droolicious : booster seats

7 Days of Car Seats: All Hail Clek’s Olli Booster Seat

Heather Kuldell — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:45:00 GMT

Travels systems and car seats, no matter how well designed or streamlined, still take up major real estate in the car. When your kid gets big enough, get a backless booster seat like clek’s olli booster seat.

After a couple years of fumbling with 5-point harnesses and struggling to make sure baby car seats were secure, I was ready for the relative ease of the booster. They’re small enough for an adult to comfortably sit next to and you can quickly switch it from car to car.

Droolicious has written about the olli before, but I gotta rave again. At $89, you can find cheaper boosters, but the olli’s LATCH compatibility makes it worth the extra dough. It basically plugs into your car and can be released by pulling a loop on the front. It keeps both the seat and your kid snuggly in place. (Read: extra safe.) If your car doesn’t have LATCH, the olli can be buckled in like any other booster: seat belt goes over kid, under the booster’s arms, and click.

Ready to leave the big ol’ car seat behind? It varies according to state law, but most consider kids who are 4 years old, weigh 40 pounds and stand at least 40 inches tall are ready for backless boosters. Oh, and by the way, kids have to ride in boosters till they’re 8, so the cushy, washable, replaceable seat pads will come in handy. In case camo isn’t your thing, you can purchase various colors and patterns of clekjackets for $29.

Yellow Pages Booster Seat Won't Send Kids Crashing to the Floor

Aaron Burgess — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:02:00 GMT

Unlike the Yellow Pages itself, this seat from Boost won't show up free on your doorstep one day. However, if you have memories of sliding off the Yellow Pages' front cover anytime your parents tried to improvise a booster seat for you, you'll probably be thankful for that. Made of washable foam, the Yellow Pages Booster Seat provides a form-fitting cushion for Junior's bottom and also holds up much better against food spills than the free alternative.

Grab one for $20 at Perpetual Kid.

Big Deal: Fisher Price (Britax) Safe Voyage Booster Seat

Mir — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:01:00 GMT

Have expensive taste but a limited budget? You're in luck! Fisher Price puts its label on the Safe Voyage booster seat (suitable for children 30 - 100 pounds, ages 4 - 10), but it's manufactured by Britax. It's already a deal at its suggested retail price of $69.99, but right now at Albee Baby this "tan tech" version is marked down to just $29.99. With all the money you'll save, you can buy a cute cover for it (if this rather bland fabric offends you).

Big Deal: Britax Parkway Half Price at Right Start

Mir — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 17:01:00 GMT

If you've been looking at Britax booster seats, take a break from wrapping presents today and surf on over to Right Start; they've got their Britax Parkway booster seat available in three colors for half off -- just $49.99! That's the cheapest I've ever seen 'em.

Big Deal: Britax Parkway Tiffany Booster Seat

Mir — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:01:00 GMT

I'll confess that this isn't my favorite fabric (my eyes!), but if you have a little girl in need of a booster seat, Britax is the cadillac of the carseat set and almost never goes on sale. Right now you can snap up this seat at Amazon for 30% off and free shipping -- just $69.99.

The Parkway goes from 30 to 100 pounds, and from 38" to 60". Did you know children should be in a booster until they're 4'9" tall? (That means my son is going to be in a booster until high school.) My daughter is about to hit double digits and is still in a booster. Yes, I'm that mom. Play it safe, people.

UPDATE: Dial in Your Kids' Seatbelts with CG-Lock

Aaron Burgess — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:32:00 GMT

CG-Lock, a $39.95 seatbelt add-on that's already had success in performance-racing and first-responder vehicles, can also help improve safety and comfort in booster seats -- although the company notes that CG-Lock is designed for seats that use cars' factory-installed seatbelts to secure children. Easily attached with a few screws and a clip, the CG-Lock helps to stabilize your car's lap belt while leaving the shoulder harness unaffected, "preventing tipping, reducing rocking and bouncing, increasing safety, improving comfort, and reducing the potential for motion sickness," according to the manufacturer.

If you're looking for more detailed information, CG-Lock's site offers a number of videos of the product in action, including this one specific to the booster-seat application. ~~Don't know about you, but to me, the kid seems to be having more fun in the "before" frame -- although there's no denying the improved ride in the "after" shots:~~

UPDATE 10/4/2007: We received a note from Lap Belt Cinch, Inc. CEO Charles M. Carter noting that the video previously linked to "had a flaw in it because in the one scene the child had his arm out of the shoulder strap. We recognized this flaw and have since re-shot the video to correct the flaw." New video is below: