Maxi-Cosi Pebble Plus i-Size Car Seat Review
The Maxi Cosi pebble plus car seat is the perfect newborn car seat which embraces your little one on every journey. It comes with a baby-hugg inlay which offers a better fit and lying position for your newborn. With the state-of-the-art safety performance the Pebble Plus complies with the latest car seat safety regulation “i-Size (R129). We love it, but what did one of our parent testers make of this car seat from Maxi-Cosi.
Parent Tester - Anna Taylor
Our new Maxi Cosi Pebble Plus and Family Fix base arrived from Natural Baby Shower really quickly via courier who sent a one hour time something that really helps when you have a new baby and want to know in advance when to expect a delivery. It was easy to unbox with no assembly required so we could try it out straight away. A nice little touch was the name of the lady who boxed and sent the car seat from Natural Baby Shower was referenced on the packaging, so any problems would have been easily resolved.
On first impressions the Pebble Plus is really sturdy; it's well built and all the materials used are high quality. Nothing about this car seat feels cheap or compromised which is reassuring for such an important purchase. We previously used a Maxi Cosi Cabriofix which we loved, but the Pebble Plus is a definite upgrade and I can see why it's the slightly more expensive car seat of the two.
Although the main purpose of a car seat is to keep your baby safe, the Pebble Plus is also designed with appearance in mind and manages to look stylish at the same time as practical. It's available in lots of colours - we chose the Nomad Grey colour to match the Maxi Cosi footmuff we already had. It's a lovely tone of grey with a subtle texture to the design for added interest.
The Pebble Plus comes with a really snug newborn insert. I love this part of the car seat as it really gave me peace of mind that my baby was lying with her back in the flattest position possible. It's super soft in terms of fabric and cushioning but the actual shape of the insert is supportive and structured enough to hold a tiny baby. When my little one first sat in the seat she was so comfortable and with a bit of rocking was asleep within a few minutes. Our baby is 9 weeks old and around 11lb in weight so probably won't need the insert for much longer but I can see that it would be perfect from birth until around this size.
One thing I really like about the Pebble Plus in comparison to the Cabriofix we have previously used is the ease of getting baby strapped in. The buckle and shoulder straps have a small amount of resistance so they're really easy to find and secure, and they won’t get caught underneath your baby.
A couple of other design features which I think give this seat an advantage over others is the handle doubling up as a strut / stand for the car seat to keep it still when baby is in it whilst out of the car.
It also has a nice little touch on the canopy; the corners are made with faux leather tabs which look great but also make it easy to attach or remove the canopy from the car seat handle bar.
Moving on to the Isofix base, this is something I’d recommend to every parent. It not only makes getting in and out of the car so easy, but also eliminates the room for error you’d have if you were strapping the seat in using a seatbelt for every journey. I think all bases now have an indicator to let you know if the seat is correctly secured but this one in particular beeps at you and has a warning light system if you haven’t done something correctly. The Family Fix can be used for the next stage Maxi Cosi car seat too in both rear and forward facing positions, so it will probably be one of the most long lasting baby products you buy.
Although most newer cars now have Isofix ports as standard, if your car didn't have them this base can also be strapped in with a seat belt. The same can be said for the car seat which can also be used with a seatbelt instead of the base, which we have found particularly useful when switching between cars in a hurry.
We've really enjoyed testing the Pebble Plus and Family Fix base and I would definitely recommend it to other parents. This car seat is incredibly comfortable for our little one and she has never seemed unhappy whilst in it. We love it's design features and the fact you can buy a coordinating footmuff for it (no need to think about blankets or baby being too hot or too cold in the car). From a practicality point of view, the Pebble Plus couldn't be easier to use; strapping baby in is straight forward and so is getting in and out of the car. With the Maxi Cosi pushchair adapters it's also incredibly easy to attach and push around - one of our 3 year olds favourite things to do...
Aside from the ease of use, I think the best feature of this car seat package for me is the invaluable peace of mind given from the base's indicator system and also the newborn insert letting baby lay as flat as possible in the seat. We are more than happy letting our little one sleep in the Pebble Plus whilst out on short trips or for car journeys of up to 2 hours because she was in such a good flat position with the insert. We would definitely recommend this purchase and are so happy to have had the opportunity to review for Natural Baby Shower.
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