Best Group 1 car seat and cheapest place to buy?

shininghero

Hi there,
My twins are quickly growing out of their group 0 car seats. I have a budget of £250 to buy 2 Group 1 seats.

Q1) What car seats do you recommend at that budget?

Q2) Where is the cheapest place to buy them (Kiddicare?)

milliebear00001

Take a look at the Which? Guide. It lists the safest models. Bear in mind though, that not all seats fit all cars!

Sagaris

I think the best thing you can do is go to Mothercare and get them to fit different seats in your car - then you will have an idea of which seats you are looking at. You can always look around online for special offers on suitable seats then.
How old are your twins and how much do they weigh?

natalie1974

Sagaris wrote: »

I think the best thing you can do is go to Mothercare and get them to fit different seats in your car - then you will have an idea of which seats you are looking at. You can always look around online for special offers on suitable seats then.
How old are your twins and how much do they weigh?

Well judging from a post dated 13/3/2008 from the OP stating the twins were due in a few months I would hazard a guess and say they can only be 3-4 months old , therefore they are way too young to go forward facing . Now if I could keep my heffalump of a DD2 in a rear facing car seat until 8 1/2 months old and she weighed 30lbs by that stage then I would say the twins can get a few more months out of their rear facing seats as well . Just my opinion .

milliebear00001

Yes that's right. They should be rear facing for as long as possible. The weight is the main thing, and even then the minimum doesn't mean you should immediately put them into Group 1 seats. My daughter had to put up with squashed legs for quite a while as she was long but skinny!

shininghero

OP here. The twins were born late May and now weigh 7.8Kg and 7.6Kg so we're planning ahead. I was told by a colleague that you can't go wrong with Britax and Maxi Cosi but I do take the point re keeping them on group 0 for as long as you can. They just seem more restless each day! with the new boiler, washing machine, offroad buggy, tumble drier, child saving account... the outgoing is feels endless

mhe

Id vote for maxi cosi - but my DSs were kept in their baby seats until they were 12 months old - so you really are planing well ahead!!!

milliebear00001

shininghero wrote: »

OP here. The twins were born late May and now weigh 7.8Kg and 7.6Kg so we're planning ahead. I was told by a colleague that you can't go wrong with Britax and Maxi Cosi but I do take the point re keeping them on group 0 for as long as you can. They just seem more restless each day! with the new boiler, washing machine, offroad buggy, tumble drier, child saving account... the outgoing is feels endless

I had a Maxi Cosi Stage 0 and a Britax stage 1 (the one with the foot that comes down- it's excellent, you can't move the thing!) and then went for a Britax Evolva 2-3 for stage 2 (which was the safest at the time according to Which?) It will be easier to assess the safety record of Britax and Maxi Cosi as they are established names.

Don't worry too much, the costs of pretty much everything come down a lot after the first year, and car seats (in my view) are one thing you should never skimp on! Britax have a fit finder on their website which allows you to enter the make and model of your car and it tells you whether or not the relevant seat will likely fit. You should still get it professionally fitted to make sure though - Halfords and Mothercare both offer this service.

shirlgirl2004

My DD is 27lbs and 18 1/2 months and is still rear facing. She has about another 2lbs to go before she needs to go up to the next size. She was 9lb 4 at birth so not a small baby and quite long. If there were more information telling people about the dangers of being forward facing maybe some parents would not change to forward facing until absolutely necessary.

It is good to research in advance though but do not rely too heavily on the Which reports as they are flawed. They are based on an Astra so unless you have one of those then the car seat may fit better or worse in your car.

I recommend calling your local council and seeing if they do car seat fitting. They will try a selection of car seats in your car and tell you which fit the best and then you can choose which is for you. It doesn't matter what features the car seat has if it doesn't fit properly it won't be safe.

natalie1974

Hi Shirlgirl , How are you ? Don't see you over at the other place anymore !

scruffy96uk

I was told by my HV that leaving a baby where their legs are being squashed against the back seat is dangerous as if there was any kind of impact (crash) LO legs would take the impact and not the seat!!
we have a bebe comfort similar to this one
http://www.kiddicare.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/productdisplayA_822_10751_-1_14568_9977_10001_14568
easy to fit and has isofix (if your car is fitted with isofix points).
We got ours cheap on boots, I think it was possibly a half price deal so it's worth looking early if you have space to store them.