Yet another advice request. R129, Plus test, and long term value.

[axdr]

After spending about 12h researching about car seats, I'm getting slightly close to a decision. Quite a frustrating endeavour tbh.

I've seen some good advice from some users here, so I'd like to ask as well.

Key points:

• Rear facing for longest
• Ideally Plus tested
• Looking at long term value. I couldn't find any checking the prior boxes and from 0-12y. I've seen the most I can get is 0-7y.
• A nice extra was swivel, but I've given that up due to prior points.
• Car will be a Nissan Leaf 2013-2016, not purchased yet. Has ISOFIX.

After taking the Plus test list and searching them one by one to find prices and age ranges, I've closed in to a few options.

• Joie i-Prodigi. Seems to be a clear winner, no cons but pricier. £450 RRP, and 0 - 7y.
• Britax MaxSafe Pro / Safe-Way M. Can't find the differences between them, any help appreciated here. Easy to find for £220 so it's great price. Problem is that they're sold from 3m-7y. So unsure if it's really a terrible idea to use for those first 3 months. Obv not worth to buy another seat for that short period.
• I've also seen the MiniKid 3, but £380 or so, ouch. And uses belts, not ISOFIX (which feels safer but idk if it is really)
• And the MiniKid 2, much cheaper at £250 or so, BUT doesn't have R129 which is concerning and I've discarded it due to that. Even when it has the Plus test.

I'd appreciate the help here. All are within budget (might be gifted even) but still I'd prefer the cheapest working option.

@BertieBotts Thanks very much again for the help.

I just gave it another try. Both side seats have the same belt length, but the middle one had just slightly more. I tried and I could fit it, and with some pushing, I was able to make it level according to the sticker (pics are level to ground).

As you said, it might need something in the corner of the seat to block it from rotating.

Your video showed exactly the issue I was facing, yes. Knowing that's normal and acceptable puts me at ease.

Do you think it's best a rolled towel then?

I will now check the Max-Safe Pro again.

Just tried the Max-Safe Pro.

Adjusting the passenger seat, I realised it fits nicely even with the spacer, and there won't be a length issue here due to the belt routing. It reaches all good.

I haven't fitted the anchor or tether as I still haven't read the manual for this one, but I think it's good. This one doesn't have a level sticker, so hard to adjust, but worst case we can also fit the rolled towel. There's not so much gap here though since it's not a rounded base like the Recaro.

How does this one look @BertieBotts ?

Many thanks again. I'm feeling much better and crisis feels averted.

When you add the tether straps it will bring the seat towards the passenger seat more, if it's anything like the axkid minkid.

Weird thing I don't see anything to attach the tethers on the car floor. Do all cars have those?

Nevermind, just watched a YT video showing how they're attached to the car seat runner instead.

You can only use a rolled towel if the manufacturer says it's OK to do that - I haven't seen it suggested for the ERF seats. It did used to be a common thing to do with infant carriers but these days you don't see it suggested, so not sure if there is something I don't know about why (it's probably just that most people tend to use a base these days). You can contact Recaro by email - [email protected]

Agree the baby seat looks better now. Hard to see, but is more of the child seat in contact with the vehicle seat on the side position? There is a certain percentage that needs to be in contact with the vehicle seat though with those curved bases, it will never be 100% in contact so that's expected. But in the photo on the middle seat, it looks like not very much is in contact which might not be right. May be best to contact Recaro in that case and ask them about the level line vs contact with seat and whether it's permitted to use a rolled towel. They have a helpline too - +49 (0) 731 37 99 41-0 - that is a German number but it's listed on the UK site so it's likely someone will speak English. Might be worth a try and if no luck, try the email. Being in Germany myself I can tell you a lot of offices are on a wind down/rush to get work completed for Christmas by now, so an email reply might be slower, and a phone call might be better if you can get hold of the right person.

