I chose this since it came with good reviews and felt more sturdy than the booster seat in her daddy’s truck. Simply slide onto the vehicle seat and slide the seatbelt into the belt guide. She enjoys her big girl seat and isn’t uncomfortable in it so I’m happy ! I drive an SUV and her dad drives a full size truck so we have no problems with space with the headrest being up.
Check your booster seat labels and paper manual for the specifics for your seat. A product’s “Manufacturer’s Age” range on Toysrus.ca & Babiesrus.ca is provided by the product’s manufacturer. This suggested age range may be based on what age range the manufacturer recommends will like the product best, or what age range is appropriate based on safety information and restrictions.
Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right (the first time). In a sea of similar models, this seat stands out for its superior LATCH and other convenient features. I was able to assemble it without too much trouble — the biggest trick was pushing the little button on the side of the headrest to ease it down into the back portion of the seat.
The Clek Olli is a backless booster seat with rigid LATCH that weighs 5 pounds. The LATCH connectors release easily with the pull of a strap. This seat comes in a range of stylish, premium fabrics, and it has a removable carrying strap and dishwasher-safe cupholder.
Given the challenges we encountered with the vehicle seat belt fit in my vehicle, I asked my model to try the fit with the attached shoulder belt guide. This piece of equipment is attached to the seat and stores in a handy compartment on the back of the booster. Adding the shoulder belt guide placed the vehicle seat belt right over the center of her shoulder so in this case, the belt fit was good with the guide in use. If your vehicle doesn’t have lower anchors or you’d rather buckle the empty booster when it’s not in use, the already fairly painless setup takes one fewer step. Just set the TurboBooster Grow on the vehicle seat, then thread the vehicle seat belt through the shoulder belt guide if it’s in high back mode.
Similar to the graco car seat LX, the Monterey 2XT comes with simple, hook-style LATCH anchors (unlike the Chicco seat’s alligator-style LATCH system). The Monterey 2XT seat’s anchors are initially challenging to fish out from the seat, but they make the seat easy to install (though it can be a bit tricky to disconnect them). As with our other picks, the Monterey 2XT’s seat-tightening pulls are through the front of the seat, not the side, which makes tightening the LATCH straightforward.
I cannot find any videos showing how to remove the back support from the base. The manual instruct to recline the seat back (on select models). I am not able to recline the back as pictured in the manual. I feel that it would break if i tried to force the back to recline a full 180 degrees. I’ll illustrate that smallness by comparing it to Graco’s other carpool booster seats. The RightGuide is small enough and flat enough to fit into the pocket of my vehicle seat.
If you need an everyday booster for regular car rides, the Chicco KidFit Zip Air Plus 2-in-1 is our favorite option. This booster has a below-average price, one of the best crash test results, and impressive features for comfort. graco convertible car seat We’ve been testing safety seats since 2014, including commissioning crash testing with the same facility (MGA Research) that works with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) for their car seat tests.
But for families that want to purchase a standalone backless booster, the GoFit Plus is a quality option. This seat weighs 6 pounds and has a Best Bet rating from the IIHS for its ability to provide a proper seat-belt fit. The Chicco KidFit ClearTex Plus has the best combination of features we’ve found in a high-back booster. It’s user-friendly, our kid testers thought it was comfortable, and the fabric cover is easy to keep clean. We also like that it converts from high-back to backless, requires minimal assembly, and has a sporty, modern look.
It also tucks nicely into a backpack or other smallish bags that a booster rider might carry. At about 1 pound, it’s light enough that most carpoolers can carry it in such a bag or backpack without issue. This Graco has one of the worst sensor results for the head sensor in the review with recorded G-forces more than twice the next lowest-performing competitors. The chest clip results are somewhat better and manage to prevent this booster from earning the lowest analysis score in the group, but they are still below the average for the group. The HIC result is enough to give us pause, and we would not use this booster with our children.