In The Car

Henry felt the car seat was quite comfortable, this despite him being too heavy and too tall. He’s too tall because he is over 105cm but he still fitted height wise in the car seat, which goes to show that the seat easily accommodates an older child. He is 6 years old and since he is over the limits, the car seat was never used on a journey, however we did get some good pictures and he did get to try it out properly.

I was hoping to get some pictures of an infant in the seat, but sadly the small person had other ideas and it just couldn’t be done at this time. I hope to be able to update this post at a later date as soon as we do get some nice photos of the baby (he’s 6 months old) in the car seat. So I’m sorry about that, I know I promised, and it was all set up – but when the children don’t wish to go along with it and get distressed it’s just not possible. You don’t want to make going into a car seat something stressful and enjoyable really, babies especially are quite weary of such experiences, so we’ll try again next time we have a chance and see how it goes.

The seat is easy to install, but make sure you press those grey buttons in – and the push the base all the way into the seat back. By default the isofix is generally far out when you first pull it out, and this moves the seat closer to the seat back, you want to make sure the rebound bar is touching the seat back.

The Baby Insert

The insert that comes with the seat can be taken apart into 3 pieces. Now this can be confusing for people, but the manual does tell you how to do this, just like it tells you how to do everything else, so I can’t stress enough how important it is to actually read it.

For your benefit I have added a couple of photos which should help you if you are stuck. Always remember that the inserts are child dependant, so what your baby needs might not be what another mum with the same age baby, is currently using, in the same seat.

I can point out though that until the babies are at least 6 months old, they should have a nice sloapy recline, and are most likely going to fit best with the wedge still in the seat. This all depends though.

Now above you have one picture from the Norr manual and another photo which has a better explanation about the ages for the different parts of the insert. Now that is not the Norr, but their other seat, the Rebl Plus, however the infant insert of the two seats are actually the same, so I chose to use that picture (made by Nuna) to give you some visual.

Baby Insert Journey Tip:
The full insert –> body hugger without head support but still using wedge –> body hugger but removed wedge –> using wedge solo 
–> take insert out completely

Our Pros & Cons

Pros

• It rear faces that extra 0,5 kg.
• Has a rebound bar.
• Swivels 360 degrees – but still only has the rear facing option!
• It’s passed the Swedish PLUS test!
• It’s an extended rear facing car seat (ERF)!
• The swivel mechanism is extremely easy to operate (however, see Cons).
• Easily removable covers and harness pads.
• The baby insert can be taken apart and therefore there are more options for use which can offer more suitability to each child.
• Harness adjustment button is hard to reach, deep down and covered up.
• R129 so it has undergone side impact crash test.

Cons

• The load leg did annoy me because it does not lock in apart from when on a firm surface, this did serve as a complication when I was installing the seat and the floor in the vehicle has a thicker carpet, which makes it a softer surface. It was hard to press the seat down properly to lock the leg and also lifting the seat to lock it, I felt took too much work.
• The fact that it’s outgrown at 105 cm when the seat shell is so nice and tall that it easily accommodates children far taller. Yes! I know this is the rules in R129 etc, but for me this will always be a bit of a pet peev and con, so a part of me wishes it was still under the older regulation just so I could tell you to use the seat until the shoulders no longer fitted under the headrest, sadly that is not the case. You might think me unfair – but that’s just how it is.
• The swivel mechanism button is at the wrong end of the seat. I think the position would serves better and easier if it was on the front of the base, or on the side – but particularly on the front. The reason being that a swivel car seat is what I would tend to recommend only in a 3 door and 2 door car – unless there was any giant need for it in a 5 door, and having the button at it’s current location (child’s legs) means that reaching it will be hard, or harder, than if it was at the same end as the load leg – for the 3 door and 2 door cars. Having to climb into the car to turn it sort of takes away the purpose of the swivel. In my opinion.

Final Thoughts

All in all, I think the seat is a good seat. I found it generally easy to operate, the instructions are nice and clear. It offers good support for the child and the headrest is easy to pull up and down. The harness was also not very hard to tighten, and the fact that you can put your thumb into the loop at the end will be an aid anybody with pains in their arms or hands etc.

The seat is roomy but also compact so neither me (165cm) or my 195cm tall husband had any space problems with it behind us in our Vauxhall Astra.

I think this car seat is perfect for a dinky child under the 50th percentile for height and weight.
This is because I advocate for rear facing as long as possible and an absolute minimum of 4 years old, in fact, I regularly advise people to try and make it to age 6 as an absolute perfect age – sadly R129 does not allow for this currently as the iSize ERF seats only go to 105cm which is approximately 4 years old.

For me personally, that is just not enough time rear facing. But! For the children who are dinkier and not very tall – this seat offers a longer rear facing time especially when you take into account that extra 0.5kg which sets it apart from many other ISOfix car seats.

*I was asked by Nuna to write a review of this car seat. However, as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own!