Customer Reviews

Sunshine Kids Radian80 SL Convertible Car Seat, Sport

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Radians are really great seats and this model delivers all of the features of the other great Radian seats without the high price tag. Most children can use this seat in the Rear-Facing position from birth (5 lbs) well into the toddler years (45 lbs). The big selling point over Britax seats is that the Rear-Facing harness slots will accommodate a child 53 inches tall, where the Britax Marathon only goes to 49 inches. For a toddler, that can equal another year or two in the safest Rear-Facing position.

This seat is very narrow, and is ideal for fitting three seats across a small sedan. It is also one of the only seats that can be used in the forward-facing position without the use of the rear tether anchor, making it ideal for trucks and older model cars that may not have a place to clip the anchor.

Most vehicle manufactures do not allowed the use of LATCH for children over 45 lbs. If you are considering a Radian because of the Super Latch feature, be sure to consult your vehicle's owners manual or call the vehicle manufacturer to verify the LATCH limits for your specific make and model vehicle.

When it came time to move my daughter from her infant carseat to a toddler seat, we still needed her to be rear facing. Got this seat and absolutely loved it. That was 2 years ago. They are a few things I'd change about it, but they were all minor. Then a year ago we needed to move our son out of the infant carseat. It wasn't even a consideration, we bought the exact same seat. They've changed some things from the first seat we bought, and I have to say that they've improved on something that I'd thought was near perfect. Now with our 3rd child on the way, I'm on the look out for a good price on this carseat. I love it so much and know that we will want it when the time comes to move them out of the infant seat.

So the cons- 1) velcro attacks the mesh of the seat and the orriginal design had velcro on the straps and on the pillow, so it attacked itself and left the mesh fuzzy. 2) with the older model we had to reach behind the seat to get the straps tight enough. With the newer model they've made it much easier to tighten. 3) The seat is heavy. It's not a problem normally, but it you have to lift it around much you sure notice it. 4) Since it is designed to hold kids for longer, it is taller. Not a problem when it's forward facing, but makes rear facing placement harder. We've been able to fit it in every car we've tried either in the center or behind the passenger seat. Just a consideration if you have a smaller car.

The pros- 1) It collapses. Makes it super nice to stack 2 of them in the stroller when going thru the airport. 2) It's narrow. They aren't kidding you can fit 3 of them in a 4 door car. In fact I can fit 2 of them and my peg perego infant seat in the back of my subaru outback. I was afraid we might need to upgrade to a mini van to fit all of the kids in. 3) The mesh dries fast and stays cool. Spills or accidents are mostly dry after some blotting. Plus smaller crumbs fall right thru.

Installation hint- When installing with the car's shoulder belt, the belt is right behind the seat cover. The velcro slits on the side open up so you can get to the belt. It make getting the belt thru there sooo much easier, and makes tightening that belt super easy.

My daughters other seat is a Britax Marathon which we used from about 8months until about 27months. So much of this review will compare the two. I should also mention my daughter is of average weight and height for her age--30monhts.
The Sunshine kids seat is thinner, sits lower in the seat, and has a steel frame all of which make it more safe. She can get in and out of the Radian seat on her own since it sits so low on the seat(she does not get out of the belts, if she is unbuckled she can get down on her own). The Sunshine Kids Company is concerned about chemicals in the products they use and have one of the best records for using non-leeching materials another safety+. They have an additional part for children under a certain weight that should act as an absorber in the event of a crash--I think this might be causing complications for tightening her seat belt straps on the Radian.
The Britax seems to put in her in a better position for naps, she can see better in it and has wider base. I personally think the LATCH on the Britax is better for our car (Subaru Outback) also the general make-up of the Britax car seat just works better with the contours of our car. The Britax is easier to install since it has two sides for tightening, it fits over the humps of the seat of our car better and with headrests. Much of this stuff is specific to your car though so it would be helpful if you can check them out at a store, however Amazon had the best price when I was purchasing and they shipped to an APO!
I got this seat for a couple of reasons.
One, we are having a second child and need space in the back seat for two car seats and hopefully space enough for a person to ride with them in the back.
Two, we have a second car and wanted to have an option for her to ride in without having to switch seats. And she prefers to ride with her old seat when she has a choice. Being able to see and her comfort appears to be the reason that she likes to ride in the 'other' car because her primary seat is the Radian.
Three, the pattern on this seat matches my car better, not really important but I do like that about it.
Four, the Radian can be folded in half for travel, this was a big selling feature as we live internationally and take flights frequently. You do have to purchase an additional strap to make it into the back-pack...it is HEAVY for me to carry with my daughter but it is much easier than trying to transport the Britax and my daughter.

Bottom line if you can check out whatever seat you are going to be using with your car it would be helpful. I like both seats but now we are wondering what we will purchase for our next child. I do think the Sunshine Kids rear facing seat is one of the safest and has the highest weight for rear facing however they are difficult to install so consider going to a professional installer if you go with the convertible from birth.

After reading favorable reviews, I purchased this item for a trans-Pacific flight because it is FAA-approved for use on airplanes.

Likes:
* Feels very sturdy and makes a snug, comfortable fit for our child. Restraint system is well-designed and easy to use.
* Its weight range (5 lbs. to 80 lbs.) means a longer life because our kid won't quickly outgrow it.
* Installation in the car using LATCH or seatbelts is quick and easy (although the instruction booklet could be made more user-friendly).
* Folding makes carrying easier.
* Competitively priced.

