ISOFIX & Belted car seat

[sp3418]

Apologies if this has been asked before but I'm in desparate need of help.
So my very tall nearly 10month old is rapidly growing out of his pebble so I've started looking at the next stage seat but I'm struggling
Is there a multi stage seat (1/2/3 or 1/2) available which is isofix but also has a belted option?we don't have isofix at the mo but it's a must for my next car (not until April next year) & I'd rather not buy 2 seats if possible,a recline option would also be bril!

Any help appreciated

Look here

Or here

But you could just buy a seatbelt-fitted one, preferably rear facing. ISOFIX is not safer than using the seatbelt, it was only invented as a simpler method of fitting child seats.

And if your son is tall a rear facing seatbelt-fitted seat is the best option anyway. These seats have a weight limit of 25kgs for the child (which is about 6 years, my daughter is almost 7 and weighs about 23.5-24kgs), so they are long up the back. If you go for a forward facing seat he could outgrow it before he's much past 3 (these seats are outgrown when the child's eyeline becomes level with the top of the seat, head sticking out a little way is fine), then if he'd outgrown the forward facing seat and weighed more than 15kgs you'd be buying him a high backed booster and that's not safe at that age.

And ISOFIX rear facing seats only have a weight limit of 18kgs (as do all forward facing ones except a couple) so if he's tall these are not going to last him until he's 4 because he'll outgrow them by height even if he's still within the weight limit. How much does he weigh now?

If you look at Which? The ERF seats don't seem to score that highly. The seat they rate highest after Group 0 is the Britax Kidfix XP Sict. I don't know why the ERF seats don't get the higher scores from Which, anyone know?

Because Which? are slightly misguided, and instead of looking solely at the safety aspect of ERF seats they get marked down for things like alleged lack of legroom for the child and difficulty of fitting. My 3 year old is in a Which? Don't Buy seat, the Britax Multi Tech II (they have tested it as the Volvo Convertible). I will gladly keep her in my Don't Buy rear facing seat rather than put her in any of the forward facing Best Buy seats!

My seat is not hard to fit at all. I bought it from an independent retailer who spent about 1/2 an hour finding the best seat for my car and showed me how to fit it. It also comes with a very useful instruction booklet that tells you how to fit the seat Granted there are more steps to fitting it than just plugging a forward facing seat into the ISOFIX connectors, but it's not hard or complicated at all.

This is what Which? have to say about the Britax Max Way rear facing seat

"This child car seat has passed the regulatory tests required by ECE R44/04 to be sold as suitable for children from 9-25kg. In our own more rigorous tests it achieved a good overall safety rating, but the seat is so difficult to install that there's a danger of installing it incorrectly which, along with other drawbacks, means that we've made it a Don't Buy.
The instructions and warning labels are easy to understand, but there's a good chance that you will install this seat incorrectly because it's so complicated to do. You need to get the seatbelt routing correct, make sure the floor and seat support legs are correctly positioned and also attach the tether to the front seat, so it's no surprise that this seat gets a poor rating for ease of fitting. It also takes up a huge amount of space.
Is the seat comfortable? No. It's narrow, with hard padding and an uncomfortable leg support. The seating position is not convenient and the child's view is limited."

And this is what Securatot (rear facing specialists) say about it

"The clever design includes quick recline with the adjustable front leg and an easily adjustable headrest and harness. Safe installation is ensured through the newly designed support leg, belt lock-offs and easy clip lower tethers. The Max-Way has also passed the rigorous Swedish Plus Test, the strictest car seat standard."
Additional features:
•Rear facing up to 25kg
•Height adjustable headrest and harness with easy single-handed adjustment
•Deep, softly padded side wings provide Optimum Side Impact Protection
•5 point safety harness with one pull adjustment
•Adjustable support leg allows the seat to fit a wide range of cars with adjustable recline
•Foot prop provides extra stability
•Fits well in centre back seat of cars
•Belt locking mechanism ensures correct installation
•Multi recline positions
•Height adjustable 5-point safety harness
•Chest pads for your child's comfort
•Harness retainers make it easy to place your child in and out of the seat
•Quick remove cover without interfering with the harness
•Installation with 3-point seat belt
•Installation with 2-point seat belt

I know who I would listen to!

This is a good blog post in answer to an article Which? wrote about rear facing child seats.

I particularly like this paragraph from the Rear Facing Toddlers blog:

"Rear facing car seats are not difficult to install. At all. They are different to forward facing seats, but by no means difficult. Saying that they are difficult to install puts people off buying them. These people then go to the high street and buy a cheap forward facing seat. They don't bother to read the instructions, because forward facing seats are easy, right? WRONG! At car seat checking clinics which are held all over the country they find that around 70% of all seats are used incorrectly. The vast majority of incorrectly used seats are forward facing. But when somebody with an ERF seat turns up at these clinics, their seats are always fitted correctly. Because people who choose ERF car seats do their homework. They know how much safer the seats are and they know how to fit them properly. So giving the chance of incorrect fitting as a reason not to buy these seats doesn't make any sense as far more forward facing seats are misused."

I have a cybex sirona. Fab seat and easy to install but which marked it down for being heavy. It is heavy but in over 2 years we've taken it out of the car twice. The weight doesn't matter to us.

Reading the detailed feedback is important not just the scores.