Does anyone have this cosatto seat?

[Lavenderlights]

How old is your child that’s using it and how do you find it?

I had this seat, dd used it from baby through to around aged 4/5 the only reason I changed was because I had to move her to the front of the car. I liked the seat and it's really adaptable however it is large.

That seat is dangerous. Please don't buy it. Check out car seat safety Uk on Facebook

Not personal experience but experienced eye/opinion -

This is an old fashioned style of seat. It doesn't offer much at all in the way of side impact protection compared with other models on the market today, the support is especially lacking IMO for children in the harness stage. It doesn't recline for naps etc.

It can be easy to make a mistake when fitting the seat in the car, and the harness is not very adjustable and has a basic way to adjust it (uninstall seat, rethread harness to new slot). In general, the mechanisms to adjust the seat are poorly designed and potentially leave gaps between the different age stages (e.g. children within the overlap between two age stages may not fit well in either mode). These things are important, because if you don't fit or adjust the seat right, it won't protect your child as it's designed to. And the protection of this seat when it's used perfectly is already quite basic.

Plus points are that it has the serpentine belt path rather than the one where you thread the seatbelt through behind the seat only - this is more secure, though only if it's done correctly. And it's very light.

But honestly, I would not say these outweigh the downsides - it's a very basic seat, essentially just a backless booster, with the only function of the backrest being to hold the 5 point harness in place. It would not pass the latest safety regulation on several counts, and Cosatto's supplier have changed the seat significantly for the updated new regulation version.

If you are looking to buy a seat and £75 is your budget, these are similar type, and again not the best on the market, but better bets for this budget, IMO:

Kinderkraft Comfort Up i-size
Joie Elevate R129
-- Both are 123 type seats similar to this, and are fairly basic in design but have more up to date safety features and the newer safety standard.

Kinderkraft Safety-Fix 2 - similar to the others with the added benefit of isofix + top tether fitting.

The current cheapest offers on Group 1 seats or high back boosters that I would recommend start at about £90 - this may be because Black Friday is coming up soonish. The cheapest 123 seat that I would recommend is about £150 (that is already an offer price).

If you already have it or have been offered it by a friend and you are not able or don't want to replace it, to make it as safe as possible, first of all if your child is in the 5-point harness age, check their shoulder height against the harness and choose the slot closest to their shoulders. If they are between two slots, choose the higher one. If they are taller than the top slot, the seat might not protect them adequately.

I would fit it in the middle seat if it's wide enough and there is a 3-point belt there, and make sure you watch fitting videos to see the method of fitting. The Smyths one is the clearest. Make sure you kneel into the seat to get it tight as well, and then tighten the straps on the child until they're really snug to their body. Don't put them into the car with coats etc on.

In high back booster mode, make sure both parts of the belt go under the armrest on the buckle side. On the other side, there is a little plastic belt guide which is supposed to sit in the top harness slot - this might make the shoulder belt too low in some cases. The seat is only actually approved up to 25kg in high back mode and it is likely to stop fitting well in this mode at somewhere between 5-7 years. At this point the seat can only be used as a backless booster - and then, only if the child weighs more than 22kg. Again, if your child sits between these two points you may have an issue.

That's a really unsafe seat with no side protection. How old is your child? If under 4, I recommend the minikid 2. If over and used to forward facing, the kidfix i-size or the izi flex fix i-size.

Thanks all. Is this seat any safer?

Cosatto is not a recommended brand for safety. How old is your child, what's their height and weight and what's your max budget?

15kg, 97cm age 3.max budget is £120.

I would not buy a Cosatto seat.

Cosatto seats aren’t safe. Car seats are the one thing you don’t want to scrimp on. Go for a good brand for safety with side impact protection and tested up to 70mph.

For some reason, the brighter and more colourful the seat cover design (Cosatto, Graco etc.) the worse the seat! I would go with extended rear facing.