For the Britax, you probably won't need the leg spacer piece until LO is older. I can't see anything glaringly wrong with the install although I don't think the tethers are installed yet (?) - but I am not Britax trained so couldn't be 100% confident. I don't think there is a way to adjust the angle with this seat. You should be able to contact whoever you bought it from for support with fitting, and age suitability of the angle. There is a video about that seat on the same youtube channel as the infant carrier video, but I don't think it shows a huge amount of detail.

I believe (though could be wrong) the fact the Britax is fitted very tightly up to the backrest of the vehicle seat, with or without the use of spacer, means it matters less if there is a gap underneath next to the vehicle seat backrest, because the pressure of it being pressed against the backrest sort of counteracts that. But as you said, it looks fairly flat on the vehicle seat itself so it should be OK. It's just whether it would be too forward leaning for a very young baby not yet sitting up on their own. The infant insert ought to counteract that a bit, and the tethers will also pull the seat down a bit when they are in place.

Thanks again for the huge help.

I just sent them an email. I don't feel like calling Germany.

You're right, for some reason on the side seat there is more contact with the car seat. On the middle seat the gap looked much bigger.

For the Britax.
Yeah, I just added to leg spacer to account for the worst case scenario in terms of space and belt length. Tethers were not installed (haven't read the manual yet), but those shouldn't be an issue. They will just adjust the tilting a bit. And thank god they're there, because I honestly felt it was very insecure how easily you could push the car seat upwards when fitted without them. I guess they're there for that.

But then, what about the infant seat? There are no tethers there, and the seatbelt really doesn't hold it from lifting/rotating.

Yeah, with the Britax the gap is much smaller, and I could still push it down so there's less forcing it to the seat slant. Won't use this one till LO can seat properly (6 months or so), that's for sure.

Yes exactly - the tethers hold it down and prevent it from rotating or moving around, the seatbelt being so much lower doesn't hold it as securely as the infant carrier type belt path where it goes around the entire seat (other, cheaper RF seatbelt seats like Joie Stages also use this method), so the belt path (as in the Britax seat) can't be used alone to secure the seat, especially for older/bigger children.

It is possible to rotate the infant carrier up (usually even if it was on a base) - that's normal and not really a problem. If you were in a crash, the majority of the force goes in the direction that you were travelling before the crash, ie forwards. Because the main anchor point of the car seat is the two solid ends of the lap belt (the buckle, plus where it's attached to the car), the seat will try to rotate around these points, so the second force is downwards. The only time you get upward movement is in the rebound phase of a crash. Rebound forces are a bit weaker, and basically the handle of the car seat acts as a kind of roll cage, it will prevent the seat from tipping up completely. You can try this out by pushing it up yourself with the handle up.

@BertieBotts Can you please confirm that this is normal and safe?

Video

It's the only thing I find weird. The only thing that prevents the carrier to rotate is the pressure against the back seat. And that only happens due to the seat belt being extended to max and super tight. If it was longer, the car seat would be just floating there.

Just trying to put my mind at ease and my partner's. 😂The pool noodle seems it would help (a bit) against this at least.

I don't know what happened there but I only get a sound file, not a video.

I think you're talking about the fact the car seat lifts up easily off the seat? That is totally normal and nothing to worry about. Nothing puts pressure on the seat in that direction, so it's not a problem that it can easily move in that direction. Remember you'll have the weight of the baby in the seat too.

You can see in this video that all infant car seats can move in this way and a lot of the bases can too, even when they are installed with isofix.

@BertieBotts Yeah, that video is perfect for my case. Thank you very much.

Weird that the video doesn't load for you. I can see it fine. Have you tried opening both links shown? Here are 2 screenshots showing the important frames.

Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2

But yeah, it's exactly what the video explains. If that's normal, then the pool noodles are not even necessary, right? (still waiting for reply from Recaro)

Correct, the pool noodle isn't necessary to prevent it tipping up because it's normal that it can do that.

What people used to use a pool noodle for is to make the angle of the seat more tilted back, because if the angle is too upright, a newborn's head will fall forward onto their chest which can compromise their breathing.