Utterly baffled about car seat options

[Lung]

Hi All,
1st post here, so please go easy on a poor dad-to-be :)

I'm looking in to transport for our baby, and am utterly baffled by the various options available. Am I better off going for a straightforward 3 in 1 travel system, or a better car seat plus the extras needed like a pushchair, or going for a larger, fixed chair and the extras? I'm really struggling to weigh up the various pros and cons of each option as I have no experience in what I need or don't need.

The options I'm looking at currently are:
a) 3 in 1: Venicci Mini
This looks great, but the car seat is only rated to 10kg and would need to be replaced quite quickly.

b) Cybex Cloud Q seat + a frame to attach it to.
This seat looks fantastic as it allows fully flat lying. However, the Priam frame that it's designed to fix to is very expensive, and Cybex aren't saying which 3rd party frames it will attach to yet. I'd also need a larger seat for the car eventually and another seat to make it a stroller for a toddler.

c) Cybex Sirona + totally separate pram.
This seat is fixed, but will last up to 4 years of age, so considerably longer than the other 2 options. I'd then need a separate pram/pushchair, plus some way to safely carry the baby into and out of the house or on short journeys, where a car seat would normally suffice. Would a sling work here?

Many thanks for any help provided.

I'm starting to think that finding the cash for a group 0+ seat at first and then a larger seat might be the best way to go. It's a shame the Sirona doesn't fit on the same base as the Cloud Q, would save a fair chunk of money.

I would echo that you shouldn't underestimate the value of being able to hoik a sleeping baby out of the car carseat and all.

Well you don't need a base. I don't think I've ever seen a Group 0+ seat which can't be fitted with the seatbelt alone. It's more fiddly but it's not difficult.

True, the Cloud Q can be fitted with just a belt. Is that as good as the Isofix base though?

Both options are just as safe as long as it's done properly, ISOfix is safer only because it removes the margin for human error. TBH I find it hard to understand what you could get wrong about fitting an infant seat as they are so simple to fit with a seatbelt unless you did it drastically wrong, I suspect the base is more for convenience.

It seems you're correct, after reading up on it, seat belts are apparently slightly safer in head on impacts, where Isofix are slightly safer in side impacts. I had wrongly assumed Isofix was a safety thing, but it's a convenience thing.

It is a safety thing in that it reduces the margin of error for fitting seats. One of the biggest causes of seat failure is incorrect fitting, apparently. Although, TBH, I think it's more about people failing to actually read and look at the instructions properly rather than the seats being difficult. For example the rear facing seats are often said to be hard to fit whereas mumsnetters post saying they find them easy, perhaps because a self selecting group are more likely to be well informed and pay attention. But a lot of people can't be bothered to do something properly, which is baffling. A forward facing Group 1 seat is harder to fit correctly because most of it is done behind a frame, the belt can get more easily twisted, and people don't always know that you must pull the belt tight, really push the seat into the car (kneel in the seat with your full weight) and pull it tighter still.

With a baby seat you thread the belt through the guides, pull tight and then push the shell of the seat backwards slightly into the belt to tighten further, but only with your palm, don't kneel in the seat when fitting this way.

Totally with you there BertieBotts. I've read posts on other parenting forums where people have said they're going back to Mothercare/Halfords etc to get their car seat re-fitted as they'd had to remove it from the car for one reason or another.

I'm totally stumped as to why a parent would not know how to fit their own child seat, and worried that so many parents rely so heavily on the high street stores for car seat advice when it has been shown that their knowledge and fitting services are woefully inadequate.

I absolutely agree. If you can drive a car (and have full use of your limbs) you can fit a car seat correctly. There are videos on the internet FFS. It's all very well having Mothercare show you how to do it, but you have to check it every time you use the car so can't outsource responsibility.

We went car seat shopping browsing today. Saw these new dangled seats irl.

I still don't see how a 4 yo would be comfortable in it!

Maybe it's because we often go on long car journeys (several hours) rather than just short 10 min trips.

Also the cost made me nearly faint!

Never had any complaints from my dc on long journeys. Tbh I think sitting with their legs dangling straight down is more unnatural - DD always sits with her feet thrown over something or crossed at home so its much of a muchness.

I agree too, I can't comprehend how people can't fit these seats properly, or why they would drive with their child in a seat they weren't 100% sure about.

My 4 yo moved to FF recently and is still asking to go back to RF. I think she must have been pretty comfortable RF.

After all the deliberation, I think we've decided to go for the Cloud Q, assuming it's as nice in person as it seems. We had a look at the Aton Q and it was really very nice. Now to find a frame to fit it to! Many thanks to everyone for their opinions.

We bought the sirona and the Jane pushchair I bought came with a car carrycot as well as a car seat. As we were adopting a 6 month old we knew we wouldn't use the carrycot in all likelihood and I've always been really against car seats on prams but I have to say I do prefer using this seat at the moment. He's now 9 months and although it is flipping heavy, I love being able to get him all secure in his seat inside the house then just clunk it into the base in the car. 95% of the time I will transfer from the seat to the pushchair when we go out but it is really handy for just literally nipping into the corner shop where I'm only going to be 5 minutes or into the doctors surgery etc. we have the sirona in my husbands car until I stop using the stata seat that came with the buggy and I do love it (even more so because we got it from kiddicare for an absolute bargain price of £215 as they were selling it off when they changed hands).

We hardly used the Cabriofix on pram wheels with DD but use it all the time now with DS- I have to do the nursery run and park a few hundred metres away. Very handy to stick DS on wheels. DD is rear facing in a Sirona. She is 2 so has plenty of room left but it's not the biggest ERF seat. It's vital to check seat before you buy - many ERF seats wouldn't fit in our car with DH driving. We have an Octavia, so it's not exactly a small car either.

My wife and I went to look at prams yesterday, with the intention of finding a frame to put the Cloud Q on. We then discovered the Jané Matrix Light 2 car seat /car carrycot. As we drive to the Netherlands fairly often, being able to have the baby sleeping properly flat would be perfect for us. It's proving hard to find reviews of the Light 2 though, but it sounds good.

The only issues with that is that they tend to be Group 0 only, not Group 0+. So the seat will be outgrown at around 4-6 months, meaning that you will need to buy another rear facing seat, either an extended rear facing one or a convertible to forward facing one. You'll lose the ability to remove the entire seat with baby in situ at this point.

I would check the Which? report for safety or if it's not got one, the ADAC (German car safety reviewers) because lie flat carrycot type car seats are often less safe than more upright seats. But I know that more recently produced ones are meant to be much better.

The Matrix Light 2 is group 0 in carrycot mode and 0+ in rear facing carseat mode, so should last as well as any other newborn car seat. I've read the Which report for the Light rather than the Light 2. It scores well overall, with the Isofix setup scoring very well but then being let down by being tricky to correctly fit to the base unit.