Rear-Facing Support, Questions & Answers

[Eala]

Urgh that's so annoying!

The thing is, £200 is still a good price for a Multi Tech - Securatot sell them for £245, not sure if that includes shipping or not though.

I guess Volvo noticed that all of a sudden people were buying the seats, and so put the prices up to make more money. Urgh, I thought better of them than that (more fool me )

 

[hayley x]

We went and got one anyway and I can say it was certainly worth the £200, its so well padded and looks so comfy and Daisy was happy to go in it Rang at 9 and it was in for 11.30 - how fab is that! x

 

[Eala]

That's fab! Took a day for them to get it for us, as it had to come up from a stock hub somewhere (or something!)

That'd great that Daisy likes it

 

[veganmum2be]

i bought a britax hi way second hand cos its all i could afford, lo is to small yet, so hoping he still fits in his infant carrier until approx 9months when he will be big enough to go in it!
i'm going to install it in the car as soon as it arrives to try it out

so glad it came up, because there isnt many that will fit in a uber small car, but this one apparently does, and i couldn't afford full price....so yippee!

 

[Eala]

That's brilliant - nice one on spotting a bargain! ERF seats really don't come up very often!

 

[bubbles123]

There is something going on with Volvo and the Britax multi tech I think. Like I previously posted my local dealer couldn't get hold of one at all (although got me another fab seat I love!) and there was confusion about the parts number, so I think they must be in the middle of changing/repricing stock. I bet they're noticed they're popular and have upped the price. Although as previously said, £200 is still a good price for an ERF seat.

 

[Cattia]

Thanks ladies, this thread is really helpful

 

[Kess]

Can anyone advise?

My aunt has offered me a second hand infant carseat, but I'm not 100% sure of it's history (though 99% sure). My original plan (before I knew the seat had been used by my foster-cousin, which is where the not 100% comes in, I don't know how she's treated it) was to use this and then graduate baby to a Britax Multitech from Volvo, as it's the cheapest ERF seat I've seen. But I looked into a from-birth ERF seat to avoid using my aunt's seat, and found the Akta Graco Duologic 1 (thanks Eala!), which would apparently (according to Hakan) fit nicely in our Skoda Fabia estate and works well from birth. Hakan also recommended the Britax Hi-Way for our car.

The Hi-Way is up to 55lb/25kg, the DuoLogic only 18kg, but even 18kg should take us up to not that far off 5 for an average sized boy, and the DuoLogic has a higher shell so does that mean it's better for taller babies (DH is tall and skinny, I'm short and skinny)?

How long should they rear-face? Until 4 or 5, or longer?

DuoLogic is Isofix, which would reassure me as I'd like to be sure I'm installing it correctly.

Has anyone used the Hi-Way from birth?

I'm not sure the Multitech would fit in our car anyway, so we may have to shell out more for an ERF seat, in which case the DuoLogic or Hi-Way seem to be the best choices.

 

[Eala]

Sorry I haven't replied to your last PM Kess I've got labyrinthitis at the moment, so my head isn't quite on straight!

I worked out that if my LO was to jump up several centile lines to the 50th centile, then she'd still only hit 18kg at 5 years. As it is, she's still tracking along somewhere around the 2nd centile, so she's not going to be 18kg for a long time I think it'll get to the point where they just don't want to RF anymore, or maybe it'll get uncomfortable with the leg room? I don't really know, but someone like mommyof3co who has older kids can probably answer that one

I know a few ladies on here are using the Hi-Way, so hopefully they can answer your questions about that one

 

[Kess]

Sorry I haven't replied to your last PM Kess I've got labyrinthitis at the moment, so my head isn't quite on straight!

I worked out that if my LO was to jump up several centile lines to the 50th centile, then she'd still only hit 18kg at 5 years. As it is, she's still tracking along somewhere around the 2nd centile, so she's not going to be 18kg for a long time I think it'll get to the point where they just don't want to RF anymore, or maybe it'll get uncomfortable with the leg room? I don't really know, but someone like mommyof3co who has older kids can probably answer that one

I know a few ladies on here are using the Hi-Way, so hopefully they can answer your questions about that one

Don't worry about it, I was just wittering on! I find I figure things out better when I repeat the problem a few times to different people, even if they don't have any helpful answer, like my brain just needs to "hear" me re-state the problem, and I'm afraid you became a victim since no-one in RL will talk ERF with me! My Mom thinks it's daft ("All his friends will be forward-facing!" and "Where will his legs go?" and "For HOW long?!") and hubby is wanting to take all this baby stuff one step at a time (so "But this seat might ERF for longer if we have a bigger baby, the other one should go up to 4 years 10 months for a 50th centile baby boy, but what if he's big?" is met with "We don't even know if we'll still be RFing then, lets get to two years and assess").

