Better Boosted with BeSafe
Choosing the right car seat for your child can send you down a rabbit hole that leaves you confused, anxious and overwhelmed. Safety comes first, but with so many different options and variants it can be hard to work out whether a seat is safer than others or just over-engineered. Getting to grips with the terminology, sizes according to mysterious groups – ISO fix or not, rear facing, front facing? How much does my child even weigh – and how long will that last anyway before their next growth spurt?
My daughter, Saffy, has now passed the point where she was too big for her nice swivel seat and as we started looking into the next category of boosters (Group 2/3), we were faced with even more questions. We wanted something secure, obviously, that was easy to fit but could be moved simply to another car and didn’t weigh heavier than the child itself. It also had to be comfortable and make my little girl feel like she was a grown up and not just in another baby seat.
The BeSafe iZi Flex Fix i-size seemed to tick the boxes. It is the first high-backed booster to conform with the new – more stringent – i-Size regulation. According to the manufacturer, the seat has three levels of side impact protection, and as a bonus, comes in a very nice array of colours. We opted for a rather nice light blue – cloud melange – for a change from the usual black or dark grey; while still being a very ‘forgiving’ colour when it comes to dirt and sticky fingers.
It is a large, solid piece of kit without ever feeling too bulky or heavy; it’s slimline, so doesn’t take up middle-seat space, nor does it come with any unwieldly head support that sometimes make seats look less like a car boosters and more like Victorian chesterfield armchairs. It also had additional colour-coded ISOfix guides, which was great. It’s quite a tight squeeze in the back of our SEAT, so to hear an instant click and not have to deal with the ‘car seat scuffle’ to get things locked in place, saved a lot of blood, sweat and swearing.
I really like the extra “lap belt guider” which fastens around her seat belt to give extra security and is well padded, stopping the belt feel too tight or restrictive without compromising on safety, and bringing additional comfort on longer journeys. It also has a nice little chin cushion that attaches to the seat belt. The seat section is well positioned, raising Saffy so she can get a clear view out of the window and see the world while the back feels solid. There’s also an incline feature, which we’ll try out during out next night drive. It also doesn’t have too many nooks and crannies so cleaning shouldn’t be too hard.
Overall, relative to other seats on the market, the BeSafe iZi Flex Fix definitely comes in at a higher price point; but there’s definitely a ‘you get what you pay for’ element to this. It feels higher quality in construction in addition to design; and despite conforming to stricter safety regs, at 4kg, it certainly one of the lightest chairs available.
However, the real clincher for us is that the BeSafe iZi Flex Fix weight-fitted for up to 35kg, or the average 12 year old – meaning that this should be the last seat we ever need to buy. For Saffy that means the chair needs to last nearly a decade of heavy use; and the BeSafe iZi Flex Fix certainly seems to have the chops and durability to see us through.
not easy choosing the correct seat
Good read, great information, can get confusing for us Grandparents !!