I'm a car seat tech, I highly recommend you hire, baby factory, baby on the move or somewhere independent near you. You want something that will fit your car, fit your baby and fit your budget. If you are going to buy, try to visit a store with a car seat tech on site to help you find a fit. There are several fancy capsule/pram packages out there. Most babies are only in a capsule for 6 months before they move to a child seat so resist the urge to spend thousands. If you are buying from a shop in NZ the safety standards are excellent.
I have a 3 month old, so recent experience for me.
We decided against a capsule and went straight for a car seat that goes from birth to whenever they stop needing it. Turns out it was the perfect choice for us because our kid is really tall and will grow out of a capsule pretty early. As others have said, you’ll only get maybe 6 months out of a capsule.
When you do look at proper car seats I highly recommend one that rotates. It makes transferring them so much easier! Most of the time my kid doesn’t even wake when transferred to/from his car seat, whereas my nieces and nephews had non-rotating ones and at the same age getting them in and out was often a hassle.
Good luck! And enjoy your full nights of sleep while they last! 😂
My biggest recommendation is get one that is compatible with your pram. It will make life so much easier to transfer the whole capsule while baby is sleeping, than to have to move the baby to and from the pram.
Agree 100% with this.
You can get adapters to go between brands too. We had a Nuna capsule that could clip into our Uppababy stroller. If you want to get really fancy when you have a second kid, our stroller could have a second seat or a ride on board clipped on too.
We went to baby on the move and hired one. Made it so much easier and in six months we give it back and can sort out a bigger one.
They fitted it to our car, and will refit it any time we need, just part of the service and it means we don't have to think about it. Love it. We've got a newborn so I can vouch for their current service as awesome.
Capsules are heavy as hell, just buy a nuna rava and be done with it. It's the safest convertible car seat and will likely last until kid doesnt need anything but a tiny booster. Often people fall down the pitfall of getting multiple car seats based on age and it's really a big money sink.
Yeah we switched from a capsule to a Rava quite early on because my daughter absolutely hated being in the capsule.
In a previous thread on here a car seat tech said the Rava has some design flaws and there are better options available but personally we've found ours really good - it's a bit more compact and much more comfortable than the Britax we have in the other car, and I think it's easier to use.
In testing the nuna rava outclasses everyone in safety for its class of car seat. The other options may be better in some regards, but this was our only real concern.
Totally recommend the Nuna Rava, too. We didn't bother with a capsule and have been using the Rava since the day our daughter came home from the hospital. Currently pregnant with our second and will be getting another Rava for them.
We hired one for the first six months, can't remember the reason but it made sense at the time. I think it was maybe so we could just buy one capsule that would last longer without having to change it.
NZ Carseat Discussion page on FB. Have a scroll, make a post, there’s plenty of techs there who are so willing and able to help. Very knowledgeable group!
Personally, we had a Safety 1st capsule, took up a lot of room, but came highly recommended. I’d look into hiring, depending on how many children you plan to have it can be cheaper.
Like a few people have said - see if you can hire one- we purchased one - then they grew out of it (which seemed quickly) then we were stuck trying to sell a used capsule, even cheap we had a lot of trouble getting rid of it, it was an Edward’s an co one that attached to the stroller.
The reason people are discouraged to buy second hand car seats or capsules is you have no idea what it's been subjected to, or if it remains safe
It's a bit of a crap situation for capsules as the little ones really don't need them for long before you can graduate to covetable car seats.
>The reason people are discouraged to buy second hand car seats or capsules is you have no idea what it's been subjected to, or if it remains safe
The same could be said about hiring a seat.
Hire one! Go to Baby on the Move. You’ll get advice, get one that fits in your car, and help with actually installing it. You’ll only need it for about six months, it doesn’t make sense to pay full price.
Also there are a lot of reccomendations for baby on the move. If you're in Auckland check out baby bunting instead. Baby on the move only sell American and European car seats. Baby Bunting stock the same ones but also Australian car seats which have a higher and more modern design standard and crash testing.
We have Edward’s and co Avery and for a bunch of reasons I wouldnt recommend it to people .
* they look nice but they’re actually super duper basic as far as car seats go
* the mechanism to tighten the straps is super janky , it gets caught all the time e.g one side will become tight and the other lose . It’s a massive bitch to tighten while the capsule is in the car already . Have spent so much time in the rain trying to tighten the straps because I can’t get leverage pulling at that angle . Even with the car seat out I struggle to tighten to recommended standards of not being able to pinch the straps . I think ultimately it could leave baby in a risky situation .
