Experience with RideSafer Travel Harness?

[cruisincarly]

Hate to start *another* car seat question, but was wondering whether people had experience with this: http://www.safetrafficsystem.com/ (RideSafer Travel Harness).

 

My son meets weight/height requirements now and will be 3 by the time of our cruise in January. We're not comfortable taking him in a taxi without a child restraint, but we're not very enthusiastic about dragging a big car seat say, to the beach or wherever. This seems like it might be a good alternative, but I wanted to hear more people's experiences/opinions before spending over $100 on it.

 

So...? Any thoughts?

[HALrunner]

We bought one for that specific reason! Our cruise is not until January, but we have been using it occasionally for short car pool type trips. My son loves it and it is a breeze to "install". My friend is a car seat safety inspector and recommended it to me, as we travel a lot.

Although it meets all the safety guidelines, I think it is better described as a "booster alternative" than car seat. I prefer to use our big Britax (5 point restraint/car seat) just for peace of mind, but in a pinch it is a nice alternative.

A few things to consider re: travel. It is not approved (or possible) for airplane use. Also, I have been checking with local tour operators to see if their vehicles have both lap and shoulder belts. You can not use it without a shoulder belt.

[nothriver]

Yes, we have two, one each for my daughter and one for my niece. We purchased ours for an Alaska cruise and use them all the time. So handy for use in a babysitters car, for picking up an extra child/playdate. We keep a car seat installed in grandmas car and keep the vest in the back for when she has both girls. I believe my niece uses hers regularly with her babysitter.

 

It is a bit heavier and larger than I expected. Ours are the older model so I can't speak for the newer version that you are purchasing, but while ours folds relatively flat, it does not fold in half, so takes up quite a bit of flat space. I therefore had to purchase a slightly larger travel backpack than the one I normally carry to accomodate the RSTV. I carried ours around all ports in Alaska but do quite a bit of backpacking so don't really mind the weight as long as I have a good quality backpack.

 

Do note that you need a combination lap/shoulder belt to use the vest. So if you are in a small bus with only lap belts, you cannot use the vest. Also, remember that the vest provides no side impact protection. When possible, I try to use the vest in a center seating position. That said, the vest performs very well in crash tests so do know that I'm just overly cautious in this regard!

 

Make sure you practice with the vest before leaving home. Try it in as many vehicles as you can so you have the experinece to quickly get it installed when you are traveling. If possible, try it in a large passanger van - that is the type of vehicle we usually use when traveling: hotel shuttle vans/small shore excursions, etc. Again, our is the older model but it helps to have the kids trained to step in and help buckle up. It isn't hard to use but you do need to read the instructions and make sure you are buckling correctly. Would't want to take the time to do this standing outside the hotel shuttle van at the airport after a long travel day :)

 

As previouly mentioned, it is not approved for airline use, lap belt only, and also technically isn't approved for use in Europe but no US seats are, so I will be using our RSTV there.

 

One final note: my daughter is very tall and very thin. While within the height and weight guidelines, the vest did not fit her well at age 3. In some cars, I had to take the time to adjust the seat position forward or back, and/or angle of the seat back to make sure the vest didn't "gap". Now that she is larger, we never have this problem.

[cruisincarly]

I understand about the airline thing -- we're going to be getting a CARES harness regardless of whether we get the RSTV or not (if for no other reason than it'll make kicking the seat in front of him harder/less tempting).

 

As to the only lap-belts thing...the website shows that you can use it with just a lap belt plus a tether. Although I suppose it then needs something to tether to, so it wouldn't help in a shuttle bus. But it might help in a taxi, right?

 

 

Yes, we have two, one each for my daughter and one for my niece. We purchased ours for an Alaska cruise and use them all the time. So handy for use in a babysitters car, for picking up an extra child/playdate. We keep a car seat installed in grandmas car and keep the vest in the back for when she has both girls. I believe my niece uses hers regularly with her babysitter.

 

It is a bit heavier and larger than I expected. Ours are the older model so I can't speak for the newer version that you are purchasing, but while ours folds relatively flat, it does not fold in half, so takes up quite a bit of flat space. I therefore had to purchase a slightly larger travel backpack than the one I normally carry to accomodate the RSTV. I carried ours around all ports in Alaska but do quite a bit of backpacking so don't really mind the weight as long as I have a good quality backpack.

 

Do note that you need a combination lap/shoulder belt to use the vest. So if you are in a small bus with only lap belts, you cannot use the vest. Also, remember that the vest provides no side impact protection. When possible, I try to use the vest in a center seating position. That said, the vest performs very well in crash tests so do know that I'm just overly cautious in this regard!

 

Make sure you practice with the vest before leaving home. Try it in as many vehicles as you can so you have the experinece to quickly get it installed when you are traveling. If possible, try it in a large passanger van - that is the type of vehicle we usually use when traveling: hotel shuttle vans/small shore excursions, etc. Again, our is the older model but it helps to have the kids trained to step in and help buckle up. It isn't hard to use but you do need to read the instructions and make sure you are buckling correctly. Would't want to take the time to do this standing outside the hotel shuttle van at the airport after a long travel day :)

 

As previouly mentioned, it is not approved for airline use, lap belt only, and also technically isn't approved for use in Europe but no US seats are, so I will be using our RSTV there.

 

One final note: my daughter is very tall and very thin. While within the height and weight guidelines, the vest did not fit her well at age 3. In some cars, I had to take the time to adjust the seat position forward or back, and/or angle of the seat back to make sure the vest didn't "gap". Now that she is larger, we never have this problem.

[nothriver]

I understand about the airline thing -- we're going to be getting a CARES harness regardless of whether we get the RSTV or not (if for no other reason than it'll make kicking the seat in front of him harder/less tempting).

 

As to the only lap-belts thing...the website shows that you can use it with just a lap belt plus a tether. Although I suppose it then needs something to tether to, so it wouldn't help in a shuttle bus. But it might help in a taxi, right?

 

My guess is that a vehicle with no lap/shoulder combination belt would be an older vehicle and thus unlikely to have a teather, but I'm no expert on commercial vehicles. I booked mostly private excurions in Alaska and called them all to find out exactly what type of seat belts were available. I asked when I booked, and followed up on the issue again a week or so before our cruise. One vender switched vehicles for us so lap/shoulder belts were available for us to use the RSTV.