Joie - Spin 360 GTi

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.

We put the car seat in a travel bag, one with a cord tie at the end, left it at the front of the plane and picked it up at oversize baggage at the other end, other airports may require you to leave it at a certain point instead Fairly simple and standard affair, but it was a joie 360 model and was a ballache to move in the airport

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 got Egg 3 pram/buggy and used the car seat attachment absolutely loads when baby was small. It was really handy if taking a quick trip in car to shop etc, just lift baby out and go. Our car seat also rotated out to face us so very handy. We got a BeSafe GoBeyond which fit the Egg adapters. It extended out to allow baby to be a bit flatter when in it. If you aren’t going to be in and out of the car much, then you won’t have much need for it. We’ve just upgraded to Joie 360spin car seat which is also great and goes up to 4y.

Yeah no secondhand car seats especially if bought from FB. For example I gave my close friend our old car seat (still within expiry date etc and had just been used for 9 ish months when my son sized up) as she knows that I would never pass on a seat that had even been in a minor bump. We got a joie ispin (0-4 but our tall baby sized out at almost 3) as I’m not a fan of the in/out car seats. We had a bassinet pram that was sleep safe so he could sleep in it for hours.

The 360 feature is more of a marketing gimmick as you won’t always and fully be able to use the full spin in reality.  Once the car door is closed, there’s no room for the car seat to rotate in fully. When there’s an emergency diaper change or nursing in the back seat and need to put the child back in the car seat from inside the car, I can only get a 15 degree rotate before the door obstruct. It’s too bulky. That’s been my experience with the Joie 360.  Other than that, it’s nice if there’s a sale. 

car seat i’d say go to an independent car seat shop to get advice. never buy 2nd hand and i’d buy an infant car seat first. in the 0-4 year car seats you rarely get a safe fit for a newborn. my inlaws have the joie spin and babe only got somewhat of a good fit at about 6+ months. We have a cybex cloud T which can be used without isofix and is as safe used on a seatbelt; however there’s excellent cheaper options - i heard great things about the avionaut and friends have maxicosi. Pram - i’d think about your lifestyle - ie do you go into smaller spaces, live in a building with stairs, small car etc or do you need something all terrain because you go on lots of country/off road walks etc. work your way back from an essential vs nice to have list and then check fb marketplace or similar. also check sales; sometimes you can get amazing deals!

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!