mifold Grab-and-Go Booster Review
I have 4 children who all still require child restraints, and a small sedan. Not exactly a match made in heaven! I've been looking for a solution for this narrow three-across situation for a long time, so I was really excited to stumble across mifold at my local Target. At first glance, it seemes like the perfect solution to all my problems. A booster that is only as wide as the child it contains is exactly what I need. I can't stress enough how much I adore this concept, as there is definitely room to grow in the child restraint industry. This design seems revolutionary.
However...
First, it's important to address the very low age limit for this seat. While it's common for manufacturers to label booster seats with a 3-4 minimum age requirement, the absolute minimum age a child should be riding in any booster is age 5. Not only is this a recommendation, but in some states it is also the law. I wouldn't want to see any child under the age of 6 in this restraint at all, a big leap developmentally from the stated age 4. It is incredibly low-profile, offering no containment for a wiggly or sleepy child. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends continued restraint in a five point harness for as long as possible, regardless of booster readiness.
I also take issue with the stated limits of 40-100 lbs. When I took this seat out of the box I already knew my 9 year old would not fit in it.
In addition, I disagree with the assertion that this seat is "just as safe" as other boosters on the market. Child restraint safety goes far beyond crash testing and safety ratings. Ease of use plays an enormous role into how safe a restraint is. If the parent or caregiver struggles to install/use the seat correctly, there is a high likelihood misuse will occur, putting the child at risk. Most caregivers are not well-versed in child passenger safety. Add in a difficult-to-use restraint and you have a recipe for disaster.
I found the mifold challenging and frustrating to use and my children were each incapable of installing or using this seat without adult assistance. Ages 5-9, they are all capable of setting up and using a traditional booster with little to no adult help, so maybe the mifold isn't as great for carpooling or grandparent use as the box claims.
The first thing I noticed was that this seat isn't easy to use correctly, even though it seems straightforward enough. The underside of the mifold is very slick and it slid all over the place as soon as my kids tried to sit in it. I found the shoulder belt positioning clip needlessly difficult to adjust, compared to a traditional clip. The clip itself has to be opened and closed, and there is an adjustment clip that also has to be opened and closed to change the length of the strap. Versus a traditional clip that slides right onto the seatbelt and is simple to adjust, I didn't care for these extra steps.
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My first model is 5 years old, 40 lbs on the dot, and 43" tall. Although she usually rides in a 5 point harness, she just meets the minimum requirements for the mifold, so I wanted to see how it fit on her.
As mentioned above, the mifold is very slippery. This model struggled to get seated without moving it out of position. We finally got her positioned correctly on a 3rd attempt, with me holding the seat steady as she sat. Unfortunately, the mifold again slid out of position at the first 5 year old wiggle. The lap belt guides are in position I, the smallest setting. However, the lap belt fit is very poor. It sits right on top of her femurs with little to no contact with the pelvis. The fit only worsened as the mifold moved out of the correct placement.
We tried the mifold in our other sedan too, as the first has a raised seat bight.
(Seat bight: the crevice where the vehicle seatback and bottom meet; LATCH connectors are located here.)
The mifold user manual directly addresses use with raised seat bights, stating that the booster should be flush with the vehicle seatback. I found this problematic to actually execute, as the slope of the raised bight and the slippery underside of the mifold made it practically impossible to keep it up there.
Leather seats did this slick restraint no favors, but this model found it easier to get seated correctly at the onset in the absence of a raised bight. However, mifold again quickly slid out of position, worsening the already-poor lap belt fit. The belt is 1/3 of the way down this child's femurs and nowhere near her pelvis, a serious safety concern. Here you can see the mifold has moved a solid 1-2 inches away from the seatback.
Here is the same model in a traditional backless and high-back booster seat for comparison.
You can see the improved lap belt fit clearly, snug and low on the hips, touching the tops of the thighs. In addition, a traditional booster provides this little with some much-needed leg support. The mifold seats her with her legs stuck straight out in front, with nowhere to bend her knees. A child is unlikely to find this comfortable for long and will likely try to adjust their seating position to help, by scooching down until their knees meet the vehicle seat edge. This process moves the mifold out of position, as well as pushes the lap belt up onto the belly.
She was able to install the traditional boosters with minimal adult assistance, and could buckle herself up completely independently. She could do neither in the mifold.
