I'm married to my lovely husband William, we live in North Yorkshire the seaside town of Scarborough. I'm a 30 year old stay at home mum who has three beautiful children. My boys Valentino 7, Lorenzo 4 and my baby girl Alexandra born May 2012.
I love reading articles and reviews especially if the around parenting and humour. I adore gadgets and things that make life easier for parents and children in everyday life.
I love getting out and about with the Mini's, gardening, recipes and meals out. I have been a product tester for lots of things from baby bottles to car seats and I have done this since 2009. I am keen to find products that are unique and new to the market but I will and always give my honest opinion. I look forward to Living with RECARO and working with Mumii.
First Impressions
Installing the car seat is extremely quick and simple I used the guiders that came provided with the seat and installed them into my Isofix anchors points
This enabled me to attach the seat quickly and accurately using the Isofix .
I then extended the Isofix on the seat so that the attachments connected to the anchor points. On the side of the yellow points there is a green indicator to show that this is done correctly. The seat was now installed and in less than 2 minutes! (impressive for a woman I think)
Lorenzo couldn’t wait to try out his new seat, he was so excited he said it was comfy and he loved the colour (red is his favourite) he liked the head rest and he said it was nice to relax in!
Of we went for a little drive to test it out… but first I told him about the speakers that are built in to the head rest, he thought this was “awesome” and couldn’t wait to get our ipad hooked up for his little journey.
We hooked the ipad up and he’s sat quietly with his head back so he could listen to his game that he was busy playing.
From a parental point of view this may seem like a little bit of a gimmick but in fact if we were to have a collision side on, I know his head would be in the right place. So I supposed this is a feature does have safety in mind. If he leans forward he couldn’t hear the speakers so it did a fantastic job of keeping his head in the correct position for our journey.
So far so good and I can’t wait to tell you about the other features that the RECARO Monza Nova IS has and how we find “living with"
Some of the features of the Recaro Monza Nova IS are really great, the RECARO has a built in speaker system, which i mentioned before.
The seat is a Group 1,2,3 with the added impact shield for group 1.
It has ISOFIX fittings (that are quick to install) then the child is secrured with a normal seat belt. I love how the seat can grow with your child and feel this adds real value for money with 11 height adjustable headrest positions, this is great for our growing children.
The seat also has Advanced side impact protection, it does make the seat seem a little bigger but infact its no bigger than my previuos seat yet the Recaro has all the added protection.
The RECARO has another great feature and that is a depth adjustable head rest, This is simply pumped to inflate, and you can deflate this with the push of a button to release the air for when your child is asleep. This inturn will stop your little ones head falling forward when they are snoozing.
Image shows the RECARO MONZA NOVA IS with the impact shield as a group 1 seat.
August the 31st 2013
Living with Recaro Monza Nova IS continues and it has definitely been a busy few weeks! With the summer holidays in full swing and different things /events we have been attending as a blogger. It has definitey been more than hectic and a few events that I take the Minis to can be a good three hours drive!(I blog at mummamelio.com)
One thing i haven't had to worry about is driving on long journeys with the kids and them being uncomfortable and moaning.Lorenzo has been more than happy in his Recaro seat and I've even had Valentino (my other son aged 7) wanting to sit in his Monza IS.
The Recaro Monza Nova IS has definitely been a comfortable ride for Lorenzo and he's more than happy to sit there and enjoy the ride... with the occasional "are we there yet" (hazard of being a parent I think!)
We have still been using the Recaro Monza Nova and now its back to school time, one thing that I have noticed is that Lorenzo is unable to click his own seat belt in as the seat base is pretty wide and close to the seat belt buckle. I am also often struggling to do this as I'm having to lean right across Lorenzo, I find myself fumbling around to get his belt clicked in correctly.
I would love the option of a built in harness (that could be removable) in this seat as I feel it would add to the value and usability of the Monza Nova IS.
This month I decided to try my daughter Alexandra out in the seat using the impact shield.
Impact shields are new to me and I am not sure if I like them. Alexandra’s current car seat boasts a five point harness so getting her into the Recaro with the impact shield we found really difficult.
She initially sat in the seat and let us slide the impact shield in place but then when were were strapping it in she became very fussy, very wiggly and this in turn made the process a whole lot harder.
Once she was strapped in she sat fine and wasn't really bothered by the shield, I did however find that when the car stopped moving she was trying her hardest to wiggle free and escape!
I wouldn't have Alex in a carseat with an impact shield all the time but I do think its great as an added option, ie having the shield in the boot of the car so that if I needed Alex, for whatever reason to use her brothers seat the option is there and available to me.
We loved using and living with the Recaro Monza Nova IS, this is a great seat that definitely has comfort and safety in mind.
The RRP of £210 is on the higher end of the scale but I am a firm believer that you get what you pay for and Recaro certainly source the best quality materials for the job!
As I drive a lot I would definitely buy this seat as I feel I would get great use/ value for money from it.
I also look as a consumer for products that have great aftercare / customer service and guarantee. Recaro give the Monza Nova IS a 2 year guarantee, great for added peace of mind.
