Opinions on Puggle Linton Comfort Plus Luxe Group 1/2/3 Car Seat - Blush Pink (9 Months-12 Years)

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What’s everyone’s opinions on Puggle Linton Comfort Plus Luxe Group 1/2/3 Car Seat - Blush Pink (9 Months-12 Years)?

i know loads say bad stuff about the puggle brand but I can’t find nothing on this car seat specifically.
ive already ordered it, i know there’s loads of scaremongering but with people with this car seat, what do you think of it?
we don’t go in the car often, only when we need to and we never go on long journeys

I've just had a read of the spec online. It makes no mention of important safety features like side impact protection.

The seatbelt hooks appear quite shallow on the photos I could see which means a risk of a child slipping under the seat belt on collision (known as submarining).

There's so little info on the spec that it's hard to comment further.

The recommendation now is quite strongly to have child rear-facing until at least 4 years old which this seat doesn't facilitate. If you are set on having a forward facing seat I really would pay a little extra to have a good one that performs as well as a forward facing seat can.

Aside from that, combination car seats covering all of groups 1, 2 and 3 compromise on safety as they can't cover all those groups as sensibly in one seat.
I wouldn't dream of driving a 9kg child using one of these.

On a budget the Joie Stages might be a decent bet. It combines groups 1 & 2 but can be used rear-facing until 4 and has come out ok on safety testing.

I know you mention only short journeys but you don't have to be on a motorway to have a collision where a 9kg baby would fare so much better in a decent Group 1 seat.

Hi OP,
This seat is very basic, passing only the very minimal crash testing. As the PP has already said, seats which try to cover multiple stages will be compromising on safety somewhere. You’d be much better off sticking to one or two stages.

It’s only tested to R44, which is the old testing standard, only testing to front and rear impacts, not side impact. It also allows for FF from 9 months, which is very early and all children are safer RF for much longer. Accidents can happen at any point, even on the shortest of local journeys. A head on collision between two vehicles both travelling at 30mph has a combined impact speed of 60mph, which this test doesn’t come close to.

How old is your child and what centiles are they on? Then maybe we could give you some advice on a different seat.

The reason you can't find any reviews on it specifically is because this is what's known as a generic rebranded type seat. They are sold business-to-business as the technical design of seat, and then the company put their own covers on it and sell. Puggle is the own-label brand of Online4Baby/TheNurseryStore, as they have recently rebranded (in the same way that for example Argos' line of baby items is "Cuggl").

This is a very old fashioned, basic design of seat - it's been around on the market in various names since at least 2008, these are the names I have found it sold under (there are probably more) - the SP/Luxe/Comfort are just slight variants in things like padding.

Nania Beline
Puggle Linton
Fisher Price FP3000
Cuggl Dunnock 123
Mothercare Malmo
(Plus lots of variations on Avengers/Disney/Elsa etc with either Beline or Linton branding)

ADAC did a crash safety test on it in 2012, 2015 and the latest was under the name "Nania Beline SP Luxe" in 2016 and this is their rating on it:

Increased risk of injury in a frontal crash
Average risk of injury in a side crash
The child seat is not particularly stable in the vehicle

It got a score of 4.1 for safety in the 2016 test - this is on a scale from 1-5, where 1 is the best and 5 is the worst, and the test standard has been updated twice since then, so it would likely score worse on today's test.

I do agree people scaremonger about this brand/seat, and some of it is unfairly alarming. It has after all passed a crash test, and your child is safer in this seat than in your arms. I would also, though, unfortunately, consider this one of the least protective car seats you can possibly buy in the UK today, and if you can, then I would swap it for something else. All goods sold online are eligible for a 14-day return period as long as they haven't been used, even if the company tries to argue differently. This is under the distance selling act, and car seats aren't exempt from that.

I understand budget can be tight and the price of this car seat is really affordable. The only car seat I can find at a remotely similar price which I think might be a little bit better is the Halfords Nyala R129 which is on clearance for £40 - because at least it conforms to the newer safety standard, which does make a difference with these kinds of seats. It still looks cheaply made and fairly minimal in safety features, but it does have that newer standard at least.

If you can stretch to £60, Halfords have a seat called Impala R129 which is rear facing up to 105cm/18kg - which would offer a huge increase in safety, particularly if your DD is under 2 years old. Not seen this one myself, but the reviews are good and rear facing is the most effective way to get safety on a tight budget. Essentially, it doesn't matter how basic the seat is, if it is rear facing.

Or Cozy n Safe Fitzroy at £65 is rear facing up to 13kg/forward facing to 18kg, and has a solid one piece shell. I have this as a spare/holiday seat and it's basic but OK - still old fashioned, but more substantial than the very thin plastic on the Nania seats.

Joie Elevate R129 is also on offer at Halfords for £70 which again meets the newer safety standard and is probably better constructed than the Nyala with better instructions.

If you have access to isofix and top tether, Kinderkraft Safety-Fix2 is about £75 and uses these which is another way to get better safety on a cheaper seat.

If you have a higher budget, or your DD is over age 4, I can make other recommendations. If you still have an infant carrier your DD fits in, I would recommend using that until she is absolutely at the limit before moving to this seat or another forward facing seat.

If you decide to keep the Puggle seat, to get the best possible protection from it, do these things:

• Watch this installation video - it shows you the proper belt routing much, much more clearly than any of the official videos/manual and the right tightness to do:
• Install the seat in the back, and push the seat in front of it as far forward as it can go. If you can get a secure installation in the middle seat, I'd actually install it here, because this seat doesn't offer much protection from side impacts so you want your DD away from the side door if possible.
• If you need to install it in the front, push the seat back as far as it will go and refer to your car manual to see if the airbag should be on or off.
• Make sure your DD is in the seat in her ordinary clothes without a coat on, that she sits with her bum all the way to the back of the seat and make the straps really nice and snug to her body - you should only just be able to slide a finger between her body and the straps.
• Before you install the seat, put it against a wall in your house and get your DD to sit in it to see where to adjust the straps to - they should come from the slot which is just above or level with her shoulders, never below. Each time you use it, check if the straps need to be adjusted higher.

It’s really not a very good carseat, it’s very cheaply made, and poor quality, lacks safety features like a support leg - which is pretty basic for an isofix seat, and the insert is unsupportive.

I would encourage you to send it back and get some help from a professional.

Simply Safe Car Seats offer non bias, safe advice, and Car Seat Safety UK on Facebook do also a good knowledge point.

how old is the little one?