This collapsible car seat is a game-changer for family travel

So much about travel just isn’t family-friendly. If you’ve ever tried to schlep an unwieldy car seat through airport security, or if you’ve ever wondered what to do when you’re reliant on Ubers and Lyfts to get you and your family around, you know what I mean.

For our twice-yearly trip from Lost Angeles to Boston, my family has tried everything in an effort to find the perfect solution for taking our kid from Uber ride, to cross continental flight, to cab ride, to rental car.

We've had our fair share of trial and error. While lightweight, the oft-recommended Cosco Scenera, is bulky, difficult to carry, and flimsy. Ours cracked the one time we checked it with our baggage. The Ride Safer travel vest is expensive, difficult to manage, and doesn't meet Federal Aviation Administration requirements as an in-flight option. It also never quite felt like my child was safe wearing it when he was smaller. The Cares safety harness worked well on the airplane, but left us high and dry when it was time to grab a taxi to get to a hotel.

Both the FAA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommend that a child under 40 pounds use a car seat as a flight safety precaution. For years I’ve longingly googled the options available to European and Australian travelers and prayed for an easy, lightweight, compact car seat option. The Pico folding car seat from WayB seemed to be all that I had been longing for.

We used it on a recent flight from Los Angeles to Boston and then in our car rentals and ride shares. Here is how it went.

What is the WayB Pico?

The Pico is a compact and collapsable forward-facing, five-point harness car seat. It’s made for kids 25 to 50 pounds, and 30 to 45 inches tall. When not in use, it folds up about 10 inches front-to-back and a little under 17 inches from top to bottom, and it weighs 8 pounds. To assemble it, simply click, push, and pull and it’s ready to go in under a minute. It also meets all U.S. standards regulated by NHTSA, the FAA, and the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

The car seat can be used on airplanes with a lap belt. In cars it’s installed using the LATCH system (ideally with rear tether), a shoulder belt, or a lap belt. Whatever kind of car you have, the Pico should be easy to install.

Manufactured with an aluminum alloy that absorbs energy forces in a crash, as well as highly breathable mesh fabric, the Pico retails for $330. There’s a handy travel backpack that you can buy for an extra $50, or you can spring for the $70 Deluxe travel backpack, which has a contoured shape and a sleeve that slides over the handle of a wheeled suitcase. Both backpacks are great for keeping the seat clean, and if you plan to tote them around a city (which it’s absolutely light enough to do), we’d recommend them.

We, however, found that you could easily slip the Pico over your suitcase handles, if you’d rather forgo the extra accessory.

What we like about the WayB Pico

To use the seat, all you need to do is unfold it, lock the seat bottom into place, and raise the headrest. The way this seat popped open on our airplane was a three-step sight to behold and impressed everyone around us. It installed in seconds and kept our child secure, but the sides weren’t so high that he felt claustrophobic, as can sometimes be the case with car seats. Our son is 40 pounds and 42 inches tall. We found the seat comfortably cradled him and felt more ergonomically designed to a child’s size than typical airline seats, which tend to encourage kids to slump and kick the seat in front of them.

As for the construction of the seat, our son enjoyed how the edges of the seat splayed out a bit, giving him someplace to rest his head when he shifted. We appreciated that the seat itself is made from a strong poly-wool mesh material that prevented him from overheating when he had to sit in it for hours on end. We were grateful to have it on our six-hour flight and for multi-hour road trips across New England.

We tested the Pico at home in our Ford Escape and Honda Prius, in Boston city cabs, and in a Toyota Versa. After an initial trial run at home, we found it to be a cinch to install in all of the vehicles we rode in. When it wasn’t in use, it folded flat and took up minimal space either in the trunk of a car or a hall closet. When not traveling, this seat would make for a terrific back up car seat for transporting friends.

We also found the tethers and LATCH connectors to be really smooth to adjust, which enhanced the ease of moving it from vehicle to vehicle quickly—a pretty important feature when traveling. You don’t want to be messing around with tricky adjustments as you move from car to car, particularly where your child’s safety is concerned.

What we don't like about the WayB Pico

As much as we liked the Pico, there were definitely some issues we’d like to see fixed to help justify the $330 price tag.

The harness height is non-adjustable. It comes in at approximately 16 inches from the seat bottom, so the lack of adjustability means it's likely to be outgrown for most kids before they meet the weight limit of 50 pounds, as was the case with two of the four children who tried the seat. Both were under 50 pounds and just under 4 feet tall.

Another issue is the very short crotch buckle, which cannot be adjusted. The buckle itself sits about 4.5 inches from the back of the seat and comes up 4 inches from the seat itself, so that makes for a very tight fit in some cases. The only way to make it work is to extend the arm straps. It’s a solution that works, but does nothing for the comfort level of the seat. Boys found it particularly constricting, and it felt pretty awkward helping other children into the seat when the strap required you to reach in areas you’d prefer to have a bit of clearance from.

Should you buy the WayB Pico?

As a mom who has nearly ruined her back from lugging a Cosco Scenera in an awkward car seat backpack all over the country, I wish I had this when my son was smaller. While there are a few things that could stand fine-tuning to give this car seat a bit more longevity, it’s the life-altering travel solution that we, in the United States, have been waiting for.

This Pico is the only travel solution that a parent—particularly one traveling alone with a small child—can take everywhere they need to be. And, if you spring for one of the backpacks, it’s easy to tote around on your back, making it a good solution when traveling in cities where you’re going to need to Uber, Lyft, or cab it to get around all day. While the price tag may seem steep, this is a do-it-all piece that's made from the highest quality, force absorbing aluminum alloy and a highly breathable fabric.

If your child is between the ages of 2 and 5 years old and they fit within the recommended height and weight limits of the Pico, buy this seat. It’s a lifesaver. It’s a game-changer. It changed our family travel and it'll will do the same for you.

Get the WayB Pico car seat at The Tot for $330

Get the WayB Pico travel bag at The Tot for $50

Get the WayB Pico Deluxe travel bag at The Tot for $70