Question Travel carseat dilemma - Foreign carseats vs Evenflo Maestro

Hi,

I am trying to make car seat plans for an upcoming trip abroad and could use the wise help of this forum. Here's the dilemma:

I'm going to visit family in Brazil. My parents offered to buy a car seat there for my daughter (37 lbs, 42 inches, 5 years old, currently in an Evenflo Maestro) so I don't have to lug my own seat in the multi-flight trip. (Plus the Maestro is ultra-uncomfortable for her to sleep in during the overnight 10-hour flight.)

But I began to look up the available options there (mostly made in Brazil with one or two made in Europe) and they all performed poorly in recent independent tests, especially in side collisions but also front collisions.

I was trying to look up information on testing of the Evenflo Maestro in side collisions. I am under the impression that the Maestro is much safer than any of the options available there, but I wanted data to back this up... so I feel a little better about the decision to make my daughter (and myself) miserable for the trip there.

When in Brazil we'll be doing some traveling between a few cities and therefore I want to make sure she's protected.

Or is there a seat that would be also suitable for travel like the Maestro (lightweight, narrow, FAA approved) but more comfortable, perhaps with a recline?

(I've been thinking of getting a better seat for daily use anyway so if there's something that fits the bill I wouldn't mind upgrading).

Thanks in advance, sorry for the long question.

The Harmony Defender has some recline, but it's more for matching the vehicle seat recline. You could do the trick where you reclined the plane seat, installed, pulled back upright and then once cruising reclined the seat again, though.

I had no idea about this trick!!! I will have to try it out. We're actually traveling right now (but a shorter flight) and I will definitely try this on our way back. Thanks!

I also just realized that there might be compatibility issues regarding the install system. They use ISOFIX in Brazil and the Maestro, of course, is LATCH. Not sure if this is an issue. I am trying to find out if there is a top tether in the car we will be using there.

Also wondering about the clips as I read that the Maestro open clips might be hard to install in an ISOFIX system.

Do you mean the lower connectors? Those should work with ISOFIX but you might prefer a seatbelt install (or need to use one if there are no tether anchors.) In that case you'll probably need a locking clip.

Since the Maestro doesn't have any recline the seat recline trick likely won't work with it...