Maxi-Cosi Rodi XP

I’ve used – and been a huge fan of – the Maxi-Cosi Opal in my car since J was 9 months old. At that point – and for many more months – he used the Opal rear facing. At 12.5kg he required an additional harness height on the Opal that indicated he had to turn forward facing. He was a tall 19 month old at that point.

The next stage up for J was a Group 2 carseat. These are available, but more commonly you will find a combination Group 1 & 2 carseat or a combination Group 2 & 3 carseat (there are seats available which are Group 1,2 & 3 but I’ve never used one of these) The Opal is a Group 0+ & 1 combination, meaning it is suitable from birth to 13kg rear facing, and to 18kg forward facing. Group 2 & 3 combination seats are for 15-36kg. As J grew taller I was concerned about the lack of further harness height adjustment I had – he had been using the top setting for a while, but it remained level with his shoulders for a long time.

Credit to www.goodeggsafety.com 

One evening, we were going through some junk from the cupboard in the front bedroom that we’re in the process of sorting out to put all of J’s stuff in there (at the moment he sleeps in that room and has his toys in there, but all his clothes are in his old room which is really annoying!) Anyway we found a set of scales so J wanted to know what they were for, and we ended up weighing him. I was astounded to realise my lanky little boy was 17kg! Despite looking so slight, he’s solid and at around 103cm tall while he’s not right at the top end of the percentile height wise for his age anymore, he has increased on the weight side. At that point I realised – even if the harness remained suitable for him for another however long, he was only 1kg away from being too heavy for the Opal anymore anyway!

As a big fan of Maxi-Cosi, given that all my previous carseats have been that brand and I’ve been very happy with them, I naturally looked to the Maxi-Cosi Collection for the Group 2/3 carseat.

There’s a wide variety, all within the ‘Rodi’ name – RodiFix, Rodi Air Protect, Rodi XP and Rodi SPS. The RodiFix was pointless for me – I don’t have IsoFix in my car, so it was an unnecessary addition to pay for. Rodi Air Protect, Rodi XP or Rodi SPS were all suitable for my car, but in the end I went for the XP purely because I could get it in Navy, as he’s always had black or red carseats before. (Ideally I’d love an Air Protect in Kids Choice Magic for him!)

It felt very strange the first time I placed the Rodi in the car and J climbed into it. You don’t put the seatbelt around the seat to anchor it into place and then use a harness for the child; the child and the seat are held using the three point seatbelt. With the Rodi you thread the diagonal belt through the red guide on the bottom of the headrest section and once this is adjusted correctly to lead that belt across the child’s shoulder (not cutting into the neck) the headrest is in the correct position as well. It’s simple to adjust – just grip the headrest section and you’ll feel a shaped piece with four grooves just right for your fingers to grab – lift it up and the headrest will now move up and down. Release it at the correct height and click it into place. The child in the seat, the seatbelt goes through the second red guide at the child’s hip for the lap belt to be hip to hip on the child, not across the soft part of their tummy. Out the guide on the other side and lock the seatbelt into place. I do take the slack out of the seatbelt even though I know in an accident the inertia would lock the belt – however I prefer to ensure the chances of him managing to wriggle out or move around too much are minimised from the start.

Maxi-Cosi Rodi XP User Manual pages 8 - 9

www.maxi-cosi.co.uk/gb-en/products/car-seats/child/rodi-xp/service.aspx

The first journey I found quite weird because I’m so used to him being in a carseat with a harness, and every time I glanced in my rear view mirror and saw him I just kept thinking how grown up he suddenly looked in his ‘big boy’ booster seat. We got to the shops and went into the supermarket – he told everyone he could that he was in a “big boy blue booster seat” and whether or not they all understood him they all nodded and he was very pleased with the overall reaction!

First time in the Maxi-Cosi Rodi XP going to the supermarket in my car

To be honest with you I’m still struggling with the idea of my baby boy now being in this carseat, but he tells me it is comfortable and he likes it, and he can see well out of the window so he is happy. I will be happier once I am a bit more used to the idea I think. The fact that it is so easy to install means I can easily move it between my car and my parents-in-laws car if I need to.  I rate this carseat and would say it is definitely worth the RRP for the amount of use you’ll get out of it.

On the way to Grandma & Grandad's House

To determine if the Maxi-Cosi Rodi XP is suitable for use in your vehicle please take the car to your local Maxi-Cosi retailer and ask for a carseat fitter trained member of staff to provide a physical fitting prior to purchase.

*** UPDATE ***

20.09.14

J continues to be very comfortable in his Maxi-Cosi RodiAP and has been dropping off to sleep a lot more often since travelling in this seat vs travelling in the RodiXP. I don’t know if this is co-incidence or if the seat is more comfortable – it certainly seems more thickly padded. With recline option as well he can get really comfy – I tend to recline it before he gets in and we set off on any journey that is going to take more than an hour. He’s not been carsick again since swapping to this model either.

At four years and 2 months old he is approximately 107cm. I haven’t weighed him in a while so I don’t know how much he’s put on recently but he remains a very slender build. 

*** These views are entirely my own. I am not paid to write this material and do so in my own time.***