Which Infant/kids car seats f

Yeah, that's what this whole thread is about. Rear facing car seats take up a ton more room than forward facing. However, kids are only rear facing for the first 6-12 months depending on size etc. It is safer to be rear facing.

The thought process is can you put up with those 6+ months and in the process save $6,000+ dollars. For me, it was the difference of $30,000 vs. $23,499. $6,500 savings. I prefer the look of the AC, and the long bed IMO is way better than the short bed. DCLB are hard to find in this area and when you do they are the most expensive configuration.

Now that my kids are 7 & 5, vs 3 & almost 1 when we bought, they sit in a booster and a slim Britax seat. We have plenty of room for anything we want to do and road trip constantly in our truck.

Here's the article for the legroom: http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/2009-Toyota-Tacoma-Overview-c21326

 

They should be rear-facing for at least 2 years.

 

That is a good line of thinking, but is a debated topic. (I tend to agree with you)

Actually, I fully agree. If you can leave your child rear facing for the full two years you are better off. It is safer for sure. When my kids were 2 it was till recommended for only 1 year and over that our Dr. had issues with the kids knees and hips being cramped up. Most experts now tend to lean on the side of rear facing. Sometimes though it's not realistic as the child grows unless you have a full size vehicle. Not meaning DC, those are not full size.

 

Not to hijack, but getting to the original title...

For those of you who have done the research, any thoughts & suggestions on brands you like and brands to avoid?
How about styles?

 

For us, it's Britax Marathon and Britax only from birth to around 5. We had a Graco Nautilus but in the end it was stripped down to become a booster, we still use the Britax Marathon. I actually own 4 or 5 of the damn things...

As far as styles to avoid, I haven't looked deep into it but I'm not a fan of the bassinet style infant seats that snap into a base. A) They take up a ton of room and B) I see a ton of people with them installed incorrectly. They leave the carrying handle loose or in the carrying position. In most models the handle has to be locked forward to be safe.. in a bad accident it can act as a pivot point.

 

Really like the way the Diono fits in my truck. Am waiting for another to come in the mail this week for the other kid.
Fan of Britax too. Two of those in the car.

 

Good info. Exactly what I was assuming we'd be getting into in order to have multiple "bases" in multiple vehicles.
Obviously, I've done about zero research too.

 

Well, my kids are petite. My 4.5 year old could still rear face. Just turned her around forward last month for simplicity.

In my AC cab with 2 kids: rear facing in front, forward facing in rear pass side and wife behind me was only way to fit. Any seat worked in that configuration. Just make sure airbag off.

In my double cab now with 3 kids: kids 3 across in back seat. 2 forward, 1 rear. All 3 seats are Diono Radian RXT. Only ones we could do 3 across with.

 

Man that's a lot of kids in the truck! Must get loud. For us we like the chicco nextfit.

 

The Maxi Cosi Pria was the smallest front to back rear facing convertible seat we could find when we were looking. It fits in the back of my 1st gen AC Tundra behind the passenger seat.

This is a little old now but has some good information and a good place to start.
http://carseatblog.com/22818/the-ul...ertible-space-comparison-review-size-matters/

Find a place to test fit seats first. It's a pain to do it but definitely worthwhile.

 

I don't know if the Diono is new or not but I've not heard of it. At a quick glance it seems like they are up there with the Britax in quality. 5ish years ago the Britax was the top for safety. It's built out of steel, most are plastic, and was one of the only ones to have a top score for side impact safety. However, they also were around $400 back then, now I see you can pick them up new for $275ish which is in line with the Diono.

Both look good.

 

Great link!

 

Are you still using the Marathon convertible RF? Our LO just moved to a RF convertible and we currently have a Graco MyRide 65 for the wife's Camry. It fits in the middle of the Tacoma but not that well, would like something that fits better behind passenger and I'm looking for installed pics and/or personal recommendations.

 

That's exactly why I moved up to the DC. I used the EvenFlo Symphony DLX in my 2013 DC. Forward facing, my daughter didn't have enough leg room unless the passenger seat was pulled all the way up. My wife has a Britax Marathon in her car and we moved it into the truck for a trip to the mountains because it fit better than the EvenFlo.

I was just in an accident and both the truck and EvenFlo carseat held up great (not a scratch on my daughter) but now I'm in the market for a new smaller seat.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/my-tacoma-was-a-f-kin-champ.411313/

 

Try two years

 

That is definitely recommended but not required by law in most state, or any state as far as I know. There is no question rear facing is safer, go as long as possible.

 

Yes, we only really use the Britax brand and specifically the Marathon. It was one of the slimmest, depth wise, that we found and it always one of the top rated safety wise. I have pictures of it in my media, the britax is black and red.

 

Yeah not many states mandate it thats for sure. Really depends on the kid and how hes built but I wouldnt even consider front facing until 18months, one year is way too fast.