Diono Monterey (Formerly Sunshine Kids Monterey): A Versatile Booster
Vehicle seat belts are designed to fit an average 160 lbs. man, not your average 4-10 year old child. That’s why we have booster seats. A booster seat raises the child up so that the lap portion of the lap/shoulder belt falls across the bony hips, not the soft, easily injured abdomen. High back boosters, like the Sunshine Kids Monterey, have headrests with shoulder belt guides to keep the shoulder belt off the child’s neck. Booster seats should always be used with a lap/shoulder seat belt.
Who should use this seat?
Diono (formerly Sunshine Kids) recommends this seat for children who are about 4-10 years old, weigh 30-120 lbs., and are between 38″ and 63″ tall. The back can be removed and used for children who fit the same size specifications. Some booster seats require a 40 lbs. minimum when switching to backless, but not the Monterey. As a technician, I would never recommend a child under 40 lbs. use a backless booster.
My opinion? This seat has great safety and comfort features and is designed to grow with a child.
Choosing which seat to use should be based on many factors, including the way the seat fits in your vehicle, how the child fits in the seat, and, in the case of a booster, the maturity of the child. Because boosters allow more freedom of movement, the child must have the maturity to sit correctly in the seat without wiggling out of the seat belt or slouching. Only you can determine if your child is mature enough, but we generally see this maturity blossom around age 4. Also, a child under 40 lbs. is best protected by a seat with a 5-point harness. I was very pleased to read in the Monterey’s instruction manual that Sunshine Kids agrees, “IMPORTANT: Children who weigh 40 lbs (18kg) or less are best protected in a 5-point harness restraint. Sunshine Kids Juvenile products* recommends that children remain in a 5-point harness restraint until reaching the maximum weight or height allowed.”
Assembly
The Monterey requires minor assembly and comes in 2 pieces: backrest and base. Most boosters that come with removable backs require that the backs be attached, so I was prepared for that. The backrest has hooks that clip onto the base securely.
Features
Features include:
*deep EPS foam in the headrest (EPS foam is the stuff bicycle helmets are made of), in the torso wings, and on the hip area of the arm rests for side impact protection
*EPE foam in the seating area for comfort
*supportive headrest
*width-adjustable torso wings
*stowable deep cup holders on both sides of the base
*wide seat for larger children
*deep seat for long-legged children
*attaches to vehicle with LATCH (called ISOFAST connectors)
Instructions
The instruction manual is one of the more disorganized booster manuals I’ve read, and I’ve read a lot. All of the illustrations are up front instead of embedded with the text. That makes the text difficult to understand. For someone who is experience with booster assembly, it won’t make much of a difference, but for someone new to boosters, it may be frustrating to read the instructions.
Cover and padding
There are four covers available for the Monterey: gray, red, black, pink. The cover for the headrest and side trims is a comfortable microfiber with a breathable mesh inside. The cover is thick and comfy. It’s attached with elastics and plastic fasteners. The cover can be handwashed and line dried when necessary.
Installation and use
Boosters are very easy to use: just plop them on the seat and buckle the child in with the vehicle belt. The Monterey is a bit different because of the ISOFAST connectors. The booster weighs in at a hefty 15.5 lbs. on my scale and Sunshine Kids recommends LATCHing the booster in when lower LATCH anchors are available. If they aren’t available, the seat is still safe to use. LATCHing the booster also helps ensure that the booster won’t become a projectile in a crash. It won’t install as tightly as a car seat will; the main purpose of LATCHing it is to stabilize it while the child climbs into it and to keep it from becoming a projectile. To attach the seat using the ISOFAST connectors, find your lower LATCH anchors in your vehicle, attach the connectors, then pull the strap at the bottom front of the base to tighten. To loosen, lift up on the lever under the strap and pull the base away from the vehicle seat.
When buckling a child into the Monterey, the shoulder belt must be routed through the red open-loop design shoulder belt guide. This is easily done just by sliding the belt into the guide. The open-loop design means that the shoulder belt won’t get caught on it if the child leans forward; in the Monterey, the shoulder belt will remain snug on the child. The lap belt should fit under the arm rests, snugly over the child’s thighs and hips; again the belt path is marked in red.
