Which car seat?

[gottomakeithappen]

Hi,
Looking for some advice, we are due our first child in October and keen to make the right choice for a car seat. We think we are comfortable with not having a car seat which goes onto a pram frame, but happy to be advised otherwise.

We have identified 2 car seats which look like practical long term solutions but we really have no idea and when we have visited shops for advice they very much push the products on their shelves so hoping for more unbiased and real life experiences here.

www.mamasandpapas.com/products/joie-ispin-360-isize-baby-to-toddler-car-seat-coal-560779000

www.smythstoys.com/uk/en-gb/baby/car-seats-and-bases/00-36kg-%7c-group-0-1-2-3/babyauto-xperta-i-size-360-swivel-isofix-0%2b-1-2-3-car-seat/p/204952

Open to others but these were the two we had shortlisted but we really feel we have no idea despite reading up.

Thanks

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This thread is a little old now so some of the suggestions may be out of date, but if you’ve landed here looking for a car seat for your newborn, we’ve recently updated our best baby car seats article with lots of great options, as tried and tested by Mumsnet users. We hope you find it useful.
MNHQ

Thanks @welshweasel . Can I ask why it's not the safest option? My thinking was that I've heard a swivel base is good for when they get a bit bigger as it's easier to get them in and out of the car when they're wriggling more. So I thought if I was going to be getting one of those bases and appropriate seats later on, would it be possible to get the swivel base now and use a carrier seat on it. I know the swivel functionality isn't really needed for when I'm using the carrier, I just thought it would save me getting 2 different bases (I've had a lot of recommendations from friends to go for an isofix for a carrier as it's much easier to just clip them in and out).

Can you only use seats with a swivel base up to a smaller weight? Is that the issue?

We have a Cybex Cloud which my baby really likes and I absolutely love the idiot proof 360 spin. It also lies flat on the pram so you don’t have the issues with car seat time limits. It has a longer fit timeframe as well, up to 87cm (apparently 24 months). It’s quite a heavy carrier though.

One I’d look at if I was buying today is the Maxi Cosi Coral with the integrated baby carrier which is quite useful to bring them in/out the house.

Oh my post hasn't gone through - I wrote it while I was out and didn't have very good signal. Annoying.

Anyway - to address some points in the thread, the lists you get of approx 7 different seats are always incomplete and often out of date, as they are just the ones that the pram company has specifically tested with that model, and pram models tend to stick around longer than car seats do. For example you see things like the Cybex Aton 2 on the list but I bought the Cybex Aton 5 in 2018 so who knows how old the 2 is

In reality, the pram makers have cottoned on to the fact if their pram is compatible with the popular brands of car seat they can market that, and the car seat companies have cottoned onto the fact people are much more likely to buy the seats that go onto the popular prams. So the adapters are almost all universal these days. If it says it will take a Maxi Cosi car seat and has these distinctive U shaped adapters then it will take any of the following brands:

Joie
Nuna
Avionaut
Cybex
Maxi Cosi
Besafe

Doesn't matter if the specific model is listed on the pram maker's website or not. There are still car seats that go onto their own brand-specific adapters, but this is limited to the cheaper brands such as Hauck, Silver Cross, Cosatto, Ickle Bubba, Babylo, Graco and so on. Often even these brands if they want to market themselves as upmarket (Cosatto, Silver Cross) will sell a separate adapter that is compatible with the wider range of brands and a specific adapter for their own car seats. Joie also have one seat (Juva) that only goes on their cheapest prams and is not Maxi Cosi compatible.

Britax is late to the party but has swapped to the Maxi Cosi style adapters for their two latest car seats, although the old models still use the Click & Go adapters (which you can get for a lot of prams, but not as many as Maxi Cosi adapters).

@redlou123 yes a swivel seat will only go to 18kg maximum weight, which higher centile kids will reach before they are old enough for a booster seat. Problem is, until your child is a few months old, you won’t know what centile they are on!

The safest seats are those which have passed the Swedish plus test. There are two swivel seats that I know of that have passed this - the nuna norr and the joie i spin safe.

The swivel function is not needed with the 25kg seats, as the sides are much lower, so they can climb in themselves from a young age!

redlou the spinning base infant carriers are:

Cybex Cloud Z (and the newer version)
Maxi Cosi Pebble 360
Maxi Cosi Coral 360
Britax Babysafe isize 3
Britax Babysense isize

They're all really safe, really well rated and the toddler seats that go on the bases are also excellent, safe well-rated options too with the option to rear face up to 105cm / 18kg (about 4 years for an average sized child - less for a taller, more for a shorter child). Not a problem at all for safety, although you could improve on safety by buying a rear facing seat which lasts longer, assuming that you would move into a booster after the toddler seat.