Finally, as excited as she was to try out this interesting new booster, she complained the mifold was very uncomfortable.
At only 5 years old, small in stature, and not mature enough to stay in her seatbelt 100% of the time, this model is safer restrained in her 5 point harness. She has 25 lbs and several inches before she outgrows this seat, so she has no need of a booster anytime soon.
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This model is 7 years old, 63 lbs, and 48" tall. She usually rides in a high-back booster, as she still needs a gentle reminder to sit back and sit up straight and tall. With that in mind, I did not expect success from such a low-profile booster as the mifold.
Although this child sits right near the middle of the stated limits for the mifold, I found the fit problematic on her as well. First, the lap belt guides needed to be on the largest setting to avoid coming into contact with her body. For a seat that's supposed to accommodate children up to 100 lbs, I found this a tad ridiculous. There is not much room for her to grow in this seat even though she's under the weight limit by almost 40 lbs.
The aforementioned issues with this seat continue to persist, and this model too was incapable of using mifold without adult assistance. She is a seasoned pro at booster use and can typically buckle/unbuckle herself, so I found this annoying. The lap belt fit is better than on the 5 year old model, but still quite low. You can see she has slid her body forward so her knees rest at the vehicle seat edge, and again, the raised seat bight contributes to the issue.
Just in the time it took to buckle her up and ask her to say cheese, the mifold was already off the bight and no longer flush with the seatback.
The fit was even worse in our second vehicle, and you can see that the little nub on the lap belt contributes to this fit issue. The belt guide is too narrow to allow it to pass through. On a second attempt, I was able to resolve this issue by uninstalling the mifold and reinstalling it thread first. That being said, most children and caregivers are not going to be on the lookout for this problem and will likely misuse the seat with all that lap belt slack. A product redesign to widen the guides slightly would resolve this entirely.
This model agrees the mifold is extremely uncomfortable and she wanted out of in in less than 10 minutes. She also commented the lap belt "feels weird" and kept fidgeting with it.
A traditional booster provided not only a much improved lap belt fit, but also gave her the leg support she needed and an all-around improvement on comfort. She was also able to set up and correctly use both the backless and high-back booster without any help.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This model is 9 years old, 94 lbs, and 55" tall. She is near the very top of the stated limits for the mifold. She usually rides in a Safety 1st Incognito, as she has just about outgrown traditional boosters by hip width, but isn't quite big enough to graduate boosters entirely. I didn't expect the mifold to be able to fit her for this very reason, as the lap belt guides are not permitted to touch the body. Unsurprisingly, the guides dug into the undersides of her thighs even when in the largest setting, so she would not be able to use this seat at all. Nevertheless, we buckled up to see how the belt fit would go.
Even on this 99th percentile model, the lap belt fit is still not where I'd like to see it, although it's better than on the younger models. This is irrelevant of course, as this seat has been outgrown.
Of course with the guides digging into her legs, she was uncomfortable, but she also complained there wasn't enough room for her butt on the seat, so that was also very disagreeable for her. I was disappointed and irritated that she would not be able to use the mifold at all, even though she's within its limits. This seat is advertised as being good for in a pinch, but buying this seat only to discover my child could not use it is hardly a pinch, since it now needs to be returned and the booster hunt resumed.
While she's feeling squished in a traditional booster, she maintains she's very comfortable in one. Both mifold and this Graco Turbobooster have limits of 40-100 lbs and up to 57", but the TurboBooster will last her longer as her legs are permitted to touch the arm rests. The boosters are priced similarly but there is absolutely no comparison. The TurboBooster is more comfortable, provides a better universal belt fit, and will last longer. The TurboBooster also has a longer shelf life, expiring 10 years after manufacture compared to the mifold's 7.
This model might prefer a bit more support for her long legs, and a little hip room, but there is no safety risk posed by those preferences, unlike the mifold where all my models adjusted their seating position for personal comfort.
