Car seat to take abroad with us for 21mo - recommendations please!

[CakesAreGreat]

We're going to visit some relatives in the Netherlands next month and will be in their car to and from airport and possibly a couple of times during the week. Our current car seat is a huge swivel one which is great but not suitable for travelling as it's is heavy plus I'd have a breakdown trying to fit it into another car in the middle of an airport car park.
Can anyone recommend a lightweight, cheap (but safe!) easy to fit car seat for my 21mo. It will hardly be used apart from trips abroad so don't want to spend a lot of money. Thanks in advance!

We brought a Britax Eclipse for this exact reason. Its very light compared to others, and we easily fitted it into a hire car, a taxi and a mini bus without any delay. I think we got it from Mothercare for about £50.

Rear facing or forward? If RF, the Joie Tilt or Steadi are good budget options.

Get a stage 1 to 3. 50 quid in Mothercare.

If you aren't us using it on the plane to need to check which ones are accepted. At 21 months I'd probably pick up a second hand Maxi Cosi infant seat, most toddlers are within the height and weight specs for them still and easier to carry and fit. Otherwise Joie Tilt is a good suggestion rear or forward facing to 18kg, my nearly 5 year old is still rearfacing in one but she is very short at 3rd centile. They only cost about £40. It will only last until aged 3 though with a bigger child.

You can almost always hire them, especially in the Netherlands. I would google and see what hire companies you can find. We did this when we didn’t want to travel with our pushchair and it was much cheaper than buying one. They’ll drop it off to your friends and collect again once you’ve departed.

First best option - ask friends if they can borrow a seat for you. They should then be able to work out how to fit it into their car in advance of picking you up.

Otherwise, I'd get either the Joie Tilt or the Joie Elevate. The Elevate will last you longer as it converts to a booster, plus is a little bit lighter, but the Tilt will be much more supportive for naps etc, plus once he's in a booster, you might find something like a bubble bum more practical than carrying around a large one anyway.

I can't see the tilt for £40 though - £60 is about as cheap as I've ever seen it I think.

Looking into hiring may also work, google "baby equipment hire" in your location; I think buying the seat might be cheaper but not always.

Just a word about hiring - my friend who works in travel advised never ever to hire a car seat. They are not fitted, it's not always easy to work out how to fit them and you have no idea how old they are or if they have been in an accident.

www.mothercare.com/highback-boosters-with-harness-group-1-2-3/disney-cars-beline-sp-lx-highback-booster-car-seat/261971.html?cgid=car_hbb_withharness#srule=Price+%5BLow+-+High%5D&sz=12&start=1

Seat above £35 and you can take it on holiday for years. We have the mini mouse version and it's great

Please don't get one of the cheapest car seats! They're only tested to the legal minimum standard (shockingly low if you want to google it) and you've got no idea how they'd fare in a crash at even 35mph.

Stick to known brands like Joie, Britax, Maxi Cosi, Be Safe, Cybex, etc because they all do their own testing to ensue their seats are safer than just the bare minimum.

Sorry, I know you have your preference tea, but they pass current safety standards and I'm quite happy with mine. Better than most car seats available at airports, hire companies etc. I travel a lot and it's light weight and perfect.
And wasn't a Joie seat found to be unsafe recently?
I have an expensive top spec britax seat which has its faults. In fact I prefer the cheap one as it has a better fit in most cars.. ideal for travel. I travel a lot and based on my experience, get something you don't mind getting bashed about a baggage carousel

In summary I recommended
Light weight
Not too expensive
1.2.3 seat as useful for travel for years to come
Seat belt fix. In case hire car has no isofix or hard to work out.
Easy to take in and out of car
Fairly narrow. My issue with britax seat is that it's so wide it affects seat belt closure.. In fact I need to complain to britax!

The Joie Every Stage scores poorly when forward facing but scores very well rear facing. Personally I wouldn't forward face in any seat but if you do, the Every Stage isn't the one to go for.

And again, IMO, when you look into the minimum legal standard for seats, it's shocking. You'd have to pretty lucky to crash in the same scenario as the legal test.

Yes it's all personal choice but for me, there's a huge difference between legal and safe. Legal doesn't cut it for me.

The Britaz Eclipse is actually a very slim seat - designed to fit into small cats.

Or even cars!!!! Lol!

Agree with teaandbiscuitsforme about those cheap character/non branded seats. They are really not recommended.

There is a good Facebook group called ‘Car Seat Advice UK’. They explain about the unbranded/cheap character car seats in more detail.
OP, you would also get some good advice there about which is a good seat to take away.

Does he fit in an infant carrier still? That would be the easiest to take.

You can also get car seat carry bags to make taking a larger seat easier, you can carry them like a back pack or shoulder bag.