Sunshine Kids Radian XTSL Convertible Car Seat, EclipseSunshine Kids Radian XTSL Convertible Car Seat, Eclipse
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- Rear-facing: 5 - 45 pounds; Forward-facing: 20 - 80 pounds (53") in a 5-point harness
- Steel alloy frame, aluminum reinforced sides and adjustable side-impact safety headrest
- SuperLATCH installation up to 80 pounds - no seat belt required with SafeStop energy absorbing harness system
- Fits 3-across in a mid-size vehicle and offers more shoulder space
- Folds flat for travel and storage; includes convenient carry strap and sits low on vehicle seat for easy child boarding
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 Framed with steel alloy for safety, the seat offers side-impact protection with aluminum-reinforced sides and energy-absorbing EPS foam. View larger. |
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 The seat folds flat, so you can store it away or take it along for travel. (Shown here in Eclipse style.) View larger. | ||||
The Radian XTSL Convertible Car Seat's is constructed with a steel alloy frame for ultimate safety and strength, providing security for your child and peace of mind for you. The seat's side impact protection features include aluminum-reinforced sides and energy-absorbing EPS foam, which work together to protect the child's head and body and provide a thorough, superior level of protection. The XTSL stands out as the only Radian model to include aluminum reinforced head support with adjustable head wings, which enhances safety and provides support for sleeping children.
For added safety, the seat is also equipped with a forward- and rear-facing tether system and is the only car seat in the market to offer SafeStop technology, an energy-absorbing harness system.
Easy Installation, Portability, and Convenience
Like many car seats, the Radian allows you to easily install it by engaging the seat's Latch connectors onto a vehicle's Latch bars, which can be found in vehicles built after 2001. For drivers of vehicles without Latch, the good news is that the seat can also be easily installed with the vehicle seatbelt. For cars with Latch, the seat's SuperLATCH system is a prominent feature that offers added convenience and increased safety.
What makes the Radian XTSL different? Typical Latch systems have limited weight capacities of 40-48 pounds. Once a child has reached this weight limit, instructions call for the caregiver to unlatch the seat and reinstall it using the car's seatbelt, a method that increases the likelihood of incorrect installations. The XTSL's SuperLATCH system extends that weight limit to 80 pounds. Beyond the added convenience, SuperLATCH also helps increase safety, as a Latch system is an easier installation method with less room for error than using the seatbelt method. Further easing installation is an Easy-Tite adjuster for firm fastening and rubber non-slip grips along the seat bottom to prevent car seat slippage.
Because safety is a priority to Sunshine Kids, the Radian not only meets and exceeds US mandated standards, but has also been tested to the more rigorous, yet voluntary NCAP standard which simulates more severe accidents.
Of particular convenience to daycare providers and parents of multiple children, the Radian's slim design fits three across in most vehicles, making it ideal for sedans and smaller SUVs. Plus, it still provides ample shoulder room for growing children. Yet another unique feature of this car seat, the Radian is the only convertible car seat on the market that folds flat, so you can store it away and take it along for travel. The Radian XTSL also features a handy padded shoulder strap.
Comfort Features for Growing Children
This innovative car seat will grow with your child from infancy to childhood and is designed with several features to ensure your child's comfort, whether you're driving across town to the babysitter's or across the country for the holidays. These comfort features include comfort foam padding, a long seat, adjustable seat positions, and 3-in-1 infant/toddler full body support cushions.
Especially pleasant for those long rides, the memory foam padding around the seat, plush fabric, and extended seat bottom combine for an extra comfortable fit. The forward facing position's dual recline angles give two options that are ideal for going from nap time to an upright position without trouble. Additionally, the five harness positions and three buckle positions make it easier than ever to customize the car seat to ensure your child is properly secured as he or she grows.
And featuring the two highest weight limits in the market, this convertible car seat is suitable in the rear-facing position from 5 to 45 pounds. When children are old enough, they can be positioned in the forward-facing position up to a weight of 80 pounds. And for easy child-boarding, the seat is designed to sit low on the seat.
The car seat is covered with a breathable, polyester air-mesh fabric that comes in grey with black velour trim for fashionable families.
About the Company: Modern Products for Today's Busy Families
Sunshine Kids Juvenile Products has over 10 years of experience in designing innovative, thoughtful products that are both safe and convenient. With over 90 products that are available in 50 countries worldwide, Sunshine Kids strives to create parent-friendly, industry-leading car seats, and other items that provide a practical, reliable, and safe answer to families' needs. With award-winning products that parents have come to trust, Sunshine Kids continues to offer ideal, modern solutions for families all over the world.
