Car seat advice

Winnie

Our 1 year old is now getting too big for his original car seat so we need to get the next seat up for 1-4 years old.....There are so many out there, anyone any recommendations for decent, good priced seats?

liliq

We went with the rear facing be safe seat, but it's pricey and bulky.
My mam has a brittax eclipse in her car (the belted not isofix) which was a good price i think, the isofix was about €100 more.
I've heard good reports on the maxi cosi axiss as well. If we'd gone forward facing I think that would have been my first choice.

I am a friend

Liliq I am interested in the rear facing seats too. On what basis did you go for yours? They are supposed to be safer? Do you mind telling me the stockist, cost etc

liliq

I am a friend wrote: »

Liliq I am interested in the rear facing seats too. On what basis did you go for yours? They are supposed to be safer? Do you mind telling me the stockist, cost etc

We went for it for the safety aspect. It's really what made the choice for us, as no matter how good a driver you are, you can't depend on everyone else on the road.
There's a good few studies showing the safety etc., I'll see if I can root them out. Most of them are Scandinavian- showing the rear facing are 5 times safer for impact from behind. They are also protective during side impact. Some info here, based on but not the actual studies .http://www.besafe.com/5-x-safer
The way the one we got is designed also ensures that most children will actually last until 4 years of age in them height and weight wise, which was important for me as my little man is in the higher percentiles weight and height wise.

It cost €425... It's a lot more expensive than most of the forward facing seats on the market, but we put money we were given as gifts for him when he was a baby etc torwards it which eased the pain.
The way I look at it- he was around 8 months going into it, if he gets until he's 4 out of it, it will have cost us a tenner a month.

http://www.tonykealys.com/be-safe-izi-combi-isofix.html

This is the one we went for- from Tony Kealys. He has a shop in Walkinstown as well as a few other locations. THe staff are well trianed, extremely knowledgable. I was more than happy driving away with my son in a seat fitted by them. Plus you can also call back anytime- if you think the seat needs to be checked, put in another car etc.
(I'm not associated with them at all by the way, just a very satisfied customer.)

A lot of people said to me that it was a shame the little fella wouldn't be able to look around, but he can see out of the car better in this seat than he could in most forward facing. In the forward facing he'd be looking at the back of the passenger seat, and if there wasn't great side protection he'd be straining up to see out the side windows.
In this, the seat is designed to be high up (reduces impact as well), so he can easily see out the back window, and the back end of the side window.

The cons- It's a very big, bulky seat. My partner drives a 407, and with the car seat behind the passenger seat I sit with my knees pressing the dash. (I'm tall though, so might not be a massive issue).

I've heard a lot of people buying through this website also http://www.carseat.se/store.html?gclid=CLCByOGFybACFcYe4Qodhw6RWQ
Meant to have great customer service.

Sorry for the long reply, there's a lot of info out there

ariana`

Maxi Cosi Axiss and i love it except little man has grown out of it now so he's in a Britax group 1-2-3 seat. He's was out of the Maxi Cosi Axiss before 2.5yrs but i don't regret getting it, i wouldn't put a 9mth old into a Group 1-2-3 seat and he would have grown out of any Group 1 seat early because he's so tall for his age.

How Strange

liliq I did lots of research on rear facing (probably too much!) and rear facing seems to be the way to go. We drive a 12 yr old focus so the rear facing would've been problematic for us. We're very restricted in general with our choice of car seats.

Tony Kealys are excellent and the customer service is second to none. There's also incarsafety up in Belfast.

For those people that feel they're depriving their child by keeping them rear facing our lad is now forward facing and still kicks off when in his car seat so I don't think it makes any difference to them. We just assume they'd prefer forward facing.

caprilicious

I have an extended rear facing Britax hi-way which I chose after reading the statistics regarding ERF seats being much safer.
However my little girl hated being rear facing & would have a melt down on journeys over 10-15 mins in the car.

So when she was about 18 months old I changed to one of these:

http://www.kiddy.de/en/kiddy-child-safety-car-seats-baby-car-seats-child-seats-with-the-original-impact-shield-for-maximum-safety.html

It was about €200 new bought from an Ebay shop.
The design is supposed to dramatically reduce the risk of serious injury in an accident compared to a regular front facing seat.

I would prefer if she had stayed rear facing, but hopefully her little brother will get the use out of it instead.

uck51js9zml2yt

we have the besafeizi x3.
its rear and forward facing.
my son is 20 months and still rear facing which is much safer for him.
the headrest is also adjustable which is a big plus when it comes to him growing which he keeps insisting on doing

cbyrd

I got a Brevi car seat after a car accident, the seat i had was an older version of the same.. it never moved with my 2 year old son in it and the car flipped twice.. they're sturdy and comfy and i paid €109 and then €119 a week later for another for when the baby is bigger.. seeing as i had personal experience of how well they performed in a crash i guess i could recommend it. .
I couldn't get one in Ireland so i had to wait about 4 days for it to come from Italy . . that was €25 p&p

It can be rear or forward facing.. and is belted in.. it also tilts for the smaller baby cos it's suitable from birth to 4 years. .

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/9558092/art/brevi/seggiolino-auto-grand-pri.html7

wmpdd3

^^^, link not working....
I'd love to see the seat as little woman will be moving to a bigger one so her brother can take her seat.

Cap,I love that carseat too, is it heavy to carry / switch between cars?

cbyrd

soory about the link..:rolleyes: if you go to pixmania and search brevi car seats it comes up... the one i got was on page 2 its the one for €119 . . .;) the one with the steel frame

caprilicious

Here's Cbyrds seat linky here:
http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/9558092...rand-pri.html

That's fantastic value!

Wmpdd3 it's a really lightweight seat, it's mainly foam, so it's a lot lighter than the heavier all plastic one's.
If you're thinking of getting one you're more than welcome to have a look at my one first.
I think they're €230+ in Irish nursery stores or I got mine for €180 on Ebay

pwurple

Just on the safety studies.. Having read a pile of them , they all start with the statement that 80 to 90 % of accidents are damage to the front of the car. Based on that they evaluate based on you crashing into a tree, rather than being rear-ended, which makes sense, given the data. A rear facing seat is hands down the best one for the most common scenario, but there are situations where they don't protect as well.

For some reason, the one accident I have been in as an adult was the car being rear-ended, as was the one I was in as a child, so I was (probably wrongly) concerned with that. The front-facing seat has more support for the neck if you are shunted forward by someone running into the back of you. But like I said, it is the less likely scenario.

They are all working off probabilities, whichever seat you chose it will only protect in a certain set of situations. Driving safely, no speeding, be visible with lights on always, no phonecalls, paying attention to the conditions, is worth as much as the right carseat.

wmpdd3

cbyrd wrote: »

soory about the link..:rolleyes: if you go to pixmania and search brevi car seats it comes up... the one i got was on page 2 its the one for €119 . . .;) the one with the steel frame

Looks lovely, well worth the money,

Cap, not sure what little woman would make of the chest protection thing, also how fast is it to tie the seat belt every time? Took me a while of looking at it to realise it didnt have its own harness.

Love the way the BEsafe izi has magnets in the sides to keep the straps open!

Winnie

Thanks for all the recommendations........we ended up getting the Maxi-Cosi Priori SPS forward facing seat.