[cira]

Can anyone point me in the direction of some info...

I'd like to buy a forward-facing seat for my small 4 year old that will keep her harnessed for as long as possible and a rear-facing car seat for my 6-month old to keep him rear-facing for as long as possible.
What would you recommend as the safest seats that match these descriptions?

[lsolaBella]

Apparently the new SnS Compaq has very high RF shoulder markings.

Tall FF seats - Maxi Cosi Complete Air, Babylove Ezy Combo, Cargo Marathon (personally if I get a 2010 seat I would ignore the height markings if my child was under 21kgs and shoulders were no more then 2.5cm above top shoulder slot - eg. Babylove Ezy Combo 2010 has 'move to booster' markings in line with the 2nd should slots/out of 4 whereas with the 2004 version you could use the inbuilt harness with all 4 shoulder slots. Similar with the Maxi Cosi CA 2010- it seems they have now moved the height marker down when really they headrest moves up higher with a shoulder slot above the marker).

The Babylove Ezy Combo gets 4 stars CREP testing. Maxi Cosi not tested and Cargo Marathon (available at BigW) gets 3 stars.

Also just going to add that the new SnS Compaq may also be a good one to try for your eldest as I have seen some photos with 120cm children fitting in them (but once again SnS may decide to change where their markings are at)

[cira]

Thank you!

[cira]

Sorry to add another question but can you explain the issue with convertible booster seats - the babylove one scores three stars as a booster seat which I definitely see as a plus but I've read in discussions here that people don't recommend using convertible seats as boosters.

Also how do people evaluate the seats that were not tested in the last round of CREP testing?

This post has been edited by cira: 11/05/2012, 08:00 PM

[lsolaBella]

CREP testing is a guideline BUT it is not necessarily the be all and end all of testing. They only use the largest size test dummy for each type of seat, so the FF seats are tested with 22kg 6yo test dummies, so not something I would necessarily use to judge for what to do with a sub 2yo child (ie. personally I would not put a child under 2 in a convertible booster although they get high ratings in FF mode).

CREP also only test a selection of seats and not all seats and often are not up to date with the latest seats. So CREP is used as a guideline.

In booster mode using a seat with adjustable headrest and seatbelt guide attached to the headrest many find to be easier to use then getting the seatbelt to go around a convertible booster, through the threader (which you need to pull out from under the covers at the shoulders). Oftentimes people don't realise that they need to use the threader and end up just putting the seatbelt around the seat (which does not provide appropriate protection).

[cira]

To clarify - I was considering the Babylove Ezy Combo for the 4 year old and was just preparing my argument for why it was the best choice. I had thought we would need to buy an extended FF chair and then a dedicated booster but the Babylove Ezy Combo looks like it is decently rated as a booster too.

I'm going shopping tomorrow so I'll check out the SNS Compaq and probably the Meridian AHR Tilt & Adjust.