Maxi Cosi Tobi

Firstly, I have to say it really puzzles me why there are so many great reviews out there on the net for this Car Seat. Usually when I review a baby product it is because I am raving about how great it is. But this is different. I have my reservations about the Maxi-Cosi Tobi, which is the Car Seat I currently have for my 26 month old boy.

We had to buy a second Car Seat as my husband drops our son at nursery and I collect him, and due to lack of space the nursery cannot accommodate the seat in my husband's car if he were to take it out and leave it there for me to collect when I lift our son. And if I am honest I would rather have two car seats for convenience as much as anything else. So when I returned to work and our son was ready for a Group 1 seat I trusted the reviews about the Tobi (Its lightweight selling point and ease of routing were what sold it to me)

I can fit Car Seats. I have been trained through work, so happy with the general fit of the seat in my Land Rover I got the Tobi. We've always been delighted with the previous Maxi-Cosi seats we have had- the Cabriofix and the Priori XP, so I assumed I would be as happy with the Tobi. The fact is, I hate it and have been dithering over buying something else to suit us until he can go into a High Back Booster. I could literally write a "10 things I hate about you" review about this seat. If I had never had another seat before this I possibly would have thought it was ok. But I do have a bit of experience with Seats and this is one Id avoid like the plague if purchasing again.

I know Maxi-Cosi is popular with a lot of parents and many times it comes down to deciding between the Maxi-Cosi Priori XP or the Maxi-Cosi Tobi. I have both of them so perhaps this review may be useful. I cant rave enough about the Priori XP. The Tobi is, at best, OK.

The Maxi-Cosi Tobi Blurb
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The Tobi is a Group 1 Car Seat so is deemed appropriate for children 9-18kgs. This is roughly from nine months until about 4 years.

The harness in the Tobi automatically springs open so you can put the child in trouble-free.

They have what they call the "Traffic Light" tension indicator which goes green when the harness is correctly tightened.

The straps adjust in height by moving the head rest.

Tensioners lock immediately in the event of an accident.

My Personal Experience
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If you read all the above features you will thing that the seat sounds super, and indeed it does very well in the Which? Reports but from my own point of view the above features are not wonderful for an inquizitive toddler. While the seat is easy to fit, it just never seems safe when you look around and find your toddler squeezing their arms out of the straps with no resistance at all. Yes, they may lock in place in event of an accident, but they don't lock when a child is pulling on them slowly to make themselves have some room.

If you are familiar with most Group 1 Car Seats you will be familiar with the fact that you need to push on a button quite hard to loosen the straps. With my Tobi I have found that enough wriggling can loosen the straps on its own. He cannot do this on the Priori. He can wriggle out of the Priori, but he cannot actually loosen the straps.

With regards to fitting the seat, you follow the red coloured routing which is quite simple. Then you snap a lock forward at the bottom for an extra little tautness. It does fit securely and a quick jiggle side to side makes it seem steady and strong. I cannot deny this, it is a good fit. But, the tensioner has ruined the rear seat belt in my car by leaving creases and folds that just wont come out. It isn't incorrectly fitted, it ust has obviously not agreed with the belts I have. It is a good job that my car is only a run-a-round. My husband wont even let the seat be fitted in his car as his car is his pride and joy.

It is a very high seat, perfect for children at the smaller end of its age range, but a nightmare for my toddler who is very tall for his age. Lifting him in and out to the seat often leads to a bang on the head, and he is a heavy lift now, which was also a nightmare while I was pregnant. The Priori is lower and he clamber in to it himself from floor level and only needs help to put his belts put on.

The "Traffic Light" system doesn't really work that well, Sometimes one strap is cutting off his blood supply when the other is slack. I have had to take the car seat out and adjust the straps from behind a couple of times, something that I don't really think I should have to do so regularly.

Recently it appeared that the straps were too low for my son and I took the car seat in to my house and I certainly didn't find the headrest adjust as simple as it sounded. A lot of jiggling and poking and I eventually got it up, it should be a lot more simple in my opinion.

Also, the recline on this seat is nowhere near as good as it's relation the Priori. I think this may be to do with the height of the seat, but our son certainly has a much better recline on the Priori XP. He doesn't look uncomfortable in the Tobi, but if he falls asleep in it while it is in its straight position then his head tends to hang forward until we stop and push his head back and recline the seat. In the Priori his head doesn't go forward due to the angle that the straight setting is at. We've never had him fall forward in that seat.

My Concluding Words
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I do not like to be overly harsh on anything I review but the Tobi really gets on my goat. I have tried to swap it with my husbands Priori but he dislikes the Tobi as much as I do. There are no mechanical faults with my Car Seat, I just am very particular about Car Safety, and I do not always trust the Which? Reports as they can be misleading... Recently they had entirely inaccurate information about a particular pushchair which really made me wonder if it was really put to the test. I would be interested to see exactly how much better it coped in a smash over the Priori XP because in my mind it really could not have been by any overpowering amount.

I really do feel as if the Tobi is not worth the extra money that you have to pay over the price of a Priori XP.

There has been clever marketing of the Tobi and people trust the name, but for me this was not a good buy. I wish Id bought another version of the seat I knew and trusted.

Pros:
Easy to Fit
Looks very appealing
Comfortable for the child while sitting straight

Cons:
Most of my review!

Am I hard to please? Yes I certainly am when it comes to child safety.

Lulu2004 ©