But what you describe, only wanting to have the swivel for toddler age is where the salespeople get you! If you bought a normal infant carrier and base, and then buy a separate spinning toddler seat later, what you'll find is that the majority of the spinning toddler seats don't need a base. The base comes attached and you don't need to buy it separately. In fact, there are hardly any toddler seats where you need to buy a separate base. Shockingly, some of the swivel seats that are all in one with base attached, like Joie 360 Spin or even Britax Dualfix are cheaper than the toddler add ons for the swivel base. It's absolute madness! I can't believe how much they charge because basically they know parents are overwhelmed by car seats and instead of looking at the whole selection, they'll go oh I've got a base, let's see what goes on my base, job done, decision made, and they've made an extra £50 out of you compared to if you had bought their (often identical!) seat where the base and seat are permanently attached. AND then you have another baby and the base is in use so you buy another £200 base. Kaching. It's a total con, and I get cross about it.

Yes, the swivel bases tend to only go up to approx 18kg because the isofix fixing is rated for up to 33kg which includes the weight of the child and the seat. Spin seats for toddlers are really heavy and weigh approx 15kg, so it doesn't leave much leeway for the child's weight, even with the newer flexibility about weight limits. If you want to rear face longer than 18kg, which is definitely beneficial especially if you end up with a child on the heavier end of the scale, you'll have to skip the swivel (or buy two seats) because they don't make swivel seats for heavier children. Swivel function is nice, but not the be all and end all. A lot of the larger rear facing seats have really low sides so it's easy to get the children in and strapped in. I have a swivel, and I like it, I think it just depends on your personal preferences - if you're committed to longer term RF, the larger RF seats are much better for that. More leg room for child, less space taken up in the car, and no angst that your child might outgrow the seat at 3-4.5 years and not being sure if they are really ready for a booster. It just gives you the freedom to use it as long as you want and FF when you are ready.

I agree with PPs that in theory you only need 2 or 3 seats (infant seat + 25kg seat OR Axkid One which does both, then HBB). However, it also depends if you have more than one child. We ended up getting a swivel seat (18kg) for reasons I won't go into. But it wasn't a waste of money because we've had a second child so we are getting the use out of it - when DC2 outgrew the infant seat, they went into the 18kg seat, which means DC1 can stay in the 25kg seat until they outgrow it (and won't go into a HBB until then). If we hadn't had the 18kg seat we would've had to put DC1 into a HBB (to give DC2 the 25kg seat) or buy another seat for DC2.

if I knew I was having just one child, something like the Avionaut Sky sounds good. The Axkid one just seems ridiculously expensive, although I'm sure it's a great seat.

I would add that the number of seats you need might depend on which infant carrier/seat you get.

We had the Maxi Cosi Pebble Pro which is suitable up to 75cm but my daughter is tall so outgrew it quite quickly. She wasn't heavy enough for the 25kg seat (the Britax Max Way Plus has a 9kg lower weight limit) for months, so we had to get another seat for her (ended up with the Joie I-spin 360).

We can use the I-spin for baby number 2 so it's not wasted, but it was an extra purchase that we hadn't planned on.

Thanks everyone, this is really, really helpful and has given me lots more to think about. They really don't make it easy do they! We will hopefully have another baby but have struggled to get this one (2.5 years to get pregnant, then 4 losses before this pregnancy which thankfully seems to be going ok), so we may or may not end up needing multiple seats/bases anyway but it wasn't something I'd actually thought about. Really interesting point about most of the swivel toddler seats already being attached to bases, I hadn't realised that. Thanks again everyone

Another vote for joie ispin we love it. My DD is small and only about 25th centile at 2yo so think she'll easily stay in it rear facing for quite some time.

I originally thought that Axkid One was insanely expensive, but actually if you've bought a Joie i-Spin 360 + Axkid Minikid, which is a combo a lot of people do buy, the One is about the same or less money. And if you'd bought one of the spinning infant seat sets, which are surprisingly popular, they are about £450, plus a minikid, the One+ comes out cheaper. 5-7 years ago it would have been a crazy price, which I think is why Recaro Zero.1 elite never took off (£400 being seen as a crazy price at that time) but nowadays people commonly spend over £400 on infant seat + base combos, £250-300 is a typical price for 0-18kg seats, £3-400 is the range of a lot of the popular 25kg ERF seats. When you consider it's essentially doing the job of two of these seats and it's the only isofix ERF seat on the market for 4+ years, it doesn't seem so crazy. I think it's more than I would pay. My budget is more Britax Max Way than Minikid let alone One 😅and even £200 seemed like a huge amount of money to me to spend on a car seat in 2009 when I was looking for DS1. His infant carrier cost me £40 and I felt I was splashing out to spend £130 on his toddler one. No Joie at that time.

I was actually really surprised when I worked in a baby store that people would not bat an eyelid at crazy high car seat prices for infant seats. I think at that time, a lot of people get caught up in a crazy whirlwind of buying the absolute best for their baby and hang the cost. Unfortunately what you tend to see is that they spend £400+ on the infant seat and then come back a year later and want a 123 seat that will last for £150 because they no longer have the budget to spend £400 per year (and quite fair enough, honestly, but they could have spent £150 on the infant seat combo and saved the £400 for a great toddler seat + booster later.) Even the cheap infant seats are good. The toddler stage is where it matters.