It's also important to note that she, too, struggled to get herself seated without moving mifold out of position, and required my assistance, just like the younger models. I continued to be incredibly annoyed by this as a child of this age is typically entering and exiting the vehicle completely independently. I also noted that, while the guides were easy to thread for buckling up, none of these children could unthread the seatbelt to unbuckle themselves. I struggled with it too, so my annoyance with this seat continued to mount. Perhaps non-rigid guides would resolve this issue, as they are easier to manipulate on a flexible stalk. Or perhaps it's the shape of the guide itself that makes it so difficult to unthread. Maybe it's both. Regardless, the threads are poorly designed and that posed a problem for both myself and my children. The proof is in the pudding, as this same model can unthread her seatbelt from her Safety 1st Incognito with ease.
The Incognito gives this model the leg support she desires, the independence we both desire for her, with room for her hips to grow, and surpasses the mifold weight limit by 20 lbs. Not only that, but it was also less expensive, provides a better belt fit, and is much more comfortable.
Final thoughts:
I would not recommend this seat to anyone. It's a wonderful concept, and I hope the creators of mifold continue to improve on its design. However, currently this child restraint has many flaws. It's extremely difficult to use correctly, and I wasn't even able to take it out for a road test because it kept sliding out of position before I was even out of my driveway. My children complained it was extremely uncomfortable and it provided an inconsistent fit. All those things add up to equal one thing: danger.
Check out Car Seats for the Littles' in-depth review of the mifold here: csftl.org/mifold-review
For those interested in a restraint that's only as wide as the child it's restraining, a better option than the mifold is the RideSafer Delight Travel Vest. While it is not as economically priced, it boasts all the same claims as mifold, and executes them better. It may be strange to look at but does its job well. CSTFL's review here: csftl.org/ridesafer-delight-travel-vest-review
For about the same price as the mifold, you can purchase the Graco TurboBooster original or TakeAlong, the latter of which provides a similar concept to the mifold. CSFTL's review here: csftl.org/graco-turbobooster-takealong-review
For less than the price of mifold, you can purchase the Safety 1st Incognito, which provides a similar concept that's much better designed. It's important to note the Incognito is incompatible with shoulder belt positioning clips and doesn't provide any structure to remind the occupant to sit correctly, so it is only to be used for big kids 47" tall, and an absolute minimum of 6 years old. CSFTL's review here: csftl.org/safety-1st-incognito-booster-seat-review
For a quarter of the price of the mifold, you can purchase the Cosco Rise. It is a traditional no back booster that is relatively narrow, very lightweight, and easy to use. It comes with the shoulder belt positioning clip already installed and ready to use straight out of the package. CSFTL's review here: csftl.org/cosco-rise-review
I would recommend any one of those four options over the mifold for those looking for a seat that meets carpooling/travel/three across/emergency needs.
Bonus points for portability! My children could put mifold in their backpacks for carpooling and nobody would ever know they had it. It is 100% definitely easier to carry around than a traditional booster seat, as it folds up ridiculously small. This appealed to me grandly.
However...
First, it's important to address the very low age limit for this seat. While it's common for manufacturers to label booster seats with a 3-4 minimum age requirement, the absolute minimum age a child should be riding in any booster is age 5. Not only is this a recommendation, but in some states it is also the law. I wouldn't want to see any child under the age of 6 in this restraint at all, a big leap developmentally from the stated age 4. It is incredibly low-profile, offering no containment for a wiggly or sleepy child. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends continued restraint in a five point harness for as long as possible, regardless of booster readiness.
I also take issue with the stated limits of 40-100 lbs. When I took this seat out of the box I already knew my 9 year old would not fit in it.
In addition, I disagree with the assertion that this seat is "just as safe" as other boosters on the market. Child restraint safety goes far beyond crash testing and safety ratings. Ease of use plays an enormous role into how safe a restraint is. If the parent or caregiver struggles to install/use the seat correctly, there is a high likelihood misuse will occur, putting the child at risk. Most caregivers are not well-versed in child passenger safety. Add in a difficult-to-use restraint and you have a recipe for disaster.
I found the mifold challenging and frustrating to use and my children were each incapable of installing or using this seat without adult assistance. Ages 5-9, they are all capable of setting up and using a traditional booster with little to no adult help, so maybe the mifold isn't as great for carpooling or grandparent use as the box claims.
