Product Description

Radian80 is a convertible car seat for rear-facing children 5 - 33 lbs. and forward-facing children up to 80 lbs with the integral 5-point harness. The strongest car seat made, Radian80 features a steel alloy frame, 4-panel side impact protection and a unique energy absorbing harness system. The detachable base simplifies rear-facing installations and its low side profile makes child boarding a snap! Radian's unique design offers 3" more shoulder room inside than any seat its class and fits 3-across in a car. Includes full body support cushions for infants that converts into height-adjustable head cushions for older kids. All this, and it folds to just 7". Attach the shoulder straps and carry it over your shoulder or wear it like a back pack.

Features:

• 5 lbs. to 80 lbs. in 5-point harness
• Highest capacity convertible car seat
• Steel alloy frame
• Strongest convertible car seat made
• SafeStop harness system
• Absorbs impact energy in an accident
• 4-panel system EPS safety foam
• Total side-impact protection, more than any other seat
• V-shaped top tether
• Can be used rear-facing
• 5 shoulder and 3 buckle positions
• Proper harness fit for all ages and weights
• Narrower outside width
• Fit three seats across the back seat
• Infant body support
• Converts to pillow cushions for older child
• Folds to 7" (17.8 cm) thick
• Travel and storage convenience
• Easier to get child in and out, plus safer positioning for child
Dimensions and Weight:
• Dimensions Open: 17"W x 16"D x 28.5"H
• Dimensions Folded: 17"W x 7"D x 28.5"H
• Weight 22.99 lbs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9384 in Baby Product
• Color: Manhattan
• Brand: Sunshine Kids
• Model: 18510
• Dimensions: 8.60" h x 17.80" w x 30.80" l, 27.40 pounds

Features

• 5 lbs to 33 lbs rear facing, forward facing up to 80 lbs
• 3" longer seat bottom, infant body support, and adjustable head cushions
• 5-point harness, 5 shoulder harness positions, 3 buckle positions
• EPS safety foam for 4-panel side-impact protection
• Steel alloy frame folds flat to 7 inches

From the Manufacturer
Radian80 is perhaps the strongest car seat in the world. No other car seat accommodates a child from birth to 80 lbs in a 5-point harness. And it's still the only car seat in the world that folds flat. A high-capacity car seat has to be amazingly strong for a big child, but properly designed to provide the best performance for a small child. It has to offer advanced safety features, the correct fit, plenty of comfort and proper support for a child at each stage. And it definitely needs to have the right styling because a 5 year old does not want to ride in a baby seat. Finally, safety has to be convenient and easy to use, everyday. Radian80 does all this and more. Radian's patented steel frame means no bulky plastic structure. Compared to other car seats, Radian offers more shoulder room, more leg support and fits three across in a car. Many cars do not allow top tether use with a child above 48 lbs. That's why Radian 80 was designed for up to 80 lbs without a top tether, and the crash test results were fantastic. SafeStop harness is a patented, energy absorbing harness system for added safety. SafeStop is a load-limiting harness device that absorbs crash energy impacting a child in an accident by reducing peak forces on the chest and neck by up to 30%. This is especially important because smaller children have higher head weight to body weight ratios.

Customer Reviews

Looks Ideal for Travelling with, But Possible Issues with Rear Facing Installations
We got this seat for features which make it easy to travel with: it folds, it's certified for use in an aircraft, and it's narrower than other popular convertible baby seats, increasing our chances of being able to use this on an airplane or (forward facing) in smaller, non-U.S. vehicles.

On the ground, our attempts at installing the seat in a proper rear-facing LATCH configuration required a lot of careful effort on our part - to ensure that the seat was not movable more than 1" in any direction, etc. In our opinion, with a bit of effort tightening the LATCH belt, we got a tight and proper fit in one of our two cars.

But, we didn't to our satisfaction accomplish a rear-facing installation using seat belts in our second car which does not have LATCH. Using a typical 3-point seatbelt, we found that the car's seat belt receptacle extended high enough to rub against the side of the baby-seat to not allow the opposite seat belt connector to completely clear the baby-seat's belt-pathway. We therefore could not get a tight enough grip on the baby seat (as we could still move the baby seat back and forth quite more than an inch).

