Child car safety can essentially be summarized by the following guidelines: rear-face as long as possible (until at least 4 or 5), and then booster kids until they pass the 5-step test (which is most often passed between 10 and 12). It sounds simple in theory, but finding the right seats to meet those guidelines as cheaply as possible can be a challenge. The Diono Rainier will take care of the rear-facing end, but what about the booster end?

If you don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on some of the best booster seats on the market (e.g., seats like the Clek Oobr, Maxi-Cosi RodiFix, and Peg Perego Viaggio Flex 120 high back boosters), you’ll want to consider seats like the Diono Monterey XT, which I reviewed recently, and the Diono Cambria High Back Booster, which I’m going to review today. Coming in under the $100 mark, it’s one of the best choices for a high-back booster in its price range; let’s see how it compares to the Monterey XT when it comes to keeping kids safe and comfortable. This review will also touch on the Diono Solana, the backless booster portion of the Cambria.

Diono Cambria, Diono Solana – What’s the big deal?

The Diono Cambria is a high-back/no-back booster seat made in China by American car seat manufacturer Diono. I previewed it years ago as a replacement to the original Diono Cambria, and it shares a number of design elements with the more recently-released Diono Monterey XT. Its special features include lower LATCH anchors, the ability to recline, additional padding for comfort and safety, and retractable cup holders.

Beyond these features, the Cambria is a high-back booster, which makes it suitable for use with your kids once they’re done rear-facing (which ideally won’t be at least until they turn 4 or 5, as in Sweden) until they can use adult seat belts without car seats (typically between the ages of 10 to 12). Attractive and affordable, the Cambria is a good choice for a budget high-back booster seat.

The Diono Solana is the backless (bottom) part of the Diono Cambria. When included with the Cambria, it’s the part your child sits on. When sold separately, it’s called the Solana. Besides the fact that it’s sold separately and costs half as much, everything in this review referring to the backless portion of the Cambria booster applies equally to the Solana. To put it simply, if you don’t need the high-back part of the Cambria, save yourself some money and just get the Solana instead.

Diono Cambria Limits for Weight and Height

High-back booster: 40 to 120 pounds. Your child can use it between 38 and 63 inches and the highest belt guide position is 20 inches. In alignment with best practices, infants and toddlers should never use booster seats (they must rear-face), but depending on the maturity of your child, s/he may be a safe booster candidate from 4-5 years of age and up. Preschoolers should still be rear-faced, but highly responsible 5-year olds and kindergartners can be boostered if they no longer fit their rear-facing convertibles. That said, if your children aren’t yet ready to use booster seats at 4 or 5, it’s fine to wait until 6 or 7. It depends on your child’s readiness; kids in Sweden rear-face until 5 and then immediately switch to booster seats with no forward-facing stage. The country also enjoys the lowest rates of child auto fatalities on the planet.

Backless booster: 40 to 120 pounds. The height range is also 38-63 inches. Per best practices, you’ll want to avoid no-back boosters until your children are at least 8, as younger children will have a much harder time keeping their heads in safe positions when falling asleep than older ones.

Headrest support: Whether you use the Cambria as a high-back or as a backless booster, you’re going to need to set it up with a vehicle seat that has a head rest (unlike the Peg Perego Viaggio Flex 120, which doesn’t need vehicle head rests). The head rest must always extend to at least the tops of your child’s ears.

Outgrown: The Cambria is considered outgrown when its weight, height, or manufacturing expiration limits are reached, but it’s also no longer safe to use once your child’s ears grow past the top of your vehicle’s head rest (or that of the booster seat) when either is fully extended.

Buy the Diono Cambria on Sale at Amazon here.

Dimensions and Key Features of the Diono Cambria

The Diono Cambria is 19 inches wide at the base with cup holders retracted; when they are extended, it swells to 23 inches wide.  The seat pan depth is 16 inches with 15 inches of hip width and 16 inches of shoulder width. The seat is 20.5 inches wide externally at the shoulders and the height can range from 29 inches to 35 inches when the head rest is fully extended. It weighs 16.2 pounds.

