SNS Platinum or Meridan... or Turn-a-tot?

Have been looking at carseats, and originally I was thinking of the turn-a-tot as we have a 4WD and it seems so much easier (having two friends who rave of them), but then I can't seem to go past the SNS seats, have been looking at the Meridian AHR Retractor and tonight found the Platinum AHR Retractor, the only real difference I can find is that the Platinum has built in speakers... can anyone tell me if this is worth anything or just a gimic? When we drive, apart from running around small town, we will be driving a min of 5hrs to get anywhere so I'm willing to spend the $$ on a car seat but wasn't sure if these of any use. Seems to be only $30 difference.

Any recommendations or advice would be much appreciated :D Thanks in advance

we have safe and sound meridian retractor and love it. no issues or complaints

When we were looking shop assistant said to us that one with speakers was a waste of money as otherwise pretty much same seat.

We've got the SNS Meridian too and love it. It's easy to operate and DS seems very comfy in it.

Andie

I have a Meridian and found it great. We used it until DD1 was nearly 3 and now it is in use again. A plus with buying SNS is the great service they have. When I was preparing the seat for DD2, I found a broken part. I rang SNS who send out the new part free of charge!

We hve purchased the Safe 'n' Sound Meridian also, the shop assistant told us the only difference was the speakers and no one really uses them. The only other thing I would suggest is perhaps to look for a manual not the retractor, there seems to be alot of ppl who have the retractor who say you end up manually fixing it anyway and that way you are making sure the baby is secure yourself, the retractor one is set..

Best Of Luck with your decision.

I love the Meridian. I looked at the platinum but decided we didn't need the speakers. WE live 600km from 'the big smoke'. What I like about the Meridian is that it has the AHR and when DS sleeps he doesn't get the floppy head on shoulder thing. The AHR holds his head up. It does still drop a bit but not too bad.

With the Turn a tot I think you can only use the turn feature while the child is rearward facing? I may be wrong but I thought I read something about using a turn a tot in a 4wd was a bit more difficult due to the way it anchors?

Good luck

We have the meridian and it is great. We also love it for the AHR...DD was always very snug in the seat and no worries about excess neck/head movement. Looking at other friends car seats without the AHR and I definitely know we made the right decision. We got the manual and it has been absolutely fine and have had no thoughts of wishing we had gone the retractor...so there's another way to save a little bit of money..takes a few seconds to adjust the straps yourself. We have just purchased the SNS maxi rider AHR for DD as definitely can't go past the AHR feature. I would definitely go for it.

Ellee we have just bought the SnS Merdian Manual, I thought the Retractor model was harder to use. I think everyone else is right, the only thing the Platinum has is speakers. I don't know much about the Turn a Tot but we also have a 4WD & I don't think it's going to be as hard to get bubs in and out as I was originally worried about. Personally I don't think you can go past the SnS for comfort & safety. Make sure you ring around for prices though, we only paid $399 last week.

I agree with Cheezel Monster, you cannot go past Safe 'n 'Sound for safety. I would rather sacrifice other things but you can't compromise safety..

$399 is pretty good Cheezel Monster, we got ourson sale (supposedly) and we paid more than that! Where did you get yours from?

We have the Turn-a-Tot and it's brilliant. It's made getting DS in and out of the car really easy especially in tight spaces where I can't get the car door open fully. He's still rearward facing, but I think when he changes to forward facing, I can't turn him anymore. Would definitely buy another one when we have bub #2.

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With the Turn a tot I think you can only use the turn feature while the child is rearward facing? I may be wrong but I thought I read something about using a turn a tot in a 4wd was a bit more difficult due to the way it anchors?

Good luck

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It is true about the turning feature, you can only use it when in the rear facing mode.

Not sure about the anchor features for 4WD, but we need to buy a short extention for our wagon.

I have the turn a tot and it's wonderful! The only thing is I wouldn't use it in a small car because it is very wide compared to the SNS but if you have a 4WD then I can't see a problem!