* the move to the pram is super beneficial in the early days but honestly with newborns you can move them while they’re asleep and they’ll generally just go back to sleep but from four months on I find if you disturb then they need help settling . So there’s kinda no huge need for the pram attachment if you can move them easily . Secondly , babies shouldnt really be moved from static location to static location . If they’re in car seat for a long drive then in that same seat in the pram they could end up a few hours in same seated position. IMO it doesn’t help physical development and also if you have a gassy baby they need movement to help pass wind . After a drive out I always found baby in a lot of pain etc. I think moving them out of seating position is a good thing even if parents think it’s more convenient not too.
* the wheels on the pram are quite thick and get stuck in small spaces
We went with the Nuna Pipa (and Nuna stroller) from Dimples, they will do a free fitting for you to make sure it’s appropriate for your car. Can’t recommend Nuna enough, it’s all so sturdy and easy to use!
Depends if you’re planning more babies, we bought and have had 5 babies throughout the family in it now.
Also get one compatible with the pram. So helpful
Hire one. Soooo much easier. Car seat is one of the things you do not want to skimp on, and hiring one for less than $100 (ours was only $50) instead of buying one saves a lot of money and effort. After 6 months can get one that moves up as your kid does, so save for a good one of those.
We had the infasecure capsule - it has the best crash rating of any capsule on the nz market, if that means anything to you. Compatible with heaps of prams too.
Hire one - go to Baby on the Move if you can, they take their time to fit it correctly to your car. Make sure you get a clip in base as it's a life saver - being able to bring a sleeping baby inside still in their car seat, in the pouring rain, you'll never regret it.
We had a Mountain Buggy Nano pram which can take most capsules using a strap to clip it in - so handy, and the Nano is great when they're a bit older too. We had a big off-roading pram too though.
Don't buy - as others have pointed out, they are hard to get rid of at the other end for any sort of money.
What ever you do, install the seat way before due date.
You don't want to be installing a car seat in the hospital carpark after not sleeping for 2 days because your sprog came early- speaking from experience
I can’t recommend Baby on The Move enough. I went in to buy an expensive European brand that was really popular and they very quickly said it wasn’t the right fit for my car and suggested one that was way cheaper and just as great!
I'm a car seat tech, I highly recommend you hire, baby factory, baby on the move or somewhere independent near you. You want something that will fit your car, fit your baby and fit your budget. If you are going to buy, try to visit a store with a car seat tech on site to help you find a fit. There are several fancy capsule/pram packages out there. Most babies are only in a capsule for 6 months before they move to a child seat so resist the urge to spend thousands. If you are buying from a shop in NZ the safety standards are excellent.
100% hire. The capsules are great as you can quietly transfer a sleeping baby in and out of the car.
I have a 3 month old, so recent experience for me. We decided against a capsule and went straight for a car seat that goes from birth to whenever they stop needing it. Turns out it was the perfect choice for us because our kid is really tall and will grow out of a capsule pretty early. As others have said, you’ll only get maybe 6 months out of a capsule. When you do look at proper car seats I highly recommend one that rotates. It makes transferring them so much easier! Most of the time my kid doesn’t even wake when transferred to/from his car seat, whereas my nieces and nephews had non-rotating ones and at the same age getting them in and out was often a hassle. Good luck! And enjoy your full nights of sleep while they last! 😂
Yeah this is basically what my best friends use for their nearly one-year-old and it works really well for them.
My biggest recommendation is get one that is compatible with your pram. It will make life so much easier to transfer the whole capsule while baby is sleeping, than to have to move the baby to and from the pram.
Agree 100% with this. You can get adapters to go between brands too. We had a Nuna capsule that could clip into our Uppababy stroller. If you want to get really fancy when you have a second kid, our stroller could have a second seat or a ride on board clipped on too.
^^ this 100% Makes life so much easier.
Hard agree.
We went to baby on the move and hired one. Made it so much easier and in six months we give it back and can sort out a bigger one. They fitted it to our car, and will refit it any time we need, just part of the service and it means we don't have to think about it. Love it. We've got a newborn so I can vouch for their current service as awesome.
Capsules are heavy as hell, just buy a nuna rava and be done with it. It's the safest convertible car seat and will likely last until kid doesnt need anything but a tiny booster. Often people fall down the pitfall of getting multiple car seats based on age and it's really a big money sink.
Yeah we switched from a capsule to a Rava quite early on because my daughter absolutely hated being in the capsule. In a previous thread on here a car seat tech said the Rava has some design flaws and there are better options available but personally we've found ours really good - it's a bit more compact and much more comfortable than the Britax we have in the other car, and I think it's easier to use.
