Joie are experts at creating affordable, safe and quality products, and the Spin 360 ticks all of these boxes. We've taken a look at this swivel car seat to see how it fares up.
Quick Summary: The Spin offers excellent value for money with the ability to be used in a super safe rear facing position from birth up to four years old.
Whats good?
- 360 spin
- Can be used from birth
- Easy to install
Whats not so good?
- Only 2 colour options
- Recline and swivel levers too close together and easy to confuse
Swivel car seats are rapidly becoming a favourite of parents thanks to their future ready, back saving design. The Joie Spin 360 is a group 0+/1 swivelling car seat with a brilliant price tag. At £249.99 it may seem pricey to some, but it is the lowest priced swivel seat on the market at the moment making it really appealable to parents who are certain they want the swivel function in their lives.
We tested the Two Tone Black colour of the Spin 360. The simplicity of this colour way is great as it will match almost any car interior and is suitable for both boys and girls.
Swivelling car seats are really appealing to families who spend a lot of time getting in and out of the car for short journeys. The swivel action not only means that baby can travel in the safest rear facing position for longer and easily swivel around to the forward facing position when they are ready, but it also allows you to turn the seat towards the door and get baby in and out without leaning over or battling with difficult angles.
To swivel this Joie car seat around, all you need to do is press the large grey button at the front of the seat in and turn the seat in whichever direction you need.
Installing the Spin 360 is quite simple. It comes complete with a built in ISOFIX base. To fit the seat into your car just line the ISOFIX arms up with the anchor points in your car and push to click the base into position. There are really clear red indicators on the sides of each of the ISOFIX arms which disappear when the seat is installed securely.
The Spin also has a support arm as a third anchor point to prevent any movement. Extend the arm by pinching in the two grey buttons at the bottom and make sure that it is fixed to the footwell of your car and the red indicators have disappeared. It really is easy to install and quite fuss- free.
As the seat can be used from birth right up until 4 years old, we think that this makes the Spin excellent value for money. There’s no need to fork out for a second car seat when baby has outgrown their infant carrier.
The newborn inserts can be used and removed in different stages to make sure that the seat fits baby nice and snugly. When the inserts are totally removed, the seat is deep and wide and easily accommodated our four year old tester with room to spare.
There are five recline positions on the base of the Spin and these are operated by a grey button just above the rotate button. This had us quite confused at times as when you are reaching to turn the seat or recline in a hurry, it’s really easy to confuse the two. There isn’t a huge amount of difference between the recline positions so we tended to use the Spin in the most reclined position constantly.
Made from broad webbing, the harness is padded on the shoulders and crotch with soft coordinating harness pads. Lengthening the harness is easy as it happens automatically as you alter the headrest of the seat to suit your child’s height. This is done by squeezing the large white button on the back of the headrest. To tighten the harness, just pull the cord between baby’s legs.
One small but great feature of the Spin harness is that the harness can be held open by hooking the buckle teeth through the loops on either side of the seat. This made getting baby in and out a bit easier for parents and more comfortable for baby.
When in rear facing mode, it was helpful to have the option of extending the ISOFIX arms to maximum length in order to give older toddlers and children more leg room. By pushing the square grey buttons on either side of the base and pulling the base away from the seat you can adjust the amount of legroom your child has.
Our verdict…
The Spin offers excellent value for money with the ability to be used in a super safe rear facing position from birth up to four years old. It was easy to install and the swivel action definitely makes life easier for parents, although we did find it is sometimes easy to get in a muddle between the recline and swivel buttons. There is also little difference between each of the five recline positions. At just under £250, the Spin is by far the cheapest swivelling extended rear facing on the market which makes it extra appealing to parents.
