Britax Dualfix or Trifix.

[Blackbear19]

Minor bump yesterday and DS seat needs replaced. I love the swivel in the Dualfix but I'm considering the Trifix as it's slightly bigger.
DS will be 3 at Christmas but not particularly big so likely to be a couple of years before he moves into a HBB.

Anybody any experience of these seats?

Well the dualfix can go rear facing, and the trifix is forward facing only. That's quite a big difference if you think you'd use the rear facing feature. The spin is nice, but not really needed with a 3yo and many people find a spin feature is too heavy and cumbersome as children get bigger.

Have you looked at the Advansafix? I really like that one, as forward facing seats go, although I'm not sure how high the harness will go. I think you're right to look at the size and I would probably go into a shop and actually measure them. A lot of harnessed seats are limited in size until the child is at about 105cm, so you might not have as much time as you think.

The other alternative would be to look at 25kg weight limit seats, as they have larger harness capability. For forward facing look at Joie Bold, rear facing I'd look at Axkid or britax Max-way. Or there is the diono radian 5 which can do either. For all of the forward facing seats (including Advansafix) you need top tether.

I'm not even sure which shops would even have them. Mothercare has gone and Halfords never seem to have a great selection of seats in store.

Hmm, that's tricky then. Do you have a John Lewis? If it's Britax seats you want to compare specifically, you could look at stockists on their website.

You could look for an ERF specialist but they will only have rear facing seats generally.

When you say it's bigger, is that based on the weight limit? As they both have a height limit of 105cm which is likely to be met before the weight limit, although the weight limit on the trifix is higher.

Yes I'm basing the "bigger" on weight limit so I'm kind of assuming that the seat is also bigger.

OK, I think that's unlikely to be the case, with the 105cm height limit. I would think they have just subtracted the weight of the seat from the total isofix weight limit (33kg iirc) and that is why it's higher. You have the same with the Concord Reverso Plus, which has a 23kg weight limit but no child ever reaches that in practice, because of the height limit.

The Advansafix is non i-size so doesn't have a standing height limit, and I have heard of some children being in it still at 110cm - although I think possibly similar for the Dualfix non-isize version.

What size clothes is he in now? A 105cm limit seat usually lasts children until they outgrow size 3-4 in clothes.

Just checked - the seat itself weighs 10.5kg so I am pretty sure that weight subtraction is exactly what they have done. Although i-size is supposed to offer more freedom from the older weight "groups", because it has not yet been fully rolled out we do tend to see the same three sizes of seat currently. So you'll find even if a toddler seat (like the old "group 1") has a higher weight limit than group 1, the seat and/or harness itself is no bigger. And I don't know of one on the market as yet with a height limit higher than 105cm.

What seat did you have before and how close to outgrowing it do you think he is?

He was in a Dualfix, he's really only in age 2-3 at the very most. Lots of his clothes are 18-24 Next.

OK. So I don't think you'll get any extra time from a Triofix, in comparison to another Dualfix.

The reason I said to look at Advansafix is that it becomes a high backed booster (and a good one, which is unusual for 123 seats) so it is likely that seat will last a bit longer. But the Triofix is a bit cheaper of course.

Otherwise if you want a Britax seat which is actually bigger, then the Max-Way is worth a look, but it is rear facing only. More leg room and more upright than the Dualfix, so comfortable for older children and doesn't take up too much space in the car, but if you want forward facing it won't be suitable.

I'll have a look at the Advansafix. Thank you very much for taking time to reply to me. It's been very helpful.