 

[lynnikins]

i wouldnt count on having an average size baby hun my not even 3 yr old is over 18kg now and he was predicted to be 7lbs at birth he was 9lb 10oz and has always been near top of the centile charts hes the size of most 4 year olds and bigger than some that we know, yes my husband is tall and im average/tall but neither of us would predict us having such big kids ( my youngest is bigger than his brother was at the same age )
thankfully i dont have a car currently so not panicing about having a seat for him but need to buy the multi tech when we do need a seat for him

 

[Kess]

i wouldnt count on having an average size baby hun my not even 3 yr old is over 18kg now and he was predicted to be 7lbs at birth he was 9lb 10oz and has always been near top of the centile charts hes the size of most 4 year olds and bigger than some that we know, yes my husband is tall and im average/tall but neither of us would predict us having such big kids ( my youngest is bigger than his brother was at the same age )
thankfully i dont have a car currently so not panicing about having a seat for him but need to buy the multi tech when we do need a seat for him

Hmmm. I wasn't counting on it, so much as hoping, I think! Thing is, I'm not sure the Multitech will fit in our car (Skoda Fabia). It's an estate, yes, but an estate version of a small car, IYSWIM.

ETA: Oooh, thought! A second child would probably be on the cards (assuming this baby boy doesn't put me off children completely!) before Baby1 got out of ERF, so I'd need two seats anyway. Perhaps I should get the DuoLogic and if Baby1 is big then I can buy a replacement seat that goes bigger and Baby2 (when s/he arrives) can have the DuoLogic? That might work.

 

[kirmal12]

I've just purchased the Britax Hi-way II from carseat.se. I originally wanted the multi tech but it was going to be just to big for my Astra. Hakan at carseat.se was really helpful, try sending a email he will advise you the best seat for your car.

 

[tiggercats]

Tiggercats, I had a similar issue when I was looking into erf seats, in that Roo was too small. Technically still is, I don't think she's 20lbs yet! This was why I initially plumped for the duologic as it is birth to 18kg. Howver, when I emailed Hakan to ask for advise, he said that for erf seats, the weight limit is not as important. It's more that baby has to be able to sit up themselves with good head control. He would have been quite happy to sell me a multi tech or any other "9-25kg" seats, and I think Roo was about 16 or 17lbs at the time.

Thanks for that, the guy I tested the multi tech with said only from 9kg, but i can't see what difference an oz or 2 makes. I will probably give it a few more weeks as bringing in the infant seat when LO is asleep is just too damn convenient, it might be heavy but better than waking a sleeping baby.

Anyone here got the volvo cobination seat? on another forum everyone said they paid £146.50 and we just rang and was quoted £200 just a month after they purchased theirs was certain on getting it now not so sure? x

Cheeky so and so's putting up their price, I'm glad I got mine when I did now.

 

[Siyren]

i've just heard back from hakan

unfortunately lyssa is gonna have to stay FF until the end of may due to finances,
but then we'll be getting the britax hi way II from carseat.se
and i cant wait!

 

[Eala]

That's fantastic! Glad that you found Hakan as helpful as I did

 

[bathbabe]

Anybody know if you can try/buy the britax hi way II in the uk?

 

[Siyren]

thanks for the recomendation hun
yeah i really didnt expect a reply at this time!
i really can't wait to get our new seat.

def ffull recommendation from us about hakan and carseat.se too, we couldnt fault them x

 

[Eala]

Anybody know if you can try/buy the britax hi way II in the uk?

Try having a look here - https://www.rearfacing.co.uk/buyersguide.php

I *think* that the "Britax Nordic Range" might include the Hi-Way Elite, but it was tough finding information on it tbh. Not knowing where in the south west you are, I don't know if any of the places listed as stocking that range are within travelling distance for you

 

[pinkclaire]

I purchased my Hi way from incarsafety.co.uk, they were really good and it was the only place in the UK that I found. the seat was £200 inc delivery so the same price as the volvo multi-tech.

I really like mine, and it seems pretty tall to me? I wouldnt have thought height would be much of a problem? Then again my Lo is only 13 months old!

As for from birth, just check you dont need to have an infant carrier for the hospital as many say you do. I personally could not have done without a carrier when he was small, it was good being able to take him out without disturbing him if he was asleep, and also handy if your just popping to the supermarket etc as they just come out the car onto the trolley with out being disturbed! But thats just me personally, and they cant stay in their car seat to long anyway.