High back booster recommendations

[ThelastRolo20]

Sorry to immediately tag you @bertiebotts but would be grateful for your thoughts. My near 3.5 year old is still RF in my car but has a spare FF car seat in my husband's car.

At 18kg she won't be RF in my car as it's a 360, and she'll outgrow the spare FF seat. As it happens her younger sister will probably then go RF in the 360.

So long story short I'm thinking of getting her a HBB as her next seat. I've been looking at those with the R129 safety standard - is that the latest?

I've seen the Joie elevate and the kinderkraft comfort up - I size.

Any thoughts on which is better? Or another option? We're thinking of going to HBB as in my head it's easier to switch that between two cars, of we did ERF we'd likely need two for ease and that's more money!

Thanks so much!

I'd go for the Jolie- the Kindercraft comfort failed the Which crash test Don't Buy child car seat exposed in Which? crash tests - Which?. She could also still use the harness on the Jolie which is good, so you don't have to switch her to a seatbelt right away.

@xmasdealhunter oh thank you! Maybe that's why it's discounted at the moment

@xmasdealhunter I've just read the which article and I think kinderkraft have now updated the model to meet the R129 safety. The one in the report only met the R44 safety standards. Just in case someone who owns a new one comes across the article and panics :) still interested in people's thoughts about it!

How tall is she OP? 3.5 is quite young for a HBB.
You could easily transfer an ERF seat between vehicles, especially if you bought an extra set of tethers.

@FamilyAreEverythingthank you - she's 95cm but we will probably keep her in the car seats until she's 4 which is when her sister will move our the newborn ones.

To be honest part of the reason is because I'm not a fan of her britax romer FF car seat for some reason so wondered whether to move to a harnessed HBB now rather than getting another car seat for only a year or so. But happy to know recommendations that are easy to shift between cars, we park behind each other and it's becoming a logistical nightmare

How much does she weigh at the moment? I thought from the OP she is already 18kg, but I think that's not the case as you say she's RF in your car and that your seat is a 360 seat with an 18kg limit. At 95cm I am guessing she is under 18kg still (but how far under?)

3.5 is right on the border of being too young for a HBB with adult seatbelt and 95cm is definitely too short - she needs to be 100cm minimum (better if closer to 105cm). It could take her a year to gain those 5cm, so whatever you get you need harness capacity for a while yet.

I think though you're not talking about HBB, but about harnessed seats which convert to booster seats - both the Joie Elevate and the Kinderkraft seat are this type.

I like the Britax-Romer FF seats but if you don't it might help recommendations to troubleshoot - do you know which seat it is? (Romer is just the German part of the brand name, not the model) Is it the Evolva? Or just a Group 1 type seat e.g. King/Prince? What is it you don't get on with, with that seat?

Is this the seat she has in Dad's car at the moment? Honestly I would be happier with pretty much any Britax seat over the Joie or Kinderkraft seats, unless the Britax is very old or broken or there is another problem with it. Also, a seat which only covers Group 1 is usually (unless it's very old/basic) more protective than a seat which covers multiple modes and can transform. It might sometimes make sense to stick with that kind of seat until she is ready for a standalone high back booster unless the seat is needed by another child or there is a problem with it.

I am personally not keen on the Joie Elevate, it's very basic and the seatbelt routing is less secure than some others. It's sometimes the best option when someone is on a tight budget and can't use isofix, but it's not my best pick.

I'm wary of the Kinderkraft model although I do agree with you that it is a completely different design/model to the one which scored badly on the ADAC/Which?. It's a similar belt routing to the Joie seat, doesn't really offer anything extra to it, and if the budget is strict and you don't mind generic, there are isofix/top tether models for this price range and those tend to perform better so would be a better bet IMO.

Have you looked at Joie Everystage R129 or Graco Slimfit R129? Those are rear facing up to 105cm/21kg and then forward facing mode is only as a high back booster (no harness, seatbelt only). The safety score on them is reasonable - better than I expected. Would that be a possibility in Dad's car or is RF a problem (space, dad's preference etc)?

Ah, so she’s definitely too short to be considering a HBB. The minimum would be 100cm, but closer to 110cm would be better. Also, at 3.5, she may not be sensible enough to sit still in the seat.
You’ve got 30cm of growing room in a ERF seat, so a good few years.

