Mamas & Papas Primo Viaggio Car Seat

[UPDATE 2003: Buying children's car seats is an important task and with the large number of non member reads on this opinion plus e-mails I have received I thought it's time to update this.]

Imagine the scene… ONE CLICK with the G-Matic secure fitting mechanism, safety harness adjusted, FIRST gear selected, the lights turn green and Ciao Baby, the italian Primo Viaggio is ready to GO, GO, GO!

You may be mistaken ...
...start of a grand prix race when this is just the beginning of a baby’s life in his/her very first car seat! The primo Viaggio will mark your baby’s first ride in what looks like a secure seat system that only the Italians could match in terms of design, safety, and flair; this is the Ferrari of car seats!

My criteria ~ in choosing a car seat

I was looking for a first car seat to be used from birth that is ... more

[UPDATE 2003: Buying children's car seats is an important task and with the large number of non member reads on this opinion plus e-mails I have received I thought it's time to update this.]

Imagine the scene… ONE CLICK with the G-Matic secure fitting mechanism, safety harness adjusted, FIRST gear selected, the lights turn green and Ciao Baby, the italian Primo Viaggio is ready to GO, GO, GO!

You may be mistaken for thinking this is the line up to a crucial start of a grand prix race when this is just the beginning of a baby’s life in his/her very first car seat! The primo Viaggio will mark your baby’s first ride in what looks like a secure seat system that only the Italians could match in terms of design, safety, and flair; this is the Ferrari of car seats!

My criteria ~ in choosing a car seat

I was looking for a first car seat to be used from birth that is both secure and versatile, i.e. can be used as part of a travel system if required. I wanted a simple design that is easy to install and fits correctly each time. I was not interested in any extras such as play trays, storage racks etc.

There are about 4 groups of car seats depending on the size of your child.

Group 0+ - Birth to 13kg (approx 12-15 months) - these are rear facing seats
Group 1 - 9-18kg (approx 9 months to 4 years) –these are forward facing seat Group 2 - 15-25 kg (approx 4 to 6 years) - Forward facing seat or booster
Group 3 - 22-36 kg (approx 6 to 11 years) - Booster seat

PRIMO VIAGGIO

If you've read any of my other opinions you'll know, I have a slight bias towards Italian products (like my car!) so it may come as no surprise that I chose the Italian made Mama’s and Papa’s Primo Viaggio with surefix base unit [Group 0+]. It is a rear facing car seat (primo meaning first); it can be used from birth till 13kg and conforms to European Safety Standards ECE R44.03.

Mama’s and Papa’s aim has always been to produce stylish, innovative nursery products whilst ensuring safety and comfort. Mama’s and Papa’s products are available directly at Mama’s and Papa’s superstores and other main stockists throughout the UK including Northern Ireland and also Republic of Ireland which has a main superstore in Dublin. For a full list of stockists please see the website as given at end of this opinion. To see the full range of Mama’s and Papa’s products it will be better to visit a superstore. However, you may get some good discounts in department stores, such as Co-op, who run a baby Club with various discounts and options to facilitate purchasing baby goods. It’s worth noting that nursery products are guaranteed for 6 months, either from purchase date or baby’s date of birth whichever is most recent.

DESIGN

The key feature of this car seat is its use of a ‘surefix’ base and the revolutionary G-Matic one Click system that ensures the car seat fits securely onto the base the first time. Despite the brief instruction booklet that accompanied this Mama’s and Papa’s product, I could install the black coloured surefix base into the back seat of the car with minimal effort. There is no need for any screws or bolts it's secured by using the adult lap and diagonal seatbelt. This base remains in the car. The car seat, which has 2 grooves in slots securely into the surefix base with just one click ensuring the car seat, is fitted correctly each time. With this method, you can be confident that the car seat is in place. Removing the car seat is just as easy by holding and pulling up a lever on the back of the seat and the seat is released.

If you use more than one car, you can buy more surefix bases at £14.99 each, but I have found this unnecessary as it just takes me a couple of minutes to slip the base out of the car. Extra bases may be worth considering though, if grandparents may wish to keep a base secured in their car too!

Now to the seat itself, the ergonomic design ensures a deep seating position with side wings and padding that aims to combine both comfort and safety. The seat has a 3-point safety harness which can be adjusted to 3 height positions. There are extra chest and buckle pads too. However, I removed the extra padding of chest pads, as it was a bit bulky for my newborn baby. These can be re-attached later when the baby gets bigger. Not all car seats have extra removable pads.

The primo Viaggio also has an optional fabric hood included, which is attached by pulling the elasticated part over the back of the car seat. There is also a sturdy handle, which facilitates carrying the car seat; pressing the 2 grey buttons on each side of the handle can change its position. The 2-piece system of surefix base and car seat makes this car seat universal so that it fits quite easily into most makes of cars.

VERSATILITY

One main advantage of the Primo Viaggio is that it fits any of the Mama’s and Papa’s G-Matic pushchairs or chassis to create a travel system, such as the ‘Ultima 3 in 1’ system (that’s a pram, carrycot and pushchair) which I have also bought (see separate opinion). If you are not looking for a ‘3 in 1’ and just need a car seat and push chair only (‘2 in 1’) you may wish to consider Mama's & Papa's complete 2-set package 'Freestyler Completo’ which costs about £339.99.

I cannot emphasize enough how helpful these travel systems are - it means if your baby has fallen asleep in his/her car seat during a car journey you can simply unclip the car seat and attach it directly onto a G-matic chassis to create a travel system without having to lift baby out of car seat etc and not waking the baby up!

The car seat can also be used as a rocker to gently rock the baby when not fixed on its surefix base or even as a short term seat to use at home.