Diono Cambria & Monterey XT Comparison and Child Fit

The most significant differences between the Cambria and the Monterey XT are in top booster belt guide heights and flexibility in width. Specifically, you get 2 more inches of belt height in the Monterey XT (22 inches vs 20 inches) than in the Cambria, which can make a significant difference in booster usability for older children. Similarly, the fact that you can significantly expand the width of the Monterey XT makes it a much stronger choice for wider or larger children, or for parents who need to accommodate children of a range of sizes (e.g., when carpooling).

The Monterey XT is also a better choice for 3 across car seat installations as it can be contracted to as narrow as 17 inches, while the Cambria is 2 inches wider at 19 inches. On the other hand, the Cambria has a much longer usable life at 10 years before expiration than the Monterey XT, which expires at 6 years. Both feature lower LATCH anchors to allow the seats to be restrained without being buckled in, both are affordable at under $100, and both feature high/no-back booster modes. The weight and height ranges are the same.

Why Buy the Diono Cambria?

In conclusion, just like the Diono Monterey XT, the Cambria is one of the best deals on the market for a booster seat on a budget. With the Cambria, parents can safely get kids from point A to point B once they’re done rear-facing (or forward-facing if they were forward-faced before 5) in cars, minivans, SUVs, and pickup trucks. Your kids will be able to stay in the Cambria until they’re ready to transition from booster seats to seat belts (which typically won’t occur for most kids before ages 10 to 12).

The Cambria is a good booster, but compared to the Monterey XT, I’d perhaps choose the Monterey XT simply because it offers more usability for both taller and wider children while falling in the same price range. On the other hand, the Cambria offers a much longer usable life across multiple children at 10 years vs 6, which makes it the better choice for a hand-me down seat. The better budget booster seat ultimately depends on your family’s needs.

You can buy the Diono Cambria in Suburst or Raspberry here or buy it in Graphite here. Alternatively, you can buy the Diono Monterey XT in 4 colors: Heather (black/grey), Purple, Red, and Teal here. You can buy the Diono Solana here. Canadians, unfortunately neither high-back booster is readily available, but you can buy an equivalent seat, the Britax Parkway SGL 1.1, here.

If you find my information on best practices in car and car seat safety helpful, you can do your shopping through this Amazon link. Canadians can shop here for Canadian purchases. Have a question or want to discuss best practices? Join us in the forums!

When it comes to keeping children safe in cars, parents usually focus on extended rear facing (ideally until their kids are at least 4 or 5). However, while the lion’s share of car seat safety comes from rear-facing as long as possible, keeping children boostered safely until they’re physically and physiologically capable of using seat belts is an essential part of child car safety. A child boostered until s/he no longer needs a booster seat (which typically isn’t until 10 to 12 for most kids) faces a much lower risk of suffering potentially fatal injuries in crashes than children who are prematurely seat belted.

However, not every parent has the budget for the best booster seats on the market (e.g., seats like the Clek Oobr, Maxi-Cosi RodiFix, and Peg Perego Viaggio Flex 120 high back boosters). Today we’re going to look at a good booster seat on a budget, the Diono Monterey XT High Back Booster. It’s made by Diono, a company that will always have a soft spot in my heart for coming out with the second and third 50-pound convertible car seats in the US (one of which, the Diono Rainier, is still one of the best choices on the market for extended rear-facing).

The Monterey XT is one of the best high-back/backless boosters at or around the $100 mark; let’s see how it compares to the high-end high-backs in keeping kids safe.

Diono Monterey XT – What’s the big deal?

The Diono Monterey XT is a high-back/no-back booster seat by American car seat maker Diono; it’s essentially a combination of the high-back portion of the original Diono Monterey and the backless segment of a fellow Diono high-back booster, the Cambria. Its special features include a highly adjustable headrest and adjustable-width side wings to accommodate kids of varying sizes, lower LATCH anchors, retractable cup and snack holders, and thick, durable, and easily cleanable foam padding for additional comfort. Additionally, as a dual stage booster, it can be converted from a high-back to a backless booster in a few minutes.