The back of the Monterey should be adjusted so that the shoulder belt guides are slightly above the child’s shoulders. To adjust the height of the back, simply squeeze the red handle on the back of the headrest and lift up. There are 11 height adjustments from which to choose. At the highest setting, th
e shoulder belt guide is around 21+/-” (depends on who you ask). Even though we have side curtain air bags, I do prefer my son to have the safety of a highback booster with EPS foam in the headrest. A major study showed that highback boosters are beneficial in side impacts over backless boosters: www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-09/chop-htb090905.php .
Airplane use and expiration
Because the Monterey doesn’t have an internal harness, it cannot be used on an airplane and is not FAA-approved. The back can be removed and packed into a large suitcase while the base can be carried by the child as a carryon, or the base can be used as a backless booster on a trip. The Monterey expires after 6 years from when it was manufactured.
Value
The Monterey sells for $120-$140, depending on where you can find it, cheaper online, of course. For the money, you get a solid booster that doesn’t need a high vehicle seatback or vehicle head restraint behind it (some other manufacturers’ highback boosters do), it has EPS foam in all the important areas, it’s width adjustable to fit growing children, it converts to a backless booster, and it has LATCH. For my money, I think that’s pretty good value for what you get.
The not-so-good
The plastic fasteners holding the cover on are nearly impossible to remove. It was quite a workout for me to remove the fasteners so I could remove the cover to wash it, and I needed a flat screwdriver to pry them up before using a needlenose pliers to remove them. The LATCH/ISOFAST strap is short, which allows the connectors to slide into the base as you move the seat outside the vehicle. It can be difficult to fish one connector out if it’s stuck inside the base.
The final word
My son is really likes his Monterey. He feels comfy in it and I like the adjustability and versatility. Don’t forget that booster use is very important until a child fits in the vehicle belt. Here’s a wonderful 5-step test from SafetyBeltSafe USA, www.carseat.org, to determine if your child is large enough to fit a vehicle belt alone without a booster, usually around ages 9-10:
1. Can the child sit with his bum all the way back against the vehicle seat?
2. Do the child’s knees bend easily at the edge of the vehicle seat?
3. Does the shoulder belt fit across the collarbone and not the child’s neck?
4. Is the lap belt low over the child’s hips?
5. Is the child able to stay like this for the entire trip?
If you answered “no” to any of the above questions, your child still needs a booster, just like my 9 yr old 90th percentile for height, 75th percentile for weight son does.
We have the pink Monterey for our daughter, who is 6 1/2. I am seriously considering purchasing one for our son, who is 4. He currently is in a harnessed booster (without the harness) and it does not support his head when he falls asleep. This is a big concern for us in case of an accident, and the Monterey pretty much eliminates that concern. The shape/angle of the headwings is perfect for a child to sleep. That’s also why we aren’t just putting daughter in a cheaper backless and buying a new cover for son. She needs the back when we go on trips! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this seat!!
eajy, you can’t LATCH 2 boosters to one lower LATCH anchor. The connectors could interfere with each other or it might not reach to the center anchor. My main concern, though, would be what would happen in a crash to the booster that’s only connected with the one LATCH connector. I’m afraid it might swing out and around, hitting other occupants in the vehicle. It’s too bad Honda didn’t add another set of lower anchors to the 3rd row in earlier models of the Ody. Glad they fixed that in the ’11!
I have question about using the tether LATCH system. We have a Honda Odyssey and are preparing to move our 4yr old into a booster. She would like to ride in the third row w/her older sister who is currently in the Sunshine Kids Monterey. Is it still effective to LATCH a booster to only one of the LATCH tethers? This way I could have two boosters in the 3rd row and not have to worry about buckling the seat belt when unoccupied.
Hi Delia. Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you–Kecia, Darren, and I have been on a bit of a summer laze lately. Belt positioning boosters like the Monterey use only the vehicle’s adult seatbelt as a restraint for the child. Think of it as an adapter to help the child fit into the adult-sized belt. It’s a different way of thinking about restraining a child than when using a harnessed restraint that’s attached to the vehicle. Boosters that are attached to the vehicle with webbing LATCH straps, like the Monterey, are done so for convenience and safety for other passengers when the child isn’t in the booster (to keep the booster from flying around as a projectile in a crash). Top tethering a booster seat works for the same purpose, whereas top tethering a harnessed seat does greatly reduce head excursion. Boosters that are attached to the vehicle with rigid LATCH, like the Cybex Solution X-Fix and Clek Oobr, may have advantages in side impacts, but since the US doesn’t test for side impacts, I can’t say for sure one way or another (the Euros say there’s more stability).
