9-25 kg rear and forward facing seats; recommendations?

[SouthLondonDaddy]

Our daughter is 3 and weighs ca. 15.5 kg. After some useful comments on this forum, we’re considering buying a 9-25Kg rear-facing seat, because she’ll outgrow her current seat soon, and because rear-facing seems safer. At the same time, I’d like the option to also install it forward facing, just in case the little one hates rear-facing (e.g. long legs cramped, or carsickness , which happens to me in rear-facing seats in cars trains etc) or we need to install it (e.g. when renting a car abroad) in a car which doesn’t have enough room for rear-facing. In summary, the wish list is:

• Rear-facing 9-25 kg

• Forward-facing 9-25 kg

• ideally a choice of reclining positions to make sleeping more comfortable

• Not too fussed about seatbelts vs isofix; maybe seatbelts make the seat more universal, or maybe not because most cars have isofix anyway. Thoughts?

• ideally something that doesn’t weigh 30 kgs and can be carried on a flight (checking it in as oversized luggage)

The options seem limited to:
AxKid KidZone and DuoFix: www.axkid.com/car-seats/ , and
Britax Multi-Tech III: www.britax-roemer.co.uk/car-seats/toddler/multi-tech-iii/CSSFCC004.html

The Britax Two-way Elite is no longer recommended for 25 kg when forward-facing: incarsafetycentre.co.uk/product/2-way-elite-cosmos-black/
The Britax Max Way can be installed rear-facing only: www.britax-roemer.co.uk/car-seats/toddler/max-way/1750.html

Thoughts? Are there other products I have missed? Are the 3 seats I have mentioned comparable? Should I be taking into account other things I have missed?

Thanks!

The two Axkids and the Multi Tech all only harness forward facing to 18kg. After that, you have to use the car's seatbelt so they are just high back boosters - not necessarily great for your wannabe escape artist.

The Diono Radian 5 is the only seat (that I know of!) which harnesses to 25kg both rear and forward facing. It does need a top tether in order to harness forward facing so you need to check your car for the top tether points.

No rear facing seat can use isofix to 25kg because the weight limit is 18kg. The forward facing seats only use the isofix because they also have to be top tethered. Isofix isn't safer than belted fitted - a correctly fitted belt seat is just as safe as a correctly fitted isofix seat. The key is correctly fitted! Isofix removes some of the human error so it is more likely to be correctly fitted. However, if you go for a belt seat, either get it fitted by a car seat expert or watch the YouTube videos and post pictures on the 'car seat advice uk' Facebook page and they will check the fit for you.