Maxi Cosi Cabriofix or Rock

[winnie3838]

Hi,

We were looking for a baby car seat that is portable (as my family live abroad and we will want to take it with us) and also one that can be used with just the cars seatbelt if want/need to.

We had pretty much decided that the Maxi Cosi Cabriofix was our best fit but then i was reading that it doesn't perform as well on safety in the side impact tests, especially not on the base.

I then began looking at the Maxi Cosi Rock which does appear to have a better safety rating overall but it seems that baby won't be able to fit in it as long?

Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the above and also any other recommendations. We don't need it to fit on our pram and also won't need the baby to be able to sit in the car seat on the plane as whilst she is still small enough she will be sitting on my lap when we fly.

Britax babysafe might be a better bet for you.

While you can have the baby on your lap on a flight, it's useful to have them in a seat as they will often sleep better like that and it saves you putting the car seat into the hold where it may get damaged. Sometimes if you're flying budget it can even perversely be cheaper than the lap infant fee.

@bertibotts that is a good point! It is only a 1hr30min flight to where my parents live but yes the flighs are probably at times cheaper than what the lap fee will be! I will look at the Britax carseats - thank you.

I don't know all the airlines' prices, but for example Ryanair the baby fee is £25 so the actual seat price can sometimes be cheaper - it's bizarre!

Another vote for the Britax Babysafe - it has a large shell so will last a long time, and lots of inserts that you remove as baby grows.

Hi all - interested in peoples views on rock v cabriofix specifically. I have a 2wayfix base that I need a baby seat for. Both of these baby seats will fit the base. Rock is isize so meets a higher safety standard. But only to 75cm, whereas cabriofix goes to 85cm. I already have the next seat on, so am just weighing up if there is an advantage to have a baby seat useable for longer, whether this could outweigh the safety standard of the Rock, or whether rock might be the more future proof in case we have another in a few years and isize becomes a requirement.

Depends what your next seat is? If it's also rear facing and the baby will fit in it once they have outgrown the Rock, I'd go for that - if not, the Cabriofix. Maxi Cosi do their own in house testing so their seats are pretty good anyway.

i-size won't become mandatory for ages and ages and ages yet. They have only just stopped approving R44 seats and that's for new seats to market. Any existing R44 seats can still be re-approved under R44 if they are having alterations made to them.

So you're waiting for all the following steps to happen:

Companies stop making alterations to R44 seats as too old in their line up (probably 5-10 years)

Companies stop producing their older R44 lines as less profitable than their R129 lines (8-12 years)

Shops sell out of stock of the no-longer-produced R44 seats (15-18 years)

It becomes illegal to sell R44 seats (but still legal to use them) (20ish years)

R44 is considered so old that they are no longer legal to even use (30ish years)

Your grandchildren could probably legally use the Cabriofix if you opt for that ;) (Obviously wouldn't recommend this!)

It is still currently legal to use R44.03 seats which started to be produced in 1995.

But anyway, to answer the safety question, these are the two results compared:

www.oeamtc.at/tests/kindersitztest/kindersitztest-2018-herbst/maxi-cosi-cabriofix-familyfix-basis-27988228

www.oeamtc.at/tests/kindersitztest/kindersitztest-2018-fruhjahr/maxi-cosi-rock-family-one-i-size-25192347

About the same for frontal impact but the Rock is significantly better for side impacts.

OTOH if it's the 2wayPearl you have to move into, sometimes you find that at 75cm babies are still a bit too small to fit into it nicely which is a bit of a pain. And if it's the forward facing only Pearl then the Cabriofix would definitely be better as rear facing for longer is the most important thing.

@BertieBotts @Sagaris
Thanks so much, really helpful. My next seat up is the 2wayPearl so rear-facing is covered and theoretically it should fit from 67cm, so well before the Rock is outgrown. Interesting though @BertieBotts that 75cm babies don't always fit well in the Pearl. I think there's a good chance baby will be tall hence the extra 10cm of use on the cabriofix being attractive, but then safety first sways me back to the Rock. They are about the same price (Rock actually marginally cheaper at the moment). I will keep mulling it over!

Lol @BertieBotts re grandchildren using the cabriofix 😂 that at least puts into perspective any worry that it could become obsolete in the near future!

If your baby is likely to be tall that's the problem, because the 2wayPearl is quite a lot more upright than the infant carrier. So if they are quite little and not yet sitting well when they get to 75cm and have to go into it, that's where you can have a problem. It's not a huge issue if you don't spend loads of time in the car. And you can always get the Pearl insert cushion which does help a bit. But it would be annoying if you wanted to do a long journey when your baby is just a bit too big for the Rock but doesn't sit well in the 2wayPearl and their head keeps flopping forwards for example.

However I suppose you could just cross that bridge if/when you come to it!

Thanks @BertieBotts ! I have gone for the Rock in the end, but good to know we might have an issue on the horizon if baby gets tall faster than she is able to sit well. We'll cross that bridge if/when we come to it. We'll not be using the car that much so it's not a disaster if we have some issues, and when the time comes I'll make sure I recline the Pearl as much as is possible and get the insert if needed!