Car Seat Mega Thread! Please post all your car seat questions here!

jlm29 wrote: »

Isofix is no safer than a belted seat, if the two of them are installed correctly. Isofix is more foolproof though, and can be handier if you're moving seats often
I have the base that lasts the shorter length of time (cabriofix seat and easy fix base) and bought a belted stage 1 seat when that was outgrown. I've kept my middle boy rear facing, and will do so for as long as I can, as it's so much safer than forward facing up to age 4.
I think that buying the base now that will suit your group 0 and group 1 seat (I assume you're looking at maxi cosi seats and bases) probably doesn't save that much, because the base itself is more expensive than the alternative. It also really limits your choice of seats down the line. If you think you're going to get the 2 way fix base, make sure you go to a shop and try the 2 way pearl in your car. Some cars have sloped seats and don't really suit isofix car seats at all, because it makes the baby too upright.

wow great info thanks for that. Will probably go with the short term option from the start, makes more sense for now. Been primarily looking at Mothercare, what is a good alternative store for car seats etc.?

In Car Safety Centre in Belfast is worth a look - exchange rate is favourable for you too.

Be safe are an excellent brand too - we had their infant carrier as I preferred it to the maxi cosi. I liked the harness better and also the material the hood is made of. They have a new modular system out where you use the same base for infant carrier and older rearfacing seat

When we bought our infant seat the recommendation was to stay in the infant carrier as long as possible but I've seen a few times now recommendations to move babies at 12 months https://www.google.co.uk/amp/amp.parents.com/health/parents-news-now/is-your-1-year-old-in-the-right-car-seat-are-you-sure/

Millem wrote: »

Can someone tell me is this right!!
Maxi cosi citi- it is The cheapest and can't use a base
Cabriofix- it can use a family fix (dearer base) or easyfix base (I only want isofix)
Pebble - its dearer and better SIP. It only uses family fix base
Pebble plus - it only uses 2way base

I have no intention of buying the next stage seat "pearl".

I had no intention of buying one as had sold my besafe and bought a 0-18kg seat but have been told baby needs an infant carrier until 6 months
I can borrow one but it isn't compatible with my bugaboo I think I may need option sticking it onto pram due to space in boot of car.

Think that's it Millem! Except for the citi- I've never even heard of it! I have the cabriofix with the easyfix base. Couldn't fault it, and probably the cheapest option if you want isofix! It's also very spacious, you'll probably get the longest out of it, though that probably isnt an issue for you since you only need it for 6 mo

Millem wrote: »

Can someone tell me is this right!!
Maxi cosi citi- it is The cheapest and can't use a base
Cabriofix- it can use a family fix (dearer base) or easyfix base (I only want isofix)
Pebble - its dearer and better SIP. It only uses family fix base
Pebble plus - it only uses 2way base

I have no intention of buying the next stage seat "pearl".

I had no intention of buying one as had sold my besafe and bought a 0-18kg seat but have been told baby needs an infant carrier until 6 months
I can borrow one but it isn't compatible with my bugaboo I think I may need option sticking it onto pram due to space in boot of car.

What seat do you have? If you have a 0-18kg seat they're suitable from birth?

Millem wrote: »

No they (all 0-18kg) are actually not suitable from birth believe it or not! I have a britax max fix2.
Incarsafety and hakan have both said you need an infant carrier! I sold mine after 6 months

That really doesn't make sense.. they're sold with a newborn insert and pass all regulations for newborns. If they weren't suitable they couldn't be classified as 0+

Millem wrote: »

Look I am disgusted tbh. I had terrible trouble with those stupid car seat adapters and infant carrier. I bought a max fix2 because it had passed Swedish plus test, was isofix and suitable from 0-18kg. I sold my infant carrier which I had told them about!
That was just under 3 years ago. Now I am due new baby and all the shops including tony kealy have said no 0-18kg is flat enough for a newborn.