The first thing I noticed was that this seat isn't easy to use correctly, even though it seems straightforward enough. The underside of the mifold is very slick and it slid all over the place as soon as my kids tried to sit in it. I found the shoulder belt positioning clip needlessly difficult to adjust, compared to a traditional clip. The clip itself has to be opened and closed, and there is an adjustment clip that also has to be opened and closed to change the length of the strap. Versus a traditional clip that slides right onto the seatbelt and is simple to adjust, I didn't care for these extra steps.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My first model is 5 years old, 40 lbs on the dot, and 43" tall. Although she usually rides in a 5 point harness, she just meets the minimum requirements for the mifold, so I wanted to see how it fit on her.
As mentioned above, the mifold is very slippery. This model struggled to get seated without moving it out of position. We finally got her positioned correctly on a 3rd attempt, with me holding the seat steady as she sat. Unfortunately, the mifold again slid out of position at the first 5 year old wiggle. The lap belt guides are in position I, the smallest setting. However, the lap belt fit is very poor. It sits right on top of her femurs with little to no contact with the pelvis. The fit only worsened as the mifold moved out of the correct placement.
We tried the mifold in our other sedan too, as the first has a raised seat bight.
(Seat bight: the crevice where the vehicle seatback and bottom meet; LATCH connectors are located here.)
The mifold user manual directly addresses use with raised seat bights, stating that the booster should be flush with the vehicle seatback. I found this problematic to actually execute, as the slope of the raised bight and the slippery underside of the mifold made it practically impossible to keep it up there.
Leather seats did this slick restraint no favors, but this model found it easier to get seated correctly at the onset in the absence of a raised bight. However, mifold again quickly slid out of position, worsening the already-poor lap belt fit. The belt is 1/3 of the way down this child's femurs and nowhere near her pelvis, a serious safety concern. Here you can see the mifold has moved a solid 1-2 inches away from the seatback.
Here is the same model in a traditional backless and high-back booster seat for comparison.
You can see the improved lap belt fit clearly, snug and low on the hips, touching the tops of the thighs. In addition, a traditional booster provides this little with some much-needed leg support. The mifold seats her with her legs stuck straight out in front, with nowhere to bend her knees. A child is unlikely to find this comfortable for long and will likely try to adjust their seating position to help, by scooching down until their knees meet the vehicle seat edge. This process moves the mifold out of position, as well as pushes the lap belt up onto the belly.
She was able to install the traditional boosters with minimal adult assistance, and could buckle herself up completely independently. She could do neither in the mifold.
Finally, as excited as she was to try out this interesting new booster, she complained the mifold was very uncomfortable.
At only 5 years old, small in stature, and not mature enough to stay in her seatbelt 100% of the time, this model is safer restrained in her 5 point harness. She has 25 lbs and several inches before she outgrows this seat, so she has no need of a booster anytime soon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This model is 7 years old, 63 lbs, and 48" tall. She usually rides in a high-back booster, as she still needs a gentle reminder to sit back and sit up straight and tall. With that in mind, I did not expect success from such a low-profile booster as the mifold.
Although this child sits right near the middle of the stated limits for the mifold, I found the fit problematic on her as well. First, the lap belt guides needed to be on the largest setting to avoid coming into contact with her body. For a seat that's supposed to accommodate children up to 100 lbs, I found this a tad ridiculous. There is not much room for her to grow in this seat even though she's under the weight limit by almost 40 lbs.
The aforementioned issues with this seat continue to persist, and this model too was incapable of using mifold without adult assistance. She is a seasoned pro at booster use and can typically buckle/unbuckle herself, so I found this annoying. The lap belt fit is better than on the 5 year old model, but still quite low. You can see she has slid her body forward so her knees rest at the vehicle seat edge, and again, the raised seat bight contributes to the issue.
Just in the time it took to buckle her up and ask her to say cheese, the mifold was already off the bight and no longer flush with the seatback.
The fit was even worse in our second vehicle, and you can see that the little nub on the lap belt contributes to this fit issue. The belt guide is too narrow to allow it to pass through. On a second attempt, I was able to resolve this issue by uninstalling the mifold and reinstalling it thread first. That being said, most children and caregivers are not going to be on the lookout for this problem and will likely misuse the seat with all that lap belt slack. A product redesign to widen the guides slightly would resolve this entirely.
