Review: Concord SONO Carseat & Base

CasualPlay Sono & Base

RRP £129.99 + Isofix Base at £179.88

Personal rating: 2/5

 

 

(The flimsy impossible button, which is mentioned below...)

 

The CasualPlay Sono was also sent to us with a CasualPlay Isofix Base. This was ilghtweight, compact, when not in use  and easy to assemble and put away. I love the extra support bar at the front which holds the carseat in place, another extra safety feature. Its a standard base, with no extra flimsy gadgets or bits added to it, you just clip in the isofixture, place the leg on floor of car and go. It was extremely east to detach the carseat from too, as well as placing ready for the journey.

 PROS

The car seat is the lightest one ive tested. My mum suffers from a bad back, and she commented on the fact it was lightweight and easy to carry, even with Aiden inserted. She was more than happy to carry it around for 20mins - so therefore perfect if you needed to just pop into a shop quickly.

The SONO comes in a lovely range of colours ( i like "Grape" and Alports - which was the one we were sent to test out)

The newborn insert is super soft and snuggly, with a brilliant amount of padding and support for a tiny baby.

Its travel system compatible, but only with SONO branded frames.

Comes with a cosytoes footmuff and removable rain-hood. The cosy toes was ever so snug and soft, I wouldn't have to place a blanket over aiden in the car with the cosytoes on, unlike other car seats. It also has asummer footmuff that's available to buy separately at £25.99. I didn't have this to test myself, but upon looking at reviews online, ive found and read that its very thin and acts as a UV shade protector for legs.

 

CONS

I don't like the appearance of the base of the seat, underneath all the padding, cosy toes and hood. It looks like its made from flimsy cheap plastic.

The seat iself after removing the cosytoes and hood looked cheap, and as I said previously, of cheap flimsy plastic.

Its only compatable with a isofix base - i couldnt see or figure how to secure in using just a seatbelt, and so took to google and youtube to look up how to, and found nothing. I therefore assume it is ONLY isofix sono base compatable.

The maximum upright position isnt as upright as id like it to be. I actually continued to try and force the seat up more when testing it, as i felt it wasnt at the maximum it was at. It still looked and felt very reclined.

Once the newborn insert has been removed, the actual padding on the seat is minimal, it feels hard and in all fairness, unpadded, like fabric has simply been placed over minimal softening or even just the plastic base.

The handle adjustment is ridiculously hard, and the idea behind it is ridiculous. You need to press a small button underneath the handle whilst pushing another button above it to move the handle front or backwards.It took me a good 15mins to figure how to move the handle, and when i did, i found it stiff and hard to do. Not practical if you attempting to remove the seat or move the handle one handed.

SUMMARY:

I really didnt like this carseat. Although it was the lightest one ive tested so far, thats the only real pro for me. Aiden no longer needs the newborn insert, and with the insert removed i felt the seat wasnt padded enough for him to travel comfortably. It looked lovely when i opened the box to be greeted with a beautiful bright teal coloured carseat (my favourite!) but aside from the nice colours, i really didnt like it.