Maxi-Cosi - Pearl 360 Pro

FTM, and baby is now 1.5 years old. Spent a considerable amount of money on a pram and car seat that can fit into the pram frame (with an adapter) - thus not a ‘bundle’. Based on my experience I would still buy the car seat that we had but I wouldn’t spend nowhere near enough money that we spent on the buggy - for the reasons that I will mention below… Personal opinion, but if I were to do this all over again and potentially if you’d have more than 1 child: - buy the car seat that you’re happy with and safe for for newborn. We had maxi cosi pebble with isofix and this is a life saver. You can then use this for 2nd baby too at newborn stage up until say 6 months old. - then once baby is long / old enough to move on to the next stage, get a car seat that he/she can use up until around 4 years of age. We opted for maxi cosi Pearl which is the next size up from Pebble. Use the same isofix so just need to buy the car seat. - buggy: you can opt for a buggy that can then becomes a double buggy - hence saving you money in the longer run. But they are typically very sturdy and bulky. At some point in your life you may also want to have a ‘travel’ buggy for travelling that can go into cabin hold for example. I spent a lot of money on a buggy that I really want to get rid of and just want to use the travel buggy now. So consider what you may want to do in the future. Long story short, I won’t be fixated with a ‘bundle’ of the same brands between pram and car seat because it may not make sense / give you the best option. Then on the buggy/ pram - don’t spend a fortune because most people will then opt for a second pram (lighter, travel pram etc) unless you are 100% sure you want a double buggy and use the buggy a lot. We drives a lot and long distance - hence a good car seat is a must. And because most of the time we don’t take public transport or do a super long walk with the baby, the pram / bassinet gets less use than what it was originally intended for. Each to their own. Think about what you need more & most and budget it based on that. Also buy in stages than all in 1 go, even if you have the £££ as more often than not, people’s life change and what suits you today may not suits you 1-2 years from now. Also when we were selecting the car seat, I wanted one that fully reclined for the newborn, yet versatile enough to be brought on the plane whilst also can be used with both seatbelt and isofix. We actually used all of the functionality as I took the car seat with me to asia for 6 weeks and we were travelling to 10 different cities when baby was 4-6 months old. That car seat has been everywhere and was a life saver because he was safe in a taxi, on the plane (we booked him a seat on low-cost airlines that has no bassinet) and because it docked into the buggy then we can move the car seat straight into the buggy if he was asleep. And because that particular car seat can be used with or without isofix, we didn’t buy another car seat for our 2nd car. We just use isofix for 1 car (the main one) and if we need to drive the other car we just secure it using the seatbelt.

Meillä oli Maxi Cosi Pearl telskalla ja sitten Britax Römer Max Way kahdella lapsella. Max Waysta sitte turvavyöistuimeen. Meillä kuopus tosin täyttää seitsemän, joten noita malleja ei taida olla enää myynnissä uutena. Mut molemmat merkit on olleet ok.

Sorry, recommendation incoming. I had a coral 360 for bub when they are a newborn, moved to a pearl 360 when they outgrew it. Coral 360 is brilliant because you pop the internal insert out of the car seat and can carry the baby wherever you need too. Love it, never regretted it. Initially I started with a cyber eezy twist 2. Good narrow pram, pain if you have two kids to expand. Bought a icandy orange second hand - wide, not as nice to drive BUT, easier to expand for toddler and baby.  What I'm saying is, go to John Lewis, and then have a look at the second hand market. All the icandy stuff can be replaced (wheels, seats, etc) and there's loads out there for £100-£150. If you don't like, you'd be able to sell it on again and try something else. 

By rotating car seat do you mean as in the base in the car? If so we did the maxi-cosi pearl pro with 360 and sliding base, and uppababy makes the adapter for their strollers to be compatible with maxi cosi. We have the Cruz and then will get the minu later. At least here in Europe the maxi cosi car seat is flight and travel approved and works work both iso fix and a normal seatbelt.

I have used a Maxi-Cosi 360 of some sort, Cybex cloud z I-size and a sirona (interchangeable on same swivel base) and a seatbelt chomping one too, all on the back seats. For the isofix ones I bought an adapter from Bezos. I don’t put them in the front because they are savages and my front seats are custom upholstered recaros but I much preferred the stability of the isofix adapter.

We have the maxi-cosi rotating seat, which was one of the smaller ones on the market. It's wider than the rotating Graco one that fits into our larger SUV and not as tall. However, the passenger seat is pushed up almost all the way. I can sit there fine at 5'5, but my husband's (5'10) knees would crash into the glove compartment if I have to stop suddenly.