BABY’S VERDICT

I was a little anxious about the first car journey home from the hospital with my baby only weighing around 6lbs but I need not have worried. Baby fitted into the deep seat very well with his head placed snugly into the head hugger, which can be adjusted according to height of baby into 3 positions. I could strap/secure him easily with the 3-point harness with the 2 upper chest straps, which click into the bottom red clip strap. The ‘one pull’ harness adjuster ensured the straps were not too loose. The first time I saw my baby strapped in with the chest belts forming the 3 -point safety harness he looked more like he was about to start a Formula 1 race, raring to just GO, GO, GO!

The design of the seat gave a safe feeling as baby sunk into the seat and didn’t seem to complain (the only confusion he had was going out into the big wide world and seeing daylight, rain and hearing loud noises!). The shape and contours of the seat just moulded his body, like sports Recaro seats...BABY this is your Ferrari!

I have had my car seat over 2 months now and used it from birth and each time baby has enjoyed a comfortable ride both in the car and by using the primo Viaggio as part of a travel system by fixing it onto a chassis.

FABRICS & CLEANING

The Primo Viaggio is available in a range of easy care assorted designs to match the prams, pushchairs etc. I have the ‘New Moda’ design which is the one shown in the ‘ciao’ photo (it is a camel /beige shade with burgundy check and a dark denim hood). The hood is removable and washable as is the car seat cover. The fabric used appears to be spill resistant and most spills just wipe off without absorbing or causing any staining. Many other modern designs are available; such as Terrano (a funky khaki colour scheme), Jeans (a dark denim urban street style) etc.

Extras/ NIGGLES

The only extra the car seat has is a detachable dark denim fabric hood, which is meant to act as a weather shield, maybe even a sun canopy.
Ok, so far, everything seems fine with this car seat but there are a couple of things that I am not happy with:

One, is the fabric hood. Now, I will the first to admit this is useless! It is hard to pull it up due to the cheap plastic stubs on the side. When you pull, either one side comes up and not the other. It is flimsy and not sturdy. If you pull too much, you find the hood pulls off the back of the seat! It can only act as minor weather shield from slight drizzle perhaps but does nothing to work as a sun canopy; the angle is not adjustable.

Two, is I actually find this car seat a little heavy to carry. It weighs 3.7kg without the surefix base, add the weight of a newborn, approx. 3kg, and you potentially have to carry almost 7kg. I admit you wouldn’t have to carry this weight for long, normally just from the house to the car and back but compared to some other car seats in this class which weigh less about 3.4 to 3.6kg this car seat is on the heavier side! (Girls, all those extra arm strengthening exercises they mentioned at antenatal class –they were not joking you really do work your muscles trying to carry a child about!)

VALUE FOR MONEY

The primo viaggio costs £89.99 if purchased alone. I bought mine as part of a travel system saving £14.99 when purchased with an MPX chassis as the government has lowered the VAT rate on car seats from 17.5% to 5%.

Other 'similar' car seats~

The Primo Viaggio can be compared with other Mama’s and Papa’s car seats [Group 0+] such as the Portabile series, which starts at £59.99 (this does not use a surefix base unit). You may also wish to consider other brands e.g. the Silver Cross explorer (£74.99) and the Graco Autobaby; which also uses a car seat base and costs £89.99. Both these models can form part of a travel system when the appropriate chassis is purchased separately.

There are some car seats that can be used from Group 0+ to Group 2 i.e. that are from birth to 25kg; this may be a more cost effective option than having to buy 2 or 3 different seats as your child grows. In the Mama’s and Papa’s, brand look at Sicuro (£109.99) and Comfortec (£129.99).

SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT

There are only 2 or 3 things I would suggest Mama’s and Papa’s improve:

1) Try to make the car seat lighter (ideally get it down to 3.4Kg –if Graco can do it, surely you can!)
2) If you are including extras like a fabric hood with the seat, make sure it is more sturdier and less flimsy and please change the cheap plastic stubs that pull it up.
3) As a last suggestion, make the instruction booklet clearer, with more information.

Overall, I’d say the primo viaggio with surefix base makes it a universal secure car seat that will fit most cars. What’s more, it’s stylish and innovative (uses the one click G-matic locking mechanism, and I'd recommend it highly especially if you wish to use it as part of a travel system, even if not, the 2-part seat itself is a secure design, if a tad heavy! I do recommend it giving it 4 Stars.

UPDATE 1: After 7 months of use, I can say that this car seat is now coming to its end of use, and although my baby is still within the weight restrictions (under 13Kg though some first car seats go upto 9KG, he now finds this seat uncomfortable and I think it is too deep seated as well as heavy!

UPDATE 2: After 9 months of regular use I had to buy a new car seat as my baby was getting too big for this. Although I still use this seat in the other car for occassional use for short journeys, baby now weighs 9.65KG and is 12 months old. Once babies get more aware from age of 6 months onwards they will find rear facing car seats boring and some may be happier in a forward facing car seat. To avoid buying 2 car seats as your baby grows older you could look for Group 0 and 1 combined seat which can be used from birth onwards it may cost more initially but will last longer.

I'd only recommend you buy this if you are buying the whole Mama's & Papas Travel system as it fits on to the chassis and acts as a pushchair so easily -meaning you dont have to disturn a sleeping baby and can simply fix the seat on to the wheels and move.

Some larger babies may find the deep seat uncomfortable and outgrow it quicker than 7-9 months, on that basis I have altered my product rating from 4 stars to 3 stars. I will be doing an opinion on the Mama's & Papa's 3 in 1 Travel system shortly (almost finished testing -in 12th month!)

For further information:
www.mamasandpapas.co.uk

connoisseur_haggler © ciao 2002, update 18 Feb 2003, 16 August 2003

 

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