Help for friend in Ireland

I have a friend in Ireland who is looking to replace he Cabriofix infant seat with a convertible seat.

She doesn't own her own vehicle and the seat will be used primarily in taxis and her parent's car, so needs to be easy to install. It also would be used for travel both within Europe and to the US on occasion.

Her DD is 31" and 22lbs currently at 15 months of age.

WHat are her best bets?

I don't think she is opposed to RF her child longer, but I don't know if she'll commit to it past 2....

I'm not sure if it's available (or legal) in the ROI, but the Combi Coccoro is probably her best bet.

I hope she does consider ERF, and that she can get info from AD (AdventureDad) or others about the Swedish RF seats (check out carseat.se for more info and seat options). AD can speak very well to how easily a seat installs.

Aside from the Swedish HWRF seats, I had looked at buying an EU seat when I was visiting family in 2009 and looked at a number of seats. I am almost sure at least one was able to install with a 2pt belt (lapbelt only) if that is a benefit to her, but I can't remember which.

I considered the Britax First Class. It RF to 13kg (28.6lbs) and then FF to 18kg (39.6lbs), has lockoffs (at least for the FF install), and 2 routing options for FF if the first method doesn't work. It seems to be fairly straight-forward to install and doesn't have a foot prop etc that might be incompatible with a vehicle. 3pt belt only to install:
http://www.britax.co.uk/car-seats/car-seats/first-class-plus

I had also considered the Concord Ultimax, very similar in limits (also 13kg RF and 18kg FF) and features (lockoffs) to the First Class, it seemed. It also has a base, of sorts, to make it easier to install - see the 3rd picture in the link:
http://www.toysrus.co.uk/Babies-R-U...-1/Concord-Ultimax-Car-Seat-in-Chilli(0069590)

And then, the Bebe Confort Iseos Neo+ (not the TT or IsoFix, they are FF only), and it seems like they have a new one, the Opal (page 29) that is better for ERF. Bebe Confort seems to have some overlap with MaxiCosi. For the Opal, they say "this car seat can be used for an extended period to protect your child up to the age of around four years. There’s extended leg room and an adjustable headrest so the seat can be used in its safest ‘rearward’ position for a longer period. You can easily change it to a forward-facing position so they can see the more of the world around them, when they are old enough." while the Neo+ seems to focus on it being for small kids (p.31). Opal is also 13kg RF and 19kg FF:
http://www.bebeconfort.com/collection/catalogue/catalogue-bbc-uk.pdf
or
More info on Opal:

- Easy to use: with a click, the seat can change to face towards the gears and the safety belt can still pass through the same point.

Click to expand...

Same lockoff works both RF and FF, non-rethread harness.
see the details here:
http://www.ebaby.co.uk/bebe-confort-1/opal-car-seat-bebe-confort.html

Here's some Irish shopping links...

Britax First Class and Maxi Cosi Opal (I guess it's not always marketed as Bebe Confort):

MotherCare
Halfords
Tony Kealys (Dublin)

Local CPS resources:
http://www.childcarseats.org.uk/advice/northern_ireland.htm

Britax First Class is not bad but it has the huge drawback of a 13 kg (28 lbs) rear facing limit. Britax Hi-Way would be a good choice for your friend since it's light weight, compact, and will fit virtually any car. It also has a rear facing limit of 25 kg. Drawback would be it can't be used forward facing.

Thank you all so much. I have sent her a link to this thread.

In my opinion, a Britax Two Way Elite would be a good option here. It installs Rear facing and forward facing, is light weight and easy to install. I haven't personally held a hi-way to know how it compares but I really love how easy our TWE is to handle. She could put it on a folding dolly or luggage cart with a bungee cord to help haul it if need be but really it is very light. Not at all a bear weight-wise like all of the other seats we have. Love it! We mostly use ours rear-facing for our five year old (who LOVES rear-facing and has tons of growing room left in it still) but occasionally use it forward-facing in the third row of our SUV for him when we need to haul extra passengers. While we primarily use it for RF, I am happy to have the versatility to FF him in it when the need arrises especially now that he is older. I find it to be a quick easy seat-belt install and once well-versed at installing it in a car, would have no qualms about doing it quickly in a taxi situation. I'd really practice with someone else's car first though to be confident... with any car-seat actually.

I loved my Cabrio Fix! It lasted my big chunky DS till he was 18mos old. Have her check to be sure that her DD has actually outgrown it.

If she can find a carseat that she can RF in that would be great but I've been to Ireland and know its not the land of plenty when it comes to carseat options. At 15 mos she has already ERF'd by UK standards.

Recommending a big ERF seat to someone who is a mainly Taxi user is a recipe for Mis-use IMO. How is she going to get a great install every taxi ride, plus not all malls have a safe place to store it so how is she going to transport it around the mall with a 15 month old with out possibly dropping and damaging the seat? There are all things that need to be considered.

When I was a mainly taxi user over seas I used a Maxi Cosi Proiri, I knew I would get a great install in virutally every car, it was small enough to pop into a shopping cart and worked well. Although my daughter was older.

bbartlettnfld said:

Recommending a big ERF seat to someone who is a mainly Taxi user is a recipe for Mis-use IMO. How is she going to get a great install every taxi ride, plus not all malls have a safe place to store it so how is she going to transport it around the mall with a 15 month old with out possibly dropping and damaging the seat? There are all things that need to be considered.

Click to expand...

I think this is largely dependent on the car-seat. In the US, the Scenera is often recommended as a light travel seat. I think that a TWE and perhaps a Hi-Way (AdventureDad would know better) would be just as easy. You strap it on a rolling cart and off you go perhaps even with child buckled in it if you need/want to. The TWE is fairly big but it certainly doesn't feel unwieldly at all. I'd rather carry two TWEs than one of any other seat we have.