Hifold by Mifold - High Back Travel Car Booster Seat - Safe and Portable Folding Child Car Seat - Adjustable for Growing Kids - Lightweight - Group 2/3 15-45 kg (4-12 years), Slate Grey

Product Information

Babies can move up to a forward-facing Group 1 seat when they reach 9kg, but we think this is far too early because their bodies may not be strong enough. It's safer to leave a baby rear-facing until they're at least 13kg or 15 months old - preferably longer. For this hi fold car seat review, I installed in my 2007 Honda CR-V; it may be old, but it’s a pretty representative family car. I had no issues with hifold fit, and the seat is narrow enough to fit nicely even in cars with high side bolsters on the seats. The Chicco Fold and Go seems very similar to the Peg Perego: www.chicco.co.uk/products/8058664140473.foldgo-i-size-air-100-150-cm.html ; requires isofix

Second, find the red tabs on the bottom to adjust the width of the lap belt guides. They’re easy to adjust once you know what to look for. There are three different widths to choose from, market on the guides as I, II and III. Choose the same width on each side, and be sure it’s the option that’s closest to your child without touching. For reference, my almost 7 year old (around 45 pounds) used setting I and my 9.5 year old (around 65 pounds) used setting II.Like all belt positioning boosters, it adjusts the fit of an adult seatbelt to fit a child’s much smaller body. The difference is that it pulls the lap belt lower on the child rather than boosting the child up – the same basic idea as the Ride Safer travel vest (read my Ride Safer review). Read more: Bringing your booster seat on an airplane Bubblebum (left) compared with Ride Safer travel vest (right) Safety standards: ECE R44.04 in the UK and Europe, NHTSA FMVSS 213 in the US, the CCC in China and the RSSR in Canada (cannot use currently in Australia and Taiwan) The BubbleBum is the travel product our family has used most, hands down (see my complete BubbleBum review). We’ve had one since my daughter reached booster age and height. She used until her 10th birthday on all of our travels (when she finally hit 4’9” and could now go without!). My son has used the newer design of this very same product regularly when we rent cars or take Uber/Lyft at our air travel destinations.

Since your child might not be quite in the weight/height region for booster seats just yet, what about a lightweight standard type car seat? Something like Britax Eclipse (which is additionally plane approved) or Joie Steadi (which has a rear facing option). These are cheaper than most of the folding options so it might not matter that you'll only get a couple of years out of it. Or even the cheaper generic/own brand type supermarket seats by Nania etc - these tend to be pretty flimsy, and average to low on the performance end, but they are light, seatbelt fitted, cheap to buy and they score better than the Urban Kanga. Something like Nania Racer SP or Nania I-Max SP DEAL ALERT! Save 15% on hifold with exclusive coupon VOYAGE15 Final thoughts of my mifold booster seat review As with all of the innovative, travel-specific gadgets on the market today, the hifold is meant for a specific niche. It’s not going to be the right product for every family, and that’s ok.Although the seat is slim, it is built with six impact-protection zones and a 4-layer design to give that needed protection. The seat makes use of advanced lightweight materials including a Polyproylene shell, EPE, a PU foam and fabric layer. You should never put a rearward-facing baby seat in front of an active passenger airbag and make sure the child restraint doesn't rest against the door where side airbags are fitted, or against the airbag panel. You can turn off passenger airbags in some cars. Headrests The US doesn’t have side impact testing standards yet, and the version of EU certification that the hifold has doesn’t require side impact testing either. That said, hifold does have impact-absorbing layers in the head and side wings. If you have a kid who is 5-8 years old and you’ll be traveling, the hifold is an excellent choice. It’s safe, it’s legal almost everywhere, it’s comfortable and it’s relatively portable. There’s truly a lot to love here for globetrotting families!

The Bubblebum clearly wins on portability – it only weighs about a pound and rolls up to the size of a side bottle. It also provides a great fit in every car we’ve tried, which is a lot. Your car and car seat must have Isofix, a system that attaches car seats directly to the frame of your car using connectors (either on an isofix base or on the seat itself).The Nachfolger is a German inflatable (!) one, but is very expensive and only goes up to 5 years - I wouldn't want to spend €400 to then only use it 18 months or so www.nachfolger.com/en/ If possible, try to buy your car seat from a retailer with a fitting service and trained fitters. You may be able to phone up and make an appointment. The store should also be able to take the seat out to your car after you've bought it and fit it properly there. Our guide on how to fit a baby or child car seat has more details.