Pros: excellent design quality, metal skeleton, high quality materials, excellent safety ratings, narrow footprint
Cons: not cheap, possible incompatibility installs with lap belts in some cars
The Bottom Line: Excellent design quality, metal skeleton, high quality materials, excellent safety ratings, narrow footpring allowing 3 across in even compact vehicles, and not cheap (aka you get what you pay for).
kfgecko's Full Review: Sunshine Kids Radian65 Convertible Car Seat - Gran...
I stumbled upon the Sunshine Kids Radian 65 when researching how to achieve 3 across in the back seat. It turns out that the Radian is on par with the level of Britax: excellent design quality, metal skeleton, high quality materials, excellent safety ratings and not cheap (aka you get what you pay for). But what the Radian has over most others is it's narrow design allowing 3 across in even compact vehicles.
METAL FRAME
I'm guessing that the excellent safety rating is partially due to the fact that the seat is basically constructed of a metal skeleton with plastic panelling to cover the metal, and foam and suede cover to make it comfortable. The seat is incredibly sturdy and reminds me of a jet fighter cockpit seat. The tradeoff for this metal sturdyness is weight... it's incredibly heavy at 20 lbs. Which brings me to my next point.
HEAVY PORTABLE
Although the Radian is touted to be "portable", and it does fold up, I can't imagine lugging this enormously heavy seat around. The package shows a mom carrying the kid in one hand, and the folded seat in the other and smiling. No way... I know that model was dying during the photo shoot. One goal of the Radian was to be a seat that can be used for air travel. The narrowness and foldability of the seat accomplishes this but the weight would require one to rent a luggage cart.
NARROW FOOTPRINT
While I never use the folding aspect, I do however love the "narrowness" of the seat itself... probably one of the biggest draws to the seat. The narrowness of the seat refers to the outer measurement, not the inner; so the child's comfort is not comprimised. Rather, to achieve narrowness, they've cut down on the side arm rests/bolstering to a minimum... like chopping the armrests off a chair but leaving the sitting area in tact. This makes for a mere 13" of width which is what makes it possible to achieve the coveting 3 across... even in compact cars.
The seat has Britax equivalent LATCH latches: the kind that click in like a seat belt and release with the push of a red button. This makes it easier to snap in to a LATCH system. However, to achieve 3 across, most will have to install by regular lap belt in the back of the seat. One note, while the seat bottom has a narrow footprint, the shoulder bolstering is about 16" in width which affects the mix-match compatibility when doing 3 across.
KIDS UP TO 65 LBS
This is the Radian 65, which means it's rated for up to 65 lbs. That's a LOT! There is even a Radian 85 for an 85 lbs kid. Because these are 5 point harness seats, they are significantly safer than the 3 point regular seat belts. This means that your child can use the seat for longer periods, thereby being safer.
COMFORT AND MATERIALS
The materials are top notch. The seat is covered in suede with just enough padding to be comfortable. It's not fluffy, but firm and supportive like a Porche seat. Both my kids have no complaints about comfort and easily fall asleep in them when tired.
The buckle design is simple and very effective and snaps in with a gratifying click. The check clip is large and easy to snap together. The belts adjust easily with the release or pull of the strap at the base of the seat, and can of course be adjusted while seat is installed and child is in seat. I've found that the design of the back of the seat make adjustments easier because there is less resistance; but once locked down it's as cinched as any.
REAR FACING MODE
This seat is excellent for a forward facing seat. However, in rear facing, less so. It works, but the enormously high back means it requires a LOT of "leg room" in the back seat to accomodate it. Unless you're in a big van or giant SUV, the seat will definitely touch the front seat. (Not a bad thing, but shows how much room it takes.)
INSTALLATION
Using the LATCH, install is easy. Using belts, it can sometimes be an issue of compatibility. For some reason the shell design of the seat sometimes makes it difficult to get a properly tight install with the regular seat belts, particularly if the button side of the seat belt extends 3" or more. I was barely able to make it work in my Subaru Impreza.
3 ACROSS
To achieve 3 across, you will probably need two Radians for their narrow footprint, and something else for the third... like a Britax Roundabout (which has a raised seating area). If the car is compact, you won't get 3 Radian because of the shoulder bolsters. But with a different third seat, you may be able to "puzzle" the seats together like I have.
PIDDLE PAD
Sunshine Kids even sells a seat pad for any spills or "accidents". This is much like the Kiddopotamus piddle pads, but custom fit for the Radian with the same suede material.
CONCLUSION
Excellent seat! Once your child is too big for rear facing, this is my seat of choice.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 189
Age Range of Child: 3 to 5 Years
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