Britax One4Life ClickTight Diono Radian 3QXT+
If you are looking to buy a car seat for your child, Diono and Britax products should definitely be at the top of your shortlist. They are 2 of the most well-known and well-respected manufacturers of high-quality premium car seats and always seem to be innovating in an attempt to make improvements to the safety and convenience features on their car seats.
Diono have been making all-in-one car seats for a very long time now.
Their latest all-in-one car seats are the Diono Radian 3Q range and there are 3 different seats to choose from.
Britax, on the other hand, have traditionally taken a different approach to their car seats. They have manufactured separate infant seats, convertible seats, and harness to booster seats for a long time and are also a well-respected manufacturer of high-end premium car seats.
With the One4Life ClickTight seat, however, Britax has created a genuine competitor to the Diono Radian 3Q range of seats. Britax have taken inspiration and many safety and convenience features from their other types of car seat and combined them to make an all-in-one seat.
There is only one Britax all in one seat to consider, but there are three different models within the Diono Radian 3Q series seats to choose from.
In this comparison review, I am going to take a close look at the Britax One4Life ClickTight seat alongside the Diono Radian 3QXT Plus seat, which is their top-of-the-range option. The Diono Radian 3QXT Plus seat comes with more features than any of their other all-in-one car seats.
To help you choose between these 2 seats, I have considered all the main similarities and differences between them.
So, what are the similarities and differences between the Britax One4Life ClickTight and Diono Radian 3QXT Plus all-in-one car seats?
Here is my comparison review of the Britax One4Life ClickTight and Radian 3QXT Plus car seats.
One4Life ClickTight vs Radian 3QXT Plus – Features
#1 Child Height & Weight Limits
The overall height and weight limits for these 2 seats are different. This difference in the minimum weight limits between the seats is very small and, for the vast majority of parents, it will not make any difference to the useability of either seat. The maximum height limits on the seats are, however, quite different and may make a difference to how long the seat can be used if your child is likely to be taller than average.
It is not enough to just look at the overall weight limits for the Britax One4Life ClickTight and Diono Radian 3QXT Plus seats. You should also be aware that each of the modes of seat use has different weight/height ranges.
So, what are the overall height and weight limits for these seats?
Britax One4Life ClickTight
The overall weight limits are between 5 and 120 lbs.
The overall height limit is up to 63 inches.
Diono Radian 3QXT Plus
The overall weight limits are between 4 and 120 lbs.
The overall height limit is up to 57 inches.
You will note that the lower weight limit for the Diono Radian 3QXT Plus is 1 pound lower than for the Britax One4Life ClickTight seat. Unless your child is very premature and is allowed out of hospital prior to reaching 5 pounds in weight, this is not going to be a relevant factor in choosing between these seats.
A 5-pound minimum weight restriction is perfectly normal and suitable for almost all babies who are ready to use a child car seat.
The Britax One4Life ClickTight seat has a significantly higher maximum height limit than the Diono Radian 3QXT Plus seat (63 inches vs 57 inches). This 6-inch difference is definitely something to consider if your child is likely to be taller than average.
The Britax One4Life ClickTight and Diono Radian 3QXT Plus seats come with the following child height and weight limits for use in the rear-facing harness, forwards-facing harness, and belt-positioning booster seat modes.
What are the height and weight limits for using these seats in the different modes?
Britax One4Life ClickTight
Rear-Facing Harness Mode – 5 to 50 lbs / up to 49 inches.
Forwards-Facing Harness Mode – 22 to 65 lbs / up to 49 inches.
Belt-positioning Booster Mode – 40 to 120 lbs / 44 to 63 inches.
Diono Radian 3QXT Plus
Rear-Facing Harness Mode – 4 to 50 lbs / 18 to 44 inches.
Forwards-Facing Harness Mode – 22 to 65 lbs / 30 to 57 inches.
Belt-positioning Booster Mode – 40 to 120 lbs / 40 to 57 inches.
You can see that there are some differences between the limits for use within each mode and you will have to decide if any of those are relevant to your needs and those of your child.
Note: It is best to try to keep your child in the harness mode for as long as they are within the weight and height limits, even if they are technically eligible to use the seat in booster mode.
It’s just generally safer that way. Why give up the added benefits of the 5-point harness before you absolutely have to?
The same goes for rear-facing. Rear-facing is said to be 4 to 5 times safer than forwards-facing and so, unless you have a very good practical reason to do so, try to keep your child’s car seat in the rear-facing position for as long as they remain within the height and weight limits for this mode of use.
#2 Seat Frame & Safecell Technology
Both seats come with a steel frame and reinforced sides to provide extra strength and protection.
As with other types of Britax seats, the base of the Britax One4Life ClickTight seat benefits from the inclusion of Britax’s Safecell crumple zone technology, which is designed to provide added protection in the event of a collision.
