Just got this via FedEx today. Not actually a mod for my car, but thought I'd post it here anyway for those that may have a need/interest in this kinda thing. This is probably hands-down the best child seat I've found, I'd say. Quality is top-notch and far above other seats I've seen in stores around here. From what I understand, it's also the only seat actually tested/designed for side-impact safety, and it shows. Best thing is you can use it from 18 lbs up to 80, and as both a harness-type and booster-type seat as well, so even though the price is a bit high you'll have it for a long time. I bought mine online from Speedware Motorsports (www.speedwaremotorsports.com) and shipping was free for this particular model. I actually feel kinda jealous now -- baby's got a Recaro and I'm still working with the OEM seats.

 

never too high of a price for safety. Nice pick up

 

i was thinking of geting a recardo for my kiddo too...how lucky these kids are nowadays....hmmmmm

 

Very true, and to be honest it wasn't stupid expensive, just more than your average Babies R Us seat.

 

They also sell these at my local honda.

 

Im buying my little girl one soon!

 

man that's cool.

 

Very Nice. Can I seat in it

 

Wow, I'd get this in a heartbeat for our little guy, if he was old enough/big enough.

He's in a Britax Companion right now. He arrived a month early and we got it since (a) we didn't have a car seat yet when he was born (b) I liked the head support in the Companion (he was about 5lbs) and (c) we could lay our hands on one in a nice subtle blue, with a cotton/poly blend cover. My dad went down to a USA Baby shop that wasn't open yet to get the blue one - they sold it to him for cash as they were still setting up the place. (All the ones in the shops around here were in black.)

He's just turned ten months, and is only 19lbs, but is tall, at 30 inches. The Britax is good to 22lbs and 30 inches. But he has to be rear facing until he is 12 months old. He probably won't be 22lbs by then, but he may be longer than 30 inches.

I'd like to get a Recaro, but it looks like we'd have a gap between being able to use the Companion and being able to use the Recaro Young Sport. It seems like a waste to get the Recaro Como or Signo, since he's already 18lbs, and they go from 5lbs up to 70. The Young Sport goes from 20 up tp 80lbs. I wish I'd heard of this brand earlier!

On a related note - the base for the baby's Companion sits in the center, anchored with the LATCH system, in both my Fit and my husband's Elantra. The owner's manual for the Fit says you can put a child seat in any rear seat position, although it seems to only show the LATCH used for the left and right seats, but not the two middle attachments used to anchor the seat in the middle.

 

Technically, he'd fit it currently b/c although the website says 20+, the instructions that came with it say 18-80 and 27"+. Quite honestly, you could probably put him in it from 11 mos. on and fudge it a bit since his size is a bit above average it seems and meets the requirements. Of course you could maybe fudge it a bit with your current seat too for another two months and then get the Recaro since he's probably not going to gain 3"-4", but really only an inch or two in that time. We waited for 1 year and then put our's in it, even though his feet were resting on the seatback somewhat in his original rear-facing seat.

For a slight update, we've been using this seat regularly now since the first post, and no issues to report at all. The baby doesn't fuss or anything when he's in it any more than what he would in any seat, and finally when he falls asleep his head isn't hanging forward like it used to in the old seat. He also doesn't get nearly as sweaty and wet like he did before since the seat cover breathes much better than the old seat ever did. Overall, really very satisfied with it and would definitely recommend it even more to others in need of a new seat.

 

Not trying to scare you....for those thinking of getting a recaro baby seat...

AVOID the recaro Start seat as it uses the adult seat belt which means they don't provide adequate protection.

Seats to avoid are

• Chicco Max-3S
• Mamas & Papas Pro-Tour
• Recaro Start
• Little Shield Combi 123

look at the following link (performed by Which? magazine)

Child car seats | Crash test video



I currently use the young Profi plus and will be changing to a Young Expert plus soon.... and will definately be avoiding the Start seat.... and getting the Young Style (Monza) seat in a few years time..

 

Hi,

Chikubi has the Young Sport, not the *Start*.

The Young Sport uses the LATCH attachment when in the five-point harness mode, not the adult seat belts. Typically, and perhaps unfortunately, most booster seats, or convertible seats in booster mode, seem to use the adult seat belts.

After the Consumer Reports (roughly the US equivalent of Which?) seat testing fiasco, I unfortunately have to wonder if sometimes these testing folks don't feed off a sense of their own self-importance and desire to make waves and receive publicity, rather than genuine safety concerns. (There are a few other notorious cases of CR doing everything they can to make sure they have a dramatic story - bugger the facts.)

That is sad, because child seats are too important for anything other rigourous honesty (whether it means finding out there is no dramatic, circulation increasing, story, or a major embarassment for a manufacturer) when it comes to testing.

Seats available vary greatly from market to market - as do rules governing their use in cars. Australia allows foward facing in the rear seat beginning at nine months, however when our son was there (at eight months and a bit) his rear-facing seat required a top tether.

If you think those rules vary greatly, you should check out the ones for children, seats and belts in aircraft!

g

 

i noticed that Chikubi has the Young Sport,... i was just trying to let those who have yet to buy a baby seat to avoid the *start* seat as there are better ones on the market.

I totally agree with you about the CR making a dramatic story....however i think having a baby seat with an adult belt is better than having nothing at all.

 

Hi,

Just to make things extra confusing, as I recall one CR test told people they'd be better off using the adult seat belts than using the LATCH system, which would seem to be the opposite of the conclusion drawn by Which? (!) (Or maybe it was that it was better to belt in an infant seat directly, or attach the base with the belts, rather than using the base with LATCH.)

(Another CR annoyance - the only way to get the most complete baby product info is to keep buying the paper copy of their annual baby product guide, and keep updated throughout the year by getting a paper magazine subscription as well. If you subscribe on line, you only have access to the current issue, and after a new issue comes out it is *gone*. The info you can access with an Internet subscription is less than complete, for *all* products, not very user friendly to access, and keeps giving me a "you are not subscribed/logged in" error when I use Firefox. You'd think that if they were totally sincere about their mission, they would make complete and current information for all baby products available via a special Internet subscription.)

Of course, it may just be more about where the seat belts attach to the seat (and how secure the attachment is in a crash), rather than the fact that it uses belts as its attachment.

Do you know if UK and US rear seat belt standards are similar, or do they differ significantly?

Take care,

g (still looking for the next seat for the babe)

 

double post

 

I work on seating on the Rolls Royce Phantom and BMW mini,.... as far as i am aware there are no real differences between the seats and seat belts for the UK and US market..

..but usually the US standards are more strict than the UK ones, i think (such as crash testing and emissions etc...)