It was also impossible for us to install this seat rear-facing in both of our cars without requiring that the front passenger seat be moved forward enough to make it nearly unusable for adults. (We have two mid-sized, 4-door Asian-import branded cars.) Maybe persons with minivans and SUVs will have better luck.

We did not try a forward facing installation, but because the forward facing belt-pathway is a few inches higher than the rear facing belt pathway, we hopefully wouldn't expect the same issue using a seat belt as we described above. We think it's best for any potential buyer to try this seat beforehand if they are going to be using a seat belt to install this seat with.

In conclusion, we think that this seat is best suited for situations demanding the exploitation of its features that make it stand above the crowd: height, narrowness, and features intended to make it easy to carry when traveling - especially the included shoulder strap. For us, using LATCH is the best if not the only choice for rear-facing installations with this seat. We have yet to travel by plane, but when we do, we'll be sure to update this review to let others know our experience using this seat on an airliner.

-----------------------------------------------------
Update (07/2008): Fits fine (forward facing only) on 737, 757, and on Canadair Regional Jet seats. One may want to lift the airline seat armrest up to make it easier to fit. It was easy for us to route an airliner seat-belt through the upper forward facing seatbelt path, while lifting off the baby seat's cloth cover momentarily to hook-up the seatbelt. Be sure to ask steward(ess) for assistance if belt has too much slack (we had no issues on U.S. domestic flights).

Update (08/2009): The chair's (supercool model's) fabric does indeed stay cooler than the competition's, especially sitting under direct sunlight. Returning to a hot car was not much of a problem with this chair which got warm, but not too hot to sit in, whereas the competition's fabric felt too hot and needed a few minutes to cool off. Also, the chair sits nearer to a right angle than some of the competition (which tend to recline a little more), and the chair's left and right sides aren't as deep either; This may be a comfort issue for a child, but we don't consider it a major issue for the chair's convience when travellling.

Mostly Satisfied
I did a lot of research on this car seat before I decided to purchase it and the one thing that I never noticed until we unboxed it was the velcro they added to the 5 point harness. I am sure some mother thought it was a great idea to secure the straps off to the side so the buckles aren't in your child's back when putting them in the car seat initially. BUT, the thing you don't realize is if you forget to secure the strap with the velcro it attaches to the seats material. I have had this seat for less than a month and the velcro is really damaging! I don't like HAVING to secure it to prevent damage to the fabric.

The folding feature is a neat one, but be sure if you purchase the travel bag you practice folding the seat, repositioning the interior cushion system and putting it in the bag. The bag is made to hold the seat in a specific position and if you are in a hurry (shuttle bus with lots of people waiting at the airport), it is difficult to get the seat folded into that perfect position where it actually fits in the bag. We flew with the seat checked and it is a good thing I asked the ticketing agent to put a plastic bag over it! The zipper broke open and I would have lost my seat (the claim tag was on the bag, not the seat).

Other than that, I am happy with the safety features and construction.

Not great for rear facing
I got the Radian 80 along with the Britax Boulevard. I thought the Radian was exceedingly complicated - it has too many buckles, straps, and gadgets stuck to the back and not sufficient storage. So in a rear facing application, you see all this junk hanging off the back. I thought the instruction manual was not well organized.

As for fit, you need a lot of room (like a minivan) or a wide middle seat to make this rear facing work in your car. It would not fit in the 2nd row passenger side of my small SUV (Hyundai Santa Fe) without making the passenger side front seat unusable by anyone over 5' tall. It would not fit in the middle seat either because for a rear facing application, you attach a separate base which is quite wide and it blocked the seatbelt buckle. We ended up putting the Radian in my husband's large SUV (Cadillac Escalade) in the rear middle seat.

I found the Britax to be far easier to set up, there were no issues with blocking the front seat, the design is cleaner in the back and there is sufficient storage for all the parts. There were little things that made the Britax easier. For example, the warranty card was all pre-printed with the serial number so all you have to do was mail it in with your information. On the Radian, I had to go out the car and find the little sticker among all the other stickers on the seat to fill out the information on the card. Not major, but small enough to be annoying once you see how easy Britax makes it.

In a forward facing application, I think the Radian would be great because it is so slim. We also do a lot of airplane travel so I got it for that purpose and it seems consumers are happy with the way it travels. We'll probably move it to my car once our baby is old enough to be front facing.