Diono Radian GTX

My littlest man turned 9 months old this past week. Nine months and 24 pounds. Let’s do the math: 24 pounds of boy plus 20 pounds of car seat equals too much for me to handle. So, with the blessing and encouragement of our pediatrician and for the sake of my back, we traded our convenient click-in bucket car seat for a stay-in-the-car, rear-facing, big boy car seat. Of course, this would require a new car seat. Having gone through this just over a year ago with our 2-year-old son, we had some experience, some expectations, and a solid list of must-haves.
Our experience led us to the fact that any car seat on the market, regardless of brand name or price, will be safety tested and meet the requirements for safety for car seats.
Our expectations were that some car seats would be expensive because of their label and some because of their “superior quality” or “special features.”
Our list of must-haves (safety features aside) went like this:
1. It must be suitable for rear-facing and forward-facing and convert to a booster (fulfilling our car seat needs until little man is big enough to ride solo).
2. It must not take up the entire back seat of the car (providing room to sit between the boys’ seats on road trips).
In walks the Diono Radian GTX—or rather, into the store we walked to get the Diono Radian GTX.
The Radian GTX is approved for rear-facing use for 5-45 pound nuggets, forward-facing use for 20-80 pound tots in a five point harness, and up to 120 pounds of wild in a booster! It will take us through our final days of car seat sitting! It’s important to note here that it is also approved for use with your car’s LATCH system up to 80 pounds of wild child. That’s something you don’t see everyday.
Diono (formerly Sunshine Kids) took care of our second must-have with the Radian GTX as well.  Measuring 17 inches from side to side, this car seat gets the safety and comfort job done while leaving room for a snuggling mama on family road trips.
The choice was easy. No other seat met our requirements for a reasonable price. And when our beach trip rolls around next month, we know we won’t be regretting our choice for Diono’s Radian GTX.
Price: $370
To buy: us.diono.com