Beyond its features, the Monterey XT remains a high-back booster, which makes it the next step after your child stops rear-facing (which you’ll ideally do until 4 or later, as in Sweden) or forward-facing. A booster seat like the Monterey XT is designed to keep your kids safely restrained until they’re old enough to use adult seat belts without car seats (which occurs when kids can pass the 5-step test, which is usually not before ages 10 to 12). Functional and affordable, the Monterey XT is a good budget high-back booster seat. It is made in China.

Diono Monterey XT Limits for Weight and Height

High-back booster:  40 to 120 pounds. The height range spans 38 to 63 inches and the highest belt guide position stops at 22 inches. Per best practices, neither infants nor toddlers should ever be placed in booster seats (they need to be rear-facing), but children from 4-5 years old are potentially safe booster candidates depending on maturity. Most 4-year old preschoolers will be safer rear-facing than being boostered, but exceptionally responsible 5-year olds can be boostered if you can no longer rear-face them. On the other hand, if you feel your kids aren’t yet ready for a booster seat at that age, you’re fine waiting until they’re 6 or 7. It depends on your child; children in Sweden are typically boostered at 4-5 once done rear-facing and are expected to sit safely. The country has the lowest rates of child auto deaths on Earth.

Backless booster: 40 to 120 pounds. The height range is the same as that in the high-back mode at 38-63 inches. Best practices suggests sticking with high-back boosters until children are at least 8 before switching to backless boosters since younger children are more likely to move their heads out of safe positions when falling asleep than older ones.

Headrest support: Whether you use the Monterey XT in high-back or backless mode, it needs to be installed on a vehicle seat that includes a head rest (unlike a seat like the Peg Perego Viaggio Flex 120, which does not require vehicle head rests).

Outgrown: The Monterey XT can no longer be used either when the weight, height, or manufacturing expiration limits are reached, or when the tops of your child’s ears surpass the booster’s head rest when fully raised or your vehicle’s head rest in its fully raised position.

Buy the Diono Monterey XT on Sale at Amazon here.

Dimensions and Key Features of the Diono Monterey XT

The Monterey XT is 17 inches wide at the base. When the wings are retracted, it is 17 inches across at the shoulders; when they are extended into wide mode, the seat becomes 20 inches wide at the expandable back. The seat pan depth remains constant at 14 inches. When the cup and snack holders are expanded, the seat becomes a whopping 23 inches wide. With the head rest fully extended, the Monterey XT is 29.5 inches tall, and it weighs 13.9 pounds in high-back mode.

Its narrow width at 17 inches makes it a good choice for 3 across car seat installations with narrow booster seats, although it will not be as narrow as boosters like the Clek Oobr and Peg Perego Viaggio Flex 120, each of which take up as little as 14 inches across. The Monterey XT has a rather short 6 year lifespan; this is less than the original Monterey’s 8 year expiration timeframe. Expiration is based on the date of manufacture; you can find this information beneath the seat as well as the model and serial numbers. As with every other booster seat on the market, the Monterey XT is not airplane compatible, per the FAA, since it relies on a lap and shoulder belt, and airplanes are equipped solely with lap belts.

Using the Diono Monterey XT (Seat belt installation and additional FAQ)

Installation: Installation is rather straightforward. All you need to do is sit the booster on your vehicle’s seat, connect the lower LATCH anchors, thread your vehicle’s seat belt through the XT’s belt guide and click it into the stalk. You can set it up in a few seconds each time. You don’t need to use the lower LATCH anchors, but if you do, they secure the booster seat to your vehicle so you don’t need to buckle it in all the time. You’ll still need to buckle your child in (or have your child buckle himself or herself in) each time s/he uses the seat.

As a bonus, the Monterey XT is one of a few booster seats (and car seats in general) compatible with inflatable seat belts. However, it’s important to note that you need a vehicle head rest behind the Monterey XT each time you use it, regardless of which kind of seat belt you have. Additionally, the XT needs to sit flush against the back of the vehicle’s seat. To put it another way, if the booster slopes forward due to the vehicle’s head restraint, you can’t use the Monterey XT with that vehicle.