What's in the Box
One Radian XTSL Convertible Car Seat (Eclipse), rear-facing base, padded shoulder strap, 3-in-1 support cushions, and Instruction Guide.
 The Radian's slim design fits three across in most vehicles. (Shown here in Bentley style.) |
- Baby Product: 0 pages (2009-11-27)
- Publisher: Sunshine Kids
- Label: Sunshine Kids
- Studio: Sunshine Kids
- Average Customer Review: based on 24 reviews
- Sales Rank in Baby: #2118
There was a lot that I didn't like about this seat. The fabric was a very thin mesh and velour, and the mesh did not seem soft at all. There were tons of openings and peices with velcro that made the seat cover buch funny. The harness was hard to tighten, too. I kind of had to pull and stop, pull and stop, etc. until it was where I wanted it. The harness straps are very thin and get tangled easily and the buckles got lost in the corners of the seat. The chest clip felt very cheap. The harness is the type that has to be rethreaded every time you need to adjust it. Seriously? If I am paying this much for a car seat, I expect it to keep up with standards and have a no thread harness. The harness also only had 5 slots - for newborns (around 20 inches) all the way to the 53 inch height max. Seats like the Britax Frontier 85 have 10 harness positions. On the Radian, the top 2 harness slots were a good 4 inches apart. Why couldn't they put something in between? I also did not like the head wings at all. They can only be used for the top 2 slots on the harness, and they only went up and down about an inch. Not very adjustable in my opinion. The car seat was very narrow, which is probably a great thing for people trying to fit one in a small car, but with my son being on the big side, he pretty much filled out the seat. I can't imagine him fitting into it width wise when he is 3 or 4. Even with all these things that I didn't like about the seat, I tried to keep a positive attitude about it. The last straw was when I moved the head rest up to try it out and a 3 inch long chunk of the EPS foam broke off of the head rest and just fell into my hand. I decided right then that the seat was going back.
The Radian does have the Super Latch allowing the seat to be latched up to 80 pounds , which I think is great. It also has a lot of room for your child to grow, provided they are not on the heavy side.
I am going to buy one of the next generation Britax seats when they come out.
The carseat is heavier than most, I suspect, because of the steel frame. However, it is not too heavy to switch the car seat between our two cars. I am 5'4" tall and about 116 lbs. It is easy to install with the latch system and I had it set up in no time. My son seems to be comfortable in it. My brother in law bought the same car seat for his son last year and they have nothing but great things to say about it!
This car seat is one of the best baby gear items that we have purchased.
Also, our little guy likes the seat, he will climb in by himself now.
That being said, there are a lot of downsides:
* It's heavy. Seriously. Don't believe those pictures with those happy people putting this thing on your back. You will not be a happy camper running through a large airport with this, especially keeping an eye on the children.
* The installation instructions are HORRIBLE. I heard some stories about people taking a long time to set it up, and I thought "rubbish! they're incompetent!". Unfortunately, it's true. To start with, the installation is NOT fool-proof. There are many ways to seemingly hook it up. To add to the misery, the manual also sucks. It describes, more or less, the procedure. In words. Very few descriptive pictures. Unless you've done a few of these, yeah, I'd say be prepared to spend a good 30 min. trying to figure it out.
* All those extra bolstering cushions. It's not obvious how to "mount" them and the instructions are virtually non-existent, so we ended up just storing them away. Summary? Go for the cheaper seat and forget about these.
* In the rear-facing direction, the straight seat back does extend quite far forward, so you either have to place it in the middle, or hope that whoever sits in the front seat is short.
* The installation again. The seat is tough to get straight in some locations. Really. In the middle, our seat is always tilted one way. I think it comes down to the strap that ties down the seat. For some unfathomable reason, it is tied to a strap (for storage?) that is riveted to one side of the seat. That strap is also a wee bit short, so when I yank the straps tight (as you're supposed to do), it also pulls down one side of the seat!
* Shoulder straps. These are finicky. We figured out, and the salesperson also said as much, you have to pull it tight in many short jerks. On top of that issue, the straps often don't tighten evenly for some reason. That part we can't figure out since both straps our attached at the same point to the single pull strap...
Would I recommend? Only if you really need the seat space offered by this narrow chair. Otherwise, the rest of the design, manual, ease-of-use, they quite SUCK when compared to the previous Graco that we owned. That was getting small, and yeah, it looked kind of "cheapy", but the installation was virtually fool proof and everything more or less works easily despite some minor useability gripes.
