Isofix - Is it worth it?
 

My daughter's ten months old now :luvlove: and we need to buy her a new car seat. Is an Isofix one really worth the extra that they are charging? Are they really much safer than ones fastened by normal seatbelts?

Has anyone got an recommendations for a seat for a ten month old? I've looked on the Subaru site but they look cheap, i'm sure they used to be like little bucket seats!

The obvious solution would be to not go via the Isofix route and use the same seat in both my car and the wife's Astra, but as the Impreza has the fixing points I wanted to know your opinions on any you had tried.

TBH once your daughter is out of the rear facing baby seat and you're not taking the whole seat out the car everytime you take her out then the 3 point system is fine.

I've got a Brittax isofix chair for my 2 year old and it never leaves the car so I could have saved £80 and got the non isofix one.

Saying that it is a very good chair

We didn't bother with isofix wish we did but she's only 10 weeks, but when we need to change it we'll be going for isofix im fed up of pissing around with seatbelt especially if it's raining.

I was hell bent on getting an ISOFIX seat for my 1 year old - as I thought they were the best, safest, easiest, etc.

However, I then came across the Kiddie Guardian Pro. This was reviewed by Which? and achieved their best score ever for a Group 1,2,3 seat - and is rated higher than any ISOFIX seat by some top German testing company.

As it's fastened by the belts rather than rigidly mounted to the car it does make sense - especially in side impacts - where the seat moves with the child rather than forming a rigid and fixed object for them to slam against.

Not the cheapest, but when safety is concerned I'd rather buy the BEST for my little one - so I ignored the ISOFIX and bought one.

A few months in and my wife and I are very happy with it, and the little one seems to like it. One bonus is that, as there are no straps around them, you can easily put them into sleep-bags (early evening for example) for a trip home and just lift them out of the car and into bed (asleep) when you get home.

Check out the website, there's a few interesting videos on YouTube (and possibly on the Kiddie site) that show why it's technically very safe.

http://www.kiddy.de/en/childrens-car...rdian-pro.html

DN

For a Group 0 seat, ISOFIX works very well - as you can remove the seat (with baby in-situ) from the car easily, etc. - but Group 1 onwards, the seats are much larger and you'll leave it in the car (or move it between cars).

The Kiddie one that I mentioned is great, because (unlike my Group 0 seat) I don't have a five point harness to wind thrashing arms and legs through / over etc. - I just plonk her in the seat, quickly put the belt across her and clip the seatbelt in place. Job done... I'd much rather do up a single seat belt than mess around with a five point harness!

Certainly when it comes to moving the Kiddie seat between cars it's MUCH quicker and easier than an ISOFIX (it's very light, you just pick it up with one hand and plonk it in the other car).

No - I don't have any connection at all with Kiddie, just a very satisified customer that previously thought (nay, was convinced!) that ISOFIX was the only and best answer!

DN

Don't forget that if you go ISOFIX then you don't have the hassle of having to check for the tensioning of the belts every two weeks.
Having said that, both the Mrs and I went for seats fixed by the belts once it was time to go forward facing.

Once you are past tbe 'baby carrier' stage they don't really have much of a function with regards to getting your child in and out, obviously they are safer, but not to an extent where there are highly reccomended over other non isofix seats.

I had one for my daughter and her recaro was great while rearward facing, but when I got the next stage up the seat never came out as we had another set of seats. If it is easier/cheaper to have one seat and two isofix bases (if you need to take tbe seat out) then that might be for you.

Personally, unless you are using it from birth, you won't get much use out of it.

Thanks for all the replies, they are really appreciated.

That 'Kiddy' system looks interesting, the wife says it looks like a rollercoaster seat! I'd need to try Freya in one first though so might need to locate a local store.

Thanks again :thumb:

they're not a bad price tbh i'l get one of them when shes ready :D thanks :thumb:

It is like a rollercoaster seat, yes, that's what we thought. In a frontal impact the child just rolls forward / around the cushion, which is much less harsh or sudden than being restrained by a 5-point system (and the inevitable problem of the head bending forward!)

The cushion also can have the "Aqua Paint" accessory, and have toys attached to the elastic on the front edge. AquaPaint looks cool, and as soon as my little one is old enough to sensibly use it she'll be getting one:

http://www.kiddy.de/uploads/pics/aquapaint_02.jpg

as everyone else says, beyond the baby carrier, no real use/point to isofix.

it was useful to lift her in and out as a baby: but by the time 10mths/12 mths old and sat upright anyway- you need a proper forward facing seat.

we put a proper car seat in every car- they just stay in full time now.


I do remember that without the isofix base I couldn't get the baby seat to fit on its own in the subaru. It needed an isofix base. mainly down to belt length.

I never thought of that, I would have struggled to get my daughters baby carrier in the subaru (if I had it then).
So maybe it would have been a must back then.

After having a head-on impact with a combined speed of nearly 50mph with my (then) 2 year old son in his Maxi Cosi Priorifix ISOFIX seat in the back of our Toyota Verso, I will never buy anything other than the highest safety rated seat, whatever the cost. I was in hospital for a day with neck and back injuries (and black eyes from the airbags) and my wife was admitted for bruising and neck strain, but the most our son had was some light bruising from the belts and shock. BTW it was a 6 month old Verso and it was written off...

I have always gone ISOFIX so you dont have to remember to retension the belts, and they are easier to get in/out (I find with some practice !!).

austinwrx - I will have to disagree with you, after both the Police and Ambulance people checked the car seat he was in and were relieved, as they said they have seen so much worse with seats that are not fitted in the belts properly.

Dave

What does a combined speed mean?

25mph into another car doing 25mph is a 25mph impact, not 50mph like everyone seems to think. They proved it on mythbusters not that long back.

I was doing 40mph and the old biddy that drove into me was doing around 10mph - the Police worked that out to a combined closing speed of around 50mph.

I think with baby carriers, isofix is great: but by the time they are in a forward facing seat, can't see how isofix helps. It doesn't really do much apart from offer a quick release method.

my dtr is 15 mths old, the seat(s) in our cars are permanently fixed in. so all the tensions have been done, clamps set etc and the seat is going nowhere.

I'd agree if the seat was in/out all the time though because rushing in a morning to work/nursery you're bound to not fit it spot on, all the time.

my uncle in law (that makes sense!) works for mamas and papas so to be fair we've had the latest and best kit from day one fortunately- ditto all the right advice, fitting etc.

I will say some baby seats look appalling in terms of build quality and strength. like everything in life, you pays yr money on this one.

http://mythbustersresults.com/mythssion-control :)

Group 0, Isofix makes it very easy
Group 1 & Above is down to personal preference.
My wife and I switch cars quite a bit, so the ease of Isofix appeals to us.

I quite like the Seat in Dr No's post, but hadn't seen these when I got our two Isofix Seats (MaxiCosi Priorifix) which at the time were the safest in the class.

Thanks for all the advice. We ended up today trying out and purchasing one of the Kiddy chairs (we'd never heard of them before this thread!) It looks sturdy and comphy and Freya seems to like it :thumb:
Thanks again all! :luxhello: