Concord Reverso.Plus:

Dimensions: L 80 x W 44 x H 46 cm / Support leg: 76 – 100 cm
Car Fitting List: http://bit.ly/2iYalO8  –  Car Seat Manual: http://bit.ly/2iyiXYP

Suitable from BIRTH to 23KG & 105CM standing height!
Top Harness Slot: 37CM
Cabin Space Needed: 78.5CM
RRP: £299.99
ISOfix
PLUS Tested
iSize (R129)
Newborn insert used up to approx. 60cm & Infant insert used from approx. 60cm until baby sits well.
Aluminium frames and multi-functional inner shell makes the seat the lightest ISOfix ERF seat on the market (10kg)

The Concord Reverso.Plus #ERF #CRS #review is here! |@Concordforbaby Click To Tweet

Beautiful Colours

Sometime before Christmas we were contacted by Concord regarding testing and reviewing their newest ERF Seat – the Reverso.Plus. This is the upgraded version of the older Reverso.
What sets it apart is among other things that it’s been put through the Swedish PLUS Test which is the strictest crash test in the world. The whole point of the test is to measure the neck load in the child’s neck during a frontal collision – which is the most common and most dangerous collisions you can come by because they are often at very high speeds.
A seat that has passed the Swedish PLUS Test has proved that it will protect the child in the most horrid of accidents – and according to the test, the seat that has passed it has proved that it will keep your child safe no matter what. (Not taking into account drowning or fire.)

Henry was very excited when we got the seat – as he always is when he gets to try new seats! hehe
Our Reverso.Plus is in the limited edition colour called Jungle Green. It’s absolutely beautiful! But then again Concord in general has very beautiful colours on their seats. They are fresh to look at and brightens up the interior.

 

TIP: Did you know that emergency services recommend that your car seats are of a bright colour (preferably red) so that they are easily spotted in an accident?

 

 

 

It’s User Friendly

The seat is ISOfix so it’s really simple and fast to install – I did it in a few seconds it was that fast!
Concord allows for leg extension into the bottom floor compartments – but always check your vehicle manual to see that this is OK from the vehicle manufacturer. Also you need to make sure that your car is listed on the fitting list for the car seat (which I have linked at the top of the post) before you buy the seat. Not all seats fit all cars – so this is very important, it’s also a must on the new iSize car seats as they are a little strict.

The seat has a really nice recline in our car – I do know some people have come back to me saying they didn’t think the recline was that good – but as with most ISOfix car seats this will depend on the slope of your back seats. Because our car has quite flat back seats we have not had an issue (as can clearly be seen below as he’s out like a light) but it’s also important to remember that even if you get head flop – this is not dangerous in healthy children over 6 months old, so is nothing to worry about! :) 

Some people wonder about the leg room of the car seat – and yes this is slightly smaller than on some other seats – but it’s not uncomfortable for him. In the above pictures he’s not using the full room, he has placed his feet a bit awkward but that’s how he wanted them.

In the end it’s important that you realise that folded legs, scrunched up legs and so forth are not dangerous. This is not a safety concern in any way in ERF seats. In fact there has never ever been a recorded incident of legs being broken or otherwise injured from being rear facing – if there has been any leg damage it was because of debris in the car on impact or from a protruding door giving debris. So it’s not something that you need to worry about when you see folded legs in rear facing.

Leg injuries and lower body injuries are one of the most common injuries in forward facing children – so that’s something to think about if the thought strikes you.

On longer rides I take off their shoes which does make a difference – you would be surprised to see how much space outdoor shoes can actually take up in a car seat! hehe
He’ll throw his legs up and about, put them on the sides or rest them at the top of the vehicle seat. I always take off the head rests of the back seats because it gives a better view for my rear facers and also because I find other FF car seats install better with it off so I just automatically remove them now.

The seat is quite high up but not so high up so he can’t get in himself. He manages that quite nicely (He’s 4 years old) and doesn’t really need any help at all. Most children are perfectly able to climb into their own car seats from about 2 years old (some with a little help) and you should encourage them to do so as this helps their coordination, their self-esteem and muscular development.

Though in general it is easier to put a child into a rear facing car seat than it is putting them into a forward facing one, because you don’t have the door in the way.

Sadly I didn’t have an infant to try in the seat to show you how it looks with a small squish in it and I didn’t have a newborn/infant doll to try in the seat either…sigh (I must get one of those…)
But I hope you can still get a visual on how the seat looks. I know from other parents that the seat has worked very well for small children so I wouldn’t be worried. The fact that the seat is approved for a baby as small as 40 cm makes the seat ideal for the tiny percentile as well as the high weight limit making it ideal for slightly heavy percentile children.

It’s Different

What makes the Concord Reverso.Plus a little bit more unusual than other ERF seats on the market?

Well for one its actually not got a 5-point harness – it has a 3-point harness. Which is “unusual” in ERF seats – but not uncommon in infant seats. But don’t worry, because this does not affect it’s safety, which its current outstanding performances in crash testing shows us!

Further more on the harness – it’s not actually the shoulder straps that tighten the straps ,as it is in other seats, it’s the buckle strap! Fancy that!
So the buckle strap is really really long if you push the button and pull it out – and then when you pull the tightening strap to tighten the harness – the buckle strap shrinks and tightens the harness. It’s quite a unique and neat design I really like it. It also take care of any issues you would have with twisted straps which I really like.

Another thing that I noticed and that I really really liked is that the green signal clearing for the ISOfix arms – only turn green if both of the ISOfix arms are correctly installed!
This is new and not something I have come across on other seats of this type yet. That’s not to say it does not exist, just that I’ve never seen it.
I think this was a brilliant idea from the team and it really helps the misuse issue we have with car seats.

 

Crash Testing

As I’ve mentioned before the Concord Reverso.Plus has done excellent in crash testing – which proves to anyone who might have concerns with it having a 3-point harness – that this is a none issue.

 

We are pleased to let you know that after the magnificent results in the tests carried out by the German product analysis magazine Stiftung Warentest and the German and Austrian automobile associations ADAC and ÖAMTC that were published in May 2016, the second part of this test has just been published with a new batch of Child Restraint Systems.

 

The REVERSO.PLUS safety seat is still at the top of the list as the safest seat in its category with a fantastic score of 1.8 points. CONCORD REVERSO.PLUS also has a score of 1.4 in Crash Tests and 1.0 in eco-friendliness (respect for the environment). On this occasion other CRS in the same category as our seat, with rearward facing installation, received much lower scores than our seat.

 

The CONCORD REVERSO.PLUS safety seat is a benchmark in rearward facing safety seats; it satisfactorily passed the Swedish PLUS test, and was then also recommended by Stiftung Warentest, ADAC and ÖAMTC. CONCORD REVERSO.PLUS  has an extremely low risk of injury in frontal collisions, and also a low risk of injury in side collisions. The tests also valued its excellent anchoring system to the vehicle seat, its easy installation system and the use of the straps, and the clear, easy to understand instructions and information on the product, all of which help to reduce the risk of incorrect installation. 
– from Concordblog.de

 

We Recommend This Product

Definitely! We do recommend this product.

I had my husband try to install the seat and he did so very well, even before looking in the instructions he did it correctly – so that bodes very well for the seat.

That said it is not a product I will recommend for very high percentile height children because it is outgrown at 105 CM and though this is based on a 75th percentile child of 4 years old – I still believe that from a safety perspective 4 years is the absolute minimum a child can be to go in a high back booster. Age 5 is really what you want to aim for because the safety differences are so great between ERF and the HBB that you really do want to get as long as possible rear facing, before you take the next step as it’s quite a step down in safety from being ERF to the HBB.

That said – the seat is absolutely perfect for your average percentile child – it’s really the height limit that pulls it down (but this is not the seat really – but the rules of iSize R129). The high weight limit of 23kg is superb for an ISOfix seat (it’s actually the only one on the market with such a high weight limit!) and for a family who has above average weight percentile children who are still going to be within the height at age 4 – this seat is perfect.

So all in all we were really happy with this seat. The design is beautiful. The user friendliness is really positive. The seat is really comfy according to Henry and he sits high up and has a fab view of the world around him.

Before I leave you I am going to put in the installation video here at the bottom so that if you have the seat or are thinking of buying the seat you can see how it installs:

 

We wish to thank Concord for giving us the opportunity to do this review and for sending us this fabulous seat free of charge in exchange for an honest review!