besafe izi combi / kid x3, isofix AND belt dont fit my car!

[AdamR]

After reading a the safety aspects in other threads about RF v FF i decided to go and try a few RF seats at a small retailer who has some (Anns prams, petersfield).

I was quite prepared to pay the £340 for the iso fix combi as it seemed like a great seat from lots of reviews.

We trial the car seat in my car (honda accord 2005 saloon) only to find that once isofix are clipped in the rear supporting leg of the car seat made contact with the seat rails of the front passanger seat.
This is due to the Y shape support at the end of the arm.

we then tried using the non isofix one and found that even after it was tethered down the seat still moved about!.

I would like to keep the little ankle biter RF for longer than 9 months.. but i dont want to spend £340 on a product that did not fit correctly.

Does anyone have any experiance with this issue? or know a way we can get around it? The Besafe x3 looks a cracking chair but it falls over on this one bit!

Cheers

Adam

It really is a difficult choice!

thisisyesterday, if you're still around, could you tell me how old your DC was when you moved him from the besafe to the britax because you worried about the safety of the besafe?

I am still undecided. My twins currently on the smaller side of normal (25% and 9%), which might mean they fit besafe until they are 4+ years. Humm. Too many things to think about!

I think I'm going too go back and have another look at the in car safety centre. Last time I went, the babies were too small for it to be worth trying them in the TWE and I didn't put them in the besafe either. Now they're nearly one, I think it'll be worth putting them in, which might help me decide.

I have the TWE and love it (had it fitted at the MK incar safety place - a looong road trip and we didn't realise we needed an appointment! ). We have a 3 door Yaris though, so didn't have much choice in what we got.

I particularly like that you can change the angle of the baby seat. DS' head did sag forward when he was 1, so we reclined the seat further (by moving passenger seat its fixed against), which fixed the problem and now he's older (3) he's more upright again.

The tethers aren't hugely expensive (£15/20?), so my parents have a spare set in their car for when they take DS.

I almost never swop it between cars so do find it a 2ish person job to do the final fit as I find it easier for 1 person to hold the seat in position and another to sit in the passenger seat to push/move it back so as to hold the seat rigidly in position. If I did it more often I would probably be able to do it on my own.

hmmm. this is getting more and more tricky...

the TWE is under £200 and goes up to 5 yrs.. but does use tethers and it does not look as comfortable as the besafe. good bits is the recline can be changed.

the besafe, is £340 and goes up to 4 yrs... has got a good crash test rating. looks comfortable. recline is limited due to isofix, but is very simple to install.

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

ours was about £240 too, but that was the x2, and not isofix

happy i really can't remember how old ds2 was now. must have been around 3ish i think, maybe a bit over. he is quite long in the back though

I am amazed the price has gone up too. looking online all retailers they are all the 340 mark.

Still im still not sure which seat to get, both seem great and both have their pros and cons.

Well after talking to Besafe i have handed over a deposit for a besafe kid x3 isofix in black / black alcantara. will cost me a total of £310, but i can see this getting used for baby 1 (current) and baby 2 (not yet created).

planning that they are 2 and a bit yrs apart, we can transfer baby 1 in to a FF seat when 3 and a bit when baby 2 needs to go in to extended RF.

(hopefully!)

Hi there. Thought I would join in as my DH and I were having exactly the same dilemma a few weeks ago between the TWE and the izi combi! In the end we decided to get the izi combi for our 14 month old as we thought the side impact protection looked more substantial on the besafe seat, and thought the TWE looked better suited for slightly older toddlers due to the more 'open' design (this may not be the case of course!).

It's a lovely seat and we're very happy with it. It has 4 recline positions and we have it set on the 1st recline setting for everyday use as it gives a little extra legroom in the front. Our LO is only just about 9kg so it should last a good while....she still has the extra cushion supports in and still looks quite small in it! It's very easy to fit but is very heavy.

Thank you loopymumsy and thisisyesterday you have helped!

I am going to go back and see the MK ladies. I am pretty sure I'm going to opt for the besafe, though probably belted rather than isofix to save some money (two seats needed!). Unless anyone has a reason for isofix over belted?

mk will give you a discount for buying 2 as well (at least, they did for us!)