Joie iSpin 360 Grow vs Silver Cross Motion All Size 360

[ccat45]

Hi, I wonder if anyone can give any advice on comparing the above car seats (or whether to go for something different entirely!).

We have a 1 year old currently in a Joie iSpin 360 which we absolutely love. We need to get a new car seat for our nanny's car, but we'd like to get something we would like to use ourselves in the event that we stop using the nanny in the future. We plan to probably have another child at some point in the next couple of years.

I really value the spin feature so looking for a spin seat. I realise RF til 25kg is ideal but our child is of average weight and smaller height so I predict she will get to 4 years before 18kg after which I'd be happy for her to FF.

The Joie iSpin 360 Grow looks similar to the Joie iSpin 360 except it goes up til 7 years/125cm/25kg. The Silver Cross Motion All Size 360 goes all the way up to 12 years/150cm. Both can ERF til 4 years/18kg.

I've read on this forum that the Silver Cross should be avoided as a car seat trying to do too many things at once does it badly - but I can't actually find any evidence for this, it has the iSize certification and I don't believe it's been ADAC tested - can anybody shed any light on this? I don't know if I'm looking in the wrong place, but I can't actually seem to find detailed safety reports for any car seats other than those tested by ADAC?

My feeling is that the Joie might be safer, and similar to the iSpin 360 which we love. But disadvantages in my mind are that it's a top tether (not a huge deal but would compromise a bit of space in my boot due to where the anchor is), and if it only goes up to 7 years we'd then have to buy a high back booster from age 7-12, if we had another child we'd potentially then need ANOTHER high back booster for second child if first child was still in their high back booster!

Hope that all makes sense, would be so grateful if anybody can offer advice on which of these seats would be most suitable for us, or any other suggestions.

The Spin Grow just has a booster mode added on from 18kg-125cm, so it's only a spin just the same as the i-Spin that you already have. IMO that's not really good value, as you say, you'll have to buy a high backed booster later on anyway, so it makes no difference if you start using it from 18kg or 25kg. I also don't think that top tethers are very good for support for rear facing seats. I would personally stick to a spin seat with a support leg.

You're right that there is no specific crash test on the Silver Cross, the info about seats that do all stages not being very good for performance is based on looking at all the results for every all-stages (or multi-stage including RF, FF and booster) seat that has ever been tested by ADAC. I compiled them a while ago and none of them gets higher than 3/5 stars, which is a pretty poor result - most of them get 2/5 stars (which is terrible) and three get only 1/5 stars and a "don't buy" recommendation. They tend to get in the region of 3.5-4.5 numerically which is not good. It's a scale from 0.5-5.5, and the lower the number the better. Joie i-Spin 360 has a 1.7 (4/5 stars) for safety, and the i-Spin Safe (which is likely to be comparable to using the i-Spin purely in rear facing mode) is 1.2 (5/5 stars) for safety which is very very good and one of the highest scores you can get.

i-size vs non i-size doesn't actually make a huge deal of difference to overall safety. The main difference is that i-size seats have to pass a side impact test, so a non i-size seat with good side impact safety can sometimes be just as good.

The other downside of the all in one seats is that the boosters on them are really bulky and huge due to having to perform the job of a harnessed seat earlier on. The best part of swapping to a booster seat is that you get to ditch the bulky seat and swap to this more lightweight and easy one, so you shoot yourself in the foot a bit by going for an all stages one.

So... long story short, I would probably get another Joie i-Spin, or a Britax Dualfix i-size, or maybe the Joie Spin Safe. Although that one isn't i-size, it does have the same pop out bits on the sides like the i-Spin does so it has better side impact safety than the original Joie 360. Or Recaro Salia is on offer at Uber Kids for a similar price point to all of these and the Silver Cross, the Recaro is a nice seat too.

Or you could look at the 25kg rear facing seats. I know that you say you want the spin, but thinking about this long term. A one year old tends to rear face very well in the Joie seats but some people find leg room is an issue by about two. The 25kg seats have more leg room. It would mean that the nanny can't forward face when you're not looking. The spin is, again, great for a one year old but by 2ish just a non issue as they can climb in by themselves, especially with the 25kg seats which are lower. They are a bit cheaper (starting at around £225-250). If you did have a second child, you can cascade the car seats down much more easily with a 0-18kg spin, then 25kg, then high backed booster, reducing the number of duplicates you need. If your second child turns out to be bigger, you might relish the higher weight capacity, likewise if your DD has a growth spurt later. It sounds like you're set on the spin seat, but just in case you hadn't considered these angles :)

Thank you so much for your detailed and very helpful reply. I have decided to go with another iSpin 360 as they are such a safe seat and really handy to have the spin function at the moment (I will make it clear to the nanny that she will be rear facing). Then when she outgrows that seat, I can make another decision about what to go for next. I did look into the 25kg rear facing seats and I went to a shop at the weekend and tried the Axkid Minikid. Unfortunately it really was too big for my car (Hyundai i20) - with the passenger seat all the way forward (no way my husband would be able to sit there for any length of time) it just about fit, but there was no scope to recline it further with a wedge which I would need to do to get it at a comfortable angle for a 1 year old. I’m thinking things may have moved on in a couple of years when she’s outgrown the iSpin or I may even have a different car so will reevaluate then!

Thanks again for your help, much appreciated.

Yes it can be a bit tricky with the bigger rear facing seats in small cars. However you can gain a bit of space by fitting it close to the back seat, as they don't really need the leg room when they are little. But yes makes sense to wait and see :)