Joie Tilt vs. Britax First Class for a heavy 11 month old?

[BMO]

I need to move my 11 month old out of his Britax Babysafe seat and have been looking at both of these seats. He currently weighs just under 11kg I think. I'd like him to rear face as long as possible but am on a pretty tight budget.

[sockmatcher]

Can you stretch to a Joie stages much better seat?

[sockmatcher]

Also why you needing to move now? OK til 13kg.

[BMO]

The Stages is double the price and we don't particularly need a longer lasting seat as DS2 will be able to move into DS1's Kiddy seat by then. Also put off by the Stages poor safety rating in Which as a rear facer, though haven't seen a rating for the Tilt.

[BMO]

He's quite a broad child and is starting to get uncomfortably squished in it, it's trickier to wrangle him into it and he is complaining more, probably about not being able to see anything.

[Ihateparties]

Purely because of the weight thing then of the two the tilt, no question. If you want genuine erf time it would be better to get something bigger though.

The tilt is small, dd1 outgrew it rf at about 3y3m (she's 75th centile) and dd2, who must have a longer torso, outgrew it rf at 2y9m, she's also 75th centile. We didn't have it when ds was that age but he was between 91st and 98th, he would have outgrown it rear facing by his 2nd birthday.

We've had loads of use out of ours and have been really happy with it but under no illusions about what it is, it's great for 3 seats alongside and for small spaces but it's very unlikely to get a child to 4yo rear facing.

[BMO]

Had they also outgrown it forward facing once they had outgrown in rear facing?

[Ihateparties]

No, I can take some pics if you like rear and forward facing, when forward facing the head can protrude from the top of the seat until level with the eyes.

I have just looked at the pics I have and depending on what you count as head within the shell then dd1 was still within the shell at 3y9m. Dd2 probably still is. I've tended to err on the side of caution in terms of height and rear facing in them as we have small cars and the seat in front is close.

Also turning them forward was based on height and the fact they both fiddled with the adult belt holding the seat to an unacceptable degree. Which I had kind of forgotten about until now. We do almost exclusively town driving, short journeys and low speeds, so I haven't been too worried about turning them forwards at 3.

[BMO]

Pictures would be great. I wouldn't be worried about turning forward at 3 either, I just need him to stay in this seat until 4 as DS1 will be 7.5 by then and I assume old enough to go on a booster cushion.

I have just read on another thread that in group 1 and 2 rear facing seats they aren't outgrown until the tips of the ears are level with the shell, not sure if this applies to the Tilt too?

[Ihateparties]

I tried to get a definitive answer out of joie about that and I don't feel I really got one. It's definitely the case with most erf seats but joie prevaricated a bit when I asked, this is what they said:

"Apologies for the delay in coming back to you but we have discussed this with our in-car safety expert and he has said that your daughter is still safe to continue using the tilt, however as her head becomes level with the top of the Tilt, the seat in front would need to be moved further away to ensure contact with this does not occur in a collision, in smaller vehicles this may not be possible so turning the seat to face forwards maybe the only solution as the Tilt can be used until her shoulders are level with the final harness hole when facing forwards."

As I said I was okay with turning it at 3 so in the end I gave up hassling them about it.

[FloJo151]

what about the Joie Steadi, its shell is a little higher than the tilt so would last rf a little longer. This is the one we are prob gonna go for as we need to put it in the middle seat to start with (so it needs to be narrow) and need it to last until she can use a hbb.
the only prob is I cant find anyone near me who stocks it so I can double check it fits ok before I buy!
both mothercare and argos have it for around £130.

[FloJo151]

wtr to which! safety ratings, they seem to rate most rf seats low as they say they're hard to fit!