Car seat - view out + light weight for 1Y old

[Tavuk24]

Hi,
Looking got car seat recommendations to move on from our Maxi-Cosi.
Baby is nearing first birthday and can get a bit car sick 🤢 so am looking for a seat high enough for him to look out.

Found a few but they all come with a heavy base or Isofix base. 🧱🧱🧱
We don’t own a car and ideally I’d need a light weight-ish car seat to haul down a couple of blocks to the car with baby in tow if I’m by myself. 🥵

I was wondering if the combined wisdom of Mumsnet might be able to help and give any recommendations?

I’d be most grateful!

Thanks very much in advance.

xx

Joie stages/every stage I can't remember which is the newest version or axkid minikid. We have both and I can carry either in one hand

Unfortunately most of (all?) the high up seats are on isofix bases, it's just the nature of how you have to fit them if you have a seatbelt fitted one.

I don't think you will get high up and lightweight in the same seat. Which part is more important? What's your driving situation - taxis/lifts or hire cars? If it's hiring would it be possible to drive the car to the house before you need to fit the seat? Possibly tricky if you're on your own.

Maybe Nachfolger - but that's quite expensive and very unusual! It's an inflatable one so lightweight but surprisingly solid when inflated. It only goes rear facing.

Ideally I would recommend that you max out the use of the infant carrier before you move on to another kind of seat. This seems to be the best thing to do when you don't have your own car because the group 1 seats (whichever kind you get) are all fairly bulky and difficult to transport around.

Another question is are you looking for a rear facing or forward facing seat, or have you not decided yet? Rear facing in a more upright seat than the baby carrier can give you quite a good view out the back window, if you take the rear headrest off the seat. I would also then recommend to carry one of those "window socks" to black out the rear window with, as the straight direction view (either straight out the front or straight out the back) is better for car sickness.

Thanks very much! That’s really helpful.

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, it seems you don’t get both and totally understand that now with the base/non-base fit.

I guess lightweight would be more important as most of our journeys will be in town where there’s plenty to see even from low down with high buildings etc.
It’a mostly be hire cars we use and if I’m on my own, baby, I and the car seat will need to walk to the car together; I won’t be able to fetch it by myself.

Nachfolger looks great, but yeah, whoops! Expensive! But you can’t have everything plus then affordable as well. Great tip!

He’s nearly outgrown the infant carrier and hates being in it. Much happier sitting up in his granny’s car seat.

I am not at in front facing, so rear facing is definitely an option to consider and thanks for the advice re view and likelihood of sickness.

OK. So lightweight rear facing seats would be Joie Tilt/Steadi/Stages, which rear face up to 18kg, or Britax Two Way Elite which is rear facing up to 25kg. You could have a look in his red book to see when he's predicted to reach those weights based on his weight centile line now.

I am surprised to hear the Axkid Minikid is portable as a PP says because it is a huge seat and has a big support leg on it. If the support leg can click into the seat that might be easier, I suppose? But it's still over 11kg whereas the Two Way Elite is only 7kg.

This is a good article about the cheaper ERF seats which also coincidentally seem to be the more lightweight ones.

erfmission.com/extended-rear-facing-car-seats-that-wont-break-the-bank-seatbelt-install/

Forward facing seats as a rule may be lighter and tend to be easier to fit, but at this age you're much much safer rear facing.

@BertieBotts
Thank you so much. So very helpful!