Ride Safer Delight Travel Vest, Large Yellow – Includes Tether and Neck Pillow

I have a bit of a like-hate relationship with this travel vest. I’ll keep it, but I’m pretty sure I’ll often want to curse while using it.Pros:1. It’s the only thing like it around. If you want to travel without a car seat and don’t want to rent one from a rental car company (as they’re often in really bad shape or expired), this is pretty much the only option.2. It packs small and is lightweight for travel.Cons:1. There are so many fasteners/belt guides that it’s easy to forget one. For our recent trip, we kept it attached to the tether strap, so the vest hung from the tether strap (crotch strap attached to the back of the vest) when not in use. My son (4.5) just needs to climb into the car and position himself in front of the vest. Then I help him push his arms into each side of the vest. Then I need to Velcro the vest around him (fastener #1), close the (very finicky) buckle (fastener #2), attach the crotch strap to the front of the vest (#3), pull out the seat belt and buckle it (#4), then insert the lap belt through two guides (#5 and #6), and the shoulder belt through the shoulder guide (#7). Honestly, it’s just hard to remember all those fasteners/belt guides every single time. In the beginning, I was constantly looking back at him and realizing I’d either forgotten to attach the crotch strap to the front of the vest or forgotten to close the buckle. I think I’ve got it now, but it was pretty frustrating at first.2. The buckle. Holy crap, the buckle. It’s terrible. Sometimes I can work it without any difficulty at all and other times it has me letting loose a guttural scream of frustration. They call this the Houdini-proof buckle. So it seems like they’re trying to solve for the use case of a child who likes to undo their buckle and escape from the harness. In reality, this is likely very unusual among typically developing children. Why not offer an alternative buckle for kids with particular special needs for whom this is an issue, instead of making everyone suffer by having to use a Houdini-poof (and let’s face it, often parent-proof) buckle that they don’t even need because their kids know it’s not OK to undo it?3. The crotch strap. My son is fairly small for his age at 32 pounds. So I use the crotch strap to achieve a better fit and have more peace of mind. The material of the crotch strap is like a seat belt, and is doubled over at the end, so it’s extra thick. It’s the same width as the slot in the metal loop that it needs to fit through on the vest. But because the end of the crotch strap is doubled over at the end and squared-off rather than pointed, it can be kind of difficult to push the crotch strap through the metal loop on the vest. I often have trouble pushing enough of the crotch strap through the metal loop to be able to grab it on the other side of the metal loop and pull it fully through the metal loop so I can fasten it (via Velcro), more or less under my son’s bottom. It seems like this issue could be improved if they just made the end of the crotch strap pointed instead of squared-off at the end. The fact that the crotch strap is fastened under my son’s bottom is a minor annoyance, but it might bother some people more than it bothers me. [Note: It is possible that this was more difficult for me on our recent trip because we were traveling in cold weather; in warmer weather, when my hands were warmer and the material easier to maneuver, I might have had less difficulty.]4. The panels of fabric that are over the metal loops (belt guides) on the shoulder straps of the vest seem pointless to me. Also the Velcro on these is inadequate to keep the panels closed. It’s a small piece of Velcro and just doesn’t do the job of keeping the panels closed.5. My son did not care for the neck pillow, and I don’t blame him. It is rigid and doesn’t seem like it would be comfortable. We threw a blanket over the top of the back of the seat to be sure the tether strap didn't irritate his shoulders or upper back.6. YOU WILL NOT SAVE TIME by using this vest instead of a regular car seat. I haven’t timed myself, but I’d guess it takes me about three times as long to secure my son using this vest rather than a standard car seat with a five-point harness. The value of this vest is in its portability for travel, NOT its ease of use.7. The lower weight limit for the travel vest is 30 pounds — but the lower weight limit for the (very expensive) “delighter” booster seat (also by Safe Traffic System) that you can use along with the travel vest is 40 pounds. That’s pretty unfortunate, considering that the child whose parents might want to use a booster to achieve a better fit is probably on the smaller side. I suspect that it’s no longer possible to get an approval for a booster seat at a weight lower than 40 pounds. Of note, there are a few boosters out there that go down to 30 pounds (which likely were approved years ago and now have “grandfathered” approval). We initially got the delighter, concluded it was nothing special and very expensive for a booster seat, and promptly returned it. We got a different booster that goes down to 30 pounds, for less than 25% of the price.All In all, I’m glad I got this vest, but I’m going to be sure to register my purchase with Safe Traffic System, just in case they come up with a fix for any of the issues I’ve noted above.

I really wanted to love this. I bought it to take on vacation instead of using a car seat for my 3 year old. He’s 40 lbs and over 42 inches tall, well within the specs stated for the small size vest. This thing was so ill-fitting I can’t imagine how it could be safe. Maybe it works better for older kids, but there’s no way for a 3 year old. He’s pretty big for his age so smaller kids couldn’t possible get this to fit. I read the instructions and watched the videos online for how to get a good fit, but I couldn’t get this to fit. The Velcro wasn’t long enough to get it remotely snug anywhere, waist or shoulder straps. And the placement of the tether clips was so uncomfortable for him. Maybe I’ll try this again when he’s closer to the upper spec limit for height but until then I can’t recommend anyone purchase this if they have a 3 year old.

I love the idea of this. it's essentially the 5 point restraint without the bulky car seat. brilliant for travel. here's the catch... my skinny kid is within the weight limit but near the bottom but, still was able to wiggle around at the tightest settings. he loved it because he could move around and recline easier but this is what made me more anxious. this gives kids as much freedom as you would have in a booster seat. He also complained that it became uncomfortable when we had to go for longer rides (45 min plus). FYI: He's used to sitting in a forward facing car seat with 5 point harness so he was not used to having to position himself. He was able to get a foot underneath him, twist sideways a bit, and lean over more. 5 yo needed assistance to get settled into the car and position the belt through the correct pathways but less so to get out. i'm a car seat fanatic and i read blogs and reviews for days before settling on one so, this felt odd for me not having the plastic shell and layers of crash tested foam surrounding him. will I use it again? you betcha. will I use it for local trips? nope. I do keep it in my car for use with friends. certainly makes travel easier so you don't have to lug a giant car seat around.

We have two four year olds. Both are just within the height and weight specs. I am nearly certain this belt will not contain them in their seats in a large accident. Maybe in a fender bender it will help . . . but even then I'm not certain. The vest simply is too large and cannot be tightened sufficiently on either of our kids. Moreover, even if the belt is tightened, there is no way to secure the shoulder strap guide, so that it can and does shift easily while the car moves and the child moves. I feel like our kids would need to be 6" taller and 15 lbs heavier for this vest to even have a chance. How in the world it was ever certified at the weight specs given, I do not know. It's disappointing, because it's a good concept and we plan to use it for overseas travel and - this time - do not plan to take along the full-blown backward facing car seats. So I'm hoping this vest is better than nothing. The problem is, we looked around a bit and found few other alternatives, one of which we tried and decided it certainly was no good. I wonder if someone can make this kid of vest and just have the car's seat belt attach to the BACK of the vest, and let the vest distribute the force of belt across the child's entire front area. I don't know. There's got to be a better way. This vest is terrible.