This model agrees the mifold is extremely uncomfortable and she wanted out of in in less than 10 minutes. She also commented the lap belt "feels weird" and kept fidgeting with it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This model is 9 years old, 94 lbs, and 55" tall. She is near the very top of the stated limits for the mifold. She usually rides in a Safety 1st Incognito, as she has just about outgrown traditional boosters by hip width, but isn't quite big enough to graduate boosters entirely. I didn't expect the mifold to be able to fit her for this very reason, as the lap belt guides are not permitted to touch the body. Unsurprisingly, the guides dug into the undersides of her thighs even when in the largest setting, so she would not be able to use this seat at all. Nevertheless, we buckled up to see how the belt fit would go.
Even on this 99th percentile model, the lap belt fit is still not where I'd like to see it, although it's better than on the younger models. This is irrelevant of course, as this seat has been outgrown.
Of course with the guides digging into her legs, she was uncomfortable, but she also complained there wasn't enough room for her butt on the seat, so that was also very disagreeable for her. I was disappointed and irritated that she would not be able to use the mifold at all, even though she's within its limits. This seat is advertised as being good for in a pinch, but buying this seat only to discover my child could not use it is hardly a pinch, since it now needs to be returned and the booster hunt resumed.
While she's feeling squished in a traditional booster, she maintains she's very comfortable in one. Both mifold and this Graco Turbobooster have limits of 40-100 lbs and up to 57", but the TurboBooster will last her longer as her legs are permitted to touch the arm rests. The boosters are priced similarly but there is absolutely no comparison. The TurboBooster is more comfortable, provides a better universal belt fit, and will last longer. The TurboBooster also has a longer shelf life, expiring 10 years after manufacture compared to the mifold's 7.
This model might prefer a bit more support for her long legs, and a little hip room, but there is no safety risk posed by those preferences, unlike the mifold where all my models adjusted their seating position for personal comfort.
It's also important to note that she, too, struggled to get herself seated without moving mifold out of position, and required my assistance, just like the younger models. I continued to be incredibly annoyed by this as a child of this age is typically entering and exiting the vehicle completely independently. I also noted that, while the guides were easy to thread for buckling up, none of these children could unthread the seatbelt to unbuckle themselves. I struggled with it too, so my annoyance with this seat continued to mount. Perhaps non-rigid guides would resolve this issue, as they are easier to manipulate on a flexible stalk. Or perhaps it's the shape of the guide itself that makes it so difficult to unthread. Maybe it's both. Regardless, the threads are poorly designed and that posed a problem for both myself and my children. The proof is in the pudding, as this same model can unthread her seatbelt from her Safety 1st Incognito with ease.
Final thoughts:
I would not recommend this seat to anyone. It's a wonderful concept, and I hope the creators of mifold continue to improve on its design. However, currently this child restraint has many flaws. It's extremely difficult to use correctly, and I wasn't even able to take it out for a road test because it kept sliding out of position before I was even out of my driveway. My children complained it was extremely uncomfortable and it provided an inconsistent fit. All those things add up to equal one thing: danger.
Check out Car Seats for the Littles' in-depth review of the mifold here: csftl.org/mifold-review
For those interested in a restraint that's only as wide as the child it's restraining, a better option than the mifold is the RideSafer Delight Travel Vest. While it is not as economically priced, it boasts all the same claims as mifold, and executes them better. It may be strange to look at but does its job well. CSTFL's review here: csftl.org/ridesafer-delight-travel-vest-review
For about the same price as the mifold, you can purchase the Graco TurboBooster original or TakeAlong, the latter of which provides a similar concept to the mifold. CSFTL's review here: csftl.org/graco-turbobooster-takealong-review
For less than the price of mifold, you can purchase the Safety 1st Incognito, which provides a similar concept that's much better designed. It's important to note the Incognito is incompatible with shoulder belt positioning clips and doesn't provide any structure to remind the occupant to sit correctly, so it is only to be used for big kids 47" tall, and an absolute minimum of 6 years old. CSFTL's review here: csftl.org/safety-1st-incognito-booster-seat-review
For a quarter of the price of the mifold, you can purchase the Cosco Rise. It is a traditional no back booster that is relatively narrow, very lightweight, and easy to use. It comes with the shoulder belt positioning clip already installed and ready to use straight out of the package. CSFTL's review here: csftl.org/cosco-rise-review
I would recommend any one of those four options over the mifold for those looking for a seat that meets carpooling/travel/three across/emergency needs.
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