“It’s too small to be a car seat!”, my daughter exclaimed when I showed her the booster seat we’d be using in Spain. Looking at the mifold Grab-and-Go Booster seat I was unsure myself how it would work. It looks far too small to be a car seat! Yet despite its diminutive size (20in x 10in), the mifold complies with EU and US car regulations. But would its ultra slim figure do the job? We investigated.
The mifold
I used the mifold seat with my five-year-old daughter on our family trip to Mallorca, Spain. At £49.95 it was less than it would have cost to hire her a car seat for a week. The mifold is a group 2/3 seat so can be used for children from age 4 (or over 15kg) until 12 years old (or over 135cm). This is a product which will last us for a fair few holidays!
Portable
It easily fitted into my American Tourister rucksack which I was using as hand luggage. To my surprise, Mrs T chose a yellow one (I felt sure she’d go for the pink). The mifold comes in six different colours which are black inside.
Installation
Installing the mifold in our hire car took less time to complete than my one-year-old’s group 1 car seat which we had hired. Doing such a job in the sweltering Spanish heat is never a joy. Fortunately, the mifold was straight forward.
I watched the short film beforehand explaining how to fix the mifold. It also comes with written instructions and diagrams on the back of the product too. It would have been a good idea to have a practise run but after doing it once, the following journeys were simple.
How does it work?
The idea behind the mifold is rather than ‘boosting’ the child up, it holds children down by keeping their lap belts in place.
It has two red attachments at each side of the hips which holds the lap belt securely in place. There are three settings on the base which you can adjust depending on the size of your child. The third belt extends behind their back and the clip fixes onto the seatbelt just above the neck.
Results
The mifold kept Mrs T securely in place as we travelled around Mallorca. The longest journey we did was around 40 mins but she was always comfortable and even fell asleep sitting in it. When I saw she had dozed off, I feared she’d slump forward but she didn’t! She remained upright the whole time which impressed me.
She felt rather grown up sitting in it too. By the third car trip Mrs T was able to undo the seat belt and second attachment herself when we reached our destination.
The main difference between the mifold and a normal booster seat is the child is lower down. This wasn’t something that seemed to faze Mrs T. Neither did it stop her from playing ‘I spy’ and gazing out of the window.
Verdict
I’m confident that the mifold will revolutionise the way we travel. No more hair-raising journeys from the airport when we arrive in a foreign country, worrying about seatbelt safety.
Made of aircraft-grade aluminium (which is as strong as steel), the mifold weighs the same as a bottle of water making it the perfect travelling companion. Taking a larger booster seat when you travel can add enormously to your baggage, particularly if you have more than one child.
The mifold is small, yes, but its safety is not compromised. It recently joined forces with road safety charity BRAKE – another reassuring aspect of the product. It’s a truly portable booster seat which looks stylish and will give you piece of mind when you travel. We are looking forward to using it again on our travels and lessening some of the stress that can come when travelling with children.
The mifold is available to buy from Whitestep, John Lewis, Amazon and selected retailers for £49.95.
*We were kindly given a mifold Grab-and-Go booster seat to review but this had no influence over our write up. It’s a great product!
What do you think of bringing the booster seat to places like Thailand the S Korea?
I think it’s ideal for travel in Asia!