Continuing with their consistently Duggar-esque nomenclature, Magna Clek recently welcomed it’s newest–and largest–baby yet, Oobr. Baby Oobr follows on the footsteps of older siblings Oto (now discontinued), Olli, and Ozzi. Clek boosters have thus far been famous for four things: rigid LATCH attachments, Paul Frank fashions, hefty price tags, and being the cutest little things to come out of Canada since Avril Lavigne. But after hype extending back to 2008, does the full-sized sibling really measure up?
First thing I did was visit the gals down at Baby’s World to pick up my brand new Paul Frank Skurvy version of the Oobr. I already had my Parkway SG patiently waiting at home, and have been using the Sunshine Kids Monterey for my 6 year old since Christmas. I walked out of the store $319.99+tax lighter–uhh Nadia, I think I owe you $30. MSRP is $319.99 CDN for the regular version of the Oobr, but you’ll pay $30 more for the two Paul Frank colour options. Y’all down south will pay $274.99 for regular fashions and $299.99 for Paul Frank options at online retailers such as KidsNCribs (sponsor of CarseatBlog), elitecarseats.com and Amazon.com. I’ll do the math for you–that’s $287 and $313 in Canadian dollars, so despite Magna being a Canadian company the pricetags in Canada are still more than 10% higher.
Lugging the Oobr out to the parking lot with my husband, 6 year old, and 4.5 year old in tow, we unpacked the seat from it’s box. I’ve got to give the folks at Magna credit where credit is due–this was by far the best packing job I’ve seen on a carseat to date. Finally, I had the Oobr sitting on one of the captains chairs in my Odyssey, trying to find the LATCH adjuster release…located in about the same place as it is on the Monterey, I had the seat installed within 10 seconds. Threading the seatbelt, however, took well over a minute and resulted in some minor damage to the belt webbing when it snagged in the guide. I was later disappointed that a seatbelt so difficult to get in was actually quite easy to remove as I’d rather see easy in-difficult out after some of that Transport Canada footage last month. After adjusting the headrest up so the guides were just above my son’s shoulders, off we went.
The best way I can think to see how the Oobr compares to other seats on the market was to put them side-by-side on the floor of my shack with the other two half-decent contenders currently available here in Canada: the Britax Parkway SG, and the Sunshine Kids Monterey. Fortunately, my carseat collection/obsession has yet to result in divorce. Yet.
Let’s talk about shell height first. Mason, my helpful 12 year old assistant of both above average torso height and weight, sat in all three seats. His shoulders were a good inch below the beltguides on the Oobr in it’s topmost position but at 120lbs he exceeds the maximum weight limit of the seat by 20lbs. Despite testing Mason out in the Monterey exactly 12 months ago and having room to spare, his shoulders are now squished between the bottom portion of the beltguides on our contender #2. Number 3, the Parkway SG, is only slightly taller than the Oobr and fits Mason just fine. Just a side note here–Mason has passed the 5-step test in even the largest of vehicle seating positions for well over a year now so that extra height might’ve been overkill.
The width of each of the seats was also suitable for my 12 year old (who has a little extra chub as compared to his friends) although the Monterey width adjustment allows a more suitable fit for my significantly smaller 6 year old. The Oobr differs from our other contenders in that it has a more squared off rump-area versus the tapers of the Parkway SG and Monterey. Although I don’t have a pre-teen girl, I suspect this might provide a little more comfort in the “boot-tay” department.
The seat depths are difficult to compare, as the three all went with a completely different design. The Monterey offers the most contouring up at the sides, with the Parkway offering a slight incline and the Oobr being quite flat to the sides. The armrests on the Monterey also have the greatest up-turn and seem more practical as belt guides versus armrests for your child. The Parkway SG armrests extend somewhat, but also look questionably functional as armrests. The Oobr, by contrast, has armrests that function both as an armrest and as lapbelt guides seemingly without any obvious compromises.
