Car Seat - which one?!

[Taurean]

My pregnant friend and I are both completely confused about which car seat to get. Although I've still got a few months to research car seats, my friend is due in June and is pretty keen to get a seat soon so I thought I'd post on here and see what other BB members think.

We're both keen on a convertible car seat as neither of us are interested in capsules - buying or hiring. Safe and Sound seems like the easiest option as they're so well known in Australia and most of our friends/family have them. However, the lovely sales assistants at a couple of baby shops have thrown a couple of spanners in the works - one is a big fan of the new Turn-a-Tot and the other loves Babylove.

So, which car seat have you got/had and would you truly recommend it? We're both so confused!

Many thanks!

[childondaway]

We just purchased the Safe'n'Sound - Meridian. The sales person at the baby store where we ppurchased it couldn't recommend it enough. She told us it is the best seller and Safe 'n' Sound is a very popular and well known brand.

We have not yet used it as I am not due until July. Not much help.

Hope this helps.

Best of luck with your decision.

[JordieC]

We have Safe and Sound Premier ( I think it's called that). It's very similar to the MEridan but doesn't have as much paddnig around the head. It has been very good and we love it. WE couldn't fit the Meridan in your car - make sure you check that! Even with the passenger seats WAY up slose to front of the car it still wouldn't fit - we have a Forrester.

I've heard Turn-a-tots aren't so great but don't have any evidence to back that up. AS far as I know any Safe n Sound ones are good. They all have to pass Aus standards to be sold anyway.

We're going with capsule for second bubs until they are about 6 months so that when they fall asleep you can get them in and out of the car no probs. Good luck!

[sweetpea678]

I have safe n sound seats and always loved them, whatever you get before you by it makesure it will fit in reverse in your car. If you want to get it from kmart or target go to the baby shop try it out say you will think about it and then go by it.

I had a convertble with first and she was a may bub hated the fact i had to take her in and out in the cold and unwrap and re wrap all the time.

Second I hired the traditional safe n sound capsule thought it was good, bub was in it till 6 month only came out of it due to being in a hip brace.

third bub is in the unity capsule and she is 8 and half months still fits great and love the fact i can just take her in it quickly for quick school drops or visiting friends also conects to my pram.

The only thing I would watch out for is the retractor models as they stick some times and a manual belt adjustment i have found works better.

[feeb]

Safe and sound meridian with retractor..

Love it, its great.. Retractor is a bit of a pain in butt to get to work sometimes.

[Laranna]

We've got the Turn-A-Tot and it's brilliant. While it's rearward facing, you can turn the seat to face the door to get bubs in and out. It turns and locks back into position once you've got bub all buckled in. We just turned the seat to forward facing last week so DS was rear facing for 10 months. Once you've got it forward facing though the turning feature doesn't work.

The Turn-A-Tot is great for smaller cars too. It's just as safe as the safe n sound seats as all car seats have to pass Australian standards.

[tiggerlily]

We have purchased the Turn-a-tot car seat. I like the idea that you can turn the seat to face the car door. It also seems to be make out of stronger materials than other car seats.

[Visitor8]

I love the turn a tot one of the best things about it is that it is such a large car seat! My 5 year old still fits in it but weight wise he is out by 1 kg

[mbear]

Safe and sound meridian with retractor..

.....same here. Have used it with all 3 girls and had no probs.
Ive always hired a capsule for the first 6 months, and will be doing the same for this baby. Like JordieC i love the fact i can lift baby outta the car still in capsule and not disturb him/her....being a winter baby too i think its important.....

[Nicole S]

Same here MIL bought us the Safe and sound meridian but manual as I wanted to have more control of seat belts..

[Calluna]

We got the turn-a-tot because it's the only one that would fit in our car, and we like that you can turn it around (we have a 2 door).
If you do get the turn-a-tot though I would get the base model, not the deluxe as the deluxe is $100 more(at least it was where we got it) for just one or 2 extra (not REALLY necessary) features.

[~Trish~]

You really can't go wrong with anything by Safe N Sound. I have a Premier retractor which has been great and I have a Royale, also very good. They all pretty much work the same, some are just fancier than others (the Meridian has lots of extra padding, AHR, etc.).

Baby Love is a good brand too (Australian made), but I personally don't like them as much as Safe N Sound car seats. But they are a bit more affordable, they are good quality and exceed the Australian standards. I also think their seats are a bit wider than the SNS ones.

I have heard mixed things about Turn-a-tots. I've sold a couple of them second-hand in the past and they seem much heavier and bulkier than the Safe-N-Sound car seats. Some people love them though.

Good luck deciding

[Shalou]

We have a ZUZU Cortex which DD has used for the past 3 years and we love it. I'm not sure whether it is a Baby Love or Mothers Choice brand car set. We are just upgrading now to a bigger seat for DD and going to use the baby seat for our new bub. We only paid $149 for it at Big W and glad we didn't buy a more expensive car seat as this one has been perfect for us. It came with certification that it met all Australian standards & they are still selling them now so we're happy to keep using it.