[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

- Car seats have only picked up in the last 2-3 years. You won't get a good variety (I didnt find a single 5 point harness in used)

Well, we are the lucky lot. Lots of 5 point harness child car seats available now-a-days !!

.......By that time, the hygiene of the seat cover is questionable, seat may begin to fray as well, some accessories may go missing, and most importantly, it may have been dropped (you dont know whether its been permanently in the car since day one or used occasionally) compromising structural integrity. Even otherwise, most folks don't know - car seats have an expiry date! Infant car seats often have five (a few have ten) years. You are buying a product at like 50-60% discount but only with 12-18 months of usable safe service left.

I am more concerned about the structural integrity of used seats. Never knew that car seats have an expiry date too ! This strengthens my NO against used car seats.

I would never recommend a car seat unless you are buying a "travel system" (meant only for infants) from an expat, who are normally paranoid aboutsuch things and use them properly - which itself has only 12-18 month usable life!

Just checked out some travel systems and they are filthy expensive and has its cons like a different baby seat won't fit in the stroller. So if either one of the pram or the seat is damaged, one has to go back to the same brand and model only, for replacement.

Originally Posted by motomaverick

This one looks good and looks like usable till good amount of years, I guess Mee Mee is a good brand? How is Sun Baby as a brand.

I am also on the hunt for my 4 months kid. So did a bit of research with help from arjithin and arun.josie. Came across a refurbished seat website referred by arjithin. Somehow my wife was not convinced. Now after reading phamilyman's advice, I have dropped used seat plan. Not worth the safety of our loved one.

MeeMee is a good brand. I had been to My Baby Store in HSR Layout, B'lore and they have good stock of MeeMee products, which indicates that its good in the market.
Saw Chicco seats also. A little bit on the higher side pricewise.
I spoke to fellow BHPian JRed during our last T-BHP meet and he recommended a brand named Mothercare, which he has installed in his XUV5oo.

I am also seeing THIS and THIS seat from Sunbaby on Babyoye dotcom.
May be these would be of some help to you.

[motomaverick]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

I am also on the hunt for my 4 months kid. So did a bit of research with help from arjithin and arun.josie. Came across a refurbished seat website referred by arjithin. Somehow my wife was not convinced. Now after reading phamilyman's advice, I have dropped used seat plan. Not worth the safety of our loved one.

MeeMee is a good brand. I had been to My Baby Store in HSR Layout, B'lore and they have good stock of MeeMee products, which indicates that its good in the market.
Saw Chicco seats also. A little bit on the higher side pricewise.
I spoke to fellow BHPian JRed during our last T-BHP meet and he recommended a brand named Mothercare, which he has installed in his XUV5oo.

Great, so lets hunt together . I saw another good seat on Babyoye GoodBaby. This seat looks perfect as it is both front and rear facing plus usable till 4 years of age with 5 point harness. Only concern is never heard of this brand called Goodbaby. Mother care I have heard and I think Mom&Me sells these brand but they are not value for money (to use a more democratic term)

[GTO]

Guys,

Keep checking for deals. Car seats are (unfortunately) not a fast-moving item in India. Only last quarter, I'd bought this seat for 11.7K from Shoppers Stop. That's like 50% off. Must've been one of the clearances.

[navin]

Originally Posted by sarathlal

The most ideal position for a child car seat is the rear center position.
(Reason being, the farthest position from front/rear/side collisions)
The second best would be behind the passenger seat.
(Reason being, passenger side would be the farthest from oncoming traffic).

There is a third reason (not so much needed in India - where many of us are chauffered). If the driver of the car is the mother the baby is most comfortable is she/he can make eye contact with her/his mother. This is best when the car seat is behind the passenger seat.

Originally Posted by motomaverick

Great, so lets hunt together . I saw another good seat on Babyoye

Originally Posted by GTO

That's like 50% off. Must've been one of the clearances.

It is great that more people in India are using car seats. Below is my post from 2005!

Originally Posted by navin

K36, Get a Britax. Trust me we got 3 car seats (one for each car) and our son prefered the Britax everytime so that is the seat that is in his mom's car. The Graco and Evenflo dont even compare to Britax.

When we were looking for car seats I asked my cousin in the US and my god father who has 11 grand kids (12 if you include mine). They all said Britax. Then a friend gifted me the Graco and a relative gifted me the Evenflo.

