From the back seat of the car to you (Jeenay Courier)

Member Name: chele2002

Product:	Jeenay Courier
Date:	04/09/01 (306 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: See opinion

Disadvantages: See opinion

With our son getting older it was no longer practical to have him on my lap as this only got him frustrated. He was ok for short periods but longer journeys began to become a nightmare. So with this in mind and the fact that we would soon have a car of our own we had no choice but to buy a car seat.

Looking through all the normal channels, i.e. Argos, Index, car shops and nursery stores, we had realized just how expensive car seats actually are, I mean you could get a cheap run around for some of the ridiculous prices that were being ask.

As we were pretty poor this month due to a mistake on my husband’s wages we were resigned to the fact that we would have to buy one second-hand. Out with the local papers but even then they were still asking up to £40 and the cheaper of the ones available were just booster seats or those that does not include it own 5 point safety harness.

Next stop ended with a visit to the good old car boot sales. I know that from past experience that many bargains are to be found, so there was no harm in looking. After a good look around we seen many car seats with the majority only suitable from birth - 9 months and just as we were about to give up all hope came across 2 identical car seats in every way but the cover on the seats. These seats looked ideal, they were a good size, and the structure looked strong and sound. I wasn’t quite sure of the make until we returned home but at £9 for a car seat suitable for aged 9 months – 4 years brand wasn’t an issue.

So the car seat is made by Jeenay, the model type is a courier and is classed as a 2nd stage car seat. I am not actually sure of the retail price but others of this type of seat usually cost around the £39.99 mark and over.

Pros
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It features two positions, so if your child was to fall asleep it could go back partially with out disturbing your child’s nap. We have tested this feature out, and once we real
ised where we needed to adjust it from it was simple to perform. As for our little darling he remained asleep and not a peep from him.

Large size seat that caters for aged 9 months – 4 years old and weights of 9 – 18kg. Our son is 21 months old and of an average frame for a child his age, we found the seat to be spacious enough with adequate room for him to grow for the age designed.

Easy to install, we found this easier than our birth – 9 months cars seat. It is very straightforward despite the poor diagrams on the sticker. It claims to be universal so my understanding is that it should fit into most types of cars. We fitted ours into a Ford Escort (N) reg, with no problems; it was done within a couple of minute, with very little fuss. The end result being secure with very slight movements when going through the shake it like mad test.

5 point safety harness of it’s own, where some car seats rely on the cars own seat belt to secure a child in. The harness also features padding to help avoid any friction burns of any sort to the child. We found that the safety harness is quite adequate for our renowned wriggler of a son and kept him secure, safe and in place for the duration of the entire journey’s that we have used the car seat.


Removable washable covers for the messiest of children. As for how easy they are to remove, I can not say for sure as the covers on ours are immaculate, but come the time that they do require washing I will let you know how we get on.



Cons
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The 5 point safety harness has proved to be somewhat difficult to adjust and a little tedious. After some time of fiddling about I did manage to adjust the harness and since a few more attempts have become a little easier, but I think it is a case of trying a certain way for it to become easier.

The seat is quite hard and has very little padding, most is around the back area of a child, which
if the most dreaded should happen and the child should have some sort of impact happen to them, then I should imagine the back would be the first point felt. Saying this my son did sleep for over 3 hours in this car seat and woke up in a good mood so it can’t be all that bad in terms of comfort.



Conclusion
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I have to say that we are very happy with our purchase and our son loves sitting and falling asleep in his seat. We were lucky to find this seat in such good condition for only £9, but to buy new is probably a budget buy too that many wouldn’t mind spending. I admit it is not the top of the range when you consider all the weird and wonderful seats that are becoming available but is well worth the consideration before forking out over £100 for one.

Summary: