Car Seats - bit cheeky (and dull) has anyone got a which? subscription and can tell me what's good?

[AuroraB]

for 9 months +

i'm finding the variety baffling (as with all baby things)

also if anyone has any recommendations i'd be glad to hear them

we have a car with iso fix, so i guess we want one of those? or are there any draw backs,i don't really understand it all

and we will want to switch it between my car and dp car and granny's car and i don't know if this is feasible but as they seem to cost about £200 i hope it is

hi, have you looked at rear facing seats for group 1? they are 5x safer. www.rearfacing.co.uk we have one for ds 21 months and have had it since he was 9 months and have been really happy with it. we've had it in large or small cars(3door clio) and it moves around easily-we just leave a seat of thether straps in daddy and nannys car.

ours is www.incarsafetycentre.co.uk/shop/special_br_08.html and will last to 25kgs(approx 6 yrs)

thanks nicm, i'll have a look

do they mind not being able to see much in a rearfacing? or can they still look out the window etc? i always feel ds is a bit isolated in the back of the car looking straight at the seat back

Which? best buys for 9 months+:

Kiddy InfinityPro

Maxi Cosi Priorifix isofix

Britax Duo Plus isofix

Britax Safefix plus isofix

Chicco Key1 isofix

We had the Maxi Cosi Priori (didn't have Isofix at the time) and it was great.

AuroraB my ds doesn't mind at all! he can see out the back and sides rather than the front headrest! when we're sitting in traffic too he sits and waves to whoever will wave back lol!

if you'd like to know anything else about the rf seat just shout.

wonderful thanks amazonianwoman and nicm, sorry for delay in reply i got caught up with stuff and before i knew it a whole 24 hours had passed. i'll do a bit more reasearch based on what you've both said - thanks

bought maxi cosi priorifix (isofix) as it was which's best buy when I bought it, maybe 18 months ago.
It is expensive but either buy from Glasgow Pram Center as they're cheap, or boots and get loads of points.
I'm very very happy with it, although luckily it's never been 'tested'. It is heavy, bulky and awkward to swap between cars, but TBH I think you're going to get that with any decent car seat. Isofix makes it slightly harder but it's worth it IMO/

as Nicm says, rearfacing is best for many reasons

we have a besafe izi combi and a britax 2 way elite and are very happy with both of them

they're higher than the infant carriers, so your child will still be able to see out of the window

we switched our 2 year old from forward facing to rearfacing and he hasn't complained at all!

beware the which reports, they are not based solely on safety, which means that the safest seat (when correctly fitted) does not always score highest.

is that right tiy??? I thought it was all about safety - they even have a disclaimer of normally they count in cost as one of the features but for car seats they ignore cost entirely.

no, which can mark seats down because of how easy they are to fit, instructions, etc. have a look on www.rearfacing.co.uk/forum.php there is an explantation of what they do to get the results. i didn't realise this until the rf seats were reviewed!

no, if it was only on safety then rearfacing car seats would come out top

they can lose points for having too many fitting steps, taking a long time to fit, not having washable covers and things like that

I remember when we were looking for ds1's first car seat some years ago now, the maxi cosi was top (as usual) but when i looked at the full results the britax one had come out better on crash test results. but it had lost some points due to being "easy" to fit incorrectly.

so, basically, look carefully at the results. their best buy may not be the right seat for your car, and it is not necessarily the best for safety

and this comes from someone who used to use Which? religiously for every purchase she made!
it's definitely made me view them in a different light now.

on a slight tangent, maxi cosi don't sell their rearfacing seat (the mobi) over here because apparently parents prefer the colour choices on the forward facing seats better

"no, if it was only on safety then rearfacing car seats would come out top"
that's very true, hadn't thought of that, interesting, thanks