Need help with booster seat- questions/opinions needed.

My mom and dad want to get a booster seat for their car. They saw one at Walmart for a great price- the Evenflo Big Kid LX. My dad researched it and it meets all safety standards, etc.

I tend to be of the mind that more $$ = safer so the fact that this seat is on sale for $30 concerns me despite the research. I also know that more $$ does NOT always mean safer, I guess I just want opinions on this specific seat.

My concerns/questions are:
- if anyone has this seat- do you feel comfortable with it? Does it have a five point harness? I can't tell from anything I've read.

-is DD ready for a booster? She is almost 3 and a half, 40 inches, about 36 lbs. So she's big for her age. We still have her in the regular car seat- but her head is getting close to clearing the top of her current seat.

TIA.

Re: Need help with booster seat- questions/opinions needed.

She is too young and too small for a booster. At that age they don't have the maturity level needed to remain properly seated the entire time and are generally too small to be properly protected. And I've never seen a tech recommend booster use or training on a child under 4 AND 40lbs. Here is a thread that discusses the issue of boostering younger (2/3yr olds) children http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=38383

The seat your parents want to buy is a belt positioning booster only with no internal harness.

A few seats with an internal harness that could fit your needs for a tall/bigger child that convert to boosters later on and range in price from 75ish to 300ish.

Evenflo Maestro
Graco Nautilus
Britax Frontier

Money doesn't buy safety, but there are seats and boosters that may be better fit wise than that seat. The best seat is the one that fits your vehicle, your child and your budget. A seat can be $10000 and plated in gold but if your kid doesn't fit properly it's not the "right" seat, make sense?

Your DD will fit in a harnessed seat until she either surpasses the weight limit or the tops of her ears are higher than the shell of the seat, the seat may also be outgrown if her shoulders are higher than the top slots on the harness. The harness should be at or above her shoulders in a forward facing position.

Hope that helps.

Re: Need help with booster seat- questions/opinions needed.

It does, very much. I will check out those three seat. Thanks.