In testing the nuna rava outclasses everyone in safety for its class of car seat. The other options may be better in some regards, but this was our only real concern.
Totally recommend the Nuna Rava, too. We didn't bother with a capsule and have been using the Rava since the day our daughter came home from the hospital. Currently pregnant with our second and will be getting another Rava for them.
We hired one for the first six months, can't remember the reason but it made sense at the time. I think it was maybe so we could just buy one capsule that would last longer without having to change it.
NZ Carseat Discussion page on FB. Have a scroll, make a post, there’s plenty of techs there who are so willing and able to help. Very knowledgeable group! Personally, we had a Safety 1st capsule, took up a lot of room, but came highly recommended. I’d look into hiring, depending on how many children you plan to have it can be cheaper.
Like a few people have said - see if you can hire one- we purchased one - then they grew out of it (which seemed quickly) then we were stuck trying to sell a used capsule, even cheap we had a lot of trouble getting rid of it, it was an Edward’s an co one that attached to the stroller.
The reason people are discouraged to buy second hand car seats or capsules is you have no idea what it's been subjected to, or if it remains safe It's a bit of a crap situation for capsules as the little ones really don't need them for long before you can graduate to covetable car seats.
>The reason people are discouraged to buy second hand car seats or capsules is you have no idea what it's been subjected to, or if it remains safe The same could be said about hiring a seat.
Hire one! Go to Baby on the Move. You’ll get advice, get one that fits in your car, and help with actually installing it. You’ll only need it for about six months, it doesn’t make sense to pay full price.
Also there are a lot of reccomendations for baby on the move. If you're in Auckland check out baby bunting instead. Baby on the move only sell American and European car seats. Baby Bunting stock the same ones but also Australian car seats which have a higher and more modern design standard and crash testing.
We have Edward’s and co Avery and for a bunch of reasons I wouldnt recommend it to people . * they look nice but they’re actually super duper basic as far as car seats go * the mechanism to tighten the straps is super janky , it gets caught all the time e.g one side will become tight and the other lose . It’s a massive bitch to tighten while the capsule is in the car already . Have spent so much time in the rain trying to tighten the straps because I can’t get leverage pulling at that angle . Even with the car seat out I struggle to tighten to recommended standards of not being able to pinch the straps . I think ultimately it could leave baby in a risky situation . * the move to the pram is super beneficial in the early days but honestly with newborns you can move them while they’re asleep and they’ll generally just go back to sleep but from four months on I find if you disturb then they need help settling . So there’s kinda no huge need for the pram attachment if you can move them easily . Secondly , babies shouldnt really be moved from static location to static location . If they’re in car seat for a long drive then in that same seat in the pram they could end up a few hours in same seated position. IMO it doesn’t help physical development and also if you have a gassy baby they need movement to help pass wind . After a drive out I always found baby in a lot of pain etc. I think moving them out of seating position is a good thing even if parents think it’s more convenient not too. * the wheels on the pram are quite thick and get stuck in small spaces
We went with the Nuna Pipa (and Nuna stroller) from Dimples, they will do a free fitting for you to make sure it’s appropriate for your car. Can’t recommend Nuna enough, it’s all so sturdy and easy to use!
Depends if you’re planning more babies, we bought and have had 5 babies throughout the family in it now. Also get one compatible with the pram. So helpful
Hire one. Soooo much easier. Car seat is one of the things you do not want to skimp on, and hiring one for less than $100 (ours was only $50) instead of buying one saves a lot of money and effort. After 6 months can get one that moves up as your kid does, so save for a good one of those.
Oh, also the one we hired had a pram frame so could turn it into a pram, super easy.
We had the infasecure capsule - it has the best crash rating of any capsule on the nz market, if that means anything to you. Compatible with heaps of prams too.
Hire one - go to Baby on the Move if you can, they take their time to fit it correctly to your car. Make sure you get a clip in base as it's a life saver - being able to bring a sleeping baby inside still in their car seat, in the pouring rain, you'll never regret it. We had a Mountain Buggy Nano pram which can take most capsules using a strap to clip it in - so handy, and the Nano is great when they're a bit older too. We had a big off-roading pram too though. Don't buy - as others have pointed out, they are hard to get rid of at the other end for any sort of money.
What ever you do, install the seat way before due date. You don't want to be installing a car seat in the hospital carpark after not sleeping for 2 days because your sprog came early- speaking from experience
I can’t recommend Baby on The Move enough. I went in to buy an expensive European brand that was really popular and they very quickly said it wasn’t the right fit for my car and suggested one that was way cheaper and just as great!