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Confused about car seat regulations? Find baby car seat advice here.

Car seats

Is this ok

16 replies

X1402 · 04/04/2020 21:40

direct.asda.com/george/baby/car-seats/migi-eris-isize-premium-red-61-105cm/050769274,default,pd.html?cgid=D5M15G1C2


Is this car seat ok to buy ? I’m on a tight budget so its either this or Halfords own brand one without isofix. It’s for a 10 month old want to keep them rear facing. Feeling awful already that I can’t afford to spend loads.

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Flummingbird · 04/04/2020 21:49

Honestly I don't see why not, but you must make sure it fits securely in your car - not all car seats suit all cars... some rear seats are flat, some shaped etc.

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Misty999 · 04/04/2020 22:03

Join the Facebook rear facing car seat group. I think the recommended budget seat for rear facing is one of the joies the stages I think it's around the £100 mark.

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AllTheProsecco · 04/04/2020 22:26

What's the limit on your baby carrier? My nearly 1 year old has got a good few months left in his... 6 months probably. Safest to keep them in that until they outgrow it.

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X1402 · 05/04/2020 07:29

@AllTheProsecco limit is 28lbs my baby is 23lbs and tall his head isn’t over the top but it just seems too small and like I have to squash him in he hates the seat now.

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X1402 · 05/04/2020 07:29

Thanks il look at that joie

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BertieBotts · 05/04/2020 08:42

The seat you're looking at is only rear facing up to 87cm, which is about 18 months. If you want to rear face for longer and can spend up to £100, Joie Steadi would be your best bet at the moment. Joie is also a more trustworthy brand than Migo, although given that seat is i-size, I don't think it's an awful choice.

Joie Steadi @ Uber Kids

The Joie Steadi can rear face up to 18kg which means your LO could be rear facing to about 3.5-4 years old, depending on how quickly they grow.

If you can afford to spend a little bit more and/or wait for sales, you could also look out for price drops on:

Graco Slimfit
Joie Stages
BabyAuto Dupla

All of those are rear facing up to 18kg as well.

The benefit of these seats is that the Stages will last a bit longer by height, and has a better insert (3 stages rather than 2), although this might not be needed at your son's age. The Dupla has isofix (but also needs top tether) and can also turn into a forward facing harnessed seat up to 25kg/about 5 years. I think I slightly prefer the Joie Steadi to the Graco Slimfit, but to be honest I don't know a lot about either seat, so it's up to you to compare reviews - be aware Graco also has an American seat called Slimfit which is similar but not the same and a lot of the online reviews refer to the American seat. The Stages and the Dupla do offer something extra to the Steadi. But certainly for his current age and up to £100, the Steadi is the best thing you can get :)

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BertieBotts · 05/04/2020 08:43

Halfords own brand is only rear facing up to 10kg, so would be unsuitable for your son already unfortunately. (Sorry, meant to add this to post).

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INeedNewShoes · 05/04/2020 08:48

I managed to get the Joie Stages for £99. If you can find one and possibly stretch to it I'd recommend it. Rearfacing until 4 and then after that you can use it as a Group 2 forward facing seat until they're 6 or 7 I think.

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BertieBotts · 05/04/2020 08:51

You don't have to spend loads to get a safe seat, rear facing is the single most important thing you can do to keep them safest so that's taken care of 👍

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BertieBotts · 05/04/2020 08:54

Nowhere is selling it for £99 at the moment, cheapest place for it is £129. Usually you'd get sales after Easter, but I'm not sure whether that will happen in the current climate.

The booster seat mode on the Stages is very short so you'd be lucky to get to 6/7 in it, but in any case you can get a good booster seat for about £30-40 when the time comes :) So it's not a serious concern but you definitely need to factor in buying a new high backed booster once they are out of the rear facing or forward facing harnessed stage.

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X1402 · 06/04/2020 13:02

Thank you so so much for your helpful reply @BertieBotts if you hadn’t of told me that I might of bought the Halford one without realising 🥴

I’ve decided to wait a couple of months considering we’re in lockdown I won’t be driving anywhere & I can save up the money. Ive had a think and really as I only have a two door car I think il need a rotating spin car seat with isofix. Anything you can recommend ? I saw a cosatto one for £120 or joie one for £200 that’ll be my max budget not sure if that will get me everything I want though , isize would be great too.

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X1402 · 06/04/2020 13:03

Also wondering how you know if the seat will fit in the car as Halfords won’t do fittings at the mo, I’ve read isofix seats should fit in any isofix car ?

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INeedNewShoes · 06/04/2020 13:22

The retailer’s website and certainly the maker’s website should have a car compatibility list for each car seat they sell.

You can check also check your car manual for Isofix points.

Newer cars often have the isofix point entry point marked on the car seat cushion. Older cars (like mine) look for a hole in the fabric and stick your finger in and you should find a little metal bar about 2 cm long.

