Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Car seats

Confused about car seat regulations? Find baby car seat advice here. For Mumsnetter-approved essentials, sign up for Mumsnet Swears By emails here.

Car seat brands Joie or Cuggl

2 replies

DaCosta · 23/04/2024 10:12

Hello,
I would like your opinion please! I'm a first mum-to-be soon and I'm looking for a car seat. I'm searching for some options at Argos and have 2 brands/models I'm interested in: Cuggl Rotating Isofix Car Seat (can be used from birth up to 12 yo and good price) or Joie i-Spin 360 i-Size Car Seat (can be used from birth up to 4yo, more expensive but seems to be well ranked in terms of security/quality). Has anyone purchased any of these car seats and wants to share their experience/opinion please?
Many thanks!

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
FamilyAreEverything · 23/04/2024 18:20

Hi OP,
So I’d avoid the Cuggl seat. Not only is it a minimally tested seat, but a seat that claims to last such a big age range will generally be doing a poor job at all stages.
The Joie seat is better as they do more in house testing to a higher standard. Unfortunately you are unlikely to get a good fit for a newborn in this seat, despite it being advertised as so.
You’d be better off looking at an infant carrier, which can be belted in without the need of an expensive base. The best infant carriers on the market at the moment are:

Britax BabySafe Core
Avionaut Cosmo
Avionaut Pixel Pro

Britax BabySafe 5z2

If you wanted a longer lasting (but more expensive) seat then you could look an an ERF seat suitable from birth:

Avionaut Sky 2.0
BeSafe Stretch B
Axkid One 2 Plus

BertieBotts · 25/04/2024 21:16

Hi OP

Personally I wouldn't be happy with the Cuggl seat. It has several red flags for me:

  • Angle looks much too steep for newborn, and the padding doesn't look supportive for a newborn. The fit of the ~2 month old child in the demo video is poor.
  • Promises 12 years of use, but the manual advises to discontinue use after 5 years.
  • Also, looking at the demo video, there's no way it will last up to 12. A child older than about 6 or 7 is likely to struggle to fit into this as a booster seat.
  • The instructions are extremely unclear. I expect a high chance of incorrect use (which is the most important thing to avoid with car seats).
  • Lack of up to date safety features. This is better than some of Cuggl's previous offers, but it is very basic compared to other seats on the market for a similar budget.
In general, £150 for an all stages, isofix, rotating, ERF seat is too little money, and there are compromises made somewhere. Personally, I would avoid all stages seats in general, because I think they tend to be a false economy - £150 is about the minimum I would pay for a rotating seat covering up to ~4 years. Up to 12 years is tricky. Silver Cross have done OK with this, but their seat is more like £300.

The Joie seat is much better quality and £250 is a fair price. If you wait for the May bank holiday, you might get sales on either this, Cybex Sirona Gi i-Size or Britax Dualfix Plus, all of which are good options. As the other poster said, it can be a bit tricky to get a good fit for a newborn in the Joie seat - though I do find the Joie seat is a bit better than some others in this category for fitting a newborn in.

TBH, if you want a 0-4 years rotating seat, not bothered about pram compatible carry seats and £150-250 is your budget - unless you have very sloped seats in the back of your car with low down isofix points, I'd probably go for this:

https://www.kiddies-kingdom.com/birth-4yrs/40695-recaro-salia-elite-select-group-0-1-360-spin-car-seat-night-black.html

It's similar in safety specs to the Joie, likely slightly better, due to the rebound bar. The quality is much nicer IMO and you get the benefit of a lift out newborn section (which you can just leave in the seat if you want) which fits much better for the first few months. The only downside of this one is it can be too angled backwards in some cars, and people say it's very high up to lift the infant carry-out section if you have an SUV type car.

Reviews on it are lacking but it is essentially a slight upgrade from the Recaro Zero.1 elite which has a LOT of reviews.

Some other seats to look at in a similar price range or with similar features, which I think are better options than the Cuggl seat:

Graco Slimfit R129 > All stages, but it's belt fitted and doesn't spin.
Graco Turn2Me R129 > 0-4 years, similar to the Joie i-Spin 360 (a bit more basic).

https://www.kiddies-kingdom.com/birth-4yrs/40695-recaro-salia-elite-select-group-0-1-360-spin-car-seat-night-black.html

New posts on this thread. Refresh page