[Closed] Is Isofix worth it?

We have an Isofix base for our M&P seat for the tiny tot. Easy and solid to fit but presupposes that you'll only need to use it in Isofix compatible cars, which your parents/friends cars may not be.

Isofix makes things a lot easier, just slot it in and away you go.
Have a look at Which, they did a test on childseats quite recently I think.

supposedly nice an easy, but always regret moving mine around as its always a pig to get back into the skoda - works well in the A Class and a friends Leon and M5 - reckon its something to do with the angle of the rear seats in the skoda. also they are blinkin' heavy! but all in all i reckon worth it to save aggravation of faffing with seat belts

and akira is correct there is/was a which report - you can subscribe for a £1 to get the report you want

aalso what car (I think) did one recently -just over a year ago. we went for a maxi cosi of some sort (cant remember the exact model) as that seemed to come out just about best

now anyone got any ideas on how to stop a 2 year old a) slipping his arms out of the straps (apart form chopping them off) and b) undoing the buckle?

we went for the cosi tobi maxi(non isofix). two in each car(4 in total)
as said above it might not fit in grandma's car or the hire car you use abroad.
seatbelt fitted seats are universal, isofix aint.

now anyone got any ideas on how to stop a 2 year old a) slipping his arms out of the straps (apart form chopping them off) and b) undoing the buckle?

cellotape their arms down 😀

ac505 does your car (and other cars you plan to use it in) all have isofix mounts in place? If not the decision is made for you.

but presupposes that you'll only need to use it in Isofix compatible cars, which your parents/friends cars may not be.

have isofix mounts in place? If not the decision is made for you.

We have Isofix because we have twins and wanted a system where we could easily lift them out of the car when sleeping and bring them in the house/put them in their pushchair (which takes the car seats) without waking them.

yeah, both cars have Isofix mounts.

Try before you buy... We looked at getting an ISOFIX base in our Mondeo but due to the angle of the seat and the fact you can only have the ISOFIX base at one angle, the seat, when fitted was too far forward meaning the little 'uns head would be lolling around too much. Normal seat (Britax - Which Best Buy rated) feels nearly as secure and you can move it around a bit to the angle you want before cranking the belt up tight.

Have you seen [url= http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=kiddy+infinity&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=yHMWS8qCLMWC4Qa20snaBg&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCkQrQQwAw ]these Kiddy car seats[/url]?

That's the one we just bought and it's brilliant. You just put the seatbelt round it, only takes a sec and wife said it was supposed to be very safe.

Daughter v happy in it too, looks really comfy.

I thought I wanted isofix until I went and looked at/played with car seats in Halfords. The seat, in our car at least, is way more solid when fitted with the seatbelt than with isofix. Also the supposed benefits of speedy removal are overstated IMO, takes only a few seconds to swap our non-isofix maxicosi between cars.
I have to say in fairness that car seat buying was an unusually pleasant halfwits experience. The halfords standard issue disinterested looking saturday yoof turned out to be very helpful and extremely well informed, and we ended up buying our seat on the spot. As a terrible cynic it's nice to be proven wrong sometimes.

Seatbelt ones can appear to be more secure but in tests they are pretty much equal with Isofix when fitted correctly but there is more room for human error with seatbelt ones. With an Isofix you just clip in and it is done.

I reckon the isofix thing is over rated, but have no experience of it

Why aren't car beds more common in the UK for babies upto around 6 months.
We had one, defo way forward as baby can lie down in the car and sleep, when you get there, you can leave baby in car bed and use it as a moses basket. Much better than a maxi cosy thing.

Having had both ISOFIX and non-ISOFIX recently (2 kids under 5), I'd prob. go for the non-ISOFIX again. Much less hassle to put in / take out (once you start attaching the ISOFIX top tether, you might as well just thread the seatbelt in)

Oh - and as for kids taking their arms out of the seat / unbuckling - it's the only thing that the kids would ever get a smack for.

They get plenty of notice about not doing it - told in the plainest language possible for their age (best serious parent voice, too) - but, after that, a smack on the hand seemed to do the job.

I'm not trying to ignite a potentially big argument for / against smacking, and have never hit them at any other time - but it's something that's just too dangerous to leave unchecked.

I believe there is someone in every Halfords who is qualified to show how to correctly fit and advise you on child seats.

Look at Which. They carry out side impact tests as well as front on. BS don't require side impact testing to get a pass mark. Both isofix and non-isofix vary tremendously within the categories i.e. isofix alone doesn't necessarily mean safer. Most do perform very well though. Some non-isofix are shockingly bad!

Also, ring or google the manufacturer before buying as not all seats are approved for all cars.

We have Maxi Cosi Tobi (non isofix as our car didn't have the facility) and are very impressed with the quality, the comfort, the Which test performance and the cleanability which they need! Our next purchase was an isofix seat, which appears less of a quality feel for more money but is as firm as anything in the car.

Very happy with our Recaro Isofix seats (twins)

Defo try before you buy, as we have a Mitzi estate and couldn't fit a Maxicosi behind my seat, so went for the Recaro's

Very pleased with them & dead easy to put in/out

The key advantage with isofix is that you don't need to worry about whether you have fitted the seat correctly or not - if its wrong the indicators tell you. Apparently there is a massive error rate in fitting standard seats with seatbelts.

This has been quite a good thread to read(shock horror)as iam just two an a half months away from adding to the fatsimon herd and I've just got to the point of buying a car seat (getting it as a deal with pushchair) and it can have a isofix base or be used on its own and wasn't sure if the base was worth it looks like i might pay out for it after all as the car is set up for isofix (Renault modus)

The one big niggle I have with Isofix is that we need to get new bases when they outgrow the current seats - I really don't see why the base couldn't be designed to last the lifetime of every seat required until the children are older.