If I had pictures, I would post them instead and let them do the talking. Guess I could provide a video.

First off, I’ll say save your money. For the cost of this thing, I expect quite a bit from it. Plus, I’ve already attempted to talk with a Sunshine Representative and he has not called me back. But for $299 (or thereabouts), I consider design a prominent feature.

In terms of the convenience because of its width, it is great. Ideally, you could probably put three together on the same bench. But I did not pay $299 for this convenience.

It is heavy but I think that lends itself to the solid installation of it (when installed properly.) I think the idea that it can “fold in half” for portability to mitigate its weight is a joke. Don’t let the catalog pictures showing a smiling model carrying the XT SL in its designated carrying bag fool you. I’m a strong guy but lugging this around an airport is an effort especially pushing a stroller, holding a carryon bag, or carrying your child. The fact that it can do this should not be a selling point at all. Also, the weight of this thing makes unfathomable to ship it back for a refund even if you did buy return shipping insurance.

Problem #1 – There is no way this could be a rear-facing seat. No way, period. If so, send me picture proof of a clean installation with verification from a child seat installation inspector (e.g. fire department). Two reasons. First, it is too long to fit in any typical vehicle. Not everyyone wants to drive a minivan or Chevy Suburban. In the middle seat? Do you really want something this heavy in the middle seat? Ok, if so, then tether it down in the middle seat and tell me if you are not annoyed by this protruding headrest with tethered strap occasionally interfering with your shoulder.

Second reason, side protection is almost nil for infants in rear facing mode. Compare this to say a regular infant car seat. The side protection headrest does not come down far enough to protect an infant’s head. Sure the sides flare up a little and may provide some protection but keep in mind you are paying near $299 compared to other brands that DO offer infant side protection. If it was tested or suited for an infant, they must have been considering a child in the 90th percentile or above in height.

So bottomline, my 10-month cannot use this seat.

Problem #2 – I’m not sure how the other reviewers had installed this seat 7sing the lap belt method. I have an earlier model vehicle as well and have to use the shoulder-lap belt method. I did a makeshift straw poll of several of my friends’ vehicles regarding their seat belt equipment. The result was that they are pretty much the same in design. After all, the seatbelts and their configuration are regulated by the Federal government. SO, I have assumed that a majority of cars out there have this huge seat belt latch similar in design to the Super Latch (SL) on this car seat (only rated for fat guys like me.) They are no longer this small square-ish buckle.

Anyways, the point is that this fastener/latch HAS to be slightly pushed through the designated forward facing slots while the connector is snaked through the other slot. After they meet and are tightened, their resultant is within the carseat but behind this hard vinyl shield (which lies behind the padded carseat cover. While to me this seemed fine, my 2 (and a half) year old did not like the feeling of this seat belt connection behind his back. He cried in his carseat and kept saying “it hurts.” I did not know what he meant until I pushed the seat cover to where I felt the seat belt connection. Sure I could “twist” the buckle/latch portion so that the connection area was removed away from the back of the carseat. But I figured this may have been a flaw so hence the vinyl shield?

Bottomline, this seat is probably not meant for shoulder-lap belt installation. Definitely ok for SL installation. Again, keep in mind $299.

Problem #3 – The Headrest interferes with the shoulder harness in the top slots. My two and a half year old is in the 25th percentile in height which is still in the normal average range. So when I adjusted the shoulder belts in the 2nd from the top slots, everyything was ok. I adjusted the headrest down so that it is protecting his head. The headrest comes down to about the bottom of his ear level. After buckling him in, I attempted to tighten the harness and had the darndest time. I could not for the life of me figure out what was ca7sing this even after removing and reinstalling the carseat. I suspected the belt and Safe Stop connector between the bench and carseat may be slightly rubbing but such was not the major problem. After taking off the seat cover, I saw that the shoulder belts were rubbing against the EPS foam of the headrest.

