Maxi cosi Nomad

[Caspianberg]

Has anyone used this seat for travel?

www.maxi-cosi.com/international/car-seats/nomad?color_swatch_id=5512

I have been looking at joie tilt/ grace extend for 15 month old for travel. Would ideally like rear facing, but they just seem so heavy/ bulky! Even though half the weight of our main fixed isofix sets at home ( which def can’t come with me)

I need to be able to transport myself, toddler, pram, luggage and car seat alone. Bonus points if it is faa approved for on flights.

Is there really nothing?

Is the nomad really suitable from 9months? Ds is currently 14 months and still in recline setting rear faced maxi cosi mica.

It's suitable from 9 months in the same way any forward facing seat is suitable from 9 months - this is a recommendation from the 80s based on when children are able to sit unsupported, rather than it being anything to do with forward facing being safe at that age. It would of course be better than no car seat at all.

There aren't any UK seats which are FAA approved, the EU approval is TÜV approval for flights. He may well still fit into an infant carrier which might be the easiest thing - lots of infant carriers are TÜV approved and they fit onto pushchairs which helps a lot with portability.

Otherwise for TÜV approved seats for toddlers there are only three - Britax Eclipse which is forward facing, Nachfolger which is an inflatable rear facing one (sounds weird - is surprisingly solid) but costs about £300 and is really hard to find as the company sold the patent to a different one, and Diono Radian 5 which is RF/FF and folds up but is massively heavy! Also discontinued.

A lot of airlines don't actually need the TÜV/FAA approval and just want you to use a seat that is within certain dimensions. But bear in mind unless your baby has their own seat booked on the plane, you won't be able to use a car seat in any case.

Your other option is to look at importing an American seat but that could well be more expensive and difficult to judge whether the seat is any good.

Hello - sorry to jump in on this - any idea where I can get buy this car seat in the UK, it looks amazing!

The nomad? I'm not sure if it's out in the UK yet as it only appears in their international site.

@BertieBotts - thanks. I ended up ordering the graco extend as wasn’t happy to forward face when I thought about it, as realistically we will do more motorway driving away than we do at home anyway. Couldn’t live with myself if we had an accident. I think also as we will be doing long drives he will sleep at various times.

I did try him locally in various maxi cosi and cybex infant seats but he didn’t really fit, he’s already pretty tall ( 85+cm).

FYI, the extend arrived ( couldn’t get joie anything delivered to our country). And I’m really pleased with quality so far. It has several positions, straps seems to adjust well and actually comes with a comfy looking newborn insert ( that we don’t need but looks ok). Instructions to install seem clear but Haven’t tried in car yet.

Ah yeah fair enough on the infant carriers! Sounds like the Graco will be a good option :) It's a clone of the Joie Tilt, so any videos relating to that should also work for the Graco.

The insert is just required to be used up to 6 months, after this if you're rear facing then you can continue to use it for comfort - try him with and without. It can't be used if you forward face in the seat. You can only use the most reclined position for rear facing, which is a bit annoying but is to do with the rebound protection.

It is likely to be narrow enough to fit on plane seats, so if you did book a seat for him and the airline policy doesn't require TUV approval, that could be an option for you on flights.

Yes slightly annoying it can only be used in full recline rear facing, which wasn’t that clear when I ordered. However Ds still uses seat at home reclined so it shouldn’t be too much difference. Will see as time goes on. It was only €60 so for that price I’m not too concerned if it doesn’t get full use forever.

I will probably book his own seat for comfort when seatbelt signs off, but it’s a bit too awkward to lug through airport and security I think so will prob put in hold ( and just fill car seat bag with nappies or something to pad it out)

As he's under 2, most airlines will have the policy of having him in a car seat if you've booked a seat for him, so I'd check this first before you book one.

I did check, it seems only in car seat if you want for whole duration. Otherwise they can sit on your lap for take off and landing like they would if travelling on lap only, and can then use extra seat when seatbelt signs off.

Ah OK that seems fine then.

@BertieBotts I just found this thread through Google and wonder if I could get your advice here (you helped me in another thread and I still haven't resolved the problem!) I'm looking for a forward facing car seat a 9 month old could use in his own seat on the plane, would the nomad be allowed? Virginia Atlantics policies are driving me batty.

Did you by chance find out about the Nomad for your flight? We are flying out with our 19 month old, who is very large, 35 pounds and 90cm, I’m worried about a forward facing seat, but he’s definitely solid enough. We have struggled trying to find a car seat to travel with and the Nomad is at the top of our list because of it being so light and easily transportable, so flying with it would be imperative. Thank you so much!

@WolfMother326 Hi there, can you please read above? I meant to tag you on the initial post. Thank you!

I've had a look at their policy and basically it just needs to be any R44 seat, it doesn't need the flight approval. I'd suggest Joie Tilt (aka Graco Extend) or Joie Steadi, as these can be used rear facing in a car at your destination, and forward facing on the plane even if your baby is under 9kg since they are designed to be used from birth. They are technically not allowed, since it is supposed to be designed to be secured by a lap belt, but there is only one seat on the UK market that can be secured with lap belt and that is Britax Eclipse. The Eclipse is also flight approved although you need to buy the flight kit separately from Britax, which is a bit of a faff. I have heard from other MNers that everywhere is out of stock on the Eclipse so it might be that it's being discontinued (or that might have been a temporary shortage).

