My son outgrew his rear-facing baby seat relatively early, at 8 months. When I say outgrew, he was still within the safe weight limit (just!) but seemed too long for it and no longer looked comfortable. He also had lost interest in looking out the back window of the car and had a habit of pulling upwards and peering around to see what we were doing - so I was worried about the lack of support to his neck should we suffer an accident. I decided now was the time to start looking for a forward facing car seat to ease his curiosity and keep him safe.

I began researching car seats online and it soon became apparent that there was a lot of choice in a somewhat crowded market. Speaking to friends of mine that were parents, Maxi Cosi was a brand that kept coming up and was well spoken of, so I decided that this was a good place to start. Eventually, we settled on this Maxi Cosi Priori SPS seat in Stone (Grey).

THE SEAT

The seat is forward facing and is a Group One child seat - for children weighing 9 to 18 kg. This is roughly 9 months to 3 and a half years. As stated earlier, my son was ready for this seat a little earlier, at around 8 months but met the minimum weight criteria and was sitting independently very well.
The SPS in the title refers to the Side Protection System which means that your baby is offered extra protection against side impact. The seat also has a feature that it can be reclined into 4 positions allowing you to make your baby/toddler more comfortable for sleeping.

The seat itself feels secure without being too heavy. It is also padded suitably (I say padded, but mean that it is not hard plastic - there is a sturdy almost polystyrene layer to it) to ensure that little one will be comfortable during long journeys. The cover is washable, a necessary feature for a car seat that will be used for roughly 3 years! There is a 5 point seat belt for securing your child into the seat, with padded shoulder cushions and crotch plate for comfort.

This seat retails at around £100, which is a lot of money but, from my research, is about an average price to pay for a seat of this sort. It can be found a little cheaper online or if there are offers on at the retailer.

FITTING THE SEAT

Depending on where you buy your seat, they may fit it for you. However, it is still important to know how to fit the seat in case you want to take baby in another car or change cars etc. Therefore, we have familiarised ourselves with how to do this. Once you get your head around the instructions that come with the seat (these are a little on the confusing side!), fitting the seat using the 3-point safety belt found on the back seat of your car is relatively simple. The seat needs to be placed in recline position for fitting. The seat belt fits around the back of the seat and must run under the red guide marker. You then pull the belt tightly an attaching it into the red locking off clip on one side. After fitting, the seat feels securely held in place and does not move.

USING THE SEAT

The seatbelts really simple to adjust. There is a red button on the bottom of the seat that you can compress with one finger (or a thumb) and then you simply pull the belts to the desired length. They can be tightened equally simply as there is a length of belt at the bottom of the seat that can be pulled to tighten them. The seat belts can also be moved into three different shoulder heights as your child grows. Again, this is simple once you get the hang of this but we found the instructions VERY difficult to follow and ended up looking online (and then feeling very silly once we realised it was really just the matter of a simple twist!).

The seat is really simple to use and my baby fits neatly in. The straps are easy to pull over his arms and the the clips on each strap fit neatly together and clip easily into the fastening unit. The seat also has the feature that any metal attachments can either be covered or moved, and held, outside of the seat. This has two benefits - the straps do not get sat on when placing your child into the seat and the metal can be moved out of direct sunlight so that there is no risk of hot metal coming into contact with your childs skin.

The reclining feature of the seat is easily used, simply by placing your hand under the bottom of the seat and pulling forwards. The reclined position looks comfortable for sleeping but still feels very safe and secure.

OVERALL OPINION

I am really pleased with this purchase and feel that this car seat is very safe for my baby at the same time as being comfortable to him - a very necessary factor for long car journeys! Another important factor is that my son seems very happy in this car seat, particularly that he can now be nosey as to what is going on in the front of the car without having to move. In turn, I feel happier that he is well supported and safe. I also have peace of mind that he is offered extra protection from side impact from the SPS feature.

The car seat is also quite light weight and easy to fit. I am therefore satisfied that I would be able to do this myself unassisted if necessary (you never know when you might breakdown). The features of the seat are very easy to use - recline, seatbelt adjustment - but the instructions on how to do this are over complicated and very hard to understand initially. If you are purchasing from a retailer I would strongly advise that you ask for a demonstration as it is much simpler and easier than the instructions seem!
Overall, this seat is good value for money and I would definitely recommend it.