Child fit: Because of its wide weight and height range, flexible width adjustment system, and 22 inch belt guide height limit (one of the largest on the market), you’re going to be able to fit nearly all kids of booster age in the Monterey XT. You’ll find a large red and white dial behind the seat that you can twist to adjust the width of the seat by changing the side wings. Per the manual, you’ll want to adjust them until your child is comfortable. The internal space ranges from 12.5 to 14.5 inches. The head rest is adjustable in 11 steps, allowing a booster guide position range from 15.5 inches to 22 inches. To adjust the head rest, you need to squeeze the red handle behind it and pull it up or down.

Cup holders: While I’m generally against cup holders in car seats due to the copious research connecting extensive snacking to childhood and adult obesity, I realize they’re popular with a number of parents and children here in the US. There’s a space for a cup and a space for a snack on each side; both sets of cup holders are retractable, and the width of the XT balloons from 17 inches to 23 inches depending on whether or not they’re in use. It’s worth noting that most European car seats (including booster seats for older children) don’t include cup holders; the RodiFix is a good example.

Why Buy the Diono Monterey XT?

In conclusion, for a $100 booster seat, the Monterey XT is hard to beat; it’s a safe way for parents to transport children once they’ve finished extended rear-facing (or forward-facing if they were turned forward before 5) in a minivan, SUV, truck, or car. You can keep your kids in the Monterey until they are physically and physiologically ready to move from booster seats to the adult seat belt (typically between ages 10 and 12 for most kids).

The Monterey XT is narrow enough to be a 3-across car seat friendly booster seat while having enough room in height, weight, and overall dimensions to potentially be one of the only two or three car seats your child will ever need (along with a convertible car seat like the Diono Rainier for the first five years). The biggest downside to it is its too-short 6 year expiration date, but for a seat this cheap, you can afford to buy another, and another, and another to keep your kids safely boostered until they’re ready for seat belts.

You can buy the Diono Monterey XT in 4 colors: Heather (black/grey), Purple, Red, and Teal here. Canadians, it’s unfortunately not readily available, but you can buy an equivalent seat, the Britax Parkway SGL 1.1, here.

If you find my information on best practices in car and car seat safety helpful, you can do your shopping through this Amazon link. Canadians can  shop here for Canadian purchases. Have a question or want to discuss best practices? Join us in the forums!

In car seat safety, best practices start with extended rear-facing (ideally until at least 4 or 5) and end with boostering (ideally until 10 to 12). While extended rear-facing is ultimately more important than boostering from a safety standpoint, keeping children properly boostered until they’re ready to use seat belts is still a key part of keeping them safely restrained in moving vehicles and an important way of preventing severe to potentially fatal internal injuries in collisions. Today we’re going to look at one of Peg Perego’s newest car seats, the Peg Perego Viaggio Flex 120  high back booster. It’s essentially an update to the Peg Perego Viaggio HBB 120 booster I reviewed years ago and a strong competitor to the Maxi-Cosi RodiFix and Clek Oobr in the growing market of luxury European and Canadian high-back boosters. Let’s see how it stands up to the competition.

Peg Perego Viaggio Flex 120 – What’s the big deal?

The Peg Perego Viaggio Flex 120 is a high-back booster seat by Italian car seat maker Peg Perego and an update of sorts to their successful Viaggio HBB 120 booster seat. It comes with a long list of some rather amazing features. First of all, it’s one of the absolute tallest booster seats on the market. It’s tall enough that pretty much any child who uses it is likely to be able to use it until s/he no longer needs a booster seat of any kind. Additionally, it’s capable of stretching out wide or shrinking in narrowly. With three width modes, the shoulders can accommodate children of a wide variety of sizes while shrinking down enough to make 3 across installations feasible in small cars. On top of this, it’s reclinable, and can be reclined while installed and by the child using the seat. But wait…there’s more. It can also be folded down to a backpack-sized package that makes it easy to carry with you from vehicle to vehicle or stow in storage bins when traveling by airplane. And finally, like the Clek Oobr, it also includes rigid lower LATCH anchors that make it unnecessary to buckle in the seat when unoccupied to keep it from turning into a projectile during a crash.

