Car seat help!

[Teamustbefromateapot]

Looking for some advice on which seats to buy please.
Currently have: 7month old in Britax Babysafe Core, 2 year old (just turned 2 and very small - approx 14kg and 78cm) in a Joie ispin 360, rear facing and almost 4 year old in Joie Bold R129 (with harness).

My dilemma is that the 2 year old is beginning to really fight the rear facing seat and baby is getting too heavy in their seat. Looking ahead, I imagine I'll have to turn 2 year old forward facing when baby maxes out their seat which I expect around August / September.

Can anyone recommend any seat options / solutions? I expected to put baby into the ispin and buy a new seat for the 2 year old, but maybe a better option is to buy another ispin? I don't love the Joie Bold but it's fine for now.

Had been looking at the britax versafix/evolvafix/advansafix - does anyone know the difference?

Thank you!!

The Versafix/Evolvafix/Advansafix are essentially all the same. I think Advansafix is marketed a bit more premium, with all the possible features they can add, including a couple of extra safety features, whereas Evolvafix is a budget version, following on from the old Evolva model and Versafix is a very slightly more premium version of Evolvafix with marginally better fabrics.

I do like these seats especially for age 2/3+, and I prefer them to the Joie i-Spin used forward facing, but with your 2yo's size they might be a bit lost in them. The Maxi Cosi Titan or Onyx might be worth a look, they are a bit narrower at the waist. The weight limits aren't as high (18kg rather than 21kg) but I don't think that is necessarily an issue, especially as you have the Joie i-Bold in case you need it later.

OTOH is it worth keeping them in a spin for a bit longer so you have the benefit that you can FF if they are fighting it and RF for times when it's OK and/or longer journeys where they are likely to sleep?

Or another thought - do you know anyone with the larger ERF seats like Axkid? Those might offer a bit more room for the 2yo and be better received as a rear facing seat, but it's a lot of money to spend if you end up moving them back to one of the FF seats you already have.

How heavy is your 7mo? Do you mean they are getting close to the weight limit or you just don't want to carry the seat any more? You could leave the seat in the car so as to not need to buy new seats yet, although at some point, you will need a new seat for one of the children I suppose.

Is the 4yo ready for a high back booster or do they still need a 5 point harness?

This is incredibly helpful @BertieBotts thank you so much!!
All of the britax seats looked much the same so I was so confused. I think 2 year old would be okay with a ff seat that had a recline option for sleep. It's just the fact they're quite tiny that has worried me! I'm hoping to keep them in the spin until I absolutely have to move baby. Already keeping the baby's seat just in the car, but they aren't far off the height limit for the seat so I think we won't get much past the end of summer! Drastically different builds of children haha.

4 year old is only 98cm so not quite ready for a HBB. I would be totally happy with them in one otherwise, however I have tried the 2 year old in the Joie Bold just with the car stationary in the drive and she's Def waaaayyy too skinny!
I had briefly looked at the maxi Cosi so that might be another option to explore - thank you!
I had a chat in a car seat shop and the Bold was the one they recommended the most which left me feeling a little lost as I'm not in love with it at all!

No - I don't love the Bold. The old, R44 one was a decent enough option when you needed a 25kg harness without height limit. The newer one is not as good as the Britax IMO which has the same weight and height limit. (I'm sure it's fine and I am not suggesting that it's unsafe or anything.)

Silver Cross also have a 123 seat "Balance i-size" which I believe is the same base generic model as ABC Design Aspen i-size, which got a good score on the ADAC test. That is also 20/21kg weight limit. I'd go for Silver Cross, Britax or Maxi Cosi (or Recaro or one of Cybex's sub-brands if they ever release another 123 type seat) for forward facing. Joie are good for rear facing seats, and their build quality overall tends to be better than other options in the budget price range, but in general I wouldn't pick them for FF.

I think a lot of ERF experts don't know much about forward facing seats, so they default to Joie because often their logic is that you only go for a FF seat if you can't afford a 125cm limit ERF seat, and your child is over 18kg but not the right age for a booster seat yet. In that scenario, the old Joie Bold was good but there are other reasons that people choose FF seats.

IMO, you really want either a proven model or a trustworthy brand with an excellent record for FF (Maxi Cosi and Britax tick both of these boxes BTW).

The Babysafe Core limit is 83cm - are you sure the 7mo is close to it? 6cm is roughly one clothing size, which can help estimate growing times. They rocket through clothing sizes in the first 6 months, but then it slows down a bit and even more so after a year so you might have longer than you think.

If you have a Costco nearby, they do have the Joie i-Spin there for £135 apparently which might make it worth getting a second one.

This is so helpful honestly. Thank you so much!! I would say you're right about the advice re: Joie. I'd love to still have them RF but unfortunately it's just not do-able in our car!

No Costco here unfortunately or that might use been a shout. Baby was measured today by HV and is 76cm so I'm thinking I probably have 6 months max? Hoping I can hold 2 year old out until then RF! Unfortunately we have nowhere near us with any britax seats to look at in person. The nearest stockist told me they could order it in but "they're all the same and the joie bold is a great price right now" 🥴

What are your thoughts on the Bold as a HBB? Thinking ahead to when 4 year old can use the seatbelt down the line - worth switching?

I haven't seen the Bold R129 in person, so I am not sure how good it is as a HBB - it looks fairly similar to the old one which has an OK belt fit although I find it heavy and bulky. It is one of the only HBBs which allows you to use the top tether in HBB mode. I am not convinced this is helpful but some people like it. 100cm is the minimum for seatbelt and there is some US data suggesting that 18kg is better than 15kg if you can wait (but this might be more to do with age than physical size).

I think at 76cm another 6 months is likely a minimum rather than a max. As long as baby fits physically (head is contained) and is within the weight limit there is no great issue if you wake up one morning and find they are already 84cm. Are they similar size to your 2yo? It can be tricky to measure a wriggly not yet standing baby so I do always take those measurements with a pinch of salt anyway.

I actually checked there and he's in the older Bold R44 not the iBold, but with the Britax on sale ATM I'm tempted to buy them both one and keep the 2 year old's aside until I absolutely need to move them. I definitely would feel more comfortable with a harness until maxed out and move to seatbelt when necessary!

That's useful to know that you think the height growth might slow down for baby! Yes - sitting up they are almost the exact same height. Just slightly longer legs on 2yr old (who got measured too and is now a whopping 81cm 🤣🤣). Ah if only it were one size fits all! I really appreciate your help.

It's up to you really. The older Bold is good in that the harness lasts much longer, 25kg without any restriction on the height. The benefit of the Britax seat is that when you move it into HBB mode it has the extra hook thing for the lap belt. I like the shape of the Britax too - my kids seem to like sitting lotus position in it. But I remember the Maxi Cosi seats seemed to fit smaller-proportioned children much more nicely when I was fitting car seats in a shop. Have you got a John Lewis or similar near you? They tend to have those kinds of brands. Halfords stock Maxi Cosi too but not Britax.

And yes it's funny how little they seem to grow in the torso - it really is all arms and legs for a while!

Unfortunately no JL etc. we are in NI and the only britax stockist for some reason didn't have any I could look at! I'll see if I can get them into a friend's to check fit!

Ah I see then I don't know the shops there! I think it can be tricky to find these things abroad. The EU version of the silver cross seat is ABC Aspen i-size but I don't rate the Aspen 2.