I’m currently at the baby show and everything feels pretty overwhelming to be honest!
Little one is about to turn 11 months, and we’re currently looking at car seats. We’ve seen numerous permutations of different models. Just wondering if anyone can recommend a good one which they’ve tried before and had a good experience with?
Currently looking at the Nuna Rava as they seem to be able to be used both rearward and forward facing…
Can second the Britax Boulevard comment above as we know people with them.
We personally have a few of the Diono series (radian 3xt etc which like above can be used for new born to booster etc.)
They also have the advantage of being able to easily fit 3 accross in a mid sized vehcile. So even without multiple seats, just means it all fits in the car better
I have 2 of the britax emblem seats.
Bullet proof with a solid steel frame, isofix and lapbelt etc. Same kind of design as the boulevard.
If you're in Auckland head to baby on the move and chat with them in person, they'll even fit the carseat for you. They also usually let the show specials overrun the following week.
Check out farmers as well, I was in a few weeks ago and found a maxi cosy car seat in the clearance section for 220$ (down from 800+) that I grabbed for the in-laws car.
Seat was brand new but the box was damaged. Farmers couldn't find any other record to indicate why it was in clearance.
I highly rate the Infasecure Atlas (also known as Grandeur, Achieve More, Achieve Premium, Emperor, and probably a few more names - they give each fabric type and retailer the same seat with a different name/padding colour so you can't price match which is pretty cheeky..!).
This seat has kept our daughter (75th percentile for height) rear facing way past 4 years, and uses the harness forward facing which will fit until around 8yrs (many seats don't harness for much past 5yrs and then you have to move to a seat belt booster). It's a super narrow based seat so we can fit 3 of these in the back of our standard sized Nissan sedan without a problem.
Because it's an Australian standard car seat, it's one of the few brands available in NZ that you can use if you ever travel to Aus, but this also means you can't use it in the US or Europe.
They come on sale all the time, usually down to about $500 from any of the retailers.
Diono fan here as well. Fantastic build quality. Ours are 7 years old, get used many times daily, still going strong. Rear faced upto 5 years old no probs. And they have one of the longest use times. At least they did when we bought ours. I guess others have caught up now. Meaning you can use them right up to 7 years old and beyond depending on child's dimensions.
A car seat is one of those things you NEVER want to cheap out on……
We have a Britax Boulevard Clicktight and a Graco Triogrow. highly recommend both as very easy to move between cars. Nuna Rava have a great rep for safety and also relatively compact.
Also recommend checking out the NZ carseat discussion group on Facebook - it’s got heaps of posts with recommendations including what seats fit best in your particular car etc. https://m.facebook.com/groups/1480374852182538/ (admins please remove if links not allowed)
+1 for the Britax Boulevard Clickright. Weve had other seats in the past (mostly safe n sound), and purely in terms of ease of getting into and out of multiple cars (either using isofix or seatbelt), it has been the easiest one thus far.
Yeah +1 for Britax stuff. Really good safety reports, super easy to use. We went for some massive thing as we only were ever having a small family, so less concerned about remaining space in the rear, and its been damn good (never regretted it), been using it since moving out of a reward facing seat and he is still using it now (he is a large 8+ years old).
We have a Maxi-Cosi Pria 85 for each car. One was brought new from the Auckland baby show, and the other used.
We have been quite happy with them.
+1 for the Britax Boulevard. We have one in each car. Easy to use and you can keep them rear facing for longer. They can also stay in the same seat for longer than a lot of the other car seats as well. Wont be disappointed!
I will go against the grain and give the Nuna Rava you been looking at 100% tick from me , we have 1 in each car and the seats ticks every box, super easy to install , light , easy to clean, kids are safe and always comfortable even rear seated. We also looked the the Britax but didn’t like it compared to the Rava for safety / weight limits etc. You be happy with the Rava.
Britax Boulevard Clicktight x2 of them. Can be used forward and rear facing (keep them rear facing as long as possible!)
https://www.babies.co.nz/britax-boulevard-clicktight-arb-sta…
Baby shows make a lot of people pressure buy. Best to do the research at your own leisure.