Advice needed - baby car seat questions (merged)

sonnie

Hi We had the isofix for our maxi cozi first car seat - it is really handy if you're going to use 1 car more often than the other? as you can clip the seat in and out in a jiffy, but for our group 1 maxi cozi seat we just use the seat belts - as you don't remove the seat with your child still in it - so having used both systems and having friends with your dilemma I would still go for the maxi cozi seat anyway as its such good quality, even if you isofix one car and not the other

natalie1974

Hi , The latest Which ? car seat report is out and makes very interesting reading . I will at some stage in the next few days copy and paste the whole report so I can forward it onto anyone who wants it but in the meantime if you PM I will send you my log in details for the Which ? website where you can then view the report . I have however only signed up for the 30 day trial , just to gain access to the report and will be canceling my membership before the time is up

mandiT_2

Hi Natalie,

I am in the process of looking for a new car seat so would love to see the report please.

Thanks a lot!

Mandi

mummy_Jay

I just brought the greatest isofix car seat for my son (well I think so), its a Jane indy plus isofix (group 2 and 3, ages 3 to 12).

Its brillant, very comfortable, really easy to fit and take in and out, I use it with the isofix but you can use it without and easy to fit. It costs about £90 but its worth it, it goes through loads of safety test, they even have footage of the test on the manufacturers website (which really does fill you with confidence)

I looked at all the graco, britax and mothercare, nothing else measured up and with this chair being necessary to last til we don't need one any more, it had to be the right chair.

natalie1974

Hi ,

I have PM'd you the log in details ok

natalie1974

mummy_Jay wrote: »

I just brought the greatest isofix car seat for my son (well I think so), its a Jane indy plus isofix (group 2 and 3, ages 3 to 12).

Its brillant, very comfortable, really easy to fit and take in and out, I use it with the isofix but you can use it without and easy to fit. It costs about £90 but its worth it, it goes through loads of safety test, they even have footage of the test on the manufacturers website (which really does fill you with confidence)

I looked at all the graco, britax and mothercare, nothing else measured up and with this chair being necessary to last til we don't need one any more, it had to be the right chair.

I would have been intrigued to see what it would have scored as Which never crash tested this seat but all the other HBB (high backed boosters) with or without ISOFIX made by Maxi-Cosi , Britax and Concord all came out much of a much . These were the 3 they don't recommend you buying , copied and pasted direct from the report "
We recommend you avoid the the Chicco Max-3S, the Recaro Start and the Little Shield Combi 123 as they all use the adult seat belt for a 9kg child (around nine months).
The adult belt comes into contact with the child's neck instead of the shoulder, and can pass over the soft stomach area of a 9kg child instead of the correct pelvic bone area."



The only 2 Jane seats they tested were the Matrix Cup and the Matrix Pro and they were both slated .

Violetta_2

Just an update I emailed Recarro re the suitability of their car seat on 3rd of Aug not heard anything back:mad: Still not decided but think we may go with a Britax Evolva 123

Minerva69

Violetta wrote: »

Just an update I emailed Recarro re the suitability of their car seat on 3rd of Aug not heard anything back:mad: Still not decided but think we may go with a Britax Evolva 123

Hi Violetta, have you tried phoning Recaro? I got this address/phone number from the RoSPA child car seats website (www.childcarseats.org.uk):

Recaro UK Ltd
Unit F7
Holly Farm Business Park
Honiley
Warwickshire
CV8 1NP
01926 48 41 11

Just an update on the seat I bought (Recaro Start). natalie1974 sent me a PM about the Which report on this car seat, saying it was one to avoid. I was worried about whether it was a suitable seat and didn't know what to do, given the fact that Halfords didn't know what they were doing and had fitted it incorrectly in the first place.

I went to an independent car seat retailer today and asked them to look at the fitting of my Recaro Start seat and whether it was suitable for my daughter, they did so and they said it was fine. They could have said no and tried to sell me another seat, but they didn't.

I was worried about the seat moving around a little bit even when she was sitting in it and they told me this is normal for Group 2/3 car seats. They said in an accident the weight of the child and the seatbelt inertia will stop the seat from moving forwards in an accident and they are designed to move sideways anyway so they move away from a side impact.

I'm still researching this seat to decide whether I should continue using it or buy another, but the only bad review I have seen so far is the Which one. If anyone has any other info for this seat then please PM me as I'd be very interested to read it.

Violetta_2

Think I might give them a ring, also might see if Which are still running that promo where you can sign up for a free trial and see if I can find this report on car seats for myself, thanks for the update Minerva69. It's scary trying to find the best thing for our most precious of cargo and it not being easy.

Minerva69

Thought I'd give another update on our car seat saga Having done even more research on the net and finding one other poor review for the Recaro Start (on the Austrian equivalent of the AA website!) we decided yesterday to get rid of the seat even though we've only had it 2 weeks. We didn't trust Halfords after our experiences with them before, so went to Mothercare instead (they were the only ones to come out OK in the Which report about retailers fitting of car seats). We now have the best group 2/3 seat according to the Which report - the Britax Evolva 2/3 Isofit :j

This was my original choice, but when I rang Britax they said it wouldn't be suitable for us because our daughter wasn't old enough even though she met the weight requirements :rolleyes: The moral of the tale is make sure you go and try the seats out in the shops before buying. When we tried the seat in Mothercare today the sales assistant said she was just tall enough to go in it, and when we tried it in the car it was a perfect fit, both for our car and our daughter. So height as well as weight should be taken into account, and not necessarily age.

I really hope anyone else having problems finding a suitable seat gets sorted out (let us know how you get on Violetta!). Thanks for all the helpful replies everybody.