when to buy a new car seat?

[misdee]

dd3 is 4yrs old, weighs 16kg and has about 2cm lft of height room in her car seat. she is in a britax eclipse, and i know she needs to go into a high back booster soon.

roughly how long, will it take for a 4yr old to gain 2kg?

also does anyone know of any good offers on britax high back boosters, or maxi cosi high back boosters?

are the new style graco's any good?

i would go for the maxi cosi or the graco, the headrests are really supportive compared to the graco ones,

a high-backed booster is from 15kg im sure??
what about a britax evolva 1-2-3 then you still have the harness?

both my older kids (3 and 17kg, 4 and 18kg ) are in britax hi-liners which we got in halfords for £30 each,
we had an evolva 1-2-3 for our dd but had to change her to a hiliner when bubby was born as i couldnt fit it in with the baby seat in the back too!

the 123 wont fit sadly

misdee you could have AGES left in it, could take up to a year for her to out grow it?

I bought a maxi cosi rodi XR which I prefer to the Britax Hi-Liners I already have.

Hated the evolva 123 with a passion.

ooh, i loved my evolva 1-2-3 i though it was a great wee seat, i would have kept it if i didnt have dc3!
why didnt you like it cargirl??

DD1 is 4 1/2 and about 14kg so not the weight for a booster yet but she is very tall and looked silly in a Stage 1 seat, I bought a Graco highback booster but I don't like it, have been looking about at highback boosters and Kiddicare are quite reasonable for Maxi Cosi Rodi XR's

dd grew out of the 123 heightwise before the other stage 1 car seat I had (britax renaissace) the base is really wide so doing the adult seatbelt up was a nightmare when using it as a booster seat. Neede a 3 point belt to secure it as well.

A good stage 1 and a good high backed booster seat are better IMHO.

she still should be 15kg min for a highbacked booster,
whether she looks silly or not,if she is still within the weight of the stage 1 seat she is much safer in it than a highback booster which she is not heavy enough,

my dd was too tall for her stage 1 seat but was only 14kg so too light for a highback booster,thats why we bought her the evolva 1-2-3 as it still has the harness.

sazm I'm amazed you managed to get the straps on her if she was tall! If the 123 would have a few higher settings for the shoulder straps it would be an amazing seat.

The manufacturers have overlooked the tall but skinny market!

I have a european Britax which can be rear facing until 15gs and with 5 point harness until they are about 8 - fabulous!

ooh, the harness on our went up quite high, my 5yr old still fitted in it with the harness, but yep it would be better if the harness did them until they were a bit older,

My dc are tall too and this winter with my 3.5 year old in her winter coat was a struggle, she did fit but it is hard work IYSWIM! My stage 1 car seat had settings over an inch higher which just seemed a bit crazy!

getting her in the eclipse with winter coat on is hard work.

am hoping summer jackets or no jackets soon will get her to the summer hols in this seat. she starts school in sept [wobbles lip at dd3 growing up]

do you know you they shouldnt be wearing a coat when they are in a carseat?
(something to do with it preventing the harness securing them properly,)i read it somewhere when i was shopping for a new carseat!maybe that would help?

Problem is for a short trip in that freezing weather not wearing a coat is a problem. However I do the straps up very very tight which is probably what most people don't do when they're wearing a thick coat.

I could hardly get the straps on DD1 coupled with it being really difficult to get two Stage 1's and a rear facing seat in the back, we decided as she is just under 15kg that a highback booster would be the best bet.

I agree though I would much prefer her in a harness, the Graco seat plus using an adult seatbelt just doesn't seem safe enough but maybe it's just me being precious.

i do it up as tight as possible

i dont know i just remember reading that they shouldn'e be put in a carseatwith a think jumper/coat on,

Just bought an Evolva 2-3 in Mothercare, £20 off at the moment. They've got Graco ones on offer too at the moment. Just thought I'd chuck that in!!