On holiday we take our own car seat, it is a full, high-back side-impact car seat designed for kids ages 4 to 11. The advantage is that it is with us wherever we go, with peace of mind as we know it is comfortable and safe. There are however times when this just isn’t practical (we are often negotiating our luggage with car seat stacked on top!) and so when I heard about the Mifold Grab-and-Go Car Seat I was intrigued to try it out. We were lucky enough to be sent one to review for use with Freddie who is 7…
The Mifold is described as the ‘Grab-and-Go Booster seat, and it certainly lives up to its name. Its designers say that the Mifold “is the first real innovation in child car booster seats in over 50 years” – we have tested a few in our time, like the BubbleBum Inflatable Booster Seat with positivity and there are others on the market that claim to be good for travel like the Trunki BoostApak. So how does the Mifold stand up to the test?
When I first received the Mifold I instantly questioned its safety as it is soooo small! On opening it felt well made and I liked the bag it came with too. I took it along to school pickup to see what other parents thought and they unanimously had the same safety concerns, especially with all the new regulations surrounding child seats. I was intrigued to find out more.
The Mifold is thin, compact and robust, maybe calling it a ‘booster seat’ isn’t quite the right term to use. A ‘booster seat’ is generally designed to lift a child, whether it be at a table for dinner, at a cinema or in the car to be in the correct line for a seatbelt fitting. The Mifold is designed to do the opposite – instead of lifting a child up it lowers the seat belt down to the correct shoulder height.
Normal booster
Mifold
It is 10X smaller than a regular car booster seat too and is ideal for travel as it can be easily popped into a bag or backpack. It is well made and sturdy, designed for kids from 4-12 years old. Our first outing was to Kew Gardens with friends, there were three children ages 5 and two 7 year olds to fit into the back. We usually have trouble squashing the car seats in with them a little wonky and probably not the safest positions! The Mifold fitted nicely between the two seats and it was easy to fit. The Mifold is a great choice for three in a row…
Freddie wasn’t too impressed initially with the seat for comfort to sit on (he is occasionally a bit of a diva!) but he did say the actual seat belt fitting was really comfortable and sat nicely on his shoulder. On our next trip we popped a small cushion and this made him happy. Since then we have ditched the cushion idea as it defeats the object of having a true ‘Grab-and-Go’ style seat and our fussy little prince is used to it now!
I can see the Mifold being a brilliant choice for a spare quick seat, for school runs, family holidays, travelling, great size for grand-parents cars, adhoc pick ups and a brilliant space saver for three in a row. It is so small and compact it would be great for hopping around in a taxi too.
Freddie is 7 now and most of his friends have moved on from the high back seat, I know we shouldn’t give in to peer pressure but the Mifold means he can feel more grown up and we can avoid some awkward moments. I still like the full back seats with side panels and for extra long journeys we still have it in our car. However the Mifold is now in my little run-around car and I feel safe in the knowledge that the seat belt is at the right height. I think we will be tempted to ditch our large cumbersome child seat on future holidays too. I am converting 🙂
Safety was my only concern but it has been designed to conform to EU regulations and beyond US regulations and I do really like the seat belt positioning. I like the way it is held in position close to the shoulder and around the lap and not across the tummy area.
You can see from the image that the seatbelts are held in place neatly
The Mifold has been well designed with a choice of funky colours. The seat pad has been designed by car industry experts and it is robust with a strong metal chassis made from aircraft aluminium. So it looks like it is a product to last.
All in all we think the Mifold is easy to use, fully adjustable and totally portable and gets a big thumbs up from us. It is a fab choice for a travel booster style car seat for children old enough and even fits in a handbag. For more information, you can visit the Mifold website here:
The Mifold is available from many retailers in the UK including John Lewis and Amazon @ £49.95 and the carry bag is around £15. The bag is a good idea if you want to attach it to the outside of a rucksack etc.
The Mifold is great alternative to a car booster seat and we think every family with kids should have one!