"Even the cheap infant seats are good. The toddler stage is where it matters."

i agree with this, but I didn't realise it when I was pregnant with DC1! And I think most don't when it's their first.

I really like the spin function, and wouldn’t want to have toddler age without it now.

The maxi cosi mica was £200 on offer which is really good value imo as includes a base.
we will just need to get a high back booster in future.
If we had gone down the infant seat route or in future as well, I think I would just get a basic one like maxi cosi citi to last the first 6 months and use seatbelt fitting.

Ds was a large 99% baby born, but now at 2 has evened down to about 75% height, 50% weight. I think legs longer than torso, and he still has plenty of room in the 0-18kg seat, and only weighs about 13kg. By the time he 18kg he will probably be nearly 4

However, many children are not mature enough to sit properly in a HBB with seatbelt when they turn 4. (DS wasn't, I still have my doubts and he's 5 ) So a car seat that can be used with a harness (rear-facing if you prefer) beyond 18kg can often be helpful. Not just for heavy/tall children.

Would recommend the Cybex could z for the spin function and the ability to lay flat when on the travel system if you have a compatible one. I had the previous version cloud q for DD but trying to persuade my husband we should upgrade for this baby as the Q doesn’t spin.

Sorry for the slow update, so we really like the Joie Ispin 360 and with further discussion think, obviously a bit unknown, that we could manage without an infant portable seat initially.
However if we were to we would look at the Cybex Cloud as it can lie back to 180 and the Cybex Sirona as the next stage on seat as the two share the same base. We are going to have a bit more of a look at them and then make our decision. Thank you all for your input and would highly recommend the links BertieBotts shared.

The Sirona Z is pretty expensive for a 18kg seat and is often outgrown before 105cm as the child can't fit under the headrest as it has a short shell.
We had headflop problems with cybex cloud Z and Sirona Z, my daughter also hated it but others love it.
If I had another child. (which I don't plan to do) I would go straight for the Axkid ONE2+ as we replaced the cloud Z and Sirona Z with it, it seems expensive but once you add cloud Z + base + Sirona Z it isn't really that bad and lasts until 23kg or 125cm which ever comes first. The Axkid ONE2+ is also plus tested and rear facing only and super easy to move.

Just bear in mind if you did go for the Cybex set, when it's time to upgrade to the Sirona, it would still actually be cheaper to go for the Joie i-spin 360 at that point. You'd get the benefit of keeping the base in case you wanted to use the cloud for a second baby and a higher shell as Lavender is right, it's a bit of a short one the Sirona.

The Cybex cloud is a lovely seat but don't be tied to the Sirona for the next one. If you decide to get the cloud Z, it will still be worth looking at what else is out there when it comes to the time to upgrade.

I don't rate Cybex tbh, they're heavy seats and my chunky babies outgrew them quickly. Not worth the money I don't think.

I've gone back and forth but on balance I've been really pleased with the Aton 5 that I've had for DS2 and 3. Having been through both of them it still looks brand new. Takes a bit to get used to positioning the baby in it but they always look snug and secure. I think it's great for the price. Was about 100 for the seat and 100 for the base and the best thing about the base is it's Isofix and seatbelt so we used it in the middle when we did a big long drive and DS1 needed more space.

We have the Maxi Cosi Coral 360. The spin function is great and the fact that you can lift out the insert part, leaving the shell in the car, saves so much weight. So if DD falls asleep in the car and we get home, we can just lift out the middle bit.

We have an iCandy and I love the fact that the car seat is compatible with the iCandy chassis too.

I always like to remember a car seat is for the car and shouldn't be the main thing you leave baby in whilst out. Its no good for their back development and breathing. Also they are get hot quickly as made of polystyrene and hold the child down as they are designed to hold the child in a crash.
A carrycot or lie flat pushchair is far better for the baby as they can move and stretch.
Yes the odd 5 minutes shopping trip is fine but people do leave babies in them far too long.

www.dewaldenspramcentre.com/products/maxi-cosi-pebble-pro-i-size-displayx?variant=40156293660843&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_viWBhD8ARIsAH1mCd7RI8R1TwNAl1I2FZ18z7EL__uLtDWcEyaLcxNJCLl4dcVW0i-_AUsaAouEEALw_wcB

this one looks good. What base would need to be bought to go with it? We are also due in October and I’m really confused about what to buy! We need to be able to move car seat between two cars so I’m not sure if we need to buy two isofix bases.

You don't need a base for the Pebble Pro i-size, it can be fitted with seatbelt so you only need a base if you would like one for the convenience factor :) It takes about 2 seconds to fit with base and about 30-60 seconds to fit using seatbelt. Give it a try in store if you like.

If you would like a base it's compatible with the following Maxi Cosi bases:

BabyFix - infant base only
2WayFix
3WayFix
Familyfix 2
Familyfix 3

www.maxi-cosi.com/c/international/base-compatibility

@AprilRae91 If your car has very sloping seats you might need a base, so it's worth getting the fit checked.