Suprisingly I dont find many other parents looking for car seats. Some "educated" ones even drive with their child in their laps (between them and the steering wheel)......

I did forget to mention then that a baby would not be brand conscious so our son's preference for the Britax over the other 2 must have been out of sheer comfort that the Britax offered. It did feel better cushioned to us too and did fit him quite snug.

[motomaverick]

Originally Posted by GTO

Only last quarter, I'd bought this seat for 11.7K from Shoppers Stop. That's like 50% off. Must've been one of the clearances.

Hey, good to know that Shoppers Stop is selling car seats at a discount, I looked at a few in Bangalore but they all did not feel value for money, either no 5 point harness or only front facing etc. I guess there might be some sale during Diwali.

Originally Posted by navin

I did forget to mention then that a baby would not be brand conscious so our son's preference for the Britax over the other 2 must have been out of sheer comfort that the Britax offered. It did feel better cushioned to us too and did fit him quite snug.

Yeah, it will have to be comfort, I checked a few at Shoppers Stop and Mom&Me and some of the seats felt too under coushioned with the hard plastic intruding near the legs.

The other interesting item I saw was a mirror that can be fixed inside the rear windshield so the driver can look at the baby through the IVRM. I think I saw that in ebay.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by GTO

Guys,

Keep checking for deals. Car seats are (unfortunately) not a fast-moving item in India. Only last quarter, I'd bought this seat for 11.7K from Shoppers Stop. That's like 50% off. Must've been one of the clearances.

Exactly what I mentioned in my post in the previous page. A 2012 model going on 50% discount. Normally the differences (with 2013 range) will be really minor (fabric patterns, colours etc.). Britax indeed is one of the best in business.

[phamilyman]

IMHO, I found Britax or Maclaren (for strollers) to be very costly (had no discounts then). In our limited reading, we found the Evenflo to be clearly better than the similarly priced Graco and Mothercare options (5 point harness and nicer cushions at the price) and meeting the relevant standards and having good quality plastic/belts. We would've gone with Chicco but they didnt have the car seats (aroundthe same price) in stock at the time.

I think you shouldnt go with Mee Mee or Sun baby - I'm not aware how old brands they are,what level of controls they have on quality. I wouldn't recommend them as much. Mee Mee's quality in other toys etc has just been acceptable in our experience. I wouldn't expect much better in car seats either.

[arjithin]

Originally Posted by motomaverick

Great, so lets hunt together .

I guess my hunt ended today. I saw a mee mee car seat in a store @ HSR Layout and it met most of my requirements. (I am looking one only for next 12-14 months , as I have my daughters Gracco available for use afterwards)

FirstCry.com is offering a 15% discount (ends tonight -15/10/2013), and bought one. Will post my updates it after I use it for a trip

Update on JC ROad : Most of the shops dont carry 'branded baby car seats'. Most of the shop owners dont even know what a baby car seat is. SOme offered to fabricate one. Imagine a third row seat in Swift's boot for a 2 year old baby; one shop owner claimed that he made one and the car owner is quite happy with it

[kamal.sn]

I bought the britax first class combination plus car seat for about Rs. 10,800 from shoppers stop about 2 months back. They had a sale going on. The list price for the same without discount at shoppers stop is Rs. 22,999 !

This is a combo seat which can be installed in both front and rear facing directions.

http://www.shoppersstop.com/kids/mot...-seat-max.html

[drsingh]

An interesting take on child seats vs regular seat belts for kids > 2 yrs of age.

For those who dont know he's a renowned economist and author of the Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics books.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um5gMZcZWm0

[arjithin]

Originally Posted by arjithin

FirstCry.com is offering a 15% discount (ends tonight -15/10/2013), and bought one. Will post my updates it after I use it for a trip

Here are some photos from todays installation. Baby felt pretty comfortable within the car seat. The photos were taken before putting the loop of the shoulder belt.




here is a photo of the front seat with the booster seat on



Now two issues
1. I bought this Ritz as pre owned. The previous owner had covered the seat belt buckle openings as part of the car seat cover installation and the buckles are now in the boot area and dont have enough length to get to the inside of rear seats. So the installation and removal of baby car seat is not easy. Need to get this fixed.

2. The front dome lights do a very bad job of illuminating the rear seat area even with 24 LED bulbs. Any idea how can I install a dome light on top of the rear boot area? Even a battery powered one will do.