If you can stretch your budget a bit, these seats are super safe seat at £189 and £170. And will last you longer than any other forward facing seat with a harness as they can be used until 25kg or around age 7.

https://www.babys-mart.co.uk/products/axkid-move-car-seat-granite?variant=42830677606621&utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=cse&adGroupId=165869758696&device=m&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwm5e5BhCWARIsANwm06jklJnGm2rTDWRkZqLi57b2WvlMJDwJqB3i1mrShwQv_JVpsAPdtm8aAhF4EALw_wcB

https://www.babyplanetonline.co.uk/britax-safe-way-m-car-seat-midnight-grey?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwm5e5BhCWARIsANwm06j8P_pS4kIQ2M6btmHoNyjUqMgG4TplV8mHJ_W7WxchBSeCoWhoVFYaAjTmEALw_wcB

Any other harnessed seat is unlikely to last you over a year as they only go up to 18kg, so you'd have to move on to a high back booster when your little one is 4. This can be really unsafe at that age because of how their bones develop and isn't recommended until at least age 5 (also because children of that age are unlikely to sit correctly with a seat belt).

If you want forward facing and don't mind sacrificing on safety, the Joie stages might be good for you. It's £99 from boots, better than Cosatto although you'll have to switch to the seat belt mode when your child reaches 18kg, which they will be too young for.

If you're keen to avoid the seat belt so young but can't afford the ERF options, you could go for the Joie bold. It's forward facing but harnessed until 25kg. I think it's around £130.

The one you've linked is a bit better, because it's a more up to date design and it's isofix and can be rear facing with your child's age/weight/height stats, but I probably wouldn't choose it for this age, because it has a lot of features which are redundant and will cause compromises in safety/practicality.

What seat is your child in currently? They are at a tricky stage because they are getting towards the end of the 5-point-harness stage, but too young, too short and only just heavy enough for high back booster (using adult seatbelt) so you want to keep in a 5 point harness for a while if possible. They have OK height/weight stats for a 123 type seat - this should take them to just about 4 or maybe a little older depending on the seat.

Do you need the current seat for a younger sibling? And how urgently? It might work out more economical to buy another seat for the younger child and then upgrade your 3yo when they get to the limits of their current seat and you can go straight to a high back booster, which are much cheaper and easier to buy.

For up to £120 I'd look at these options:

Graco Slimfit R129 - £109 at Halfords - this is a great option as does RF up to 105cm or 21kg, then turns to become a high back booster up to 150cm. It doesn't have a forward facing harness mode, though. But the safety is reasonable, it's belt fitted in case isofix isn't an option, and it's a very good price.

Joie Convoy (Halfords Exclusive) - this is a copy of Joie Stages Isofix, so you can have isofix + top tether for forward facing, or rear face up to 18kg. Converts to booster but the booster stage only lasts until about age 7. (This might be OK for passing down between siblings anyway).

Cosatto Zoomi 3 i-size - no independent safety test on this one, so a question mark over performance, but if you have your heart set on Cosatto, then this is basically two versions newer than the original one you shared and is a much better choice because it has more up to date safety features, and again is a good bet for the price. Seen for £120 at various sites. (Needs isofix and top tether).

Lastly:-
The All in All Rotate (the pink seat you linked) is £150, so I'll be cheeky and suggest looking at a couple of Britax models on Kiddies' Kingdom - they have the Britax Advansafix Pro at £150, which is currently the best-rated 123 type seat, so the same type of seat as in your OP but with very good safety and practicality features. Needs isofix and top tether. Likely a good amount better than the Zoomi 3 (but I can't be 100% sure, since no safety test on the Zoomi 3.)

OR they also have the Britax Safe-Way M at £170 and a code on the page for 5% off so comes to around £160. That is an ERF seat lasting up to 125cm (around age 7), no isofix needed, and is the safest thing you can possibly buy both for this price range, but also in fact for this age of child in general. The only possible downside is that it is only rear facing.