How frequently for long journeys to be worth a lie flat seat?

[onournextadventure]

Let me preface this by saying we live in southern Africa. We live an hour and a half (in good traffic) from the hospital, we will also have to travel to the city for any checkups/vaccinations. At about 2 months old we will also be travelling to visit family who are a 4 and a half hour drive down some long, rough, gravel roads, so taking it smoothly will take an hour or more extra. Other than this, I don't expect baby will be in the car very often until at least 6 to 8 months old when frequency could increase to monthly for 2 and a half hour journeys.

I have seen the recommendation to use a lie flat car seat for long journeys but our choices are very limited as our car does not have Isofix and we only have limited brands and models available in South Africa.

The two options for us for a lay flat seat that I am finding are the Maxi Cosi Pebble 360 Pro² at about £300 and the Cybex Cloud G at about £200 (currency equivalents). We would not get the swivel benefit from either of them by using the seatbelt to secure the seat. If we were to be driving regularly it may be worth it, but I wonder if at the frequency baby will be in the car we can use a regular seat and take breaks on the long journeys.

If we were to go with a regular positioning seat, what are the thoughts on Maxi Cosi Cabriofix or the Cybex Aton B2? These are both more at the price point I was first looking at (+/- £150).

We also get some Joie, a very limited range of Nuna, some Graco, plus other brands I don't think are in the UK like Noola

With non-isofix cars your biggest issue (I speak from experience, never had isofix!) will be which seats fit your car. Not all seats are compatible with all cars! Having a seat that isn't safe because it can't be securely fitted is far more of a safety risk than one that doesn't lie flat. You can stop for breaks to give baby a rest from a seat, you can't do anything to reduce the risk if the seat isn't properly secured.

Thank you for pointing that out. I have checked on Maxi Cosi's and Cybex's compatibility checkers that the different models from each of them that I am looking at, all are suitable for the rear side seats of our car. I also checked the seatbelt and it appears plenty long enough to get behind the car seat and it also locks once fully extended, so I trust we are safe in being able to fit it securely.

Honestly the lie flat thing is a bit of a gimmick. And a lot of them don't work as lie flat when fitted with seatbelt, so you may be paying a lot of money for a feature you can't use.

That said, I think the Cybex one can be fitted with seatbelt in the flatter position and it's bigger/lasts longer than the Maxi Cosi one.

If your seatbelts lock then they might be US style (ALR) rather than EU style where the seatbelts only lock under sharp braking (ELR).

If you have LATCH/lower anchors, that is the same as isofix.

Is it the original Cabriofix you can buy or the i-size one? I like the original very much but the newer one is smaller and won't last you as long.

Cybex Aton B2 is a nice seat. Good option for the price, though not as easy to fit using seatbelt as the Maxi Cosi seats. If it has a belt-fitted base option, that might be worth looking at. Or if you have the US certified Cybex Aton with the base.

Thank you so much for all this info. I'll keep that in mind that the lie flat could be more hype than its worth, I wouldn't want to risk it giving us a false sense of safety.

Yes it does look like its ALR which is reassuring as there are no Isofix or latch points so we can get the seat secured tightly and know the seatbelt isn't going to release at all.

It appears that a previous owner has installed a rear tether anchor behind one of the rear seats but from what I have read, this will only be used when they eventually become forward facing.

The Cabriofix available here is only the new i-size, which I see now there is quite a difference between the twos maximum sizing, thank you for pointing that out.

I had emailed a few places asking if there are any belt-fitted base options (as I was keen to not have to re-belt it each time we get in and out of the car) but none make/sell belt bases any more, only Isofix bases.

At the moment I am leaning towards the Cybex Aton B2 then but I'll go to a shop that sells both the Aton B2 and Cloud G to see how great of a lie flat benefit the Cloud G gives with the seatbelt.

Ah, cloud G I'm less sure of. Sounds worth trying in the shop. I know the Cloud T can be fitted in the flatter position with seatbelt, but Cloud G is a more budget model so might not work that way.

For the tether anchor if you're looking at EU regulation seats then you probably don't need it. But I'd try to check whether it's up to spec before you use it just in case.

The info I'm getting from South African retailers, the Cloud T can't recline with the seatbelt installation (https://www.preciouscargo.co.za/collections/infant-car-seats/products/cybex-cloud-z2-isize) I see the link says Z2 but all the info is Cloud T.

Whilst for Cloud G they say it can recline with a seatbelt or Isofix.(https://www.preciouscargo.co.za/collections/infant-car-seats/products/cybex-cloud-g-i-size)

Of course either one the rotate function isn't available but I will definitely check the reclining when I can get to the shop to see them and compare to the Aton B2.

Yes we would definitely find out how to check the rear tether anchor is up to standard before we use it, but that is good to know that with EU standard seats it's likely not needed, especially as I thought we would be having to look into getting it installed on the other side when number 2 comes along.

EU standard rarely ever uses a top tether without Isofix. I've only ever known two seats to do this. One of them was designed by a US company trying to break into the EU market. Australian seats on the other hand, I've no idea if you get those where you are, but they do use top tether and seatbelt combo and they are probably the best forward facing seats in the world if you go that route later.

Cloud Z2 and Cloud T are the same 🙂 cybex renamed it to avoid confusion with the previous model Cloud Z. It could be an oversight on the website; Cloud Z only reclined on the base, rather than seatbelt fitted. You can download the manuals from the cybex website anyway to see.

I have checked and whilst South African laws are incredibly lax for child seats, it's legal to forward face at 9kg and the legal requirement for car seats ends at 3 years old, it's unbelievable! But at least the seats sold need to meet the European regulations (US and Aus regulated car seats aren't legal to be sold).

That makes sense then why the web address still shows Z2, I hadn't thought of checking the manuals on the website, I'll do that. Thank you.