I'd love some advice please

This is my first time posting on this forum. I'm hoping one of you can help me with my two questions.
I'm in Jordan where getting good car seats is quite a challenge and good convertible seats nigh on impossible.
So I've managed to scope out two seats (both ridiculously overpriced, but I guess that's the way it is.
I could get a Safety 1st All-in-one for 180USD or a Britax First Class Si for a whopping 450USD.
Is the First Class Si worth that much money? I had actually hoped to get a Britax Boulevard or Marathon, but no such luck. My other question is: Does anyone know which American Britax I need to compare the First Class Si with? Surely they make 'em all in the same place and then put different names on them? I'm struggling to get good reviews on the Safety 1st seat; anyone have any feedback?

Honestly..it might be cheaper and more useful for you to have someone ship you a decent higher weight convertible from the United States. The Safety 1st seat isn't all that poorly priced, but it certainly wouldn't be top on my list of what to purchase

-Nicole.

there is no comparable US seat for the Britax first class.

If you go on the uk and us websites for britax, you will see no seats are exactly the same.

I love my first class in the uk (but we have very few choices over herecompared to the us!), rf until 29lbs and then ff to 40lbs. (40lbs is limit in uk - then its got to be a booster!!!)

don't know anything about the 3 in 1 seat you mentioned.

I would second the suggestion to try and have someone ship you a seat from the USA. At least you would then be able to get a higher weight harness seat than is available in your area.

goodluck

I would recommend you buying one of the great Swedish rear facing seats which enables you to keep your little one rear facing until 25 kg. (55 lbs).
Good choices would be Britax Hi-Way, Britax Multi Tech, Britax Two-Way, or Brio Zento. The Swedish seats are well know for being the safest seats around since you can rear face forever. Well, almost.

These seats usually enable you to rear face until 4-5 years of age which is the prefered way to transpot your child in a vehicle. I recently turned around my tall son at 4+ years, he was using a Hi-Way. The seats are certified for Europe, ECE R44, and I can't say enough good things about them. Please feel free to ask around on this board or elsewhere to get more feedback if you need to.

Since you live outside EU you wont have to pay the whopping 25 % VAT here so getting a seat over there probably won't cost you more than a crappy (sorry) First Class.

Please email me or send me a PM if I can help you out with more information or help you out with a seat from here (I'm located in Sweden)

Thanks for the advice! I'd started to figure out that legislations differ hugely between the US and Europe, so thanks for the pointer. Since we commute between my place of work and our home twice a week (3 hours one way) in a country where people really don't know how to drive properly - much less safely, I really want to make sure my baby is safe and comfortable.
So is the conclusion that Britax seats from Sweden are the safest? Does everyone agree that Britax is the safest as far as convertible seats are concerned?

The safest seat is the one that fits your child, installs well in your car, and that you'll use properly each and every time. That doesn't necessarily have anything to do with one specific brand name. Most people do find, however, that many Britax models tend to consistently fit in a wide variety of vehicles. They also have fairly high rear-facing weight limits in Sweden (Finland, Norway..) and high forward-facing limits in the United States (depending on the seat). Because you're considering having a seat forwarded to you without the luxury of being able to try it in your vehicle, you do need to consider potential compatibility.

-N.

QuassEE said:

Because you're considering having a seat forwarded to you without the luxury of being able to try it in your vehicle, you do need to consider potential compatibility.
-N.

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Definitely. Do you have any acquaintances in Jordan with small children in carseats who have the same vehicle as you do? They might have some advice in regard to compatibility and ease of installation.

If I recall correctly from previous posts, the high-weight RFing seats from Sweden have a pretty serious tethering set-up. If tethering is mandatory for those seats, it might not be a viable option for your vehicle unless it already has the anchors or you are able to have them installed by a third-party. It's worthwhile checking into things like that before spending a lot of money on a carseat ...

Alas, our own car overseas is provided by a company and we can't do anything about tether anchors ...

A regular Swedish seat, such as the best selling Hi-Way, can be installed in virtually every car without any problems. I've installed our seat in 10-15 different vehicles without any issues. Rental cars, vans, friends vehicles, MIL, BIL, etc.

