flummoxed by car seats!

[HippyHippopotamus]

any help much appreciated!

we have two dcs and two rf car seats

dc2 (aged 1, 13kg) is getting too big for her current seat

dc1 (aged 3, 15kg) is currently rf in a britax 2 way elite

Ideally we'd keep both dcs rf but dh wouldn't be able to have his seat far back enough to have the next stage of rf seat behind him (dc2 is behind him at the moment)

the only solution i can see is if dc2 moves into dc1's old car seat and we buy a new ff one for dc1

congratulations to anyone who is still following all this!

so, what we need is a new seat for dc1 that is ff. i've looked and looked and have got flummoxed by it all!

any recommendations? we can find whatever money we need for it so there's no maximum budget

thanks in advance!

ps I'd like him to be in a 5pt harness for as long as possible

The Kiddy seats don't have a 5pt harness but do have a bumper bar which means less stress on the neck vertebrae in an accident (interesting/scary video on their website), would strongly recommend them, all our 3 have them and they last until your DC won't need a car seat so although fairlt dear the last one you'll need to buy (until DC2 goes ff too anyway)

thanks for your reply Yorky. I did have a look at the kiddy ones but i wasn't initially convinced by the bar, purely because its not what i'm used to seeing i suppose so its good to hear rl recommendation!

If you're anywhere near us (E Mids) you're welcome to have a look at them without a salesperson helping

i'm not near but i appreciate the offer! thank you

If you are coming our direction soon we have the BMW version of the Kiddy seat for P, she loves it and it feels very safe.

The 2way elite can be FF upto 25kgs - would you consider another one but to use FF for DS?

If you do go for a FF seat then have a look at the Britax Evolva 1-2-3. It can be reclined quite a lot (essential IMO) and is big enough to accommodate a taller 3yo (DS is well over a meter and he still has lots of growing room in it.

The harness will only be OK up to 18kg though (as with any FF seat IIRC)

Evolva

Yes I think your options are either to get another RF group 1 for DC2, meaning they can both be harnessed to 25kg, or get a good group 1-2-3 seat for DC1, probably something like the Kiddy Comfort Pro which has the impact shield so no chance they will get too tall for the harness before reaching 18kg. (Impact shield reduces strain on the neck in a crash too)

If you go for the extra RF seat then you probably will end up buying another booster later, but they don't tend to be that expensive, and it means that you might end up with a safer booster as there are bound to be developments in the next few years. OTOH the Kiddy seats score highly as boosters as well as Group 1 seats and have side impact protection at the head area and down the side of the body. So either would be a good option.

DS is in a Kiddy Infinity Pro BTW and have found it excellent - I much prefer it to a 5 point harness.

Oh meant to add - we had the Maxi Cosi Priorifix for DS, but he was under 15kg but too tall for the car seat, so we had to get the Britax Evolva which (AFAIK) is the only standard FF seat with a harness than can accommodate a toddler, regardless of height, up to 18kg.

What seat is DC2 in at the moment? If in a group 0+1 seat, maybe DC1 could go FF in DC2's current seat?

yorky i might change my mind though

pample lol, we've got the 2way elite already! and actually, if we had bought another one he could have worn the harness til 25kg, damn!

jareth i actually came to the same conclusion as you about the harness being the only one to go up to 18kg and i came back from the shop this afternoon with dc1 in an evolva! He's happy because he's got somewhere to put his cup and that it's red!

thanks all for your help, much appreciated