If your kid has a giant noggin, you’ll be pleased with the side bolsters on each of the headrests. If your little one doesn’t resemble an alien you’ll probably be most impressed with the closer quarters of the headwings on both the Monterey and the Oobr. The Oobr, however, has the beltguides so integrated into that head portion that you’ll find yourself adjusting the headrest portion upwards to avoid shoulder/headwing contact. My son shrugged his shoulders a few times, and did mention that the way the beltguides are submerged into the wings it doesn’t allow for any additional distance between the wing and his shoulders. The Monterey has the least recessed shoulder belt guides of the three, allowing a comfortable distance between the shoulders and the seat. But it also lacks a little height, by comparison.
The fabrics on the three seats are all quite different. Magna advertises that their Oobr fabrics will “resist moisture, stains and bacteria” but I have to admit that I really don’t want to test it out in that regard. Especially the bacteria part. The Monterey, which my 6 year old son has in the cute pink/grey combination, has a soft suede-like fabric that does tend to get a bit grungy and is far more difficult to wipe down as compared to our Onyx Parkway SG. But damn, that Paul Frank Skurvy skull on the Oobr backrest is adorable.
So far we’ve got our three contenders running towards the finish line, neck-in-neck-in-neck. So, I’m saving my best observation for last, especially because so many of us have a little voice nagging at us over this one. To LATCH or not to LATCH. The lightweight Parkway SG doesn’t have any method by which to connect the seat to your vehicle. This means that in a crash, it could go flying–unless you’ve taken that extra step to ensure it’s buckled in even when unoccupied. The Monterey has a webbing-based LATCH belt that, even when fully tight, seems to allow for a bit of movement away from the seatback when installed. And excuse my Canadian here, but it’s an absolute bitch to get those tether-hook like LATCH clips off of the anchors deep in the seat bight of my Odyssey’s centre row. It took me a full 10 minutes once; And I’m a tech…in two countries. Finally–the LATCH on the new Oobr. If you have an Oto, Olli or Ozzi, you’re familiar with these rigid LATCH attachments. In fact, a few infant seats over the years have also had these same rigid LATCH attachments. Now, considering the Oobr is quite the beast to lug around I do have to say that I’m pleased there won’t be that additional weight loading up against my child in a crash…but on the skirt tails of Transport Canada’s testing, I do have concerts about the rigid LATCH attachments having an impact on how the seatbelt performs and how weight is distributed in a crash. It seems logical that having a booster seat firmly connected to the vehicle, without any give, will provide the greatest protection–but is this REALLY the case? There’s only one way to know–and that’s for Magna to put MY money where THEIR mouth is, and release us some solid data on how their rigid LATCH performs in a crash. All the bells and whistles in the world don’t mean a damn thing if the seat isn’t at least as safe as our other contenders, and I hope to God that the skull on my son’s new seat isn’t foreshadowing anything.
So Michael@Clek, if you’re listening–put my $319.99 where your mouth is.
So now you’re wondering what the heck to buy for junior’s 6th birthday? I haven’t drawn any conclusions here, have I? That’s because until we have more information about the actual performance of these seats, you’ll still need to pick the seat that best fits your child, fits your vehicle, and fits your budget.
Just an FYI- I was trying out new boosters today w/my 8 yr old. We crashed his turbobooster which wasn’t too big of a crisis because he was almost maxed out on height. Tried the parkway, but it was so tall that is didn’t fit well in our car. Figured what the heck, let’s try the clek. He HATED it. I was surprised that he started complaining almost immediately how uncomfortable it was. Then he leaned forward and pointed at the back. With the Clek and a taller kid, there is no support between the headrest and the back, so as you raise the headrest, there is a gap that gets wider and wider. The backrest only came to mid-shoulder blade, even though the headrest had several more notches to raise. This seat may fit a small kid fine, but what are you supposed to do as that child grows and they need to move the headrest more than a couple of inches up from the backrest? Such a disapointment!!
need help plz britax frontier 85 or the gorgeous clek oobr ???
