overwhelmed with choice of stage 3 car seats and can't access which reports. who has chosen one recently? any tips to pass on?

[ja9ladiesdancing]

tia

basically i want as cheap a 'good' one as i can get!

I need one too, so bump!

I have the britax hi-liner but I think that has now been discontinued and replaced with Britax evolva 2-3. Both I think do well on which tests.

Do you mean stage 3 (booster cushion) or stage 2 (highback booster seat) ?

oh i mean the booster with high beack which can later be just a booster...

not many now split , none of the current Britax range for example. Maxi Cosi Rodi does consistently well in tests.

yes i need one for an almost 5 year old - does not need to split as never like those just bum seats fly about too much

was looking at a concorde one? any one know it?

oh right. so when is a booster seat considered acceptable from ? 5 yrs?

One of the ones that came top or near top in the Which? report was the Maxi Cosi Rodi XR. We bought it (about £90)and it is easy-peasy to fit. The reason it did better than some is that it has side-y bits that make it safer than some of the others Which? looked at in the event of a side-impact crash.

Which? don't recommend booster cushions at all - no side impact whatsoever. If you were going to go down that route I'd imagine they're all much of a muchness, it's just to raise the child up after all.

Will be back with their best buys in a mo.

kiddicare only seem to sell nania... ever heard of it? i hadn't...

i summarised the which report on here just before christmas, will find the thread.......

i summarised the which report on here just before christmas, will find the thread.......

oops

Britax Evolva 2/3 (Ultra or ISOFIT)
and the plain Evolva 2/3, which may be off the market now, and the Hi-liner which definitely is (have this in my parents' car)
Maxi Cosi Rodi XR (we have this, in a lurid pink 'n' orange combo)
Maxi Cosi Rodi XP (older model, there were still loads around when we bought our XR)
Concorde Lift Evo PT
Concorde Lift Protect

There are four 'don't buy's in the category, but I don't think they would concern anyone here - three are because the seat is for 9 months plus and uses the adult seat to secure a baby; the other is also 9 months plus but with a five point harness, but that means you have to remove the back and make it a booster cushion for an older child (which as I mentioned, they don't recommend).

which summary

concorde did very well

We have both the Concorde and Britax Ultra (mine and xp's cars) and the only difference we can see is that the concorde has multiple reclin positions where the britax has just one

oh thank you that's really helpful.

so most affordable best buys are the britax hi-liner (which i think is still available in some places) or the evolva.

that's great ladies. a hundred thank yous.

ja9
xx

we went with the Britax Evolva 2/3 isofix and are really pleased with it, It fits securely, easy to use and looks safe.

hello, are you home alone too? i thought you had friends round!

ours is britax hiliner and it's great, but i don't think you can get them easily anymore. having said that SPC had them a few months back when I was last in so might be worth trying there. Think they're around £40.

as someone said they don't seem to do them so they later split to just booster anymore...seems the new big thing is to have them with option of 5 point harness first (though I think that'd only be a good thing if one were evicting older sibling from regular carseat for younger sibling...for us we just kept ds in 5 point until he could fit in hiliner)

as for what age for just a booster...it seems booster only doesn't give a lot of protection so although I do put ds in it, it's only for short journeys. some of his friends seem to be booster only. i use boosters for taking his wee friends for short journeys, but would anticipate ds would be in hiliner for long while yet.

things to consider - how much growth is there, ie how high does the back go up and how much head support is there. SIL said ours is a lot more padded round the head than the one they have for dn (good if LO regularly falls asleep in car).

xxx

hi yes home alone. plans feel through which is a real shame as i had bought some lovely nibbles this av, and even though they will go in freezer, i was really really looking forward to eating them!

have passed by many opportunities to buy a hi-liner frustratingly enough. wondered if i could get one that was a bit narrower as yours only just fits between my 2 car seats and hoped there would be one that would fit better...

don't need one desperately. dd only 10mo and ok for a bit longer in baby seat... and we have 2 of the next stage if we do need to use them at same time, but wanted to get ahead of the game if i could. will try spc and the other new place too. isofix sounds like the best option but that woudl mean a new car !!

but wouldn't you only need it to fit between 2 carseats if you were having a third?! i've not noticed it being wide, but the M&P def is, so that won't be helping.

shame about all those lovely nibbles. hope you've had some of them!

If she's only 10mths you've got a very long time before the stage 2 seats will be suitable

or do you have an elder child you will need to move out of the stage1 seat for dd to go in it? I'm very confused now

pillock, she has 2 stage 1s and a 3 year old who'll need a stage 2 at some point

does that make sense?

much more sense

the britax 1-2-3 did very well in the tests too, which would be suitable for a younger child than a stage 2 would, whilst also lasting as long as the 2/3 seat

I had to replace both my seats after an accident, complete nightmare!