Let’s talk trends. Europe is trendy, right? We Americans think we’re trendy, but really, compared to Europeans we’re so far behind we’re living in the 80s still. I mean, really, skinny jeans are back! :O The big trend we’re seeing this year that Europe has had for years is rigid LATCH. Everybody bow down and say “Yay for rigid LATCH!”
So Darren showed the video of the Kiddy Fix with the load leg (what they call the footprop)–the base is quite heavy and flat and the load leg quite sturdy. It’s very different than any base we’re used to here in the US/Canada. And as you’ve no doubt seen by wandering to Kiddy’s web site by now, the World plus booster also has rigid LATCH. Since Darren has the pictures, we’ll discuss that booster later this week and I’ll give you the impressive measurements then. Kiddy is aiming for 1st quarter of 2010 for release, but remember that it takes time for testing, tweaking, re-testing, retweaking, importing, etc.
The Cybex X-Fix booster comes with LATCH guides to help with those deep-seated LATCH anchors that are impossibly buried in the seat bight. The headrest has a unique 3 position recline insert that children themselves can adjust as they get sleepy so their heads won’t dangle forward as they nod off. Cybex is hoping for a 1st quarter release as well. Regal+Lager is the importer/distributor.
Evenflo has the newly rated Generations 65 lbs. and Symphony 65 lbs. Both seats have been structurally changed, so the weight increase is NOT retroactive to previous models. They told us that both seats would be available in November for sale. You will be able to visually tell the difference by looking at a Generations 65: the HWH seat has a red harness release button on the front of the seat. It still has the Tension Right knobs on the sides to tighten the harness, but the red button on the front will loosen the harness. The Symphony 65 has a different, flatter base and the back of the seat has a metal bar showing. The tether is also attached to the metal bar.
Evenflo is also introducing the Maestro, a lower priced HWH combo seat to 50 lbs., booster to 100 lbs. It has 18″ top slots and has a unique shoulder belt slot design that allows the shoulder belt to slide up the seat as the child grows in torso height.
We do have lots more to report, but at some point the day must end 😉 .
Did anyone get a belt guide measurement for the Cybex X-Fix?
OMG… with the new weight limit on the symphony, as long as they don’t shoot the price point up, we’ll actually have a 3-in-1 seat we can recommend! YAY!
Eh, the Generations already fits kids longer than a MA, so if they haven’t lowered the top harness slots than I don’t see it being a bad option for a 65lb seat.
I’m with Unity, get a word in for us Canadian peeps if you can, pretty please? 😉
I wonder if the revision in the symphony is the reason for it’s delay in coming to Canada… no sense in bringing in the old one once they realized they were re-designing it.
Thanks, Kecia. I got distracted earlier by all things baby around here. The Maestro is a $79 combo seat, so it doesn’t have many bells and whistles. It’s similar to the Chase, but with a front pull adjuster.
FYI – the Maestro does NOT have the infinite adjust harness like the Triumph Advance & Symphony. Heather was referring to the open shoulder belt guide for use in booster mode.
hhmm…so 2 new hwh seats from evenflo, one with a higher weight limit but lower slots, and one with a lower weight limit but higher slots? that’s an…interesting choice, i guess? Sounds like the maestro has the infinite adjust harness a la triumph adv and symphony?
You guys will ask for Canadian release dates for us, won’t you? Pretty please! 🙂
<<(Bowing down to Rigid LATCH)>>
You have no idea how excited I am to hear about the possibility of having cool European seats here in the US sometime soon. I highly doubt they’ll actually be here in 1st Qtr 2010 but just knowing that they’re working on it is so exciting.
I’m also thrilled about the lower-priced HWH seats from Evenflo. Our CPS programs desperately need more affordable HWH options.
The Maestro sounds interesting, but why couldn’t they either make the Generations 50 pounds and the Maestro 65, or change the top slots on the Generations? Don’t get me wrong, it’s a $99 HWH combo that doesn’t require a headrest, so w00t, but it’s not great with the low top slots. And at 18″ and 50 pounds, only petite kids will fit in that long enough to get the full torso height out of the Maestro’s harness. The seatbelt sounds interesting. Any comment from Evenflo on price for it?