ISOFIX ???

[tinkerbell*]

ello everyone!
me and OH have chosen a travle system that is gorgeous, (hehe) my mum is buying it for us which i am sooo greatful for. however when i showed mother-in law, she said that the best thing to do is to choose a T-system where the carseat is Isofix technology as it makes like a million times easier....

it this true? i dont mind a bit of a struggle, but i have never fitted a carseay before so... any opinions on this would be great. what type of car seat do you have (rear facing) ?? i Reeeeeally want the travle system we picked out

is Isofix safer?

 

[Charlie:-)]

ISOFIX is safer but your car has to have ISOFIX bars fitted into it. Generally new cars have them fitted in, but not all new cars.

I wouldnt say ISOFIX is easier, but definitely safer. Thats not to say that a car seat without ISOFIX inst safe because they are.

I looked at ISOFIX because Hubby's car (VW Passatt) has ISOFIX in it but mine doesn't (Ford Focus) and we need the car seat to be able to go in both cars.

We have gone for a car seat with an easy base where the base fixes into the car with the seat belt and lives in the car and the car seat just clicks into the base.

We have chosen the Maxi Cosi car seat with the easy base, they also do the ISOFIX so maybe have a look at your manufacturers website to see what type of base they do. They will also be able to advise whether it will fit your car.

Which car seat/travel system have you been looking at?

 

[AnnaR2B]

i have just fitted the car seat / base Charlie has ...maxi cosi and easy base, we fitted the base with the seatbelt ( i have isofix but its actually more of a caddle) the seat /base is GREAT....so secure!

 

[Sherlock]

For newborns till (IIRC) 9 months old car seats are rear facing and can only go where there are no airbags. So back seat or front passenger if no air bag (or its been disabled).

If your travel system doesn't have a suitable care seat with it then its cheaper to buy a separate car seat (we got a Britax First Class Si which goes from birth to 4 years old and is rear and forward facing) and went with our travel system but didn't get the baby/infant carrier car seat that came with it.

 

[Magic Monkey]

WE have got the Maxi Cosi car seat with the ISOFIX base - the base fits in raelly easily and stays in the car and then you just click the seat on and off - it is really easy. The car seat can also be fitted with just the seatbelt, which is also straight forward, but takes a bit longer. We did find, however that one of our cars doesn't have a long enough seat belt to go around the seat so that is something else to consider.

 

[Charlie:-)]

We did find, however that one of our cars doesn't have a long enough seat belt to go around the seat so that is something else to consider.

I had the same problem with my Jane car seat. I have the Jane Slalom Pro & Matrix Cup car seat but it wouldn't fit in my car, so that why we bought the maxi cosi car seat for my car and the Jane will nicely fit into Hubby's car.

 

[clarey]

We also have the maxi-cosi seat with the easy base rather than the isofix - it is about £30 cheaer and even though it relies on the seatbelt to hold the base in place you can still click the seat on an off the base really easily, and it saves messing around with the belt every time.
Not all cars have isofix fittings either so if you are likely to use the seat in more than one car often, it might not be worth it.

 

[MissThing]

We have Maxi-cosy with isofix base! Works perfect! We first bought just maxi-cosy, but seatbelt in our car wasnt long enough so had to get isofix base and it works great! No hassle to take the carseat out of the car and put it back in. Really easy and comfy!

 

[tinkerbell*]

hey. i was just wondering, the people who had problems with the seatbelts not fitting around the carseat.... what cars do you have *make,model,year* ??

we were looking at the jane Slalom Pro Rebel travle system and car seat..... how will we know if it fits or not? i dont wanna have to go out a buy another car seat, of that one does not fit...

 

[Charlie:-)]

hey. i was just wondering, the people who had problems with the seatbelts not fitting around the carseat.... what cars do you have *make,model,year* ??

we were looking at the jane Slalom Pro Rebel travle system and car seat..... how will we know if it fits or not? i dont wanna have to go out a buy another car seat, of that one does not fit...

