We've tried our fair share of booster seats over the years. My son is 6 years old, 50 some-odd pounds and 48" tall. While many of his peers are no longer using a booster seat, they should be. A booster seat helps to properly position your vehicle's lap/shoulder belts so that they fall across your child's chest and lap instead of riding on their neck and/or belly. If your child is under 4 foot 9 inches tall, they should be riding in a booster seat. The Compass Folding Adjustable Ultimate Booster can accommodate children from 3 to 10 years old, 30 to 100 lbs, and from 38" to 57" tall.

Note: there seems to a discrepancy on the height requirement for this seat as on the Learning Curve website it states 2 different values for the minimum height - either 33" or 38". The user manual gives a height of 38", which is the figure I'd stick to.

A little bit of intro

As your child turns 3 you may be thinking about moving them from a harnessed seat to a booster. While technically you could put your 3 year old into a seat like this, whether or not your child is mature enough to ride in one is another story. At 3 years old, my son clearly was not ready. Let me preface this by saying that my son who rides in this seat has special needs (Autism Spectrum), but I believe that is neither here nor there when it comes to his safety while riding in a vehicle. When my son was 3 years old I tried him in a belt positioning booster, only to have him escape the seat while the vehicle was in motion. Autism or not, he clearly was not ready to ride with only a simply push button of a seat belt keeping him safe. Since he was not mature enough to ride in a belt positioning booster I kept him in a harnessed seat, the Britax Husky (now called the Regent). It wasn't until he was over 4 years old that we re-entered the realm of belt positioning booster seats again as my son no longer would sit in a harnessed seat and wanted to be a "big kid".

For a long time our seat of choice happened to be the Graco TurboBooster (or TurboBooster SafeSeat). My son rode comfortably and safely in his TurboBooster seats for 2+ years until we experienced a seat failure (the EPS foam broke) that forced me to get a new seat immediately. Disappointed and leary of trying another Graco booster and needing immediate replacement we switched to the Evenflo Big Kid Deluxe seat. To date the Evenflo seat has been servicing our needs just fine and we do like it quite a bit. However, I can safely say that both my son and I like the Compass Ultimate Booster even better.

Features of the Compass Folding Adjustable Ultimate Booster

Compass is a Learning Curve brand, of which was news to me until fairly recently. The Folding Adjustable Booster seat is a belt positioning booster. That means that it is a non-harnessed seat and relies on your vehicles lap/shoulder belt to restrain your child. Out of the box this seat comes ready to use, no additional assembly required other than unloading it from the box, unfolding it, and removing a few tags.

Folding/Unfolding
The seat comes folded, which is one of the unique features of this booster. To unfold it you simply put one hand on the back of the seat and one hand on the seat itself and press outward to open it up like a clam shell. The mechanism is rather stiff and it makes a ratcheting noise. You can tell when the seat is fully open because of an audible "click" to indicate that the seat is locked open in an upright position and the back and seat will not budge.


When not in use, for storage or transportation purposes, you can fold the seat up and either stow or go with it as you need. To unlock and fold the seat follow the instructions clearly marked on the back of the seat to release the lock and fold the seat down. If I can do it, then I'd say that most adults will not have trouble doing this. Folded down the seat is less bulky to store or transport, whatever your need may be. There is even a carry handle located on the back to properly lift and move the seat. Though the seat has a carry handle on the back of it, Compass (Learning Curve) makes and sells a bag specifically to store/transport this seat in that is (of course) sold separately ($14.99). Alternatively you could pack the seat in a box or most standard duffle bags if you didn't need to have the matching bag. The dimensions of the seat when folded are 23"L x 18 3/4"W x 12 1/4"H and it weighs approximately 10 pounds.


Price and Availability
The Compass Folding Booster comes in a variety of patterns and colors ranging from conservative (Blues, Browns, Blacks & Greys) to the not so conservative (Camo, Pink, Green, and even a Giraffe pattern!). The B530 model comes with a 90 day warranty and a postage pre-paid registration card that is pre-filled (all but your address info). In this day and age where there is a new recall on a daily basis, it should go without saying to send in your seat registration.

The model that my son is using is the B530MMO "Misty Morning". This pattern is a gender neutral black with light blue and grey accents on it. The seat has light-reflecting piping on it making the seat visible in a dark vehicle. All of the padding is removable and washing instructions are provided (hand wash, air dry). We have not washed the seat cover so I cannot attest to how it would hold up. I'm typically the person who removes the padding and can no longer figure out how to put it back on. And, lets face it - I happen to replace our seats rather frequently around here so in the event of a carsickness or nasty spill I'm more likely to just go and buy a new one which touts to have more amenities or higher safety ratings. I've had too much bad luck in the past with seats that were 'never the same' post-puke incident. I'll spare the gorey (noxious) details...

Pricewise, the Compass Folding Booster has a manufacturer suggested price of $79.99 which makes it pricier than brands like Graco or Evenflo but more affordable than say a Britax or a Recaro. While many people ultimately decide which booster to get based on the way a seat looks or how costly it is I just want to reiterate that the best booster for your child is one that fits both your child and your vehicle the best. Sure the manufacturer suggests that this seat is for children from 30-100 pounds and 38-57" tall (that is a huge difference in size), but I caution again that one booster doesn't fit all.

