Maxi Cosi Tobi - any recommendations?

[mejon]

We're just about at the stage of needing to get a new car seat for DD (small 16mnths and still in rear facing seat). It's had good reviews but wondered if anyone has any practical experience - good or bad? Thanks.

Mostly good. We've been using ours for DS for about 15 months now. My only complaints are:

the straps can be very stiff to pull really tight and consequently I have managed to snap the little plastic bit recently that holds the pull bit of the strap in place. It's not an integral part though and safety isn't compromised at all.

The red/green system to check for tightness is a bit iffy IMO. It can be green one minute, then your child shuffles themselves around and it slips to red. Best to pull straps tight, give them a tug upwards to check for slack around the waist and pull tight again (way road safety officer suggested).

Plus sides are the pop up straps are fab, the summer cover you can buy is great and can be machine washed even though it says it can't (my mum didn't know...) and it is a really tight, secure fit which the road safety officer I saw said was the most secure belted in seat he had seen. Just be sure it fits your car without buckle crunch etc.

Meant to say that DS was 11 months when he went into it and was 20lbs but was very small (not on the charts!) height wise. At the lowest setting, the straps were just fine for his height.

Thank you. I think I heard about someone else who'd mentioned that a road safety officer was impressed with it. We'll have to see if it fits in the car now!

We have one in each car. Really like it. Did well in last year's Which tests. Do long journeys, and 13 month old sleeps really well in it, as it's got a pretty good recline. Halfords fitted in for us, though have since read that Mothercare are best for fitting service. You can look up your car on the maxicosi website to see if it will fit.

We have one and v pleased with it, though it's not used that often (no car). DS seems to be v comfortable in it. It reclines which is great for getting him to sleep on long journeys.

DH has got the Tobi and i have got the Priori - both are excellent, they recline well and DS seems comfy on long journeys

the Tobi's spring release harness is good - i thought DH was being a typical bloke and wnating something extra gadgety, but it is a great feature

Coincidentally I've just bought one for my smallish 16 mo DD , not really had a chance to test it thoroughly but been on a couple of runs and it seems good. Easy to fit, feels secure, and the spring-up straps work well. The seat does seem high, beneficial for the view I guess. She fell asleep on the way home from the shops so that's a good sign.

I found that the Precious Little One (bleargh) website was the cheapest for the colour I wanted (chilli pepper) but it took about 4 days to arrive.

We have the Tobi for DD and love it. Safe, comfortable and high up so a great view for her.

Really great if you have a high car. We have a C-max and DD can see out of the windows.

DO NOT buy from Two left Feet. They were the cheapest when we bought ours and we ordered it, they said it was in stock and it didn't arrive. 2 weeks later they admitted they didn't have any (finally) but still took 40 days to refund us.

When we eventually got hold of one the Glasgow Pram centre was the next cheapest and arrived the next day.

I highly recommend these. I did loads of research before buying mine - largely because the rear-facing seats I had seemed terribly unsafe and I wanted to get it right for the next stage. The Tobi's rated highly across the board in the Which magazine test which was what initially sold me.

My girls are also very small and they were less than 8kg when I put them in the seats. According to the guide they were too small but the rear-facing seats we had just had to go!

I find it really easy to get the babies in and out - the straps sit forward so they can't go behind the child when they sit down. They are super-easy to recline, I can manage it from the drivers seat. Also very quick to fit (when you get the hang of it) if you need to swap them between cars.

We've had a few vomits in ours to date too and it has been relatively easy to clean!

buy the summer cover glamourbadger - it's fab for clearing up sick messes!

i called about the buckle retrofit thingy today and about the broken plastic bit on mine. They said they'd fix it for me, but I need to send it back to them. They said that obviously it wouldn't affect the seats safety but they would be concerned about fingers/legs getting hurt on the broken bits. Going to borrow my mums seat and do that I think, though can imagine the psotage would be a fair bit!

Anyway, great customer service!

Thank you everyone for all the positive recommendations. I'll have DH as an extra pair of hands on Tuesday so we'll go off and have a test in Mothercare.

My plastic bit broke too - 6 months after I bought it. Luckily I bought it in John Lewis and they replaced the whole seat! Great Great service so I got a brand new car seat.

Maxi Cosi have redesign the plastic bit - you can't see it anymore, it is covered in fabric. it was obviously a design flaw.

There is a real knack though to loosening the harness. You have to make sure there is no twists at all in the loose bit of strap at the buckle and make sure you bring the buckle all the way down to the loose strap so it touches the seat This might sound complicated but will make sense if you try. Otherwise you will be swearing at the car seat as the harness doesn't loosen easily...