Kiddy Evoluna i-size Car Seat Review – With ISOFIX Base 2 Included

Kiddy Evoluna i-size Car Seat Review – With ISOFIX Base 2 Included

Over the past couple of months, we’ve been using a new car seat for our littlest one. It’s a car seat like no other… Read on to find out more about the Kiddy Evoluna i-Size Infant Carrier and our thoughts and experience using it.

Introduction

“The Evoluna i-Size is packed with state of the art technology to protect a child in the event of an impact, but also to protect their health and development. This offers the child all round protection, with double the peace of mind for you.”

– Kiddy UK

Kiddy are the first manufacturers to offer a safe sleeping position for babies in the car and do so with their innovative lie-flat Group 0+ infant carrier Evoluna i-Size. This amazing car seat enables your baby’s head, neck and body to stay inline which helps to maintain an open airway.

As you probably know, newborns are not meant to sit up for long periods of time and it’s recommended they lay flat to sleep during the first six months of life.

This is a hot topic at the moment and BBC News recently highlighted new research that warns that babies under four weeks old should not travel sat up in car seats for more than 30 minutes. The previous recommendation was no more than two hours and that is still the guidline for babies over 4 weeks old. Check out the video clip from the news here.

The Kiddy Evoluna i-Size car seat if very generously sized, allowing your baby to stay rear facing until they reach the mandatory 15 months of age. There’s plenty of room to stretch out and grow. Other lay flat infant carriers that are also available only last until 12 months so you would have to buy another car seat to fill the gap. But that’s not necessary with the Evoluna i-Size as it lasts until 15 months or until your baby is 83cm tall. The Evoluna i-Size only takes up one seat in the car unlike other lay flat car seats.

Specifications & Special Features

• Dimensions H 44 x W 66 x D 62 cm
• Weight approximately 4.9 kg
• Hard wearing, removable and washable cover
• Fits many pushchairs to form a travel system
• The correct Isofix base is included and must be used with the Evoluna i-Size in the car
• Shock absorbing slatted frame for good air circulation and temperature control whatever the weather
• Ergonomic lay flat position for perfect support for your baby in and out of the car
• Padded memory foam head support
• Newborn inlay to keep your baby safe and secure
• Premature inlay available to buy separately
• Large, flexible sun shade
• Side impact shock absorber
• i-Size safety certified

Installation

We’ve never had an Isofix car seat before so we were a bit nervous about the installation but it was not difficult at all. There are videos online if you want to watch someone else do it first but the instructions you get with the car seat were simple to follow too. There are green indicators that show up to let you know that everything is safely in place and ready to go. I love this feature!

Putting the actual seat into the Isofix base is very easy — you just put it onto the base and it clicks into place and the green indicators show up.

The base can move back and forwards to allow space for using the car seat in the lie-flat position. Depending on your seat settings, you might need to move the seat in front a bit forwards to allow the lie-flat position.

It didn’t take long at all to install the Isofix or to adjust the straps of the car seat to fit our baby.

Ease of Use

To move the seat to the lie-flat position, you simply move the handle backwards and the slatted frame inside the infant carrier lifts and gently moves the infant into a flat lying position. It’s very easy to do and the operation is very smooth.

The only thing to remember is that you can’t carry the car seat by the carry handle when it’s in the lie-flat position as the handle is folded back. If you need to move your baby while he or she is laid flat in the car seat, you must change it back to the sitting up position which might wake some babies or try to carry it holding it in some other way which I wouldn’t recommend.

As I have mentioned above, the car seat is really easy to put into the Isofix which makes getting into the car fast and easy. You can easily tighten or loosen the straps to fit what your baby is wearing that day. It is easier to do this before putting the seat in the car though as the button is where the car seat meets the seat of the car.

To take the car seat out of the car, you find a handle near the top and back and slide it up at the same time as you lift by the carry handle. This is very easy if you do it slowly. Sometimes when I’m in a rush, I try to do it too quickly and then the whole base lifts too so nice and slowly is the way to do it.

The car seat itself is quite heavy and bulky so not the easiest to carry around. We rarely carry it though — just to the car from the house and vice versa and to put the car seat in a shopping trolley when we do our weekly shop. The total weight obviously depends on the weight of your baby and my six-month-old is quite heavy so it’s not easy to carry her around in general — whether she’s in the car seat or not.

Comfort

My girl looks so comfy and well-supported in her Evoluna i-Size car seat. There was nothing wrong with our previous car seat but this one has much better padding and offers superior support and comfort, I’m sure.

The lie-flat option looks really comfortable and allows your baby to sleep comfortably for longer and you don’t need to worry about the 2-hour car seat guidelines.

Safety

The Kiddy Evoluna i-Size infant carrier is definitely a safe option! It’s been approved to meet the new i-Size safety standards and provides maximum protection for babies up to 15 months old. Its safety has been proven in independent tests too and the car seat has been awarded the prestigious Which? Best Buy award this year after achieving the highest ever score for a Group 0+ R129 infant carrier. It’s won other awards too and safety experts have certified that this car seat is especially safe in frontal and side crashes.

Kiddy are also working with The Lullaby Trust to promote safer sleep for babies and reduce the risk of SIDS. Together they are highlighting the importance of babies being laid flat whilst sleeping and Kiddy are donating £10,000 from the sales from this car seat to The Lullaby Trust to go towards ensuring new parents receive the advice and information they need about safe sleep for babies and also to help support bereaved families.

“Car seats are not recommended for long sleeps, but when baby is out and about we would always recommend that he/she sleeps in the flattest possible position. We are delighted to see that the Kiddy Evoluna i-Size offers a solution to this problem.”

– Francine Bates, Chief Executive at The Lullaby Trust

Value for Money

This car seat is on the expensive side — prices start at £359.99 — but the Isofix base is included and you can use it from birth to 15 months so that’s a long time. There are 5 shoulder height positions and a one pull adjustable 3-point harness to ensure a perfect fit every time you get in the car.

It’s definitely worth investing in one of these if you go on many car journeys or if you don’t have the space for a travel system. The Evoluna i-Size car seat can fit onto many pushchair bases or the Kiddy City ‘n Move pushchair a to create a travel system. As the car seat offers the lay flat option, you don’t need a separate carrycot to store somewhere!

The lie-flat position of this car seat offers the same benefits as a carrycot or lie-flat pushchair seat for your baby’s breathing, heart rate and skeletal systems.

Unfortunately, our pushchairs are not compatible but many are. Use the Pushchair Compatibility Checker to see which ones.

It’s a very clever and innovative car seat and that also makes the value better.

Style

This car seat is very stylish and easy on the eye. The rounded, egg-like shape is very beautiful and you can choose from eight lovely colours. We went for Walnut but there are eight colours to choose from and eight more options coming in 2017. There’s something for all tastes and styles.

Overall

We’re really pleased with the Evoluna i-Size car seat. It feels sturdy and safe and our girl looks so comfortable and protected in her seat. The lie-flat option is brilliant and means we can go on longer car journeys without worrying about our baby spending too much time in her car seat.

It’s not a car seat that you carry around due to its size and weight but since it does fit many pushchair bases this is not really an issue. The weight and size are fine for us as I feel they add to the safety aspects.

The lie-flat position takes up extra room in the car of course and it might be a bit tight in small cars but it’s fine in ours.

I would recommend the Evoluna i-Size car seat to other parents with a newborn, especially ones who like to go on family road trips.

Buy yours directly from the Kiddy website or through retailers like Amazon.co.uk.

We were sent this item for the purpose of this review. As always, all my reviews are 100% honest and all thoughts and opinions are my own.