Hi there,
im in NZ and trying to find a highbacked booster that enables us to keep our kids in a seat until at least 145 cms.
This seems to have some great reviews but im stumped on one thing.
We do not have isofix in our car. And this seat does not provide any other method for securing the seat.
In my extensive reading I have come across information that suggests that seats with top teathers reduce “head excursion” significantly. I have seen people comment that this seat is safe to use with just an adult seat belt.. but do you have any information about the action this seat experiences and the severity of head extension in the event of a head on crash?
Thanks 🙂
I’m sold on buying Sunshine Monterey seats for both of my kids, ages 7 and 4. We take frequent car trips and the cushiony comfort and safety of the Monterey sold me. However, with our car trips comes lots of in-car eating/drinking/coloring and our seats tend to get messy–necessitating plenty of spot-cleaning and all-around removal of seat covers and washing. I appreciate the note in the review about how the cover was difficult to remove. It hasn’t changed my buying decision, but has me stumped on the simplest of decisions: which color to choose?. I would love some feedback from Monterey users on how well the seat fabric washes. I’m torn between buying plain black, which would hide stains but might get hotter in summer and be more prone to fading or get the ones I know my kids would love: pink/gray for my daughter and red/black for my son. Any thoughts?
Finymomma, how much does he weigh? Since he’s leggy, you may want to consider the Evenflo Maestro. Kecia did a review of it as a booster seat, but it’s also a harnessed seat to 50 lbs.: https://carseatblog.com/?p=5923 . It’s lightweight. We also have a review of the Maxi Cosi Rodi here: https://carseatblog.com/?p=5675 . What you get ultimately depends upon how much travel and carpooling you’re going to do with the seat. If it’s going to be moved around a lot, you’ll want to find a lightweight seat that’s easy to pack since a belt positioning booster seat can’t be used on a plane (though the base can be carried on as a carry-on).
My son is almost 5 and long and thin. He is 44 inches and mostly legs. We have our regular car seat which is a Britax Frontier and love it. But once you strapped that baby in, it’s not going anywhere unless you REALLY need to move it. Not to mention how heavy it is. Definately not a good one for car pool or travel.
I need a carseat for travel and car pooling. We do a lot of flying and don’t want a booster yet. I’m looking at the Recardo Vivo, which may not work for my leggy son. I am also looking at the Sunshine Kids Monterey and the Britax Frontier. Also heard about Maxi-Cosi but don’t know much about it.
Any recommendations?
H&HZmomma2, it is the only booster in your price range with LATCH. Keep in mind that the LATCH is to secure the booster when your dd isn’t in the seat, though; it’s not a safety feature when she’s riding in it. I think you’ll like the booster. I’ve heard nice things about the Vivo too, but the assembly can be a bear and the lap belt pathway could be a problem for timid kids.
I am looking at purchasing this seat for my nearly 7 yr. old daughter. She has nearly outgrown the 5pt. harness in her current seat. I want to get her a high back booster, but I am having trouble making a decision. She wants a pink booster. So that really cuts down my options. I really like that it has the ISOfast/Latch fasteners, has SIP, cup holders are a plus too. This seat also has a alum. framing, right? well thats a plus too. My youngest is in a Recaro YS and I love it, she loves it. The only reason I’m not too sure about getting the Vivo, by recaro, is because it doesnt have latch. Are there any other HBB with Latch? It’s up to the Vivo or the Monterey. Which do you think? Or can you think of something better? Wanna stay under $150.
MJ, the differences are in covers (fashion :)) and the 2010 LATCH strap is longer for easier accessibility.
