[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I was given this car seat to try as part of the Stellar Product Testing Panel. Overall, the Andi 360 Carseat has been a wonderful addition to our vehicle. I needed a carseat that could allow me to easily switch between rear and forward facing depending which kid I have with me. I am pleased to say that this seat does exactly that. With only a few adjustments (change recline, adjust harness height, and change strap tension), the seat is ready for its new position. The seat rotates easily after removing from the locking position and the seat automatically locks again when it is in the appropriate positions. When the seat is sideways, my children love the ease of getting in and out themselves. I appreciate that the chest clip mechanism is different than many on the market. It has a strong magnet to keep it closed and you have to push 2 buttons at the same time and pull forward to release.
The install process via the seatbelt method was fairly straight forward, but you do need to make sure to read the manual before installing so you do not skip an important step. The car seat base also has numbered steps on it to follow if you do not have the guide on hand. With the tensionfix compartment, it was easy to get the base properly secured in the green color. I did not like that the seat portion stays attached by a short wire when you need access to the base. It is not long enough to freely move the seat safely from the base in any position, so I was constantly afraid the wire would break while I was installing the base. I was only able to move the seat in an upside down position, which made it difficult to install when another car seat was already in the car because there was no room to place the seat portion between the two seats. It’s really hard to explain, but I suggest having this be the first car seat you install in the car.
One more point to call out in reference to installation and can cause some difficulties is when in the rear facing position, you need to have the car seat be touching or as close to touching the front seat as possible. This is difficult to do when you have a vehicle where the drivers seat moves back when the car is off causing the car seat to push up. I have not found a solution for this yet.
I will not recommend this seat to people who need a compact front to back car seat. It is rather bulky and it will not fit in a compact car in the rearfacing position. We have a 2020 Ford Escape and I am able to use it in both the rear-facing and forward-facing positions.
I like that the cupholders can be removed if they are in the way and the best part is they fit a variety of cup sizes including stainless steel water bottles like Yeti and Brumate.
Adjusting the harness strap length took some practice. I truly thought my car seat was broken, because I could not get the straps longer after I pushed the button. So, some advice to new purchasers, while you push the button to release the straps, grab the straps BELOW the shoulder pads near where the chest clip goes and pull there. If you pull any higher, the straps will not adjust because of how the shoulder pads are attached.
Another thing to note is there should be some sort of guide included to describe some of the features it has. For example, if you have a bigger kid and raise the harness height all the way up, you will see that the car seat framework is visible. But if you feel around the car seat fabric, you can feel that the fabric was actually folded under and you can unfold that to cover the framework. I shouldn’t have had to figure that out myself. Another thing missing in the guide, is more information about the padding. The guide mentions it can be used rearfacing, but the guide doesn’t mention if it has to be used when rearfacing. I removed it because the padding is not allowed to be used when forward facing and I frequently change between positions. Also, is there a spot to attach the car seat manual to the base or car seat? I haven’t been able to find a place to put it yet, but perhaps I haven’t looked hard enough.
The seat feels like a luxury seat and very comfortable. The fabrics used are good quality and will not easily get destroyed. I love that the fabrics used are fire-resistant without the added chemicals and they are also made from recyclable materials.
Overall the Maxi-Cosi Andi 360 Rotating Seat is an excellent car seat. With the rotating ability, premium features and the fact they follow NHSTA crash guidelines makes it a seat worth purchasing.
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