Mamas & Papas Primo Viaggio Car Seat

Like some of you, this is my first child so had no idea about car seats. We bought this car seat to match our Sola travel system - big mistake! I totally agree with all the bad points raised about it being too heavy and my little boy was only 5lbs when he was born so always looked really uncomfortable in it but the major issue I have with this car seat is the adapters to attach it to our Sola frame. I spend at least 5 minutes fiddling around trying to clip the car seat into the frame and it drives me MAD!! I see other parents with their car seats taking them out of the car and clipping them straight into their frames but not me. I would like to think that my husband and I are intelligent people and this is not rocket science. I am really annoyed that mamas and papas didn't even mention the fact that the Sola frame is also compatible with the other car seats (I know they need to sell their stuff but just a mention would of been good as it would have prompted me to look at others). I don't really have a good thing to say about this car seat other than if you are expecting your first child do your research into car seats before you buy!!! My little boy is now 8 months and I can't wait to get the next car seat up to get him out of this one..I have started to obsess about car seats which is really not healthy!! ;-(

We have the ip with the surefix base and we did have a couple of issues with it. The biggest problem for me was the weight, it's quite heavy before baby is even in it! The other problem was trying to use it without the surefix base only to find out that the seatbelts weren't quite long enough. Another small issue was that it seemed to sit a little too far upright for tiny babies. Other than that the seat is good, some of the fabric designs are much more attractive than some of the other brands. The seat is quite roomy so it may last longer than some of the other car seats in the same age group. There also seems to have plenty of padding. Perhaps the weight of this seat makes it a safer seat than some of the other makes, who knows?! It's not a bad car seat once you get the hang of it but if you are planning to carry baby around in a car seat (without attaching it to a chassis) then this is a definite no-no for you unless you are popeye or the incredible hulk.

We have had real problems with this seat. We bought it because we wanted one to go with the buggy that we had bought. It relatively expensive and we also bought the surefix base in a desperate attempt to make it fit in the car, which barely helped at all! Don't buy this car seat unless you drive a massive massive car!!

This car seat is awful - I was given it (thankfully) but I used it once and only once... apart from the car seat being designed for weight lifters to carry it has absolutely no head support for the baby and is far too upright. It's too big to go in most cars as the seat belts don't fit around it (i tried it in my mums car and my OHs car and their seat belts were too short). The one time I did try it out my baby fell asleep and her head tipped forwards and I had to rush home to get her out of it before she got serious neck ache! I don't know how Mamas & Papas do their research when they design these things but I don't think they're using babies for it!

I don't normally write reviews but I do not like the Primo Viaggio carseat at all, therefore feel strongly enough to write this review. We borrowed this off some friends as their baby had outgrown it, they liked it, I don't. Our baby's curls over in it, as others have said it doesn't support her head. She is very small for a 4 month old and it is incredibly difficult to do up the straps when she has even a cardigan on. It is also too wide for our car (a VW Polo) & the seatbelt is not long enough to stretch across the carseat. It is also impossible to remove from the car or from its base, so we have left it in the car since our daughter first came home from the hospital - we cannot face the struggle of removing it & so cannot really travel in any other car e.g. grandparents' cars. VERY, VERY glad we didn't buy it and are only borrowing it.

This car seat is so heavy I cannot lift it with my daughter in. Very annoyed at buying it as my friends bought a maxi cosi and carry it around with no problem although they were all shocked at just how heavy my car seat is. Along with this problem is the fact that my daughter struggles to fit into it when wearing a coat or snowsuit of any kind. I called customer services to see if there was anything I could do and the very rude man on the phone suggested that my three month old daughter was too big for her age. Had her weighed at baby clinic and she is the right weight for her age.... How rude!!!

we purchased the primo viaggio before our first child was born so had no experience with car seats before, we had heard that mamas and papas was good, since we have started to use it we have found it to be very heavy, awkward to sit our baby comfortably to strap in and on one occasion i pushed the release button and pulled on the harness only to have the whole buckle come away in my hand!!!!

Mamas and Papas Primmo Viaggio car seat

I had the older version which was smaller and lighter but not as good as the newest version although the major problem i have is when its behind the drivers seat in my hatchback i can't drive it because my seat is to far forward and when behind the drivers seat in our new 5 series BMW its fine for me to drive but my partner can't drive it. so that's a pain as we have had to move our son to the drivers side now and in my car passengers don't get leg room. The older style didn't have this problem although I still have the base from my old one and it brings the seat further back so I use that to get an extra couple of inch's in my smaller car and that works, and if you have a big dip in your seats use the base as it levels the seat out and your baby's head won't drop as i have seen all the bad review seem to say this as a problem, it just because your car needs the base.

Having read a lot of the reviews on here they cover a lot of the bad points i wanted to mention, I cant fit this seat on the backseat with another car seat in car as the driver would need to sit on the bonnet to fit it in, so passengers have to sit in the back, Even in the quashqai it takes up an awful lot of room.

also the material isnt very nice against soft skin and because the button bit is so short and awkward I ended up nipping my daughters leg despite always trying to be careful not to, it was always more likely to happen in this seat than any other they have been in. And worse the straps dont always go in and it takes ages to sort it out. The base is so heavy and getting it out can be so tricky and need to be done with such a jerk that the baby would wake up and sometimes the straps would take a few tries to secure.

We got this primo viagio car seat to go with our pliko pramette which we liked but the car seat was extremely heavy meaning i needed both hands to carry it, leaving my toddler without being able to hold my hand so that I just had to leave it permanently in the car, I had to buy a seperate headhugger from another company when my baby was newborn because her head would just flop and it is very upright (i think very young babies should be more reclined and there is obviously a convincing argument for this to support the very expensive lie down car seats like the jane one). the straps twisted and the padding isnt very adequate, after some time we had to press the button before putting the straps in to realease it every now and again and i thought this was just an inconvenience until we were in an accident a few weeks ago and my baby ended up on the back seat! there is someone else who had the button problem on one of the reviews here so I think it is a genuine issue with it sticking or some kind of fault (admittedly this was after a lot of use) . I have not contacted Mamas and papas as I know their customer service is atrocious from lots of close friends and family experience and the insurance are replacing car seats so it is not worth the hassle, we are specifying we want a different make as have absolutely no confidence in this seat, i thought it was inconvenient and heavy but not unsafe and now I am even unconvinced of its safety. I dont know what to advise if you want a mamas and papas travel system but i would not recommend this seat.