Car seat SOS

[JammyDodger101]

My 8 month old is getting too long for her infant car seat so I’m looking to upgrade ideally to a car seat with rotate function. Any recommendations? I feel like my brain is melting dredging my way through all the options online.. I’m more confused than when I started!

[BertieBotts]

First thing to check - is she actually too long? It's OK for feet to poke out of the end of the seat. As long as their head is contained within the shell that is the important thing. Some car seats have height limits (cm) if she is over this then the seat is outgrown.

Just because if it's not then you'll have more time to make the decision :)

As for which one to choose I'd recommend these currently:

If you're on a tight budget or pushed for (front to back) space in your car: Graco Turn2Me i-size. It's very well rated for safety, easy to use, affordable and compact. The i-size version is £10 more than the standard and worth having because you get better side impact protection plus the latest safety standard. The downside: Not so much leg room for older rear facing kids, annoying position of rotate button (personally, I have never found this an issue). It's a clone of Joie 360 Spin with some extra side impact protection added.

For more of a luxury than budget pick, look at Britax Dualfix M Plus. It has more leg room than the Graco, higher weight limit (up to 20kg rather than 18kg)

If you have sloped seats in your car - Besafe izi Turn - though it's expensive, it is basically the only spin option if your seats are extremely sloped. It is a very highly rated seat and has some nice ease-of-use features like magnetic harnesses which actually work (most of these are too weak to do anything) but the cost makes it not worth it for most people.

If your child is very tall for their age e.g. over 75th centile, you may want to avoid the spin altogether and look at Axkid Move - this is a fixed seat but it lasts up to 25kg / approx 125cm as opposed to the usual 18kg and 105cm. Swedish plus test (which is the strictest car safety test in the world) - it is rear facing all that time. Nice low sides which negate the need for the spin, and cheaper than some spin seats.

In general I would not bother with the ones that go up to age 12 incorporating the booster stage, but if you really absolutely must have this, the Silver Cross Motion All Size is OK in this category. The downside of this is that it's rated less well for safety than any of the others I've mentioned and it's very expensive. You could buy the Joie, Britax, Graco or Axkid seat plus a good high backed booster for less money than this seat costs and both the toddler seat plus the booster would be better rated than the Silver Cross. The idea of one seat to cover all stages sounds good but it's usually a false economy.

Definitely avoid all the super cheap all stages ones from online discount sites. These usually have multiple issues.

[JammyDodger101]

@BertieBotts Very helpful response, thank you so much. You’ve given me a great starting point, there is so much choice online.. it’s overwhelming! Have you had any experience with Cybex car seats?

I was looking to upgrade because her legs are poking out but her head is still contained, so it sounds like I will get longer out of it than I expected.

[ReallyShouldBeDoingSomethingElse]

I had a GB Vaya for DD which is pretty much the same seat as a Cybex Sirona (GB and Cybex are owned by the same company). It was a good seat for us. Very comfortable on the many long journeys we do and easy to install, easy to adjust the height, straps etc. My DD was slightly short for her age so was able to rear-face in the Vaya until she was nearly 5.

If you have a taller child I'd look at the rear-facing to 25kg seats mentioned by BertieBotts above as that'll give you longer rear-facing.

Also just to echo the point that legs poking out is fine!

[shakeitoffsis]

Joie ispin 360 used on both my kids great seat.

[Newname47]

Virtually everyone I know has a Joie ispin. If she's not fully outgrown it it's worth clinging on until the black Friday sales.

[BabyMoonPie]

We have used Cybex seats after the infant carrier was outgrown - including a spinning one - they're fantastic

[LeafHunter]

We have a silver cross 360 and love it as it can be rear facing for a long time.

[BertieBotts]

Cybex has a good safety rating but a shorter shell than most others so it's outgrown sooner. I don't know if the new Sirona S2 has improved this, though. IIRC the Vaya was slightly taller but it tends to be expensive and hard to find now. The harness on the Cybex is much nicer to use than the Joie which can be a bit of a pain due to the bulky pads. The height adjustment on the Sirona S was a pain because you had to go in under the headrest from the bottom to do it which made it hard with the child in the seat. The Vaya had a way to adjust it from above. Again I don't know whether this is improved with the Sirona S2.

It can be a good option when it's discounted but it's not my favourite because I don't like the way you have to push up the child's whole weight to spin it, it gets really heavy and unwieldy with an older child. IIRC it costs around £250 - 300 and in this price range I think the Britax Dualfix i-size/Maxi Cosi Mica Pro Eco is nicer. But it's personal preference really - if you can get to a big baby goods shop and try out different spinning seats this is always a good thing to do.

[BertieBotts]

Or a rear facing specialist - since then you can try the 25kg seats out in person too and compare :)

If you don't know where to find one try the Axkid stockist list:

https://axkid.com/uk/find-a-retailer-near-you/

It's common for Axkid stockists to also have other brands of car seat for sale as well.

