light weight car seat for 4 year old

[cluelessma]

Hi! I am looking for a relatively light weight high back booster that offers side protection for a large 4 year old. We dont have a car and might take it on trips but have come to understood that there isnt a travel high back booster. We have a travelsafe vest for when we travel in argentina and mexico for taxis only. But want a car seat for the uk and europe when we rent cars. Looking at the joie i trillo or the britax romer adventure plus. I think we might need one that works with a seat belt and not isofix as it will go on rentals etc but would like relatively light weight. Child is currently 105 cm and 19 kilos and is 4. Calling on @BertieBotts if at all possible as I have read some of your amazing car seat advice in the past THANK YOU

aha! i found some folding high back boosters. But would love recommendations of which ones have a high safety score and and relatively comfortable for longer drives. Thanks everyone!

Chicco Fold and Go, Recaro something and there's a new one I can't remember the name of. Sorry that's really vague!! There's no safety ratings on the Recaro or the other new one yet, Chicco is OK (not as good as the top best non-folding high backed boosters, but fine).

Avoid the Mifold Hifold. For a child of this age, I'd also avoid the backless options like Bubble Bum, Mifold and Trunki Boostapak unless you're really stuck for space.

To be honest if you have the option, I would take the folding booster seat for Mexico etc as well. I am not sure about the Ride Safer Travel Vest. Obviously do what makes you the most comfortable, that is just what I would do.

Becool foldy!

Yes that's the third one, thanks!

Thanks so so so much @BertieBotts . Which non folding wouldnu go for? Joie i trillo or britax adventure plus? Or? These dont fold but are quite light and maybe safer! We have proper car seats in mxc and arg. The ride vest is only for taxis if we ever take them so yeah, not banking on the vest either…

The i-Trillo is lighter than the Britax Adventure Plus2 (avoid the one without the 2, it has a fault which means the headrest breaks easily, some online stores have old stock).

The Joie i-Trillo LX (which has extra side impact blocks) scores the same as Chicco Fold & Go for frontal crash safety and better for side impact safety. The version without the side impact blocks (not LX) probably is similar to the Chicco.

Britax Adventure Plus2 is better for frontal impact, but slightly worse than Chicco for side impact.

You do have what they call the "fourth point of attachment" where the lap belt can hook through on the Chicco seat, which isn't present on the Joie or Britax seats. People on the FB car seat pages rave about these - personally I'm not THAT convinced that they make a huge amount of difference, I think if you have good lap belt position in the seat, then it shouldn't actually matter. However if you feel anxious about moving from 5 point harness to seatbelt, it can be good for peace of mind and/or if you think your child is especially wriggly or worry about other people putting the belt in the right position.

Both Recaro (the model is Monza CFX) and Becool have better safety reputations overall compared to Chicco. But as I said these new folding models haven't been through an independent test yet, so can't compare directly to other models. The Becool has the lap belt hook, the Recaro has more substantial side wings which tend to give good protection.

thanks so much @BertieBotts this is beyond helpful!

I actually think the main difference between the i trillo and the i trillo xl is the straps that hook the seat to tge isofix of the car, but might be wrong!

The LX has side impact blocks that attach on and the non-LX one doesn't have these :)

You can buy them from joiespares.co.uk and add them on if you can only find the i-Trillo.