What seat do I need?

[istheresomethingwrongwithme]

DS1 is 2.5 and weighs 16kg. He has been in a Joie 360 but DS2 needs this now and he would outgrow this when he reaches 18kg anyway.

We have a Joie high backed booster but it's one that only uses the car seatbelt and has no 5 point harness, so that's no good for now as DS won't keep his arms in the belt.

I've looked at the high backed boosters with 5 point harnesses in Halfords, but they state that when the child reaches 15kg you don't use the 5 point harness and use the seatbelt instead. That's no good as he's already over 15kg.

I think we need something like the Joie Bold, which has the option to use a 5 point harness until 25kg and then a belt until 35kg.

Am I right? I find this car seat business such a mine field. Doesn't have to be Joie, just so happens that that's what we've got and there are so many on the market I'm finding it hard to narrow down. Can anyone help?!

[JC12345]

Ideally you'd need a rear facing to 25kg seat as at 2.5 they're too young to be in a booster with a seat belt as their pelvis is not developed enough. Have a look at the car seat advice uk Facebook group as has loads of info. Good seats include axkid minikid and move, britax two way elite and max way. You need a specialist retailer (not Halfords!) and there's a list of these on the group also.

[istheresomethingwrongwithme]

Should have mentioned, DS1 HATES being rear facing. I know you will say that it's so much safer and if he hates it he'll just have to learn to get on with it, but honestly the distraction it causes to the driver is much more dangerous!

[JC12345]

In view of that, I think it's just the joie bold and diono radian that harness to 25kg. There maybe a britax also. They need top tether points (the bold uses isofix also).

[teaandbiscuitsforme]

The only other FF 25kg seat is the Cosy n Safe Excalibur but the Joie is better. You do have to use isofix, belt fixing and the top tether points to secure it though.

I understand what you're saying about RF but they 25kg RF seats are quite different to the 18kg seats. On the whole they have much lower sides so they are much less enclosed and restricted. The 18kg seats have such wide head rests that their view is really obscured but 25kg seats tend to be much more open. One of the most open is the Britax Two Way Elite which we have as a spare and both my 4.5yr old and 3yr old are very happy in it. It might not be right for your DS but it might be worth looking at a couple of pictures to compare to your 360.

[istheresomethingwrongwithme]

Thanks both, we are going to have a look today so will watch out for the seats you've mentioned, including the other rear facing options. Thanks for raising the points about the top tether fixing, we need to change it between cars so that's something we need to look at.

[BertieBotts]

Yep, at that weight and age you need a seat which will harness to 25kg regardless of direction.

You've got the choice of:

Joie Bold
Cozy n Safe Excalibur / Hudson
Diono Radian 5 (can also be rear facing, in case your younger one takes to it better when he outgrows the 360 - but heavy and can be tricky to fit)
Maxi Cosi Beryl - which is the only one without top tether.

If you want to look at rear facing seats just to try them out, you'll probably have to try a specialist: www.carseatadvice-uk.com/specialist-retailers.html

[BertieBotts]

Just to add though, you've been slightly misadvised by Halfords - the 123 seats they are talking about you can use the 5 point harness right up to 18kg (although usually up to about 105-110cm in height, which may be reached sooner), it's just a 15kg minimum to use the adult seatbelt part.

It's sort of irrelevant because I reckon with 16kg at 2.5 you'd probably want a 25kg harness seat either way, but just wanted to correct that :)

[istheresomethingwrongwithme]

Hi @BertieBotts, yes I think we are on the same page. I didn't want to buy another seat where you can only use the harness up to 18kg because it won't be all that long until he's there. We went for the Joie Bold, seems fairly good.

[BertieBotts]

Oh great :)