There is no need for "serious tethering set-up.". Seat is installed rear facing, you adjust the angle at the bottom of the seat, fasten the seat with the seat belt, and then anchor the two straps under the front seat. The front seat does not need to have any special anchor points. That's why these seats can be installed in almost every car without issues. I can install our seat in a few minutes in any car.

If you want to install your rear facing seat in the front seat, airbag disabled, that's fine as well. It's as safe as the rear and an easy install. Manuals here always come with front seat installs explained as well. A large percentage of families here keep kids in front seat. Especially those with more than one child. It's recommended by organizations and manufacturers such as VOLVO.

"Fairly high" rear facing limits is a funny way to decribe the Swedish seats. Sounds like there are other rear facing seats with higher limits. Is there a RF seat I have missed?

I would not say Britax is necessarily the safest seat. There are plenty of other good seats and brands. The Brio Zento and Maxicosi Mobi are also popular seats and probably as safe as Britax. INMO, Britax seats are quite easy to install which I think is important.

But rear facing is by far the safest way to transport a child and you will find no other seats allowing your child to ride rear facing until 55 lbs except the Swedish seats.

There is nothing wrong with the US seats. A 2-year old in a Marathon or a Swedish Hi-Way are in my opinion just as safe. The difference is the higher weight limits. Rear facing until age 4-5 instead of 2-3 makes a huge difference in safety.

Thanks again for your insight.
Unfortunately, here in Jordan, there's really only us foreigners who get how important car seats are. I wasn't kidding when I said that kids are just propped up on the dashboard. I've even seen older kids (yes, several) in the trunk!!!! Finding someone to compare notes with regarding car seats is pretty difficult.
I actually did start looking at the Britax Sweden manuals to see about installation, and it doesn't look too much like rocket science. But I will check out the other seats you mentioned, Adventuredad.

They have manuals in English for some of the chairs but their sites are strangely not optimize in English. Sorry about that. Please let me know if you need some translation etc.

I know what you mean with poor child seat safety. My wife is from Mexico, I would generously estimate 1% of kids sit in a child set of any kind in that country. Drives me crazy!

Adventuredad said:

A regular Swedish seat, such as the best selling Hi-Way, can be installed in virtually every car without any problems.

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Is this one that requires 2 top tether points? Many newer Fords do not have 2 RF tether points. My '05 Ford had no way to wrap a D-ring around the driver seat & only had 1 built-in anchor point under the back of the front passenger seat. Last time I looked in at a dealership I couldn't find any acceptable RF tether points (they don't keep copies of the manual handy & I didn't ask for lack of time to wait for them to find one + I didn't want to deal with explaining that I will not be buying a vehicle anytime soon: they're too pushy)

2 of our CPSTs here also had a very difficult time finding 1 RF tether point in their Hondas.

You don't need dedicated RF tether points for Swedish seats, its a totally different system than US rf tethering. Unless the front seats are weird and don't have a seat bight that you could stick a strap through (so it comes out to the back seat) there is no reason you can't have 2 anchor spots.

There are some great pics in CRS's review of the Brio Zento on how it works. I tether my Two way through the seat bight, works like a charm.

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=37085

papooses said:

Is this one that requires 2 top tether points? Many newer Fords do not have 2 RF tether points. My '05 Ford had no way to wrap a D-ring around the driver seat & only had 1 built-in anchor point under the back of the front passenger seat. Last time I looked in at a dealership I couldn't find any acceptable RF tether points (they don't keep copies of the manual handy & I didn't ask for lack of time to wait for them to find one + I didn't want to deal with explaining that I will not be buying a vehicle anytime soon: they're too pushy)

2 of our CPSTs here also had a very difficult time finding 1 RF tether point in their Hondas.

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Ok, so now I think I'm starting to get this whole thing. Adventuredad, if it's possible, could you give me an overview of the main differences between the Hi Way, the Multi Tech and the Two Way? I'm also considering the Maxi Cosi Mobi and the Brio Zento isn't out of the picture but it's much easier to find information on that one in English. I'd be really grateful if you could give me a quick rundown of the other seats (I can get a lot of it on the respective websites, but not enough to be sure). And if you know, could you give me an idea of costs for the Britax and the Maxi Cosi seats?
I really appreciate all your help and encouragement; I'm so glad I posted on this forum!