Child seat for an Eclat?

[soldave]

Are there any child seats that will fit in the back of an Elite or Eclat? Am very happy to be a new father and am already wondering when his first trip in the lotus can be. Issues I envisage are the width of the seats and the fact that there's only a lapbelt there so it may be a non started but wanted to check what others had done.

Many thanks in advance for any thoughts you may have.

 

 

 

 

[Tony D]

Congratulations on your new arrival.

Can't see a straight fit being very easy, but maybe by removing the rear seat for a while, you can fit something securely on a semi permanent basis ?

Tony

[Dunc]

Congrats Dave!

This is my specialist subject on which I have already made the hard yards. 🙂

0-6 months

you want to look on ebay for a maxi cosi easybase. One of older non-isofix ones that uses the seatbelt: 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/183818276642?hash=item2acc6c4f22:g:oKAAAOSwJxRcxGEo

It secures into the bucket seat using the lap belt at the rear of the easybase, and the adjustable leg stabilises it into the footwell. You then buy one of the maxi cosi baby capsules, and you just clip them in. You can get pram adaptors that fit these things as well, so you don't need to remove the baby - just clip them into the car, then onto the pram - boot on the eclat is more than up to carrying the frame of a bugaboo pram, then you just clip them in and out kerbside without waking them up.

There are group 1/2 (toddler/child) seats from Maxi Cosi that will fit onto this design of base, but it works in the eclat by lifting the baby carrier up above the bucket seat. I think the larger group 1/2 seat and this base might be a bit tight. When my kids got to toddler age I sold the maxi cosi stuff on ebay and used a different seat from Britax when the kids got older.

6 months - 3 years

The hot ticket here is the Britax Prince - which is one of the only forward facing car seats that is narrow enough at the base to fit into the bucket of the eclat and secures with a lap belt. The seats internal 4 point harness secures the child, and the  adjustable incline of the car seat and the solid base of the  eclat fibreglass seat moulding prevents rotation forward on impact. I think I have one of these if you want it (for free) - not sure if they are still available new. I had 2 of them in the back of my eclat once upon a time (Britax Prince Alex).

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224813674761?hash=item3457f07109:g:1KQAAOSwx89hoiqG

There are other seats that will fit but they are rare, the majority are just far too wide at the base to fit the narrowness of the eclat bucket.  I bought a 3 way seat off the net that was champion, which was narrow enough to fit, but I don't have it anymore - I think the brand was OK-Baby, but cant swear to that.

PM me if you want more info or a natter over what works

cheers

Dunc

[soldave]

9 hours ago, Dunc said:

Congrats Dave!

This is my specialist subject on which I have already made the hard yards. 🙂

0-6 months

you want to look on ebay for a maxi cosi easybase. One of older non-isofix ones that uses the seatbelt: 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/183818276642?hash=item2acc6c4f22:g:oKAAAOSwJxRcxGEo

It secures into the bucket seat using the lap belt at the rear of the easybase, and the adjustable leg stabilises it into the footwell. You then buy one of the maxi cosi baby capsules, and you just clip them in. You can get pram adaptors that fit these things as well, so you don't need to remove the baby - just clip them into the car, then onto the pram - boot on the eclat is more than up to carrying the frame of a bugaboo pram, then you just clip them in and out kerbside without waking them up.

There are group 1/2 (toddler/child) seats from Maxi Cosi that will fit onto this design of base, but it works in the eclat by lifting the baby carrier up above the bucket seat. I think the larger group 1/2 seat and this base might be a bit tight. When my kids got to toddler age I sold the maxi cosi stuff on ebay and used a different seat from Britax when the kids got older.

6 months - 3 years

The hot ticket here is the Britax Prince - which is one of the only forward facing car seats that is narrow enough at the base to fit into the bucket of the eclat and secures with a lap belt. The seats internal 4 point harness secures the child, and the  adjustable incline of the car seat and the solid base of the  eclat fibreglass seat moulding prevents rotation forward on impact. I think I have one of these if you want it (for free) - not sure if they are still available new. I had 2 of them in the back of my eclat once upon a time (Britax Prince Alex).

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224813674761?hash=item3457f07109:g:1KQAAOSwx89hoiqG

There are other seats that will fit but they are rare, the majority are just far too wide at the base to fit the narrowness of the eclat bucket.  I bought a 3 way seat off the net that was champion, which was narrow enough to fit, but I don't have it anymore - I think the brand was OK-Baby, but cant swear to that.

PM me if you want more info or a natter over what works

cheers

Dunc

Awesome response, thanks for that. Gives me lots to have a think about.

[Dunc]

Just to correct the info above in case someone else is reaidng this int he archives -

UK law requires a child be in a rear facing carrier until 9kg or 15 months - whichever arrives sooner. In practice - most babies are 9kg around the 12 months stage, so the info in my post above should have stated that the Maxi Cosi carrier coupled with an Easybase is the solution from birth to 12 months. Then the Britax Prince thereafter (which is advertised as 9months to 4yrs, but my daughter was in it longer than that without issue.)

cheers

Duncan