Mothercare Travel Tot

Bought this fairly early on in pregnancy, as I thought that all infant car seats were pretty much the same. I wish now that I had done more research, because they are not.

I like the fact it is very lightweight compared to other seats, the price is very reasonable and it seems very safe with good, deep side impact protection (much more than some travel system carseats)

I didn't like that it is not very comfortable. For the first few months I used a sheepskin insert but then read that it is not advised to use any product which hasn't been crash tested with the seat, so I took it out. Without an additional insert, the seat is quite hard with very minimal padding - I would not want to put a newborn in it. (I felt my 8 month old could cope!)

The other downside about the comfort side is that the crotch strap is very far forward, meaning to do the straps up tightly (ie safely) enough I needed to pull my DS' body down in the seat, so that instead of him sitting comfortably on his bottom with his body bent at the hips, his back had to curve which does not look comfortable to me (or as though it supports the spine very well) - I wish I had looked at this before buying the seat. Unfortunately there is no way to tell this in the shop apart from comparing carseats with each other.

I have given it an 8 for installation because it does not come with a base, however it is very easy to install using a standard seat belt.

I would recommend this carseat to somebody who perhaps does not drive or does not use the car very often, or as a second carseat for use at grandparents' houses etc. It is compatible with some of the more basic Mothercare pushchairs but I wouldn't recommend using it as a travel system because of the spine support issue.

Extremely lightweight (< 3 kg), sturdy, easy to use carseat. Since I do not own a car I did not want to spend too much, and at £44 it was superb value-for-money. Very easy to fix into any car/taxi in couple minutes. Also used it at home as a portable seat and rocker. Its quite large and roomy and worked well for my baby who is quite tall and chubby for her age. Great buy as long as you don't need it to be compatible with your pushchair.