing it construction wise, having the straps attach midway up the bag made sense, yes the bag rides high that way, but if it were attached higher it would be hitting the back of your thighs as you walk, making walking cumbersome.
Cons: It is a tight fit, an extra 1/2 inch would keep from having to wrestle the last corner of the seat in. I'm not sure that cinch straps are needed as suggested by others, my seat didn't have anywhere to move in the bag.
The bag is showing wear on the spots where the bag fits tight, but so far minor wear considering it has been treated as checked baggage on six flights.
I am taking it on several more flights in the next few weeks, I feel pretty sure that the bag will survive, it now has its place in my traveling routine.
