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| Reviewed by: Baby Gizmo Senior Editors |  | Mom Rating: (3 Reviews)  | ||
 | Title: A Stylish, Innovative Booster for Big Kids Best: Securely fastens to vehicle with LATCH, wider than most booster seats, great color options, soft, comfortable seat Worst: A bit expensive Full Review: see below
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| Full Review: Manufactured by Magna Aftermarket, Inc., the Magna Clek Booster Seat is the only backless booster seat to use the LATCH rigid system to securely fasten it to a vehicle. Designed with 'energy absorbing comfort cube' construction, it has an additional layer of padding that kept our 6 and 8-year-old testers comfortable in their seats. The seat weighs in at a light 5 lbs and is easy to transfer from car to car. Installing the booster seat is even easier and takes less than 10 seconds. All you have to do is line up the LATCH anchors to the vehicle LATCH, push, and you will hear two clicks that let you know that it's secure. Super easy! Removing the seat is even easier - you either pull on the front strap to detach the LATCH anchors (easiest way) or push the release buttons on the back of the seat, and you are ready to go. We found the Clek booster to be a bit wider and longer than other backless boosters allowing plenty of room for bigger kids. Even though it's wider, in a mid-size SUV, we found that the booster seat fits easily on a bench seat even next to two full-size car seats. The Clek booster seat comes in 8 fun colors and patterns, from light blue to leopard!, to help your child show off their style and hopefully encourage them to want to use it. The seat covers are also very soft to the touch. Our children always complained about the roughness of the fabric on the Graco Turbo Booster, especially when they were wearing shorts. In comparison, the Clek's surface is extremely plush, like a soft microsuede. The seat covers are removable and washable. The best thing about the booster seat is that it securely attaches to the vehicle. When it's secured with LATCH, the seat does not slide around with your child sitting on it, which could potentially put your kid out of place with their seatbelt. Better yet, the seat will not become a projectile in the case of a crash. A big concern for moms of older children is that a traditional booster seat is loose when their older child is not in the car. For safety's sake, you should store a loose, empty booster in your trunk, but moms rarely actually practice this, and for most open-trunk SUVs, it's a moot point anyway. Since the loose seat can become a very dangerous projectile in a collision, the Clek booster always being safely attached to our car made us feel much more secure. As a Child Passenger Safety Technician, I am adamant about children under 4'9' tall or less than 80 lbs needing a booster seat to ensure seat belts properly fit their small frame, but even if your child meets these minimums, the adult seat belt should cross their shoulder, not cut into their neck - if it does, they still need a boost. My 9-year-old niece is over 4'9' and 80 pounds, but in some cars, the seat belt crosses her neck and she does still use a booster. Knowing that less than 20 percent of children who should use a booster seat actually do, I'm glad that the Magna Clek Booster seat is comfortable for older children, is easy to install/remove and secures to the vehicle, hopefully encouraging more moms to have their kids use them. Retailing for $89.99, it may seem a bit expensive for a booster seat, but knowing that your child will be using it for years and the added safety of having LATCH, we say it's totally worth it! | ||
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