Hi Denise. We don’t recommend transitioning to a belt positioning booster until a child is at least age 4 AND 40 lbs. A child under age 4 doesn’t have the mental maturity to understand that s/he needs to stay still in a booster. The child’s safety is essentially placed in the hands of the child when he rides in a booster. A car seat with a properly tightened 5-point harness allows a child to be a child: no nagging to stay in position, no worrying that the child doesn’t have the seat belt on or is leaning over to pick up a toy.
I suggest looking at a forward-facing only combination seat. Combination seats have harnesses, then convert to booster seats. A few parental favorites that have harnesses to higher weight limits with high top harness slots are the Graco Nautilus and the Britax Frontier. We’ve done reviews of the Britax Frontier here: https://carseatblog.com/?p=32 and https://carseatblog.com/?p=92 . A promising new combo seat that’s less expensive is the Evenflo Maestro. It has a harness to 50 lbs., then is a booster to 100 lbs.
FWIW, your son’s ped. will probably say that it’s OK to put him in a booster at age 3. But consider that your ped. is not an expert in child passenger safety or road safety. He shouldn’t give advice in that area just as I shouldn’t give advice on how to set a broken arm :).
They need to be in a 5 point harness for as long as possible even when they are forward facing. I just bought the SK Radian XTSL which allows forward facing in a 5 point harness until 80 lbs and 53 inches!! My 10 yr old is only 56 lbs and 51 inches and he sat in it and was fine. So if you are considering a Sunshine Kids seat I would do the Radian and keep them in the 5 point harness which is proven to be safer!!!
Belle’s gift: 5 point harness use is safer!
what is the difference between the monterey 2009 and 2010?
I am trying to figure out what to do… My son will be 3 in april and was 37 lbs and 37 inches on october 1st. He is on the last rung of his Britax convertable car seat. Is the Monterey the best way to go for a booster? I am conserdering talking to his ped about this in april, however we are also planning on buying his booster car seat for his birthday. Decisions, decisions. Any advice?
It depends on what your goals are with the booster. If space isn’t an issue, then the Monterey is a nice choice because the side wings really envelope the child. If you’ll be moving the booster from vehicle to vehicle, the PWSG is probably a better choice because it’s lighter and it won’t fall apart because of the way it’s put together–the backrest slides into the base as opposed to clipping onto the base and rotating up as the Monterey does. The Slide Guard will keep a child from slouching down, so that’s another consideration. The shoulder belt guides on the Monterey face sideways while the PWSG face more front-to-back and that may make a difference in whether or not the seat belt gets caught up in the guides.
They’re both nice choices and I don’t think you can go wrong with either, so if you can, try each out in your vehicle to see which gives you the best fit.
My daughter is 5 years old … 42″ tall and 42 lbs. Would you recommend the Sunshine Kids Monterey over the Britax Parkway SG? Or vice versa?
I’d make her wait till 40lbs, or get her a booster with a lower weight limit (the combi dakota has a 33lb minimum weight limit, the cosco high-rise/auto booster (the super cheap one) has a 30lb minimum weight limit)
And I’m surprised that the superior depth wasn’t mentioned in this review or even the (has nothing to do with safety, of course) fantastic cupholders!
The fit is good in the backless as long as she uses the positioning clip. Her mother has told me that they “gave up the fight” on keeping her in a high-backed when her last friend stopped using the backless, provided she uses the backless as long as her mom says she has to.
Gosh,KQ, she’s only just a little taller than my 6 yr old and even skinnier! I’d have to see how’d she fit in it backless before saying anything. Of course, that’d be going against manufacturer’s instructions if she fit ok. That’s a small kid. I always envied those girls when I was that age and 5′ tall and 90 lbs.
Really, you wouldn’t recommend that a ten year old, 38 lb., 50 inch child use a backless booster? 😉 Just playing devil’s advocate because I know one and there is NO WAY you could get her in a high-backed booster…
Wow, that looks fantastic, thanks for the review! I *need* a pink one, but have to convince my husband that all the seats we have aren’t as good as this one 😀
I just wanted to comment that the pink Monterey I saw in my local Buy Buy Baby store about a week and a half ago didn’t have mesh fabric on any part of the seat — the pink part was the same kind of fabric as on the sides. The other colors, including the red one I bought, did have mesh fabric.
Just thought I’d toss that out there for the pink-loving, mesh-hating crowd.