Joie - Signature i-Level Pro

I can’t speak for the particular model you’re considering, but we picked up the Joie Finiti travel system for around £600 (including the 360 I-level Pro car seat) in the summer for our first baby and we haven’t looked back! We tried lots of models before deciding and came to the conclusion that we’d rather spend the extra few hundred pounds on nursery furniture than having a more ‘desirable’ brand. So far it’s held up perfectly and gets lots of compliments when we’re out and about!

You can attach most car seats to the pram with the right adapters (apart from seats with fixed isofix base) - the claim that car seats that can be attached to the pram are inherently less safe is just bs. All car seats sold in the UK need to meet the safety standards, and some car seats including many car seats sold as part of travel system choose to meet higher than the expected standards. Additionally, if you buy a travel system most bundles don't come with a car seat or you can choose which one is included in the bundle, or you can choose your own outside the bundle.  Finally, the baby needs a carrycot for the first 6 months, when I was pregnant with my first I was not able to find a single pram with proper wheels that had the carry cot that wasn't travel system. So even if you don't plan to ever attach the car seat to the pram or buy one that cannot be attached you'd still most likely need to buy a travel system pram. Travel system simply means that carcass with wheels is separate to the baby holder (seat, carry cot or car seat), you can choose which attachments you want to use. We got the joie chrome dlx travel system, joie i level seat for new born phase as it lies flat and then joie i spin 360. We were planning to have 2+ kids so the plan was to have younger in the I level seat and older in the ispin until ready for highback booster as I don't think our car would have fitted two I spin seats comfortably. The pavements are rubbish where we live so the bigger wheels and better suspension of bigger travel system pram are so much nicer than the tiny wheels of our smaller and lighter travel pram. Our car is also so small that if we ever needed to take the baby in for errands we'd struggle to fit a pram with carry cot in the car.

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!

I got the Joie too! I don't have my own car but my husband has a small SUV. It was nice to turn the seat to the other passenger seats and spend the time getting him all secure in the pre heated car before spinning him to the rear facing position.