- Price: £219.95
- Rating: 4.5 stars
- Contact: thule.com
Swedish brand Thule may be most well known for its range of bike racks and roof boxes, but with the introduction of the new Palm high-back booster seat, it now claims to offer a “complete car-seat range” as well. Aimed at children from 100 to 150cm tall, it acts as a transition between a traditional child seat and a backless booster.
Installation is simple thanks to guiding Isofix anchor points that extend from the base of the seat, while its lightweight (7.14kg) construction makes moving it between vehicles easy. Once clicked into place, the seat slides back and nestles tight against the rear of the car seat; there is some movement in the Palm’s backrest, which doesn’t give the overarching feeling of solidity, but once our child was strapped in, we had no worries about its effectiveness.
Getting a kid comfortable is easy, too. Thanks to the relatively open design, older children should be able to fasten their own belts – a tricky task in hefty early-years’ seats. Thule also claims that the Palm is slim enough that, in certain cars, you can fit three side by side.
The Palm is available in three colours –Soft Beige, Mid Grey and Black – and despite the lighter fabric, our grey seat showed no signs of staining even after several weeks. Thule says the covers are machine washable should the worst happen.
Ultimately, however, the Palm is quite an expensive option. It’s about the same price as a Nuna aace lx, but quite a bit more than similar offerings from Silver Cross or Maxi-Cosi. Our seat also came with the optional (£79.95) foot rest, which apparently promotes “proper blood circulation” and “reduces muscle tension”. Our five-year-old tester had no complaints, even falling asleep in situ – the true sign of whether any car seat is worth its salt.
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