Yes that is what I was told too. Even though the bigger seats are advertised as 0-18kg none of them are comfortable enough for a newborn. would you try buying one preloved somewhere like the ERF Facebook page where people would be trustworthy and very into car safety. I wouldn't buy one preloved on adverts etc

waterfaerie wrote: »

Does anyone know if there's a list of all rear facing car seats that go as far as 25kg? Or are there any that go even longer than that? I'm so frustrated looking through different websites. A lot of the ones that say they go to 25kg only go rear facing until 18kg.

So far, I know of:
Axkid Minikid
Britax Two Way Elite
BeSafe Izi Plus

What others, if any, are there?

As for the new isize ones, are there any rear facing ones that go beyond 105cm?

There's a chart that shows all the 25 kg seats, rear and forward facing. I'll see can I find it and stick it up. There's a couple of britax ones, the hiway and the multitech I think!
If you look on the car seat.se website, you'll probably find most of them there!

ETA, I'm not sure I can share the chart here, but the others are
Britax multitech 2
Britax highway
Britax maxway
Diono radian 5
Maxi cosi mobi

There's a couple of other axkid seats too.

The joie bold and the cosy n safe Excalibur are ff seats with harness to 25kg!

Thanks jlm and Clashmore. That chart is great and exactly the type of thing I was looking for.

After looking into all of those options, am I right in saying that the Izi Plus and the Maxi Cosi Mobi are the only ones with a decent recline?

Out of those two, which one would a child last longer in, height wise? I know they are not rated for height but would anyone have any idea of the tallest a child could be and still fit into either of these two options?

I know the others on the list are better for taller children (my girl is in the 99th centile) but the recline is very important to me as I imagine I'll be putting her into it quite early. I know she will outgrow her infant car seat long before she reaches its 13kg limit due to her length and I'm not at all comfortable putting her in something that doesn't recline loads when she's still so young.

waterfaerie wrote: »

Thanks jlm and Clashmore. That chart is great and exactly the type of thing I was looking for.

After looking into all of those options, am I right in saying that the Izi Plus and the Maxi Cosi Mobi are the only ones with a decent recline?

Out of those two, which one would a child last longer in, height wise? I know they are not rated for height but would anyone have any idea of the tallest a child could be and still fit into either of these two options?

I know the others on the list are better for taller children (my girl is in the 99th centile) but the recline is very important to me as I imagine I'll be putting her into it quite early. I know she will outgrow her infant car seat long before she reaches its 13kg limit due to her length and I'm not at all comfortable putting her in something that doesn't recline loads when she's still so young.

the minikid and the two way elite have the tallest seat shells. A few of the seats have a minimum weight limit of 9kg. Definitely the minikid and the twe. The minikid is a great seat, I have it installed and the recline is quite good. There's also an extra wedge it can be fitted with to increase the recline but I don't have this in.
I suppose it depends a bit on the car, and if the seats are sloped, and how much leg room you need up front!
The radian 5 is suitable from birth, I think it might need an insert though, so the recline must be quite good on it! The radian 5 does need to brace the seat in front, which might not suit!

waterfaerie wrote: »

I've been reading a lot of reviews and comparisons, including a lot of Swedish ones with Google translate, and they seem to think the reclines aren't good enough on any of those seats.

My Volvo has very sloped seats as well, which makes it worse.

I definitely don't want anything that requires a wedge.

I found out that the Izi Plus should fit until about 115cm tall. I haven't found anything for the Mobi yet.

I know there are a lot of fans of the Minikid and the TWE but, although future proofing is important to me, it's not as important as finding the safest and most comfortable option for her while she's still only a baby. Hopefully she'll be able to stay in the infant seat until 6 months but I don't see her lasting in it much longer than that.

I want to keep her rear facing for as long as possible but I may just have to buy another rear facing seat in the future, due to her height. Hopefully there will be better options by then that last even longer than the Minikid.

The minikid goes to 125cm which is the height of an average 7 year old. What infant seat do you have? Maxi cosi does to 74cm I think and it would be very rare for a 6 month old to outgrow it. The legs don't matter. It's outgrown when head is over the top.

waterfaerie wrote: »

I've been reading a lot of reviews and comparisons, including a lot of Swedish ones with Google translate, and they seem to think the reclines aren't good enough on any of those seats.

