Best car seat for 7mo?

I would be more inclined to buy new, especially if you are having more kids.

How long are you looking at RFing for? I would go new as well, unless you can pick up a second hand one from family/friends where you know the seat has been well-looked after and hasn't been invovled in any crash.

Next it would depend on your budget. Personally we steered clear of the SnS range because the RFing limit was either 9kg or 12kg (our DD at 10mths is roughly 10.5kgs and not likely to slow down any time soon!) so she would probably be FFing alot sooner than we want. We ended up going for a Cosco Scenera, which you can get from Baby on the Move and The Warehouse, it RFs till 16kgs and at $200 is a reasonable price. They quite often go on sale for about $150 at the Warehouse too. We are heading overseas in 6mths and we are getting a Britax seat sent from Sweden which should last DD RFing till she is atleast 4. It is $$$ at around $700NZD.
Alternatively there is the BRIO seat (also available from Baby on the Move) which I'm sure I've read a few OBers have for their children. From memory they are around the $600 mark (please correct me if I'm wrong) and they RF to 25kg.

For more info and if you have any questions, check out the Car seat section on The Nappy Network. There are quite a few knowledgeable ladies on there - one in particular helped me with picking what seat to get from Sweden and who to get it from. And she seriously knows her stuff

Oh yes, and make sure you fit the seat in our car before buying - nothing worse than having a seat that doesn't fit!

dont forget if you cant afford to buy brand new, then you can always hirer from plunket.

we hired Rhiannons carseat from them when she was 6mths old (it was brand new, still had the tags on it), and we are still using it (now for Cory), and we are paying $35 every 6mths.

We got a Brio car seat from Baby on the Move when DS was about 6 months old, the agent fitted it for us. It's a fantastic car seat, DS is still rear facing in it (and will be for as long as possible) and he loves it.

Quick question. Has anyone turned their baby/toddler front facing and then turned them back to rear facing?

DS2 has been forward facing for coming up to 16 months now, since he was 13 months old, but I've recently been thinking that I want him rear facing again and not sure how he might cope. He's a 'lightweight' too at just over 12.5kg. We've got a capsule that goes to 13kg, and had to put him in it a few weeks ago to go to airport as dad had taken the car seats in the car and he seemed to like it......even if he did have to have his legs indian style. hehehe But it was a short trip, only about 25ish minutes and he had his big brother sat right next to him entertaining him. The capsule is not ideal for a number of reasons so would prefer him in a seat, of which we are going to need a new one soon anyway as the one we have is coming to the end of its life, so trying to decide 'early' what to do.