Dislikes:
* Lugging it around -- to and from car, around an airport, onto a plane -- is a PAIN. There are no handles in the places where one naturally tries to pick up the seat to carry it. While the included shoulder strap is helpful, it has insufficient padding, and all the other straps tend to dangle out the back. There is no carrying bag included. In addition, the infant cushion and the large detachable base need to carried separately.
* The seat does not stand up by itself when not installed. It must either be secured into a seat or leaned against something or it will fall over. Not for bringing into your house after a car trip to sit your child in.
* Even with help from an experienced flight attendant, we had great difficultly buckling the seat into the airplane seat. Using the belt extender as recommended in the instructions gave us too much slack. Our attendant kept saying, "This isn't going to work. I've never seen a seat this complicated." I could finally buckle the seat in without the extender, only to find at the end of our flight that it was impossible to unbuckle the strap; there was no space to open the seat buckle inside the base of the seat. *Four* flight attendants had to help us get the seat out -- finally by removing the plane seat cushion to give us slack -- and we were the last people off the plane. I realize not all planes are the same, but I dread trying to install the thing on our next flight.

Conclusions:
* Great seat if you plan to install it in your car and *leave it there*, or move it infrequently.
* Too heavy and cumbersome to carry around for more than short distances.
* Despite FAA safety approval, I found it very inconvenient for air travel.

We have a Honda Odyssey. We have baby #5 on the way in a few weeks. All of our kids are still in car seats. The only empty spot was on the back row, between two Britax car seats. We tried putting the 5th car seat there, but there wasn't room.

We really didn't want to buy a new vehicle when there ARE five spots in the back for our five kids. Someone mentioned these car seats, so we decided to give them a try.

We were a little bit worried from other reviews that they wouldn't fit securely in our van. We are very picky about our car seats not budging! So, we decided to give them a try.

We bought three of these car seats to fit in the back row - for our three oldest kids. My husband is the one who installed them. He said it was very quick and easy, BUT the top part was pretty wiggly. He's fairly experienced in putting car seats in and tried many things to get them in tightly. It wasn't secure enough. We don't have the LATCH system on the back row, nor do we have tethers. So, we couldn't use either of those to secure it in. We use the locking clip "Mighty Tite" to secure them in tightly and it works well. You can probably use any type of locking clip to secure them in if you have a car seat that you can't get in tight enough.

My husband and I are proud owners of a Sunshine Kids Radian 80SL. This car-seat is perfect. We had a booster for a long time for our 7 year old who out grew his old car-seat. After lots of research and youtube videos, found that boosters offer no protection in a car crash. Horrified, we started shopping immediately for a new car-seat. We've had this Sunshine car-seat for almost two years and we are completely happy with it, and so is our son. The memory foam isn't bulky, but very comfortable for long car rides. Our son likes the mesh cover, as it breathes and he no longer gets sweaty under his legs and bum. He's a messy eater, but we've never had a problem cleaning the fabric. The crotch pad did fray a little, but it's still in great condition and we haven't had to replace or fuss with it much. It is very heavy, but the carrying strap is very useful for short trips in changing cars.

We chose it because at this time it's the only one with a steel frame, and rated for side, front and rear car crashes. Also, Sunshine Kids Radian models are the only ones that have a weight limit up to 80lbs. Britax is only to 65lbs in their top models. Also, Britax is much more expensive than Sunshine Kids.

We love it so much that we just ordered a new one today, same model and type, just a slightly different color (for no particular reason), because we're pregnant again with our second baby :)

I've read some of the 1 and 2 star ratings and I'm not sure why some people are having a such a hard time getting them installed or getting the rear facing angle to work out properly. Might be more of the car or suv seat itself that's angled a little odd and not the car-seat. This model comes with an angle booster base that can be shifted to get the right angle for infants. It only took my husband 5 minutes to install it by himself, I did the heavy looking on.

This is an awesome car-seat and I wouldn't go with another brand ever again...this car-seat will protect your child and save their life if there's a car crash. Peace of mind wins out!

we were able to fit 2 sunshine radians and a graco snugride in the back of our volvo sedan! three across, woohoo! so far (we've been using these for two weeks) we love the sunshine. i have a 2 year old RF and a 5 year old ff. it is so much easier to get my 2 yr old rf in this carseat compared to the evenflo triumph advance i had him in before. the sides on this are so much lower so i don't have to hoist a heavy toddler up and over. both kids are comfortable and can sleep comfortably in the seats too. lots of head support. we didn't use this with our newborn so i can't say how well it would work for a very small baby.

Well built, and very heavy car seat. The narrow width allows it to fit in a small footprint, freeing up the other two rear seats. I purchased this becuase it folds down for air travel. When my son and I travel, we use the car seat on the airplane for landing and take off. However it he wants to walk around, this folds down far enough that we can stick it in the overhead compartment. A regular car seat cannot be stowed so easily.

This seat is a bit heavy and cumbersom to move around, but at the same time it is super sturdy and well constructed. My 6-month old outgrew the baby seat and this fits him great. He seems comfy in it and fell right asleep during the ride. It fits well in my small SUV, because it is narrow, but when it is placed in the middle seat (rear-facing)the seat back extends into the driver's seat area. I'm not sure how safe that is for front seat passengers. Also lots of straps, but once you read the directions you realize they are mostly carrying straps, and fitting it in the car was a breeze.

With 3 little ones and only a 5 passenger vehicle we needed car seats that would fit three across and be suitable for a newborn to a 3 year old. The Radian is that car seat!
It will fit three across in our Chevy Equinox without issue. The seat for the newborn will rear face with out crowding the driver and passenger seats.
I am definitely pleased. They are pricey but cheaper than buying a new vehicle!