Help! Joie ispin 360 isize v Britax Max Way Plus

[Stormshinestar]

Hi all, I’ve spent the last week baffled by car seats. I would like a spin seat to make it easier to get baby (aged 12 months) in and out. I was torn between the Joie ispin 360 and Joie ispin safe but decided on the 360 option to use RF but have option to turn FF. I have no intention of FF but I didn’t like the idea of not having the option and the guy at Halfords said that the 2 are basically the same seat with a diff base so as long as you RF the 360, it’s basically as safe as the plus tested ispin safe. Does anyone know if this is actually the case?

Anyway then I had a wobble because baby is quite long (dad is 6’4”) and now I’m wondering whether actually a better option is the Britax Max Way Plus? I want the convenience of Isofix so had always discounted the 25kg seats because I’m a bit daunted by the prospect of fitting / tethering it.

Does anyone have any advice? Experience with using either seat? I have a 5 door Vauxhall Astra for ref.

Thank you

Hi! I want to rear face my little girl for as long as possible as she's a chunky and long thing! I would go with the britax and it will stay rear facing for a lot longer and by the time baby is old enough to forward face your can get a fairly cheap high back booster that will be safe :)

If you're on Facebook there's a group called Car seat advice UK, they're not currently taking posts I don't think but there's thousands of previous posts you can search through and someone will probably have asked about those seats in your car before! :)

I also read somewhere on that group that the 'safe' version of that seat has had extra crash safety tests done I THINK! Can't remember completely but if you seat them, something should come up too :)

I have a 25kg seat (axkid minikid) and a spin seat (cybex) the advantage of the spin seat for me isn't the spin feature but the recline without refitting. Dc1 is in the 25kg seat at 4.5 and was in there from growing out of the infant seat. Great seat wouldn't be without it, but when he was little and he fell asleep he flopped forward in the seat. Not dangerous apparently but looks uncomfortable. Dc2 with 2 year age gap we went for a spin seat which is useful in that refusing to cooperate stage but not essential but love that I can recline it on the move.

Dd will likely grow out of the spin between 3.5-4 so will go into the 25kg seat and ds will be 5.5-6 and will go into a hhb. Had I known I'd have 2 year gap I might of got the spin seat first and the bumped dc1up to the 25kg seat once dc2 outgrown infant seat.

The 25kg seats aren't difficult to fit but not as quick as isofix

DD is 26 months and we have the Joie 360 spin. She's still rear facing in it. She's talk for her age and although she has to bend her legs up a little she's still very comfy in it. The angle is good for her sleeping in it too which the other one we had when she was younger wasn't so much.

DS2 is tall and we are just about to move him out of the Joie 360 at age 2.5. I think he will fit into it until he is 3, but we are just going to move him ASAP because 3 isn't old enough for me to put him in a booster seat so I wanted to research and get the next seat now. He defo won't fit into it until age 4. I had been hoping that he might just but it's not looking likely.

It's true as long as you use the i-Spin 360 rear facing it's just as safe as the i-Spin Safe. Although there is a slight extra bump on the headrest for the "Safe" versions over the 360 versions - not sure how much of a difference this makes. Supposedly it helps reduce the neck forces. If he's tall, you might actually want to look at the Joie Spin Safe (not i-Spin Safe) - this has the extra side impact wing things, but doesn't have a standing height limit so if your child's height is in their legs then it will last you a bit longer. The other differences are the i-Spin has an extra recline setting, the headrest is memory foam and the inserts are a bit slimmer.

The spin is nice but it's not really necessary, when you have the lower sides of the 25kg seats. Fitting is a bit more complicated, but once you've got the tethers fitted, that's the hardest part and you can leave them in place. I agree it's a bit annoying you can't recline the seats on the go, but generally what you would do is install it reclined but on compact (no extra leg room) mode for a younger child with shorter legs and then once they get to about 2/2.5 and need a bit more space for their legs you would change the recline angle to upright as you don't need the recline any more, and gain that space for their feet instead.

If your baby is tall/heavy for their age, a 25kg seat will definitely last you the distance and the Max Way Plus is a lovely seat.

If you know how tall he is now or what centile/s he is following I can make an estimate for you for the age you'll get out of either seat.