Beyond all of these impressive feats, it’s still a standard high-back booster, which means you can use it once your child stops rear-facing (e.g., at 4 or later if possible, as in Sweden) or forward-facing and booster your child until s/he is old enough to use a vehicle’s seat belts without a car seat (e.g., most often between ages 10 and 12 when s/he can pass the 5-step test). Smooth, stylish, and minimal, the Flex 120, like other Peg Perego car seats, is made in Italy, and is a seat you’ll be happy to use again and again.

Peg Perego Viaggio Flex 120 Limits for Weight and Height

High-back booster: 40-120 pounds. Best practices suggests children should not be placed in booster seats as infants or toddlers, but when they’re at least 4-5 years old. Your 4 or older preschooler may be able to use a booster seat if exceptionally responsible, but many parents will have more success if they wait until their children are at least 5 (e.g., kindergartners in the US); it’s fine to wait until 6 or 7 to start using it if you feel your children aren’t ready yet. The height range spans 39 to 63 inches while the highest belt guide position stops at 22 inches; you don’t need to have a head restraint in the car to use it. The Flex 120 does not include a backless mode.

Buy the Peg Perego Viaggio Flex 120 on Sale at Amazon here.

Dimensions and Key Features of the Peg Perego Viaggio Flex 120

The Viaggio Flex 120 is 14 inches wide when measured at the base. In narrow mode, it measures 17 inches across at the shoulders, while in wide mode, it spreads to 20 inches wide. It weighs just under 15 pounds (14.8, to be precise). Its narrow width means it will be one of the best choices on the market for a narrow booster for 3 across car seat installations. The Flex 120 features a 12 year lifespan based on the date of manufacture; this is one of the longest expiration dates in the industry and is yet another reason it’s a great choice for families looking to save money in the long term on car seats. The manufacturing date can be found on a label beneath the seat. As is the case with every booster seat, the Flex 120 cannot be used on aircraft, per the FAA, as it needs a lap and shoulder seat belt, while planes only come with lap belts.

Using the Peg Perego Viaggio Flex 120 (Seat belt installation, LATCH anchors, and additional FAQ)

Installation: The Flex 120 takes seconds to install; you simply place it on your vehicle’s seat, attach the lower LATCH anchors, flip the seat upright, and work your vehicle’s seat belt through the Flex’s belt guide and click it in. It takes about four seconds to get it set up. The LATCH anchors, as noted above, are not to secure your child to the booster seat; they are to secure the booster seat to your vehicle when it hasn’t been buckled. You’ll still need to buckle your child (or your child will still need to buckle himself or herself) each time the seat is to be used.

Child fit: The Flex 120 is likely to fit children of all shapes and sizes, especially with its mammoth 22 inch belt guide limit. There’s a large knob on the back of the seat that you can turn to adjust the shoulder width to fit kids of different dimensions. Position one is narrow, position two is medium, and position three is wide. And with a 63″ height limit and a 120 pound weight limit, virtually every child who has not yet passed the 5-step test for seat belt readiness will be able to fit inside the Flex 120 until s/he’s ready to go without it. As noted above, you can also adjust the recline of the seat; there’s a handle that your child can pull or that you can adjust, and with it, your child will can sleep more comfortably. It’s a handy feature for road trips, tired children, or simply kids looking to relax a bit while you’re traveling.

Cup holders: I’m not generally a fan of cup holders on car seats, as there’s numerous research linking constant snacking to childhood (and adult) obesity, but if you want them, there are two included with the seat. They’re a pair of plastic rings that slide out of the seat and slide back in when not in use. It’s worth keeping in mind that most European car seats don’t come with them (including the RodiFix), and for good reason.

Why Buy the Peg Perego Viaggio Flex 120?

In conclusion, while it would be lovely if it were a bit cheaper, the Viaggio easily meets the needs of a booster seat: it gives parents a safe way to transport children once they’re done extended rear-facing (or forward-facing if they were turned forward before 4 or 5) in a car, truck, SUV, or minivan. Kids can stay in the Flex until they’re ready to transition out of booster seats and into regular vehicle seats with seat belts (which typically won’t happen until most kids are between 10 and 12).