The shoulder belts when snaked through the second from the top slots have to bend underneath the headrest then back through the slots on the seat cover. Sure I could wiggle the headrest up then tighten the harness easier. But then, the headrest has to be wiggled back down and pushed against the already tighten shoulder belts. “It’s too tight, Dada,” said my boy. Not only this but I heard the EPS foam “pop” where the shoulder belt rubbed. The belts were not meant to rub against the EPS foam like this. Not only this but I have some MAJOR concern about this safety feature when the belts do have to work (let’s say from an accident). What will give first, the headrest or broken collar bones. So for $299, is this a good design??

Two competitors that I saw could have this problem as well. BUT, upon inspection, I saw that they accommodated this setup with rollers or incorporated the slots INTO the headrest (thereby having the shoulder belts move up and down WITH the headrest.) MOREOVER, they are LESS than $299.

Problem #4 – The location of the tether with respect to the carseat doesn’t work as well as should. It sits about two-thirds the way up. It should be near the top as the Owner’s Manual shows it. But I suspect that they pushed it down considering my earlier comment regarding the tether interference in rear-facing mode.

The problem that is created here is that either the tether strap will “bunch” down on the back of your seat because the anchored tether location on the carseat is lower than the headrest of the back seat OR the tether strap will be pulling your seat UP while the shoulder-lap belt or SL connections are pulling the opposite direction (when they should restricting the carseat in one direction only.)

In either case, YES, you might have a solid installation. However, call me a civil engineer nerd but the tether strap pulling in the opposite direction seems to place a little more tension on the so-called Super Latch or reduces the original intent of the SL’s providing maximum resistance against G-forces of a front end collision.

So there you have it. My FOUR major problems with this carseat. There are other minor nuisances. I spent near $299 to figure all this out. And I was saying if I could get a refund, I would. But being the heavy monstrosity that it is, that won’t happen.

I gave it two stars because it is a good solid construction with the steel alloy frame. But for the retail price of $299, there are one too many problems with its design to justify its price. And for the price, you would think that they spend more time in thinking the design through.

I tried talking with Russ B at Sunshine Kids but seems like I got brushed underneath the carpet. I own 4 carseats now so I’m hoping I know my carseat business by now. But I got duped into thinking that this was a veryy safe seat. At the time, yes, it was worth the cost.

Don’t make the same mistake I did.

I got this car seat about 2 months ago and have been very happy with it. My 9 month old is very comfortable, and the side pieces support his head when he falls asleep. My 6 year old fits in it too and I might purchase a second one for him as it is significantly smaller than the britax regent that i have for him. (and now that he is reachign 50 pounds, the radian is able to keep him in 5 pt harness using just the latch…unlike the britax) I jsut completed a trip, traveling with this car seat for the first time. It was such a breeze to keep on taking it in and out of cars, the latch is super easy to use compared to other seats I have had. And it folds up too! The only downsides are that it is extremely heavy — so I wound up just checking it underneath instead of carrying it to the gate and using it on the plane… and that when using it rear facing, it requires that the seat in front of it be moved up. So my 6 foot husband didnt have a lot of leg room when the seat was behind him. But overall very happy with it and would purchase it again!

My 5 year old is petite and still weighs less that 40 lbs. A boostter seat does NOT position her safely. A trial fitting had the boostter seat shoulder strap across the base of her neck, a very unsafe positon and a boostter seat would not provide the impact protection of this 5 point harness which holds her securely in her seat. A child can’t squirm and pull the shoulder strap behind her back like so many children do in boostter seats. Fortunately, this seat is very comfortable, so my child was able to play with books and toys on a recent 6 hour road trip without complaining. We travel by air several times throughout the year, so it is convenient to carry the folded car seat with shoulder straps in the airport.

My current car is older and does not have latch, but this car seat was tested with and without latch installation. It was easy to install the seat securely with my car’s seat belt system and when we purchase a new car with latch or visit family, we can quickly install her car seat with latch and use it safely up to 80 lbs.

I love it, but most importantly, my child does too!