In short, the impact-absorbing Safecell base comprises a red “honeycomb” structure that helps to absorb crash forces in the event of an accident.
Here is a video that explains the Britax Safecell Technology in a little more detail.
#3 Harness & Headrest Adjustment
Both seats are designed for use from birth and so, naturally, they both come with a 5-point harness.
The Britax One4Life ClickTight seat comes with a total of 15 different harness height options.
The Diono Radian 3QXT Plus seat’s adjustable headrest has 12 different height options.
The adjustment options on both seats are excellent. Although the One4Life ClickTight seat has 3 extra adjustment options, the Diono Radian 3QXT Plus seat still has more than enough, and certainly more than you would find on a budget car seat within this category.
This variety of headrest/harness adjustment height options is important because it is what makes it easy for you to get a safe and comfortable fit for your child as they grow while using this seat. The more, the better.
With both seats, you can change the harness position as your child grows by simply pressing the handle at the top of the seat and moving it upwards or downwards as required.
There is no need to re-thread the harnesses on either seat while making these headrest/harness adjustments, which removes the risk of human error and saves a lot of time.
#4 Infant Inserts & Seat Recline Options
The Britax One4Life ClickTight seat comes with an infant insert cushion that can be used until your child reaches a weight of 20 pounds. This infant insert cushion is designed to help you get a correct secure fit when your child is very small.
There are a massive 9 different recline positions to choose from, mostly designed to help you achieve a safe installation while the seat is being used in the rear-facing harness mode when your child is a baby or toddler.
To make it even easier to get the correct recline angle with the seat, it comes with a set of easy-read bubble indicators to tell you when you have got it right. The recline angle can be easily changed by using the quick-press button on the seat base.
The Diono Radian 3QXT Plus seat comes with a full head and body infant support cushion to help you to ensure a nice snug fit whilst your baby is very small. Unlike the previous R series of Diono Seats, the infant inserts supplied with the Q series of seats are also made of memory foam for an even more comfortable fit.
There are also padded infant harness pads for use in the early stages.
Diono also provide a Safe Plus Newborn Travel High Wedge to help you angle the seat while it is being used in the rear-facing mode.
#5 Seat Installation Options
The Diono Radian 3QXT Plus can be installed using their patented SuperLATCH mechanism, which is demonstrated in the video below.
The reason that the Britax One4Life ClickTight seat carries the “ClickTight” label is due to one of the unique ways in which the seat can be installed in your vehicle.
As the product names suggests, the One4Life ClickTight seat comes fitted with the Britax ClickTight Installation System.
For those that are already used to using LATCH installation methods, the One4Life ClickTight model can also be installed in a traditional manner using the lower LATCH connectors and then, later on, the vehicle seat belt when used in belt-positioning booster mode, but it also comes with the added option of being installed using the Britax ClickTight Installation System.
The Britax ClickTight installation system is not an entirely new concept as it has been used by Britax very successfully on their range of convertible car seats for many years, before it was added to their harness-to-booster seat range.
So, what is the Britax ClickTight installation system?
The ClickTight installation system involves a simple 3-stage process. You open the compartment, you feed the seat belt through the appropriate route, and then you close the compartment until you hear the “click”.
The ClickTight installation mechanism on its own does not make the car seat any safer, but there is a very important indirect safety benefit for some parents in using the ClickTight system.
Installing convertible car seats using the vehicle’s seat belt can be difficult for many parents and, as a result, mistakes are often made. Research suggests that up to 75% seats are installed incorrectly, which makes them unsafe.
So, any mechanism that makes it easier to achieve a safe installation is to be welcomed.
To assist you with the ClickTight installation system, the user manual and Britax safety videos take you through the process from start to finish in simple steps. In addition, the appropriate belt-paths used in this process are clearly color-coded and are accompanied by easy-to-read indicators.
Watch this video, so see how easy it is to install a car seat using ClickTight …
#6 Side Impact Protection
The Britax One4Life ClickTight car seat comes with 2 separate layers of side impact protection.
The 2 layers of side impact protection that are found on both seats are located in the headrest and torso areas.
The Diono Radian 3QXT Plus seat comes with a very impressive and reassuring 8 layers of side impact protection.
The 8 layers of side impact protection that come with the Radian 3QXT Plus are considerably more than you will find on a budget car seat and many premium car seats.
If you look carefully at the image of the Diono Radian 3QXT Plus seat below, you can see where they have added some of these extra layers of side impact protection. You can see the silver colored Side Impact Management Pods on the outside of the seat itself, as well as the extra-padded infant surround (light gray in color).
#7 Seat Dimensions
The seat dimension that is often the most important for parents to consider is its width, especially if you have (or intend to have) a large family with at least 3 children requiring car seats at any one time within the same vehicle.