Due to its narrow width, it’s one of the most 3 across friendly booster seats available, and because it doesn’t include arm rests, younger children are highly likely to be able to buckle themselves in without getting stuck trying to navigate past the arm rest gauntlet. Like the RodiFix, it’s a safe, well-designed, and attractive car seat that can be one of only two or three seats your child ever needs (along with a convertible like the Clek Fllo for the first five years). The fact that it comes with a 12 year expiration date means it can conceivably be used with several children, dramatically decreasing its effective price compared to seats that cost less but become useless much sooner.

You can buy the Peg Perego Viaggio Flex 120 in 4 colors: Licorice, Monza, Daytona, and Crystal Black here. Canadians can buy it here, although it will unfortunately cost you more.

If you find my information on best practices in car and car seat safety helpful, you can do your shopping through this Amazon link. Canadians can  shop here for Canadian purchases. Have a question or want to discuss best practices? Join us in the forums!

When it comes to car seats, safety starts with rear-facing. And while an infant seat won’t let you rear-face until 4 or 5 the way the best convertible car seats will (e.g., the Clek Fllo), a good infant seat will make the first several months of life with your baby a less stressful experience, even if only by letting you move your child from your vehicle to your home (or wherever you’re going) without waking him or her up. Today we’re going to look at an update of Peg Perego’s Peg Perego Primo Viaggio 4-35 car seat. I reviewed the Primo Viaggio infant seat years ago and found it a safe little seat with a luxury feel; let’s see how the updated version, the Peg Perego Primo Viaggio Nido, stands in comparison.

Peg Perego Primo Viaggio Nido – What’s the big deal?

The Peg Perego Primo Viaggio Nido is an infant seat by Italian brand Peg Perego and the successor to their long-running Primo Viaggio 4-35 infant seat. It features a few unique elements that make it an update worth considering, most notably a load leg (a feature commonly found on European car seats but rare in US seats) to reduce downward rotation in frontal collisions as well as an oversized canopy to provide unparalleled levels of privacy and UV protection. The anti-rebound bar found in the original Primo Viaggio continues to be present.

Being an infant seat, you can use it to take your newborn baby home from the hospital as soon as you’re allowed to leave; it has a minimum weight limit of 4 pounds and tops out at a generous 35 pounds, although, like virtually all infant seats on the market, it will be outgrown long before then by height.  Slick and stylish, the Nido, which means Nest in Italian and Spanish, continues to be made in Italy and features additional goodies like a European belt path routing, a no-rethread harness, and 6 fabric patterns.

Peg Perego Primo Viaggio Nido Limits for Weight and Height

Rear-facing: 4 to 35 pounds. Best practices suggests rear-facing as long as possible, with ages 4 and 5 being common minimal guidelines. In the United States, that means rear-facing until 50 pounds (or the equivalent height limit in a 50-pound seat) if you can, since there’s no safer way for a child to travel in a passenger vehicle. You can rear face with a child up to 32″ in height and the shell height tops out at around 19″ without the inserts.

Because you won’t be able to reach 50 pounds in this or any infant seat, you’ll want to follow the Nido with a quality convertible seat that allows for extended rear-facing once your baby begins to outgrow it. Three good options include the Clek Fllo, the Clek Foonf, and the Diono Rainier; each will allow you to rear-face until 50 pounds, which is long enough to get virtually all children to 4 and most children to 5 or beyond.

Buy the Peg Perego Primo Viaggio Nido on Sale at Amazon here.

Dimensions and Key Features of the Peg Perego Primo Viaggio Nido 

The Primo Viaggio Nido’s shell is 17″ wide at its widest point, which makes it a great infant seat for 3 across car seat installations, much like a set of 4 other narrow infant seats I frequently refer to parents. It weighs a rather hefty 11 pounds when both inserts are included (2 more pounds than the original 4-35) and has a 7 year lifespan for both the seat and the base; the expiration is based on the date of manufacture, which you can find on stickers attached to both the carrier and the base. As with most car seats, it has FAA approval, which you can find stamped on the side of the carrier; note that you can’t use the base on an airplane.

