Cutting Through The Noise: A 2021 Nuna Pipa Series Rundown ( Ratings | Reviews | Prices )

The world of infant car seats is labyrinthine. There’s tons of brands that each have 5-10 options that are minutely different from one another, inciting confusion in overwhelmed new parents trying to research safety equipment for their kids! Unfortunately no single explainer will truly cut down all the noise, but we can gradually chip away at it brand by brand, by offering explanations of the different seats and what lifestyles each may fit. Today’s focus is Nuna! 

The Nuna saga starts with the Nuna Pipa car seat. With roughly ten years under its belt, the Pipa is one of their oldest products, and quickly took the market by storm. At roughly 7.5lbs, it was one of the lightest (if not THE lightest) seat on the market, and offered safety features that had not been seen in the US before. Their load leg was one of the first to arrive in the US, and brought many copycats over the ensuing years. While the Load Leg was standard for EU laws, it hadn’t yet breached the American market. Another standard they migrated with is the ISOFIX latch, or rigid latches. Also standard in Europe, they ensure car seats click into place rather than have parents fight to tighten the seat and risk an incomplete or ineffective install. 

On top of that, they brought over the European seat belt path, lightyears ahead of our American laws (which it still is, our institutions haven’t budged an inch since this arrived). They even boasted some cosmetic features that stood out among the pack, namely the Dream Drape! A canopy that has a zipper extension covering the whole seat and quietly magnetizing into place to keep baby asleep. The combination of lightweight, gorgeous fabrics and entirely unique safety features helped propel Nuna into the next generation of baby brands that grew up this last decade. 

Their next addition to the lineup was the Nuna Pipa Lite and Nuna Pipa Lite LX. Using the same durable base the Nuna Pipa offers, the Nuna Pipa Lite and Lite LX used a new type of manufacturing process that essentially “baked” the foam onto the shell of the seat. While using more flexible, lightweight  foam than traditional EPP presented challenges for Nuna, its flexibility ultimately allows the car seat to further cushion a child’s head in the event of an accident and reduce crash forces equally well. This all amounted to a car seat that weighs a mere 5.5lbs. 

The differences between Lite and Lite LX are subtle. The Lite LX offers accoutrements that the Lite does not, such as the full Dream Drape extension present in the Pipa, and a wool-blend fabric that offers natural flame retardance and keeps baby comfortable in any season. These features only add .3lbs to the weight of the seat. 

Then came the RELX Base. Nuna’s most recent addition, the RELX base takes inspiration from the last 10 years of innovations in the baby gear world, modeling itself around the most unique and important infant car seat base innovations they’d discovered and offering an update to any of the features people found finicky about the previous versions. 

The RELX offers a litany of updates:

• The Load Leg is now even more adjustable, making it the first to be designed to fit in the middle seat, and locks comfortably into place. 
• The Pipa’s load leg is a little more finicky and needs occasional adjustments. 
• Adjustable rigid latches that offer 4 positions to ensure it fits securely against the seat of your car
• The Pipa’s rigid latches are tricky to fit snugly in some cars, so this is a marked improvement.
• More legible colored indicators to ensure the seat is level
• On the go recline, allowing you to quickly adjust while the base is installed
• An improved seat-belt lockoff for cars that don’t support rigid latches
• The belt lock-off on the regular Pipa base is much more difficult to perfect, and sometimes isn’t a reliable alternative to latches. 
• A flatter base, putting more thought into the maintenance of your car’s backseat
• Not gonna leave any divots in your leather or fabric once you’re done with it!
• Lower profile base, making it easier to attach and detach your Pipa seat from the base. 
• Less strain on your back!

If this seems like a lot, it is. These changes are huge and offer big updates in both safety and convenience to ensure the Pipa series stays atop the car seat market for years to come. With more updates on the horizon we cannot wait to see what Nuna introduces next!

For a little tl;dr feel free to check out the comparison chart below!

If you already own the Pipa, Pipa Lite, or Pipa Lite LX, you can purchase a RELX base and your car seat will click into it perfectly!