Rotating Car Seat

[Whitelaura]

Hi,

I’m looking to see if anyone can recommend a rotating car seat from birth to 12 years. Just had one delivered but it didn’t state that the rotating part would only work if your car comes with a certain clip thing which ours doesn’t unfortunately.

TIA

When you say clip thing, are you talking about isofix?

We've used the maxi cosy swivel one. It is isofix though

We have the Joie 360 I-spin. The unit stays in the car. There are "clips" that you use for the isofix - but I was fooled by some caps that needed to come off, so just wondering if there is something you're missing?

I thought the revolving bit only worked until they came out of the harness (18kg?)

All cars designed in for sale in Europe have had isofix since about 1998, and anything volkswagen much earlier.
The top tether point came later.

What car do you have?

I'm not aware of any well tested spin seats that can do kids to age 12. What seat is it? You may be best to return it and get something safer.

The besafe izi twist is the only spin seat genuinely suitable from birth.

Really? I had a 2003 Yaris until quite recently and I could have sworn that it didn't have isofix. This was pre my own kids though so maybe I was just spectacularly unobservant.

I think it was 2006 that isofix became standard 🤔

I don't think there is a rotating car seat that works from birth to 12 years.

I think OP is talking about top tether, which is not present in all cars.

Pre 1998 no cars had isofix.
1998-2006 - unlikely but possible you'll have isofix. Top tether unlikely. Likely to be tricky to see.
2006-2013 - very likely to have isofix but not guaranteed. Top tether unlikely. May be hard to find.

2013+ - all cars with more than 2 seats have isofix and top tether and they will be clearly marked.

Anyway - the top tether ones are generally the very very budget models so you won't find a decent one for that price. For that price point the only spin seat I'd recommend is Joie 360 Spin or Graco Turn2Me. (And they are good seats - I had one :) )

In general I wouldn't go for a birth to 12 years spin seat. They tend to make too many compromises both in safety and practicality. (I can elaborate on this). But if you absolutely have your heart set on it, Silver Cross Motion All Size is the best rated one, the only one with a "good" rating for safety by ADAC. Joie i-Spin XL also got a "good" safety rating with ADAC, but it did less well in the frontal crash test and better on the side impact test. ADAC are the ones who provide the results for Which? - so if you have a Which subscription or get the 30 day trial or access through your local library, you can compare these two models in more detail.