Using the Peg Perego Primo Viaggio Nido  (Rear-facing installation and additional features)

Installing the Nido was pretty straightforward; it has the reputation of being a tricky seat to install in some cars, but between seat belt and LATCH options, you’ll likely be able to find an installation that works for you as long as you take your time.

Inserts: First of all, keep in mind that there are 2 inserts to deal with, just as with the original 4-35. The stage 1 insert is generally designed to be used from birth until 8 pounds, per the manual (review it for additional details and exceptions). Peg Perego does state that you can use the stage 1 insert as long as necessary if you have fit issues (e.g., if your baby weighs more than 8 pounds but there is still space between your baby’s torso and the crotch buckle). The Second stage insert is designed to be used above 8 pounds if needed.

Recline angle: Although the manual tells you that the angle you need will depend on your baby’s weight and to follow the indicator attached to the side of the base, Peg Perego will tell you that the recline bubble present is simply a guide, and that you should make sure your newborns have enough recline. What this means is that you should make sure your recline stays in the light blue section (i.e., the top third of the recline bar) for the first few months of life. If you need to use a pool noodle or rolled towel to get a good recline in your vehicle, Peg Perego gives you permission to do so whether or not you’re already using the recline foot. It’s unfortunate that this isn’t clearly explained in the manual.

LATCH installation: When installing with LATCH lower anchors, you’re unlikely to have any issues. You might note if you check the manual that you’re allowed to borrow lower anchors when your base is in the center vehicle seat; however, even though the manual doesn’t tell you this, you’ll still need to make sure this is okay with the manual of your vehicle, as a “no” in either manual will override a “yes” in the other.

Seat belt installation: A seat belt installation will also likely be straightforward; there are lock offs included in the base, and the instructions are easy to follow.

Baseless installation: A baseless installation is possible with the Nido, as it is with almost every infant seat. Although a base installation will be far faster and easier, especially for repeated installations, a baseless installation can be convenient when using taxis, Ubers, or other travel situations, or when you absolutely need to minimize installation space. You can install via either American or European belt routing. European belt routing has the advantage of also providing an equivalent method of preventing downward rotation (also achieved by the load leg or by rear-facing tethering, which is rarely available in US seats).

Load leg: The load leg is connected to the base; to use it, you simply squeeze a button attached to the leg and follow the instructions to lower it. You basically lower it until it touches the floor of the vehicle and click it into place. Keep in mind that in vehicles with raised or humped floors (e.g., a Subaru Outback, a Chevrolet Volt, and many others), you might not end up being able to use the load leg at all. That’s okay; it’s still a safe seat without it.

Why Buy the Peg Perego Primo Viaggio Nido?

In conclusion, despite its quirks, the Nido fulfills the basic needs of an infant car seat: it provides a safe way to transport newborns (full term or premature) out of the hospital and into a car, truck, SUV, or minivan, and keep him or her safe in such a vehicle for most of the first year of life. I’d like to see a simpler and more sensible recline guide and I wish the seat were lighter; 11 pounds is on the heavy end for an infant seat, although it’s worth remembering that many parents only carry infant seats around for the first few months before they start carrying their babies around instead in carriers. In the end, all infant seats become heavy with 12 pounds of baby in them, no matter how light the seats are to begin with. At any rate, the Nido is safe, stylish, and includes a pair of safety features–the anti-rebound bar and load leg–that are rare finds in American car seats. I like it and recommend it. Just remember it’s still important to rear-face once it’s outgrown.

You can buy the Peg Perego Primo Viaggio Nido in 6 colors here. It’s unfortunately not yet available in Canada, but Canadians can buy a similar seat, the Britax B-Safe 35, here.

If you find my information on best practices in car and car seat safety helpful, you can do your shopping through this Amazon link. Canadians can  shop here for Canadian purchases. Have a question or want to discuss best practices? Join us in the forums!