The Seat Itself

Right away I noticed some significant differences between the Compass Folding Booster and other boosters that I've used (namely Graco TurboBooster and Evenflo Big Kid). Do not assume that because this seat is portable that it is inferior or chincy/cheap in any way. This seat has got to be bar none one of the most sturdy (if not the most) and posh boosters that I have ever felt. My son, who happens to be picky about seats and has outright refuses to sit in some of them for reasons unknown to me - wanted to try this new booster out right away. The Folding booster comes standard with armrests that go up and down and retractable cup-holders - both 'features' that my son is used to having, though no 'reading lights' which is an extra gadget that our Evenflo seat does have. Reading lights or not, for a child of few words, actions speak much louder. We've now moved over his Evenflo Big Kid seat and my big guy sits in the Compass Folding Booster all the time. Both seats are in the vehicle and he has a choice where to sit, he chooses Compass. I take this as his vote that the seat is just plain more comfortable. So, there is no reading light - I will go buy him a cheap flashlight... no big deal.

The Compass Folding Booster seat is wider and made so it can comfortably accommodate larger children. Still, even though it has a wide seat (where your child's hiney goes) it has a small footprint that they claim fits well in smaller vehicles. We use this seat in the 3rd row bench seat of a Dodge Grand Caravan, so I cannot talk to how well the seat sits in a smaller car or one with bucket seats. Installing the seat is as simple as loading the seat into your vehicle and then buckling it in place when the vehicle is in motion (regardless of whether you have a passenger seated in it).

It is important to note that the back on this seat is not removable. In other words, this seat is not meant to convert down the road into a backless booster. Seats like the TurboBooster or the Big Kid both have removable backs but this Compass Folding seat is meant to always be used with the back connected. No where in the user manual does it mention removing the back to use the seat as a backless booster and as far as I can tell the seat-back and seat itself are permanently hinged. Though we have used backless booster seats in the past my 6 year old often sleeps in the car and a booster with a back on it is a better choice for him. The deep side wings of the Compass Ultimate Folding Booster not only protect my child's head they provide comfort and support should he take a little nap. While awake they aren't so deep that they hinder his view to look out the window or to the side. This is important because I don't want him having to lean forward, shift positions and move to where his seatbelt is in an unsafe position. The whole point of a belt positioning booster is to properly position the seat belt, so its important that my child can sit safely and comfortably.

Perhaps for the fact that the back is permanently affixed it comes across to me as being leaps and bounds above other boosters in terms of how sturdy it is. Having had a seatback break from normal use (Graco), I'm particularly in tune to the seatback quality. This is a good one, not flimsy nor cheap. I'm confident that it will hold up over time and not fail on me. Like pretty much any other good seat this day and age it comes with EPS energy absorbing foam (like bike helmets). This foam absorbs impact in the event of a crash and is a must-have (to me) for my children's seats.

Compass claims that this seat is specifically geared to provide comfort and accommodate larger children. My son, while pretty much of average height for a child his age (compared to his friends he is pretty much in the middle) happens to have a long torso in comparison to his legs. In all of his other seats I have had to extend the height on the back of the seat so that the belt positioner falls in the proper spot. When extending the seatback on our Graco TurboBooster, you are merely extending the headrest portion of the the seatback. This leaves a gap that is unpadded or supported behind my son's upper back. With our Big Kid seat, the extension takes place at the lower portion leaving the unpadded nor supported section at my son's lower back. Neither of these designs strikes me as being ideal nor particularly comfortable. The design of the Compass seat is such that when you raise up the back to a higher setting there is no gap at all. This gives the seat a more solid and substantial feel to it, and I'd go so far to say that I think this makes it more comfortable for the rider as well. Compass also suggests that this is also safer.

Adjusting the seatback is as simple as squeezing in 2 color coded levers on the back of the seat and raising it up. There are 6 different height adjustments in total. To reiterate, they say this seat is for children from 38-57 inches tall with a maximum seatback extension of 30 inches. I am confident that my 6 year old son will be able to fit in this seat for quite some time, and this could possibly be our last booster seat purchase for him. Yes, I'm that satisfied with it.

Overall
We are absolutely loving our Compass Folding Adjustable Ultimate Booster in Misty Morning (B530). We do not need a fold-up seat and are likely to not use the fold up feature all that often, though it is nice to have for the rare times when I need to take the child seats out of my 'mommy-mobile'. I am nothing but impressed with how solid, sturdy, attractive and easy to use this booster is. Most importantly, this booster fits my child well and fits well in my vehicle. While I would have possibly passed this by because of a perception that "folding" implied somehow more disposable or cheap - this is truly not the case. Learning Curve and Compass has come out with a great booster seat and one that I fully give my recommendation to. My 6 year old hopping into this and riding happily in it on a daily basis means he gives it a thumbs up also.

www.learningcurve.com


More of my Booster Seat Reviews
Evenflo Big Kid Deluxe Booster
Graco TurboBooster 8493
Graco SafeSeat TurboBooster 8497
Graco Backless TurboBooster 8491
Britax Husky
Nania Airway LX
Graco Platinum CarGo Booster

I was sent this Compass Booster directly from the manufacturer, Learning Curve, at no cost to me in exchange for my honest review published at Epinions.com

Recommended: Yes

Age Range of Child: 6 to 8 Years