My Volvo has very sloped seats as well, which makes it worse.

I definitely don't want anything that requires a wedge.

I found out that the Izi Plus should fit until about 115cm tall. I haven't found anything for the Mobi yet.

I know there are a lot of fans of the Minikid and the TWE but, although future proofing is important to me, it's not as important as finding the safest and most comfortable option for her while she's still only a baby. Hopefully she'll be able to stay in the infant seat until 6 months but I don't see her lasting in it much longer than that.

I want to keep her rear facing for as long as possible but I may just have to buy another rear facing seat in the future, due to her height. Hopefully there will be better options by then that last even longer than the Minikid.

Email hakan from carseat.se or incarsafetycentre they will best to advise you on what seat is best for your car!
The TWE and radian5 need to rest against front seat. In my MIL golf sv this is a problem as front passenger seat barely touches it if seat is back the furthest! Which may not be comfortable for passenger! I don't like being that far away but apparently you should be as far away from dashboard !

I don't think they will recommend radian anyway as it is far too complicated to put together! Don't think they will recommend mobi as it is meant to take up soooo much space!

My son is very tall, he outgrown infant car seat at about 7 months. It's his long body. Tony kealys confirmed he had outgrown it!
I got him a TWE. I like you wanted him rearward until 5! But when I was pregnant I just couldn't lift him anymore out of car. Opening opposite door and letting him climb out always wasn't an option either due to other cars! So I had to turn my TWE forward. As much as I moaned about the harness on it I am delighted I went to TWE as he has a harness until 25kg it's basically the only seat with harness that will fit him. Radian is similar height but wouldn't last him as long due to position of their harness and straps!

I also bought an isofix seat max fix2 as I didn't trust other people with tether straps. It only goes to 18kg (I think it's actually 19 or 19.5kg believe it or not).
The actually seat shell is fab. My son still fits in it but is too heavy the Max way is the non isofix version. It goes to 25kg. The seat shell is the same.
The hiway is similar it's the old version of maxway. It goes to 25kg is a little cheaper. The difference is the harness height has to be adjusted manually (like TWE). The maxway and max fit you lift up a thing at back and it automatically moves it up and down!

Tony kealy selling minikid now so you could Suss that out in the flesh if you are near one?

Anne_cordelia wrote: »

The minikid goes to 125cm which is the height of an average 7 year old. What infant seat do you have? Maxi cosi does to 74cm I think and it would be very rare for a 6 month old to outgrow it. The legs don't matter. It's outgrown when head is over the top.

I have a Cam Area Zero+. It's not small at all. I'd say it's on the bigger end of infant carriers.

If she stays in the 99th centile, she'll be 74cm at 7 months.

jlm29 wrote: »

This. If she's that young, I'd be more inclined to buy another infant carrier- my lb is 98 centile for height and weight, and was in the maxi cosi until he was about 15 months. If your infant carrier is very small, I'd be more inclined to buy another, and then buy a minikid or a twe down the line to accommodate her height.

Even if she stayed in an infant carrier until 15 months, which is never going to happen, I'd still want something with the best recline.

Is there something wrong with the Izi Plus? She should be 115cm at 4 and a half years old so I can buy the Minikid then. Or, like I said, I can hope something even better will be around in 4 years time, since she'll outgrow a Minikid by 5 and a half (125cm) anyway. I'd love to keep her rear facing until 7 but the 99th centile for a 7 year old girl is 135cm.

jlm29 wrote: »

When you say you don't want anything that needs a wedge, do you mean you don't want a seat with an insert or a wedge under it to install it?

I just don't want any separate parts to be dealing with. The recline should be an integral part of the seat, for both convenience and for safety.

The Izi Plus and the Mobi can both be adjusted while the baby is in the seat. I'd say that would be very handy with a toddler as they could nap for a while and then sit up and look around.

Millem wrote: »

Tony kealy selling minikid now so you could Suss that out in the flesh if you are near one?

I think that's the best idea. I'll see what the recline is like in real life.

Thanks everyone for all of the advice!