I have a confession.
I am shamelessly addicted to crowdfunding.
My sordid crowdfunding past
Jake can tell you that a few of my historic Indiegogo and Kickstarter purchases have ranged from less than ideal (a la Jibo, the social robot) to abject failure. Nevertheless, a few have fully restored my faith in crowdfunding as an effective tool to bring innovative ideas to light.
In October of last year I helped fund the WAYB Pico travel car seat, designed for kids ideally between 2 and 5 years old. My initial thought was that we could use this seat for Zella’s upcoming drug trial. The trial will involve making frequent trips to New York City, using planes and taxis. I now love this car seat so much I’m rethinking the initial plan and currently using it as Zella’s primary seat for as long as physically possible.
More than a few positives
The WAYB Pico weighs in at a mere 8lbs and easily installs forward facing using LATCH or your vehicle’s seatbelt. It is FAA approved for airplane use, but can also easily be stored in the overhead compartment if you don’t plan to use it on the plane.
My favorite feature of the Pico is going to sound strange. I love the fact that the shoulder straps are easily adjusted, one side at a time, via LATCH-like mechanisms on each side of the seat. What is so great about this feature? Currently we are in a car seat war with Zella. She is obsessed with loosening the straps of her prior seat, the Diono Rainier 2AXT, and sliding the chest clip down to her belly button. More than half of the time I glance back while driving, her straps are fully loosened and have fallen over her shoulders onto her arms.
Clearly Zella makes safety a priority in the car.
I am happy to report that the WAYB Pico has Houdini Zella stumped – SUCCESS.
Another favorite feature of this seat has to be the Pico‘s low profile in the seat. Not only is this safer in case of a collision, but it allows Zella to be ever so slightly more independent and able to crawl into the car seat by herself. The lower design of the Pico also makes it difficult for her to pull hair, poke eyeballs, or grab toys from Penn. He just *loves* the privilege of sitting next to his big sister each day.
Can I also say that the Pico actually looks like it belongs in our car? I am obsessed with the aesthetics of this car seat. It doesn’t scream “baby junk,” and for that I am eternally grateful. The narrow profile allows Cole’s neighboring bucket seat to glide forward easily for excellent access to the third row.
Just today we found ourselves needing to do a quick car seat switch from my van to Jake’s SUV, and the process was truly seamless. This was probably the only time we have ever uninstalled and reinstalled a car seat in June in Augusta, Georgia without breaking a sweat. Jake has now deemed the WAYB Pico his all-time favorite car seat.
A couple negatives
Let’s talk downsides now, because pretty much every product out there has at least one drawback. The price isn’t phenomenal. We purchased our WAYB Pico for $270 from Indiegogo and that included a nice travel bag with backpack straps. At the time of writing this, the Pico is being sold online for $320. For a seat designed to fit kids within a fairly narrow age range, that is quite a bit of cash to drop.
That said, if you are an early adopter of all the things in terms of innovative baby gear, I’ll be completely honest with you.
You obviously need this seat.
The only other downside is the height and weight limitations. Because the WAYB Pico is a forward-facing car seat, you don’t want to use the seat prior to your child turning 2. And technically we know that rear-facing our kids for as long as physically possible keeps them the absolute safest. If you start using this seat with your 2 year old that is at least 30 inches tall and 22lbs, you can only use it until they are 45 inches tall and/or 50lbs. Zella is already 45lbs, so our window for using the Pico with her will be very short. We definitely plan to use the seat with Penn once he reaches the minimum age, weight, and height requirements.
Our stamp of approval
The WAYB Pico is a product I can easily recommend to families looking for a versatile forward-facing car seat. This little seat will travel with you to the ends of the earth, even if that journey happens to only be from your Odyssey to your husband’s Pilot.
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