Maxi Cosi Rodi SPS vs Hauck Bodyguard

[BertieBotts]

Opinions please?

DS is almost 7 and has been in a Britax Adventure since 4. It's a cheap seat, but a good brand and at the time of buying, I couldn't drive and we didn't have a car. Unfortunately it has got damaged so I'm looking to replace it. I'm in Germany and car seats are hellishly expensive here. I can import another Adventure for about ??50 from UK amazon, but at that price I thought that since we actually have a car now and he is a bit bigger (126cm, 23kg) it would be worth getting a slightly better seat. However, we don't want to spend loads. I have been happy with the Adventure but think it would be nice to get something slightly more than the basic and a little more comfortable.

So I can get hold of a Rodi SPS for ??60 or the Hauck for ??70. I think DH would be happier with the price of the Rodi since his original idea (after saying "Nah it's fine, it's only cracked on one side") was the ??50 Adventure. DS prefers the look of the Hauck Bodyguard because apparently it's "awesome". DH will consider the Bodyguard to be "a tank" but I don't care about that :o

My thoughts currently:
The Bodyguard looks more protective, but will it leave room for DS as he gets bigger? They need to be in a booster until 150cm here. I'm not necessarily expecting him to fit into a HBB until then, but it would be good to get as much use out of it as possible.

Does anybody know which is more padded/comfortable? I'm not sure if we will be able to look at them in a shop, though I will definitely try. It's hard to find a shop which is also an online shop and the cheapest prices are via amazon. You pay over ??100 in a shop unless it's a rubbish brand.

If we do a long drive, is it likely his legs will be comfy in either of these? We found recently with the Adventure that his legs dangled off at an uncomfortable position and we had to give him foot massages through the seats(!) and then we gave him a suitcase as a foot rest. But it's possible we'll do some driving holidays in the future so would be nice for it to be as comfy as possible within the budget.

Any experience or opinions would be fab. Thanks in advance! :)

[BertieBotts]

Oh, FGS, I mean euros whenever it's done its question mark thing.

[BertieBotts]

Bump - anybody?

It looks to me as though the Rodi was a very high rated seat but about five years ago. So perhaps the Hauck is a better deal?

I have also found a Cybex Solution for 70EUR which might also be worth a look.

[BertieBotts]

BTW, this is NOT the Air Protect, or the isofix Cybex Solution. Just the basic ones. We do have isofix, but I can't find an isofix seat in our budget range anyway.

[Cockbollocks]

The Rodi still fits my nearly ten year old very tall son. So in that respect is great. I thoroughly checked the crash test stuff at the time and thats why I bought it.

Don't know much about the Hauck though. Sorry.

[BertieBotts]

I'm finding warnings about the Hauck Varioguard but nothing about the Bodyguard! Perhaps it's better to stick with the known good brand.