Did you hire a capsule from the ambulance or did you buy one??? What were your reasonings?
I'm torn with my decision, so any input would be great
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Did you hire a capsule from the ambulance or did you buy one??? What were your reasonings?
I'm torn with my decision, so any input would be great
we bought ours - mostly cos we wanted the travel system that goes from car to pram frame - makes life sooooo convenient!
I am going to buy mine tomorrow!!! but I have to say ( this is going to sound strange) we are living in aussie and I think the grey ones you hire are so wrong! Im from NZ and the ones you hire are like the ones you buy. I just dont like them. I do think the reasale on them is ok too.
I bought one. Cost under $100 on sale at Big W - Zuzu brand.... made by IGC who make most brands of child car seats. Mine was a convertible one.
We bought the newer SnS capsule - rebranded Fisher Price - because it goes upto 12kg, and DD3 is likely to be in it until after she reaches 1.
ETA: I don't like the IGC seats because the quality is not there, the reclining arm bend out of shape so easily when it is forward facing and makes the whole seat lean to one side. they are cheaper for a reason. We did have them for the older 2 but once the reclining arms went we switched brands. Infa, SnS and the Cargo/Hipod (BigW and Target rebrands) are very good and can be switched from car to car without falling apart as easily.
We have 2 cars. We bought 2 reversible seats and put one in my car and have kept the other one to put into DH's car after our 6mth hire of a capsule runs out. We hired a capsule from the Red Cross (in SA) as we decided that it would be easier to transport DS around particularly when going to church on Sundays rather than having to get the pram out all the time or having a sling of some sort for those sorts of times. We decided not to buy and to hire instead as we couldn't afford paying for a capsule and 2 car seats. At about $80 for 6mths hire we thought we could justify the cost of hiring - and we don't have to worry about what to do with the capsule when we finished using it - just have to make sure it's clean when we return it.
we bought with our first born knowing we wanted a few children.. i have lent it out to others so it has never been idol.. its about to be used with its 5th child....
I am actually hiring one like what you buy (not the bucket one).. I am hiring it through an independent baby store and it is costing about $80 more than the bucket one..:
Just OT for a sec, is it not compulsary to anchor carseats in NZ?
We are hiring one from the ambos. They use Safe and Sound capsules, with a 5 point harness - they are perfectly safe and are stringently checked over before they are hired out. The ambos will also install it for you, so that you know it has been put in correctly. They are no less safe than the capsules you can buy. We already have a convertible carseat, but we are keeping our 2 yo DD in that until she is too big for it, then the baby can go into that seat. We decided hiring a capsule was a much more cost effective option than having to buy another carseat that we don't really need.
heather, I thought it was compulsary to anchor them. I had to have my ds ancoured in nz why is that?.
I jut brought mine today cost me $179.00 love it.
Thanks for that.. Looks like I will be having words with the inlaws before we go over again. The seat (forward facing) for DD wasn't anchored and there were no anchor points in the car. I was told that it wasn't compulsary over there, so we accepted it reluctlantly. And DH and I assumed it must be true as FIL's work car was NZ new last year (so not a jap import as most are over there), and it didn't have any points either. New cars here must be sold with them (the holes for the points to go in)..:
I have just done a bit of research after my heart sank with your post, and it is required if the car seat has the strap. There are some seats that are designed without the strap (UK standard) that don't require anchoring, so I am hoping the seat we were using was one of those. But if we go again, I will make sure that they have had anchor points put in.
Oh and yay on the getting the capsule..
wow I had no idea! the car seat I had did have the strap but the car we had didnt have the holes. ( we just made one, jap import like you where talking about). I would have thought it would have been compulsory! so wrong if it isnt. I didnt think you where allowed to use the old car seats that dont have that strap though. not sure dosnt seem right to me saftey should come first!
We've just bought one as well - we actually ended up buying a travel system (Fisher Price) second hand. I was originally sooooo against buying any sort of safety gear second hand, but I've since found out that in WA we can go to either Red Cross (ambos) or Kidsafe WA and they do testing of any equipment so that we can make sure it's safe. Considering that the ambos hire out second hand equipment, I figure that there testing should be fine.
We ended up buying the whole system (capsule goes straight into pram) coz it seems so much more convenient, especially when I know we'll have a fair bit of travelling to do in the first few months.
we hired a capsule from the Red Cross and I'm so glad we didn't buy one, as at 7 weeks old, DD decided she hated it with a passion - she would scream the whole car journey - we borrowed Mum's car for a few days, as she has a convertable, just to see, and it definately was the capsule, so we took it back and bought a convertible from them instead.
This time, we're borrowing the Fisher Price capsule from a friend. If we weren't though, I would spend the extra and hire the more padded SNS (the Red cross one was just the grey bucket type). But I personally wouldn't buy a capsule.
We hired ours from our local council it was a safe and sound one cost $45 to hire with a refundable $50 bond, i worked out that if i bought one and had three kids it still was more than hiring it three times so that's why we chose to hire.
My DS loved his and I must admit it was so easy when he was in that especially for quick trips like to the shop to get milk i got leave him in it put him down safely while i paid etc and didn't have to worry about a pram. Hiring it was great as i didnt have to worry about storing it later either :)