[GenuineOptimist]

OK, Now since this thread is on top, I'm inclined to share my experience with car seats. I'm one of those odd ones who've always purchased cars that have air bags in them. So when my daughter was about to be born I rushed to mother care and got a car seat. We used it for like 4 trips to doctor in her first 3 months. After this, my wife decided baby is comfortable in her lap at the back seat rather than in a car seat. I didn't find this worthy enough for a quarrel with wife. So my daughter is 3 yrs now and has not used the seat ever since.

I don't regret buying it since we used it as rocker indoors and as a feeding chair, so I got my money's worth.

I don't mean to question to ridicule others who spend money and efforts to restrain kids in a car seat. But I do wonder if Team BHP leads its readers to unnecessary purchases while the rest of India just chugs along. After all, just look at the number of indian kids who wash hands before every meal, or who avoid water in public places, or people that wear seat belts in public transport. The nation seems to move just fine?

[bblost]

Originally Posted by GenuineOptimist

I don't mean to question to ridicule others who spend money and efforts to restrain kids in a car seat. But I do wonder if Team BHP leads its readers to unnecessary purchases while the rest of India just chugs along. After all, just look at the number of indian kids who wash hands before every meal, or who avoid water in public places, or people that wear seat belts in public transport. The nation seems to move just fine?

Its a lot like that expensive helmet I wear when riding my bike. I hope I never get to actually need it.

But one fine day I did: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...ml#post1868903

Walked away with just a slightly bruised knee.

Took it as a lesson. Bought an even more expensive helmet and riding gear.

I pray that my kids never have to experience a car accident. But if they do then I want them secured inside a child seat than rather than flying into the windshield.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by GenuineOptimist

After this, my wife decided baby is comfortable in her lap at the back seat rather than in a car seat. I didn't find this worthy enough for a quarrel with wife. So my daughter is 3 yrs now and has not used the seat ever since.

First things first - I hope your wife belts up while holding your daughter. Right? Do you belt up while driving (even if no policeman is watching?)?

I'm not an optimist. As I replied elsewhere, here's what I think:
Sorry - But we need to distinguish good outcomes from good decisions.

You endangered your kid's safety basis your gut feel on "comfort" -> Bad decision.
Nothing happened -> Great outcome.

Having a great outcome from a bad decision is simply like the roll of the dice - there's nothing to be gained from doing that or feeling proud about it. If you repeat this scenario many times around, bad decisions will necessarily lead to bad outcomes - accidents happen around us all the time.

Let's not draw wrong conclusions. Would you rather stack the dice in your favor or run the risk
http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_...sp?n_id=164302
http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=59158
http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=76942
http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=88818

We've used it since day one - now my kid at 2.5 years sometimes wants to play outside the seat while on road trips, so after much crying he gets to sit besides his mother or in her lap, that too only 20% after much crying and grumbling from him. I don't feel good about it one bit but there's little alternative.

My only consolation is that my boy is wily - he will automatically go into the car seat when he is alone in the car with me, because he knows that there's no one else to play with. Only with his mother in the car does he ask to get out of the car seat!

[GenuineOptimist]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

First things first - I hope your wife belts up while holding your daughter. Right? Do you belt up while driving (even if no policeman is watching?)?

Yes, I wear belts nearly 100% of the time, even while driving inside my residential locality. It has become a habit and now I feel "loose and unsafe" if I don't wear it. However I travel in airport cabs more often and for more distances than in my personal car since my workplace is just near home. And these cabs, half the time, has their back seat belts fallen down in hatch back dicky or their slots buried within seats or fallen down/ unusable condition. And I know these cabs are driven much more dangerously than my car increasing my risk of unrestrained accidents. But what choice do we have. Both my office transport department and cab drivers will ridicule me if I insist I will use only a cab with a working seat belt.

I also saw your accident links.

And regarding the helmet post: I only have a namesake "half head" helmet to escape cops when I drive my Scooty. My 3 yr old daughter or my wife never wears any helmet at the pillion. In fact i've never seen in my whole life of 35 years that an entire family riding a Scooty or bike is wearing a helmet. I think it comes down to practicality.

I am thankful to you for your advice since I know it is for my own safety but such issues get overlooked commonly for the sake of economics, practicality, comfort etc.

Many LPG related accidents happen but how many of us have a portable fire extinguisher at home?