Got this seat as a latecomer to their Kickstarter, so didn't have to wait so long as some of the original backers, yay for me! As a result of the shorter wait, it came in time for a major European trip (to Switzerland, actually), and the seat saw action on the airplane and in cars, as well as being carried as luggage.
We don't pack light, with a then 2 year old, and we had 2 rolling duffle bags, shoulder bags and this Wayb. The backpack supplied with the Wayb is very comfortable, as well as being very roomy, to fit not just the seat itself, but all sorts of soft packable other stuff. And it's not so bulky as to be unwieldy walking around.
The seat itself is sturdily made with nice little touches everywhere, such as little elastic bands to keep the webbing tidy, and the latches click into places on the seat when not in use. The breathable seat material kept the kid much cooler.
But here, I must note a big shortcoming compared to other seats -- there is no recline. The kid sits up pretty straight-backed, and if she falls asleep, her head will nod forward. Other (bigger) seats have some built in recline to them so your little one's head naturally will fall back when they sleep. This uprightness didn't prevent our kid from falling asleep, but we had to prop her head up.
We used the seat on the plane. It's better than the big seats in one important way -- since it mounts much closer to the actual seat back, the kid's legs cannot kick the seat in front. It also allows normal use of the seat tray. It's easy to strap in, and you don't have to worry about which way the seatbelt release is mounted, as there is no hard plastic to prevent it from opening either way.
Another advantage on the plane is that if your kid decides they don't want to sit in it, the seat can be folded up and placed on the floor, and yay, you don't have to have the kid on your lap for the flight.
On the other hand, because of the aforementioned upright seating position, the kid ended up sleeping with their head on my lap, which, granted, is more comfortable that even a seat with some recline (the same difference as an economy seat vs lie-flat business). It was easy enough to remount the seat and the kid when turbulence occurred. She slept wearing a flight harness tethered to the seat belt for a bit of safety.
And by the way, we don't recommend the Cares harness -- with many modern seats with seatback video svreens, you cannot strap it properly without interfering with something.
For car travel, the seat is very easy to mount and unmount, fold and unfold.
Finally, to end, two small-ish complaints: (1) the straps are not that easily adjustable. They can't be easily tightened like the bigger seats, where there's often a one strap pull that tightens the belts so you can put them on loose, then tighten. With the Wayb, the belts are optimally pre-adjusted to be closed already tight. The tightening mechanism is very fiddly to use. (2) the crotch strap release is hard to release (but eventually, I found the trick -- don't push centrally expecting it to release both; instead, push one side to release one side, then push the other to release the other side).
All in all though, given it's size, this is the travel seat the world has been waiting for.
We don't pack light, with a then 2 year old, and we had 2 rolling duffle bags, shoulder bags and this Wayb. The backpack supplied with the Wayb is very comfortable, as well as being very roomy, to fit not just the seat itself, but all sorts of soft packable other stuff. And it's not so bulky as to be unwieldy walking around.
The seat itself is sturdily made with nice little touches everywhere, such as little elastic bands to keep the webbing tidy, and the latches click into places on the seat when not in use. The breathable seat material kept the kid much cooler.
But here, I must note a big shortcoming compared to other seats -- there is no recline. The kid sits up pretty straight-backed, and if she falls asleep, her head will nod forward. Other (bigger) seats have some built in recline to them so your little one's head naturally will fall back when they sleep. This uprightness didn't prevent our kid from falling asleep, but we had to prop her head up.
We used the seat on the plane. It's better than the big seats in one important way -- since it mounts much closer to the actual seat back, the kid's legs cannot kick the seat in front. It also allows normal use of the seat tray. It's easy to strap in, and you don't have to worry about which way the seatbelt release is mounted, as there is no hard plastic to prevent it from opening either way.
Another advantage on the plane is that if your kid decides they don't want to sit in it, the seat can be folded up and placed on the floor, and yay, you don't have to have the kid on your lap for the flight.
On the other hand, because of the aforementioned upright seating position, the kid ended up sleeping with their head on my lap, which, granted, is more comfortable that even a seat with some recline (the same difference as an economy seat vs lie-flat business). It was easy enough to remount the seat and the kid when turbulence occurred. She slept wearing a flight harness tethered to the seat belt for a bit of safety.
And by the way, we don't recommend the Cares harness -- with many modern seats with seatback video svreens, you cannot strap it properly without interfering with something.
For car travel, the seat is very easy to mount and unmount, fold and unfold.
Finally, to end, two small-ish complaints: (1) the straps are not that easily adjustable. They can't be easily tightened like the bigger seats, where there's often a one strap pull that tightens the belts so you can put them on loose, then tighten. With the Wayb, the belts are optimally pre-adjusted to be closed already tight. The tightening mechanism is very fiddly to use. (2) the crotch strap release is hard to release (but eventually, I found the trick -- don't push centrally expecting it to release both; instead, push one side to release one side, then push the other to release the other side).
All in all though, given it's size, this is the travel seat the world has been waiting for.
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