Thanks for the very complete review. I wish there had been such a review last year when I was looking for a booster. We finally decided on the Sunshine Kids Monterey, which we are very happy with. The only issue we have is that the seat belt needs to rethreaded through the shoulder beltguide every time and my daughter has become so frustrated that she has begun trying to bypass the beltguide. I do appreciate your review as the recent Insurance Institute guidelines came out and it is somewhat disconcerting to learn their criteria for rankings is how well the seats fit w/most cars. Your review is much more in depth and just adds another aspect for consideration. Thank you very much!
Great review! We’re just beginning to look for a booster for our oldest son. Here is the challenge: We need to fit three seats across in the back of an ’05 Outback. We are currently using a combination of two Radians and a snugride.
If you still have all three of the above seats in your collection (ha!), which of them has the narrowest width at the base of the seat? Also, what are the different widths at the shoulders (I realize that the Moneterrey has adjusteable width here, so, I’m curious to find out the minimum width of all three seats). I am hoping to gather some of this information before ordering all three for a trial fit, so any information you would be willing to share would be appreciated.
Thanks again for the detailed comparison. Very insightful.
I thank you for these comparisons. My son has a graco booster. IT SUCKS. he falls asleep in it all the time, and he is always falling forward or sideways.I feel he would be better off laying on the ground (WHICH I WOULD NEVER DO) I am so car seat safe that I give my hubby heck if it is not pulled tight enough across his lap… I was going to buy a parkway but it did not seem much different,but seeing the oobr and the recline…it seems like a dream come true for me. If Possible could you please let me know what the recline is like for a sleeping child…helpful??? Thanks Fellow Canadian.
The fabrics on Clek seats are made by Crypton:
http://www.cryptonfabric.com/
They were at the ABC show in 2008 showing a couple gliders. The demo was pretty impressive in how it cleaned up. Not sure if the Paul Frank models are the same material.
While I’d love to see details on performance testing too, what manufacturers usually release is designed to make them look good and doesn’t easily compare across other makes. I mean, if we really could compare these directly in a multitude of real-world-like scenarios, it might make decisions harder for parents (imagine if the result were something like “Works better than other boosters in side impacts, but only ranks fifth in front collisions, and ties for third in rear..”)
Along those lines, I sent an e-mail to SKJP’s supposedly automated responder for SL testing results right after this year’s show and have yet to get anything (tried again recently as well).
Fabulous review! Sounds like we need some numbers to back up that pricetag it’s got to me…though I can’t say that it isn’t tempting regardless…LOL
Excellent information, thank you.
Great review and entertaining too 🙂
Good read, thanks! 🙂
Great review! I do wish clek would release crash test data, I think it would make us feel better. I would lobe to see with latch and without with various dummies.
That chair was the least visually offensive background I could find in our temporary shack. I’m going to be taking all of my carseat photos poolside as of March 😉 Then we’re REALLY going to test whether or not the Oobr truly does resist moisture.
Thanks for the review, N.! I think the Oobr looks quite comfy lounging in your chair ;).
Supposedly, rigid LATCH shines in side impacts, for which we have no comparative data. Even in frontal impacts, the Transport Canada frontal NCAP type testing is not intended for comparative use and may well not even be scientific enough for anything much more than curiousity.
Thanks Quassee for the great comparison! You make our writing look too boring;-)
That didn’t help me at all, lol. I’m no closer to picking one then I was before, ugh. AJ really wants that Skurvy one though, but we don’t have LATCH where he’s at.
You thought the Oobr was well packed? I wonder if they started packing them differently, because I thought mine was the least well packed of car seats I’ve had.
I won the Oobr in a contest which is the main reason I can have such an Oobr expensive and beautiful thing. I too am wondering about the performance of the rigid LATCH. I asked them about it and they didn’t give me much of an answer.
Thanks for sharing and forgive my American– but that was freaking hilarious!!!
Oh be still my heart… that skurvy skull would look SO fabulous and fit SO very well in the third row of my Mazda 5!
Unfortunately, I really have no need for it. *sigh*
Possibly one of the most entertaining entries I’ve read in a while….