The Britax One4Life ClickTight seat is 20.5 inches wide.
This is certainly not the narrowest seat on the market, but it is also not the widest. You should be able to get 3 in a row within a large vehicle.
The Diono Radian 3QXT Plus seat measures just 17 inches across at the widest point, making it the narrowest seat on the market.
The narrowness of the Radian 3QXT Plus seat is achieved despite the fact that it comes with 8 layers of side impact protection.
Very often, the top-of-the-range seat in a particular series of seats will be significantly wider than the more basic model due to the extra side impact protection features. This is not the case, however, with the Diono Radian 3QXT Plus seat. Diono have managed to manufacture the seat with additional layers of side impact protection without making it any wider than the entry-level seat, which is a very impressive achievement.
So, if you have (or intend to have) a large family, the narrow width of this seat can make a massive difference and possibly help you to avoid the need to buy a larger vehicle with 3 rows of seating just so that you can fit all of the child car seats inside.
You should be able to fit 3 Diono Radian 3QXT Plus seats in a row within a standard sized vehicle without any problems.
#8 Anti-rebound Bar / Panel
The Britax One4Life ClickTight car seat does not come supplied with an anti-rebound bar, but can be purchased as an optional extra if you wish.
The anti-rebound bar is designed to provide more stability in the event of a collision and reduce transmission of crash energy to the seat itself.
It can only be used in the rear-facing mode.
An added benefit is that it also provides more leg room for your child when it is fitted.
Unlike most of the older seats in the Diono R Series of seats, the 3QXT Plus seat comes with anti-rebound features.
The anti-rebound features on 3QXT Plus is very different to the standard anti-rebound bar that comes with the slightly cheaper Radian 3QXT version.
The Radian 3QXT Plus seat comes with a 2-in-1 anti-rebound panel rather than just a standard anti-rebound bar. While your child is using the seat in the rear-facing mode, this anti-rebound panel works just like the regular anti-rebound bar that comes with the Radian 3QX and Radian 3QXT seats.
However, once your child outgrows the rear-facing mode, the anti-rebound panel on the Radian 3QXT Plus seat converts into a forwards-facing adjustable calf support for your growing child (see seat image above). This calf support is covered with a comfort liner to ease the transition to forwards-facing without your child having to deal with the potential discomfort of simply having their legs hanging unsupported over the edge of the seat.
You can see the anti-rebound panel being used in its forwards-facing mode in the image below.
#9 Other Features Include:
Both seats come with the following additional features
- High Strength Steel Frame
- 1-Hand Harness adjustment
- 2 x drinks/snacks holders – removeable and washable
- Certified for Aircraft Travel
- 10-year seat expiration
CHECK OUT THE BRITAX ONE4LIFE CLICKTIGHT COLOR OPTIONS HERE
CHECK OUT THE DIONO RADIAN 3QXT+ COLOR OPTIONS HERE
Helpful Video Reviews …
Here are some video reviews of the Britax One4Life ClickTight and Diono Radian 3QXT+ seats:
The One4Life ClickTight vs Radian 3QXT Plus- My Verdict
The Britax One4Life ClickTight and Diono Radian 3QXT Plus seats both come with a great many safety and convenience features, as you would expect from premium car seats manufactured by these companies.
They are the best that Britax and Diono have to offer in the all-in-one category of child car seats.
They are both excellent options for anyone looking for a single car seat to last all the way from birth until your child has outgrown the need to use child car seats altogether. They could also be used as an upgrade from an infant seat too.
You will need to consider the differences between the seats and decide which factors are more important to you.
The Diono Radian 3QXT Plus is definitely a better option if you need to fit 3 seats in a row.
The Britax One4Life ClickTight seats may be a better option if your child is likely to be unusually tall when they are older.
Check Best Price of the Britax One4Life ClickTight
Read User Reviews of the Britax One4Life ClickTight
Check Best Price of the Diono Radian 3QXT Plus
Read User Reviews of the Diono Radian 3QXT Plus
Buy One4Life ClickTight & Diono Radian Seats in Canada
Check Best Price of Britax One4Life ClickTight in Canada
Check Best Price of Diono Radian Seats in Canada
Safety Information
After purchasing any child car seat, you should always read the User Manual thoroughly before using it. It is also advisable to visit your local Fire Department or NHTSA Child Car Seat Inspection Centre to ensure that the seat is definitely suitable for your child’s specific requirements and that you have installed it correctly. These services are usually provided free of charge.
You can find your nearest NHTSA Centre here.
Get in Touch
If you have any comments to share or questions to ask about my Britax One4Life ClickTight vs Diono Radian 3QXT Plus Comparison Review, please leave a comment in the box below.
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