Joie - i-Pivot 360

Theres a couple Maxi cosi halo - being replaced with the raia (same seat different name). I have this one and love it, it’s extended rear facing, my roughly average 10 month old hasn’t hit the first marker yet so I’m quietly confident it will last rear facing for about 4 years. Joie 360 - not extended rear facing as per the manufacturer but the marker measurements are close to seats that are so there’s a lot of speculation it would last quite some time in rear facing mode. Nuna 360 (dunno the actual name) - nuna have pretty bad reviews for head flop caused by the positioning of the head rest, I’ve only looked at it and it looks a lot like their other seats so I would be cautious that it has the same issue. There’s a couple of fb groups dedicated to AUS car seats - some are a bit full on but I’ve found them overall helpful in terms of getting the harness fit right and install if that’s something you were curious about.

We use the Joie 360 for the car, never used the one for the pram as it just looked so uncomfortable. Plus the 360 has been great for my back. We used it til age 4 for oldest and now baby is using it.

If he’s on a spin base now, you’ll find you have a lot more space. We’ve got the MiniKid 2 and really like them (my son is 2.5 now). We have a Joie 360 in the grandparents car and you really need the spin to fit him in, but no issues with the mini kids!

I barely used our car seat in the pram. It's safest for baby to be flat so I decided that I didn't want to get into bad habits. I had the Joie360, but used the car seat that came with the pram for the early days. I found the spin really useful as I had a small 3 door and had experience of trying to get a car seat in the back, it wasn't that easy. But the spin meant I could have the seat facing me ready for baby then swivel her to rear face when she was strapped in.

Also, leave babies their seats with loose straps, which is worse as they slump down and their Airways get blocked. I had a Joie 360 to stop the temptation of doing this. My now 6yo hasn't outgrown it just yet. Although, we don't use it in my car anymore.

We picked the Joie car seat and travel system mainly because it ticks all the boxes - 360 swivel isofix base - affordable - nice looking/colours - light weight car seat None of the others seemed to meet all that criteria. I haven't read into the safety of all of them, but trust that these brand have to meet a minimum requirement. That will do me, otherwise I feel you will get pressured into spending lots of money, but then struggle to lift the damn thing in and out of the car haha. 😭

We love our cloud T!! I’d say I use the car seat attachment at least once or twice a week still, and use the lay flat function most of the time when we’re napping on the go! Our little one is nearly 5m and still has the newborn inserts in so I think we’ll get at least 18m out of it before we need to get the bigger seat! I’d also say that my partner has one of the fixed car seats (it’s the Joie 360) and she only just fits into it safely now! She was far too small and it didn’t feel safe for us until she could hold her head up!

I've got this travel system (we got an absoulte bargain) and we swapped the car seat out for a joie 360. I found car seats that come with pushchairs don't seem to be as robust as stand alone ones. We kept it though incase we need to go in someone else's car. (The 360 is an isofix with a permanent base)  The pram is really good though, we haven't had an issue and a lot of streets near us are cobbled so it gets shaken about xx

Central Chidlom has loads but prices are going to be similar across the city, the one we got (can’t remember exactly which but it’s Joie and is whichever was the highest rated on which that was available here) was about 3x what it costs in Europe - this isn’t hyperbole, I actually bought the same seat in Europe when we visited for a month. Check FB marketplace and maybe some of the expat mum’s groups on fb although they are pretty strict on who they let in

Joie or graco are both fine. They do a lower level seat than the stages if you’re no longer rear facing. Other brands are also fine thanks to our highly regulated system. As a run-down of the rules here: New car seats are R129 compliant. Also known as I-size and are based on the height of the child. Some older style seats are still sold, but will be listed as R44. These are still completely legal and safe but the R129 moves from a weight based system to a height based system, includes more directional crash testing and longer rear-facing on models including the 0-15m age option. Child car seats in the UK are highly regulated and tested. Buying from Halfords, they won’t be selling any seats that aren’t tested and compliant so feel free to spend less than £100 if it suits the needs of your children. Children under 15 months / 74cm must rear-face. Children over that may forward face or rear-face. Children up to 105cm must use a 5point harness. Any child over that can use a seat-belt high back. Most children here tend to start forward facing somewhen between 2 and early 4 but rear facing is obviously safer etc. If you’re happy forward facing both kids, look between £60-£100 for a basic R129 seat that still meets all relevant regulation and testing.

I know I sound like a broken record with the other comments but the joie car seat isn't the best. If possible, see if you can get an infant carrier (a good budget one is the maxicosi cabriofix or a spin option is the avionaut pixel pro or cosmo) and then get a next stage seat when they're older. Also, car seats go by height/weight, not age. Joie tends to be outgrown quite early (too early for a child to then forward face safely) and they are really bulky seats. I'd definitely go for a separate infant carrier. Pram wise. I regretted my travel bundle - Egg3. If I had my time again, I'd buy a cheaper pram and stroller and buy a better car seat. We just bought the Lejoux+ stroller for holidays and it's great. I see us using that now instead of the Egg stroller. So don't be like me lol

I do believe it is this seat which is a good budget one. If you're on Facebook, I recommended joining the Bump to Booster group. The admins are experts and are so good at giving good non-judgemental advice. This is a good seat once baby fits but all isofix seats have a set weight limit, usually around 18kg for low budget seats which doesn't tend to last children long enough so then it would be recommended to buy a longer lasting seat which is double the money. I got the maxi cosi cabriofix with base with my travel system (had to ask for others as the pebble wasn't very supportive or recommended) and now I use the Avionaut Sky. We switched around 6 months and love it so I can highly recommend that. It lasts until 25kg which should see my low centile baby until she's old enough for a booster. It was pricier at £300 but it lasts 10 years so we'll get lots of use out of it when we have our next one too. It really is a minefield so don't worry. I went down a rabbit hole when I was pregnant and had a panic attack that my baby would die if I would bought the pebble. All my friends have them and they're fine seats. My baby wouldn't die if she were in it but them hormones are brutal!