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INeedNewShoes · 06/04/2020 13:26

If your car is very small you may have trouble getting the seat into the vehicle in the first place as Group 1 swivel seats are big (I don’t think I can get my GB Vaya into my brother’s fiat 500 which is why I bought the joie stages).

But sometimes even if you can’t get it in through the door you can get it in by putting the rear seat forward and putting it in through the boot.

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JC12345 · 06/04/2020 13:33

I would join the car seat advice uk Facebook group and have a read through some of the posts as similar questions come up all the time. Ideally you want something rear facing until 18kg or (25kg better) so the joie seats are good. The ones with white bits on the straps are to be avoided as many instances of the straps snapping in an accident - some scary videos out there with the whole seat taking apart!!

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BertieBotts · 07/04/2020 21:44

3-door cars are tricky for spin seats. The best one usually suggested is the Britax Dualfix, but that's quite a bit higher than your budget - about £225+ depending on which model you get.

The problem with the Joie one is that the handle to release the spin is where the child's feet are, so you'd need to get totally into the back to do it anyway, and then you have to spin it so that they face where the door would be in a 5-door car, if you try to spin it so that they face the middle back seat, it gets stuck on the side of the car - I know because I tried this in our car while we were in a car wash and DC got scared! We have a 5-door but very small car.

The handle to release the spin on the Britax is on the base itself, so you can reach it wherever the seat is pointing (but you still have to spin it towards the car window, and a toddler's legs will stick out).

The handle is on the base for both Cosatto ones (they have two different rotating seats), but the one that's £120 doesn't rotate. Only the more expensive version over £200 rotates. And I'm not keen to recommend them for toddler seats, because their seats that have been crash tested by ADAC didn't do very well unfortunately. So I would stick with the Joie 360 or the Britax if you want to look at spinning seats.

So I think in a 3-door car usually you'll find you have to sit in the back with the child in order to get them into the seat, if you can't find a seat with a spin function that works (and I would highly recommend trying this out for practicality and front passenger space before you buy, so possibly waiting for now.) So another option to consider might be one of the larger extended rear facing (ERF) seats which go up to about 5-7 years (25kg seats), rather than the seats you're looking at now which go up to 3-4 (18kg/105cm seats). These start at about £160 for the Britax Two Way Elite or (sometimes) Britax Max Way on offer (usually £180), Axkid Move is also worth looking at which is about £200 but sometimes £180 on offer. The larger seats sit a bit more upright in the car, so they give you more space in the front seat but they can also be situated a bit more away from the back of the car, and tend to have low sides, so they are easier if you're trying to manouvre a toddler in from sitting in the back next to the seat! Isofix rear facing seats are quite high up in the car. I'd also think about what you'd do if you potentially have a second child - how would you manage getting the older one in and out with another child seat in the way? (Of course changing car might be another option in that situation).

Something else to think about - if you think you're likely to get totally fed up with the rear facing seat and turn it forwards (if indeed you buy one which can do that) I would absolutely check the ADAC safety report on the seats - any rear facing seat is a good bet, but once you start forward facing it's well worth comparing safety ratings as they start to make a big difference to the performance of the seat then. If you are 100% committed to keeping rear facing it doesn't matter which rear facing seat you get, the only safety difference is in side impacts then. I would also recommend you don't go forward facing until a bare minimum of 15 months in line with newer regulations, preferably 18 months/2 years, but the longer the better really.

It's not true that all isofix seats fit in any car with isofix. You also have to take into account the angle of the seats and positioning of isofix points. If your car is newer than 2013, it might have some "i-size approved" positions, if it does, then you can definitely use any seat approved as i-size in that position. You can tell by a little label next to the isofix point which looks like a child car seat and a letter "i". If your car isn't i-size, then you'll need to consult fitting lists in the absence of the option of a trained fitting. Most car seat manufacturers publish their fitting lists on their website, although they might not be up to date or complete. You can also email the car manufacturer to see if they have any preferred seats to recommend, and the car seat manufacturer to ask if they know whether the car seat is approved for your car. The other issue is that although fitting lists/i-size lists can tell you whether the seat will be safe to use, it doesn't mean it will definitely be practical or comfortable. You might find the recline is non-optimal or the front passenger ends up with their knees against the dashboard! So particularly when you are pushed for space it can be well worth having a fitting in-person if you can spare the time to wait.

Another option would be to contact an independent car seat fitter/Extended rear facing (ERF) specialist, perhaps one on this list: www.carseatadvice-uk.com/specialist-retailers.html - and buy a consultation off them which you'll use when lockdown is over. That helps support a small business in a time they might struggle to trade, and you'll get the best advice on the best seat for your car. You'd pay the cost of the seat later, when you choose one. They also stock the 25kg seats.

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