@BertieBottsthank you! Yes I'm talking about harnessed seats, not a HBB then :)

I got the britax second hand so not 100% sure on model but I've attached the picture here. Tbh I just find when I tighten it it doesn't seem quite tight enough but I can't seem to fix it. But maybe it is and it's just me. No opposing to ERF in either car, I just wanted to avoid constantly moving the seat from one car to another and they seem quite bulky? I thought a harnessed seat may be a better option and buying two ERF seems an expensive option given it's for one child! But I'm happy to stick with the Britax until she's 18kg if it's safer, she's around 14.5kg at the moment.

Here is the seat

Oh I'm not actually sure which exact model that is. It's i-size I can see from the airbag warning. Is it the Trifix 2 which uses isofix and top tether to fit? Or is it the King Pro 2, which is seatbelt fitted? If it is Trifix 2, that remains the best ever rated FF seat (aside from the Cybex one with the airbag) so if you can get it working for you it would be better than any other option on the market.

What is making you feel it's not tightening well enough - is there a gap at her tummy or are the straps loose somewhere else? When the seat is empty, if you fasten the straps can you pull them totally flat so there would be no space for a child to sit inside? If you can do that, then it means they aren't getting stuck somewhere, which is good. However it might be harder to pull around a child sat in the seat - I used to have this issue with my Cybex Aton baby seat. I had to keep the straps at the right tightness rather than loosening them because it was too difficult to pull them tight when the baby was in the seat, or push the slack through from behind, which you probably can't do with the seat installed.

Have you checked if the headrest is in the right place - it looks like it's not at the very top position yet, which might be OK given she is 95cm, but equally it might be too low. Headrest being set wrong can make it hard to tighten the straps.

As it's second hand it's worth examining the strap mechanism (or as much of it as you can see) by things like playing around with it with the seat empty, making them as long as they go and then pulling totally tight, moving the headrest up and down, looking under the cover to check if there are bits of food and crumbs and stuff or an old spilled drink gumming up anywhere, feeling and listening for any unusual sounds or checking it's not twisted or sticking somewhere.

@BertieBottsthanks, it's a top tether one and that's the pic when I bought it so the headrest is higher now :)

I'll play around with the straps and keep her in it then until after 18kg. Thank you! At that point if I don't do ERF what would be your recommendations?

As she's 14.5kg, she's also not yet heavy enough to use a HBB with adult seatbelt, although can see you are not planning to do this yet It sounds like the harnessed/RF stage will definitely overlap for both children.

So - you are looking for a new main seat to replace at least the spin, but possibly both models when you need to pass the spin seat onto the baby in ~6 months time, then. Sorry, I think I got confused here initially, and thought you only wanted to replace the spare seat.

What will baby use in Dad's car? Are you happy to swap the 360 seat or did you need another solution for that as well? How close is baby currently to outgrowing the infant carrier seat? They do need to be 15 months minimum to use a forward facing seat, and would not recommend this if possible. One option might be, since there is more weight allowance on the Britax seat (21kg IIRC - the orange sticker will say), bring that into the main car for DD, get a new harness/booster combo in Dad's car for her (or swap the Britax FF seat until she is ready for a seatbelt HBB) and a cheaper RF seat for baby.

The Joie Every Stage/Graco Slimfit (R129 models both) are quick to move between cars because they are just belt fitted, they fit pretty much like an infant carrier and are less heavy than an isofix seat although they are bulky of course. I don't love them as everyday seats, I think you will get annoyed with the seatbelt if you've been used to a 360 seat. This might be a good option for baby in Dad's car, though. And could potentially be used by one of the children as a high back booster later on.

If you got an ERF seat like Britax Safe Way or something by Axkid, you can get a second set of tethers for the second car, which does cut down on swapping time. I don't have personal experience of fitting these. So I don't know how easy or not it is to move them between vehicles - I know some people do it, but not sure how often you're thinking of doing it.

Is there a total budget in mind? If budget is tight, it might actually make sense to look at cheaper "stopgap" sort of RF seat or seats for the baby, so that DD can fully outgrow the two seats she's in now and then move into a high back booster rather than going for any kind of combo for her. But just depends really on what you want to do overall. I can sketch out some different combos here price wise.

