high back booster or just a booster seat?

[misdee]

dd1 is a small 3.5yr old. she has got too big for her stage 1+2 cr seat tho and need to get a new one. she weighs approx 33lb. would a booster seat be ok for her, or would a high back booster be better. she can undo seat belts easily, so i like the idea of the 5point harness for a high back booster, but just really confused. too many products/designs/styles available!!

I'd definitely go for a high back as it gives more support if they doze on longer journeys and offers head protection in an accident. We have the Maxi Cosi Rodi which is good because you can raise the head rest as they grow and keep the shoulder belt at the right height. Also because the seat has side arms the seat belt buckle is tucked right down so not so easy for them to reach (or for you to do up !). My friend had a Klippan/Mamas and Papas with a 5-point harness which could convert to a adult belt but it did take up a lot of room, wasn't cheap and didn't do so well in tests. We've also used the same model in a hire car and it seemed fine both ways once you had worked out the seat belt routing (dd at 2 used the harness and ds 5.5 just the adult belt). Have also used a Britax Supercruiser when we have hired and that seems to have a long life span, but doesn't convert to just a booster, although that would not necessarily matter if a younger child would take it over.

Oh oh get the brittax cruiser - we have one for ds2 (3.5) so he doenst get a sre neck if he falls asleep.

really easy to fix and light to transfer - should last till he is 5

www.britax.co.uk/Catalogue_2004/index.html

Definitely a high-back booster - much safer and more supportive. Also, the Britax Cruiser is the only one which locks the adult seatbelt so that the child can't lean forward and loosen it. Unless you've got childlocks on your car's belts, that is a very usfull point!

Definitely highback booster with 5-point harness. DS1 (4.5) is still in his with the 5-point harness and I don't intend moving him to the adult belt until I really have to.

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We would have got a 5-point high back booster, but the Cruiser fit better in our car. The criteria fro moving to a booster are height and weight. The longer the child stays in a 5-point belt the better, especially if they're in a chair with side-protection. We moved ds as soon as he could fit into the next chair because dd was about to outgrow her rear-facing baby-carrier type carseat.

Have heard good things about the Britax Trio, which I think is similar to the Cruiser but with a harness. You can take the back off and it converts to a booster seat eventually.