[BertieBotts]

I didn't see this yesterday - it's a good deal at this price, if the weight and height issues aren't a problem for you.

https://www.kiddies-kingdom.com/birth-4yrs/46441-cybex-sirona-s2-i-size-car-seat-deep-black.html

[slytherinabout]

I have a joie 360 in one car and the britax romer in the other. My friend has the cybex. All rotate, all are safe. I think they're all much of a muchness! If it was me I'd be searching around for offers.

[BertieBotts]

This is pretty good too with the free protector etc. Cool flow fabric as well. Though it's not the Plus so only 18kg not 20kg.

https://www.kiddies-kingdom.com/birth-4yrs/50131-britax-dualfix-m-i-size-group-01-car-seat-free-accessories-cool-flow-blue.html

[salpb]

@BertieBotts I have similar situation but a bit different :)
We are moving to Europe from Canada, so need to get a new car seat for my 15 months old baby.
I am so confused of the brands for Europe.
So far I saw these ones that I like:
Silvercrossbaby 360
Axkid Minikid 3 Premium
Maxi Cosi Titan Pro

Do you have any suggestions out of these 3?

Thank you for your help

[BertieBotts]

Hi salpb,

The car seats are a bit different in EU and Canada so it can be a hard choice!

What country is it you'll be moving to? Will you have an EU spec car or a North American spec? (sometimes people moving with the military can get NA spec cars). The Silver Cross seat for example is not available in all EU countries.

You've picked three very different kinds of seat. Do you know what it is you're looking for from a car seat?

The Silver Cross seat you mentioned is rear facing or forward facing up to 18kg (40lbs) and is then a high back booster seat. That will be about 4 years old, possibly a bit younger. If just turned 4 seems too young to use a seatbelt, or your child is tall for their age, then this wouldn't be a good choice for you.

The Axkid Minikid is a very popular seat and very safe. It's rear facing only. It lasts up to 25kg which is 55lbs, around 7 years. After this you'd buy a separate high backed booster seat, skipping the forward facing harness stage altogether. This approach is common in Sweden and Norway but less well known in other EU countries (though you can import the Minikid basically anywhere.)

The Maxi Cosi Titan Pro is forward facing only, so wouldn't be the most recommended choice for a 1 year old. Although it's legal to forward face at 15 months, it's better to continue as long as possible. Certainly until about 2/3 years it makes a lot more sense to rear face from a safety perspective. This also has the 18kg (40lb) harness limit, around just 4. It then converts to a high back booster seat.

[salpb]

@BertieBotts Oh thank you so much! Very detailed and useful info.
We are moving to Netherlands. We have Canadian Volvo XC90, that will be transporting with us to the Netherlands. So it is a NA spec car.
I am looking for rear facing as long as possible, with super high safety standards. She is a tall baby vs average.
I guess Axkid would be the best choice then for me. From what I read, usually kids at age 5-6-7 wouldnt prefer to still sit rear facing but we'll see :)
Vs Axkid Minikid 3 or Axkid One 2 (in the same range), do you have any other suggestions that I can look into?
Our baby is 15 months, 10kg and 76-77cm.

Thank you again!

[BertieBotts]

Ok yes so if you want rear facing as long as possible then you'll want to look at the axkid seats, also besafe and Klippan - look at their websites to see what they offer.

Britax also have an extended rear facing seat called the Britax Max way plus and I think they're meant to be bringing out a new one in the next few months called maxspace pro.

Check with Volvo if they are happy for you to tether - this is not top tether, it's another kind of tethering low down on the floor - and use support legs. Axkid one doesn't need to tether but the others do. Volvo being Swedish will probably be fine with this but check

Otherwise there is sometimes an exception saying you may use NA seats if you have a NA car because the seatbelts and chassis may be different so the EU car seats may not be compatible. So you could potentially bring your own from Canada.

[BertieBotts]

Your baby is also on the smaller side, so you may be fine with a spin seat like Britax Dualfix M Plus. This you can use rear facing up to 105cm/20kg which for you will be about 5-5.5 years. The forward facing limit is the same, or you could swap to a longer harnessed seat at that point, either a Canadian seat or Joie Bold is our longest harnessed forward facing currently.

The spin seats are nice because they are easy to use but they also give you the choice of RF or FF.

[BertieBotts]

Hang on you said tall, but I've got 76cm at about the 9th centile. Is there a typo somewhere or is one of us wrong?

[buckingmad]

I have the Joie I spin and then an older non spin maxi cosi Pearl in my MIL’s car.

I hate my joie. It feels cheap and flimsy compared to the maxi cosi and it’s such a pain to get in and out because the seat doesn’t come off the isofix base like the maxi cosi does.

Im pregnant with my second and will be getting a new maxi cosi Pearl when they grow out of the newborn seat.

[salpb]

@BertieBotts Great suggestions, thank you so much!
I am more leaning to Axkid now, as you said, Volvo being Swedish they would be also very compatible to each other. I'll check the other 2 brands you suggested as well.
We measured our baby couple of months ago, she has been always on 65 to 75 percentile for height, with some Dutch blood I guess :) So that's why I sad she is tall, maybe she is taller now than 76cm. But all good, thanks a lot! :)
You helped me to make a informed decision.
Have a great day!