In order to secure the Tilt/Steadi on a flight you'd just route the lap belt through where the lap belt would go in a car if you were fitting it forward facing, and forget about the diagonal bit. You can practice fitting it in a car forward facing before you fly.

Sorry - just seen this Q was from May and the latest post is asking about the Nomad. It fits into the Virgin Atlantic specifications (airline policies vary) although again same issue with not actually being designed to be used with lap belt. It does look like it would fit in an overhead locker though, so worst case scenario, if you get refused use of the car seat on board, put it in the locker rather than having it taken into the hold.

Worth noting a 90cm tall child will likely be too tall to rear face in Joie Tilt/Graco Extend so Joie Steadi might be worth a look. The Nomad looks like it goes pretty tall so should not be an issue in theory.

Have you looked at Nachfolger by the way?

If you’re looking at the nomad car seat id watch this video. It sounds like a great product but id honestly be concerned using it for any child- let alone a 9 month old!

such a shame :(

Having just watched that video, the problem is she has forward anchorage, which is a problem with some seatbelt fitted car seats and means it's not compatible with her car. She's right to question the safety, as it's not a safe fit.

In order for the seatbelt to anchor a car seat, the seatbelt must pull the car seat back and down into the seat. You can see in the video, that the place where the seatbelt is anchored into the buckle is further forwards than the belt path on the child seat. That means the fit will be loose and it's called forward anchorage.

Her seatbelt doesn't even look particularly far forward - so it's probably due to the thinness of the backrest of the seat. That's a major design flaw for a car seat that you'll be installing into many different cars, which is a shame indeed. Usually you get forward anchorage on cars where the seatbelt is like this.

ao are you saying if the belt was further integrated in to the seat and didn’t have any flex or movement this wouldn’t be an issue? Is there anyway to adjust that in a car you think? Also, it has no top tether… it wouldn’t take much to add a top tether which is pretty standard for front facing car seats.
I’d love to hear feedback from maxi cosi on it as cannot find any safety test info online!

Perhaps if the buckle was really set into the vehicle seat it would be OK. No you can't adjust it, possibly a garage could, but it wouldn't be something you could do quickly in a taxi or whatever.

Top tether wouldn't help because the bottom of the seat would still not be securely attached. The top wouldn't come forward so much if it didn't have forward anchorage. I think they are common on US seats but not that popular for UK ones, except for isofix seats. It looks like they are trying to make it lightweight and simple to use so may have avoided anything that added extra weight and complexity, plus you can't always guarantee presence of top tether anchors e.g. when travelling (though some other travel seats like Nachfolger do rely on it).

I've just been to double check, and you can see the buckle is set further into the vehicle seat in their own demo video. And when they pull the harness out (this is out of sequence, it's at the start) you can see it doesn't move anything like it does in that review video

But I think the number of cars with the buckle that deep are rare.

That buckle still comes up really high when you look. I just can’t see how it passed the tests! As it’s a demo video they have clearly been very gentle and deliberate in their actions which is totally normal!

Would you recommend the steadi over the tilt? We are looking to get it for when he is 18 months and want to rear face as long as possible

The Steadi is longer lasting for height, but neither are the longest lasting rear facing seats. You'd want to look at the Swedish type seats with the larger rear facing limits (25kg / 125cm).

Sorry @SpanishMummy20 - I never saw your reply. Did you end up going for it?

In the end, we just took our cybex rear facing on holiday for our 9 month old. We checked it, and he sat on our laps during the flight. We didn't need a car seat for his empty seat, no one said anything. It all worked out just fine.

Now, though, I am againt thinking of buying the nomad. It looks like its available in the UK now too. My family are planning to travel to the US for 4 weeks in April/May, so my son will be about 19-20 months old. We won't use it on the plane, but we'll need it for the taxi on the way to the airport in the UK, and to use in a rental car in the US.

We have a huge car seat in our car here that we're using now (he outgrew the cybex) and I don't want to bring it on a trip.

@BertieBotts do you know if it's licensed/approved for use in the UK and the US? Thanks so much.

UK/EU and US federal standards are incompatible so it’s illegal to use a British seat there and vice versa (excluding a very specific exemption for on duty US military families). And since US seats have chest clips it’ll be obvious by sight, in the unlikely event that anyone bothers to look, that you’re using a foreign one. Seatbelts also work a bit differently over there and whilst LATCH and isofix are compatible they’re not quite the same so from a non expert perspective I personally wouldn’t feel comfortable with the safety of it even if it was legal! I would instead rent from the car hire co, take public transport from the airport and go buy one or if you’re visiting family over there have them buy one in advance.

Yes like flounder said, it's not possible to find a seat that's approved under both laws. You can either take one with you and hope nobody notices (look up the rear facing laws though because in many states it's rear facing until 2) or buy something over there and get it delivered to an Amazon locker at the airport. Cosco scenera next seems to get suggested a lot as a travel seat, you might look at car seats for the little or carseat.org or another US site?

Their seatbelts are a bit different there too, but they do have the Isofix connectors, they just call it latch instead.