When I bought my travel system the shop assistant tried the car seat in my car to make sure it fits. The Jane Matrix cup wouldn't so thats why we got the maxi cosi as well as this did fit the seatbelt.

 

[Sherlock]

we were looking at the jane Slalom Pro Rebel travle system and car seat..... how will we know if it fits or not? i dont wanna have to go out a buy another car seat, of that one does not fit...

The Matrix Cup as infant carrier does not fit many rear seats. It requires a lot of seat belt and if you have it fitted in places like Mothercare I found they do a crap job at fitting it tbh. We went to an independant retailer and they fitted it as a rear facing seat ok. But it won't fit many cars this way. The only way to know is to go to a retailer and have them fit it for you to see.

The Rebel Pro as a baby carrier/car seat has to have at least 50% of the childs seat resting on the car seat to be considered safe. In our car it was not quite enough as we have quite sloping rear seats. So we crossed of the infant carrier/car seat and chose something else totally for this purpose.

Also worth mentioning with the Matrix cup is that it becomes the lie flat pram for infants in the pushchair frame and can be used as a lie flat car seat. It will in this position fit almost every car. However, places like Mothercare don't train their staff to attempt to fit it this way and they will refuse to try it or show you.

The Rebel Pro is the infant carrier/car seat for newborns so I am trying to work out what Jane set up you are considering. Your best option IMHO is to forget the Rebel car seat as your infant carrier or in the buggy frame and to get the Matrix cup and the buggy. That way you have a lie flat pram for the early months that will then convert into a sit up rear facing pushchair seat till whenever your LO outgrows it or you wish to put them into the buggy seat proper.

The Rebel Pro will be grown out of quite quickly and so we went for a totally different make of car seat for 0-4 year old, which we will leave in the car permanently and use from birth. We opted for the Britax First Class Si

And then went with the Jane Slalom Pro system with Matrix cup and buggy. Didn't bother with the infant carrier Rebel Pro. We plan to use the Matrix attached to the buggy frame for the first 6 months plus, first as a lie flat pram then as a rear facing pushchair then to move up to the buggy itself.

We felt that the Jane Slalom Pro was the buggy set up for us, so preferred to change our car seat rather than not get the buggy we loved. And tbh I think we found a much better car seat as the Britax goes from rear facing to forward facing and will last for years. And for only £30 more than the Jane Rebel Pro baby carrier which will be defunct by the time your baby is 9 months old. Maybe even sooner. The reason we wanted the Matrix cup is that for newborns and in the early months I felt it was important that our baby have a lie flat option rather than being stuck in a more upright position all the time when out in the buggy (and car on occasion).

Hopefully I explained that ok

 

[Happybunny]

We have the Jane Matrix Pro as we were very keen to have a lie flat car seat (my family live far away and we didn't think it was fair to have a newborn scrunched up for many hours in a normal car seat). Sherlock is right that it isn't the best long term option, we are planning to replace it with an ISOFIX one as soon as baby gets bigger and can sit up more comfortably.

We got ours from The Newcastle Pram Centre - they have a warehouse where you can try out the seats to check they fit. The Matrix Pro fits perfectly in our car in both upright and flat positions and the seatbelt goes around. We have a 2004 Nissan Primera.

The man who showed us how to fit the carseat was useless and made a real meal out of fitting the clips. We got it home and played ourselves, it took a few practices, but we have it sorted now, it is dead easy.

 

[tinkerbell*]

ello everyone! firstly a big big thankyou for being so helpful as usual! i know its still early days for me yet, bu its nice to organised and have idea of important things we need to buy!

after much consideration... i think we are now looking at the who maxi cosi travle system set up, we both like the pram and that you can fix a car seat in to it. and it can be fitted with an isofix base!

hehe! so after all of that, and all your help, i think we might be on the right track....