1/2/3 carseat suggestions?

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Hi!

I need to get a carseat. I have 2 Joie everystage (one fx) but I've read here that it wasn't very good.

Ang suggestions??

Thank you so much!!

Hi :)

How old and heavy is your child?

Do you want a seat that can rear face or just forward face?

The Joie every stage isn't bad when used rear facing. It's forward facing with the harness that it doesn't perform very well.

I need something that perfoms good in every way.

We suspect 1st first child got car sick facing backwards and it was a nightmare.... nonstop screaming/crying the whole journey so much for safe driving!!

Child 2 was better :)

Oh! Child 3 is still 4 months carseat is to be a 2nd carseat for oldest during school run for now and to be used afterwards when child 3 is around 1yo

Hmmm OK - I think you're going to have to compromise on some detail - I don't know of any all stages car seats which definitely perform well in every mode, especially for a lower price (if that's a concern). That is a kind of car seat unicorn!

How old is the eldest and what type of seat are they in now?

You could look at BabyAuto Dupla which is probably the only all-stages car seat I think is worth a look just because it's rear facing up to 18kg, then you can use forward facing with harness 9-25kg, and use as a booster seat as well.

However, it needs top tether, if you're using the harness over 18kg. And we don't know what the safety rating is of it because it has never been through an independent test like Which? etc. If you don't need the extended harnessing or won't use it, it might not be the best choice.

So if not it might be better to get two separate seats, which you can do for about the same cost.

For example, a high backed booster seat or Britax Evolva 123 if you need/want the forward facing harness, for the eldest to use now. This performs well with the harness and as a booster seat, although it's a bit more expensive than just a booster.

Then something like Joie Tilt for the youngest to use rear facing until they are too big or get fed up of rear facing, then they can move into the Evolva (which is why you may want the harness capability).

Evolva + Tilt together would cost about £160, which is actually cheaper than the Joie Every Stage. You can sometimes find the Tilt on offer cheaper than that. Graco Extend is also very similar and has just come out. If you keep an eye on the prices of those two, you should be able to find one or the other at some point in the next 8 months for about £50/60.

If you have more budget available and want to maximise the performance of each type of seat, then I'd get a spin seat such as Joie 360 Spin or Britax Dualfix 2R as your combined rear facing / forward facing seat - they do well both ways. If your eldest is still under 18kg, get that first and use it forward facing for them.

Then at the same time or later, get a well rated booster seat. Joie Trillo LX is in the top ten and costs about £60. Or you can go slightly better and get Joie Traver for £80. If the eldest is older and already using a booster seat, you could get this first and the spin seat later.

This combo would cost about £260.

Sorry - when I say about the same cost, I mean compared to an all-stages seat. Not compared to the BabyAuto which is often under £100 - which does make you wonder about the build quality, although if you need to harness over 18kg, there isn't a huge amount of choice TBH.

Good brands are AXKID, Britax, Besafe.
Depending on the size of your car, your eldest can go into a Britax advansafix or Besafe Izi flex (once over 4 due to his car sickness) middle child can be in a Britax duo (I think that's what's it's called) and baby can go into a maxi cosi infant carrier until age one and you can swap to extended rear facing Axkid Minikid, or a Britax duo as well. They are a bit pricey but sometimes are on sale.

Other brands are equally good, these are the ones we've used and that easily come to mind.

Sorry to jump on but what is the issues with the Joie every stage? We have one for DD who is still rear facing in it atm.

@Mishmased did you mean Dualfix or Duoplus? Duoplus is a forward facing only one.

@MeadowHay when the Every Stage was crash tested by Which? it did poorly when tested in the forward facing Group 1 mode (with harness) and this caused the seat to get the overall rating "Don't buy". However, it still gives good protection when used rear facing and the high backed booster mode using the adult seatbelt is OK (if a bit heavy). So you can use it rear facing until 18kg and then swap to high backed booster and it isn't a bad seat.

@BertieBotts I meant duoplus (thanks) if she didn't want to rearface middle child depending on age. My first was forward facing at 15 months due to bad reflux and car sickness hence my suggestion for the advansafix sict (not sure what version we are using).

@BertieBotts car size and finance dependent she cau go dualfix for the baby.

Makes sense :) I just thought in the context of it being mentioned with Axkid I wasn't sure!

@MeadowHay

This talks about the fx. We have both. So right now we're using the fx with a seatbelt for the oldest

Thank for the help everyone going to check those options.

At the time the everystage just sounded great..... oh well