BoostApak by Trunki

[MHLx]

Hi - I'm after some advice please. We are going to Italy in the summer, and my DD will be a month short of her third birthday when we go. It is a multi-centre holiday which will involve taxi transfers and also a train journey. I have requested a car seat for the taxi transfers, but the holiday company could not guarantee this. I have been researching the web to see if I can find something portable to take with us. The BoostApak by Trunki is one that, in my opinion, should do the trick. The info on the website says it's for 4-12 year olds, but she is almost 15kg which is the the minimum weight on the website. We would probably need to also get one of those seatbelt adjustor things, as she may be a little short for it.

Is there anyone out there who has used one of these? Or, do you have any other suggestions?

Thanks!

We have one of these for DS aged 4. He's just under 15kg and was fine in it. It has an extra strap to hold the seatbelt in position already, so you probably won't need to buy anything extra.

I was pretty impressed with it apart from it being a bit heavy for DS to carry.

I have also seen an inflatable carseat which might be another option? Just google it.

Hi trixymalixy!

That's great - thanks for such a quick reply. They do look bulky to carry, so I guess I'll be carrying it!!! Seen some reviews that state the carry straps don't last long - have you experienced this?

Yes, I've seen the inflatable one too - so it would be good to see if anyone on here has one of those! The BoostApak looks a little more robust in my opinion, and also good to carry a few bits and bobs in!

We've got them for our DS's aged 3.6 and 5.6, they're fab. They have an belt with a plastic loop through which you thread the car seatbelt, making it the right height for your child's shoulders. You can also fit quite a bit of stuff in thr main body of the rucksack making it useful to take on flights as hand luggage. If you are getting one buy it from Amazon - we paid £30 with free delivery compared to £45 in John Lewis! HTH

Hi MadameGazelle!

Thanks for your reply, really helpful. And yes, I've noticed the difference in price too when surfing the net!

I wasn't too keen on the idea of an inflatable car seat either.

We've only used it once or twice so can't really comment on how robust it is.

The first lot of BoostAPaks apparently had a problem with the carrying straps which Trunki recognised and rectified - if you check their website. We've had ours 3 months and they've been in and out of relatives cars and the straps are fine. I also looked at the inflatable booster seats but the Trunki seat seemed much better value for money

I bought one recently for a trip away with ds1 (6 yo). It seemed very good, but I would advise checking out how to set it up in the car before you go as we found this a bit of a fiddle. (Ironically, my ds2 who turned 3 last week would not even be close to being big enough for this car seat!). I do think you should be happy that she will meet the weight criteria though, remember that for moving to a booster seat, 15kg is the minimum weight, not the recommended weight.

Great, thanks everyone for your advice. I think I'll buy one and see if it suits.

I have two for my 4yr and 8yr olds. They are fantastic, and they both love carrying them in the airport which i was not expecting. I don't let the 4yo load hers up as they are fairly heavy to start off with but they work really well in the cars we've rented while on holiday.

Have had no problems with the straps coming away, bought mine in John Lewis (online, free delivery) in Feb and have used them for 2 trips, a total of 3 weeks away.