With her current centiles, she'll probably reach the HBB minimums (100cm/15kg) by about age 4.5, but she won't outgrow those seats' limits until more like 5/5.5. It's up to you when you switch her but since you'll need a harnessed seat for both of them at once anyway, it makes sense to get the most from them you can.

@BertieBottsyes sorry it's all confusing. My younger daughter currently has a car seat as part of a travel system, and I've bought a Joie 360 for up to 4 years old rear facing which is her seat in dad's car from now until 4. In my car she's in the travel system seat until 15 months when she'll go in the silvercross (which my toddler is in) rear facing until 4 also.

So it's just my toddler that's my conundrum for now once after hits that 18kg mark 😄 she's short and stout 😄

Sorry - xposted - my previous response was too long so I broke it up into two but then I miss things

OK, so it's the Trifix that you have, there were two versions of it actually, the original Trifix was released in 2017, whereas the Trifix 2 has been out since 2018. The weight limit is either 20kg or 22kg. All the manuals and references to it I can find online now are that it's 22kg - but there was definitely a 20kg thing somewhere along the line. As your DD is average weight for her age this probably won't matter anyway as she is unlikely to get past 20kg in this seat. But you might want to check the orange sticker to see what the weight limit is, or the manual if you have a paper one.

You might want to look and see if you can find the date stamp on it because if it is the 2017 model then it will be coming up for 8 years old. 8-10 years is the lifespan of this kind of car seat, with it being Britax and the seat being in good condition, I'd happily push that out to the max, so I'd probably use it as long as DD needs it and then get rid of it if that is the case. (Obv a 2018 or later model could be used longer). In the example attached picture the "16" in the middle of the left side clock stamp is the year of manufacture - the other one is the week, but you don't need to be that strict about it.

I think I'd do one of these approaches:

Option 1: Look out for offers on the Joie Every Stage/Graco Slimfit, then when baby outgrows the infant carrier, swap the Joie spin to the main car, so you have two spin seats in there for now. Use whichever is roomier for the older child. In Dad's car keep the Britax Trifix and use the Joie/Graco every stage one for baby.

When older DD outgrows the spin or gets to a point you want to move her to a high back booster, probably around age 4.5 - 5 years, swap one of the spin seats back to Dad's car for baby, convert the Joie/Graco seat to high back booster for DD, and either swap this between cars or buy a dedicated HBB for the main car.

Option 2: Keep Dad's car the same. Change DD's seat in the main car to a good HBB + harness combo - I'd go for Silver Cross Balance i-size, Britax Advansafix/Evolvafix, or Maxi Cosi Titan/Onyx. They all test well and if you like the Silver Cross seats that's an option. The Maxi Cosi seats only harness up to 18kg, the others are 21kg. You can usually find one or other model of these for about £160 - Silver Cross have their Essentials version for £144 at the moment, which is a good deal.

When you feel ready to swap her to a HBB with seatbelt, move the combo seat to Dad's car and buy a standalone HBB for the main car. Or put the combo in Dad's car immediately, and move the Trifix to the main car. (Or indeed, get a cheaper combo type seat for Dad's car - e.g. Halfords Topi/Cozy n Safe Hudson/Graco Energi).

You could go ERF seat, but it would mean swapping and you'll still need to buy two (and eventually, four) high back booster seats later. For some people the extra RF time would be worth it, for me I don't think it would at 3.5.

Oops did I lose the image - here's the date stamp thing.

@BertieBottsthank you - helpful! Looks like I might have gotten the weight limit for the britax wrong - I'll check the seat itself this evening. Thank you for the suggestion - it'll be easier if she can use it for longer for sure

@BertieBottsjust looked back at the posting for the car seat. It's the trifix 2 up to 22kg - thank you for helping me figure that out!

Yes but it might be worth double checking if you can find the orange sticker on the back of the seat itself - not urgently, but at some point. Because people make mistakes when listing things second hand. I did a bit of an observational survey of marketplace listings a while ago and it was not that uncommon for people to mix up similar model names. Sometimes people gave completely the wrong model or brand!