Nuna Pipa urbn Review

The Nuna PIPA urbn was the first rigid LATCH baseless infant car seat on the market, and now it has a few friends (or competitors) in the Joie Mint Latch and Graco GoMax.

I'll admit, I was a little skeptical about baseless car seats at first. But if I had the chance to choose my infant car seat all over again, there's a very strong chance I'd choose one now. The convenience is hard to beat, especially if you're frequently switching cars, traveling, using rideshares, or trying to make a complicated car seat setup work.

Consider the Nuna PIPA urbn if:

• You frequently use rideshares or multiple vehicles
• You're expecting twins or a smaller baby
• You have a full vehicle and need third-row access
• You want an infant car seat that's incredibly quick to install

Keep looking if:

• You don't want to purchase a Nuna stroller
• You'll have an especially tight three-across setup

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I'm Carly, a CPST and mom of three, and while I've never used a baseless car seat for one of my own children, my brother and sister-in-law were recently kind enough to provide me with twin nephews and let me help choose Pipa urbns x2 for them. More on that below, because I think the Nuna Pipa Urbn could be an especially great infant car seat for twins!

The Catch: You Can’t Buy the Nuna PIPA urbn by Itself

Before you fall in love with the Nuna PIPA urbn there's one pretty major catch: you can't currently buy the car seat on its own. The PIPA urbn is only sold as part of a Nuna travel system, so if you're not also in the market for a Nuna stroller, you can move right along to checking out other baseless infant car seat options instead.

Luckily, there are quite a few Nuna stroller options to choose from, including single and double travel systems. So if a Nuna stroller was already on your wishlist, this probably isn't much of a downside at all.

Nuna PIPA urbn Height and Weight Limits

The Nuna PIPA urbn is designed for smaller babies and has a lower maximum weight limit than some other infant car seats, so this is something you’ll want to consider before buying.

• Weight limit: 4–30 pounds
• ‍Height limit: Up to 29 inches
• ‍Lowest harness height: About 4.5 inches
• ‍Car seat weight: About 9 pounds

That 4-pound minimum and low harness height are a big part of why I like the PIPA urbn for smaller newborns and why it made my shortlist for my twin nephews. Not every infant seat that technically starts at 4 pounds actually provides a great harness fit on a tiny baby. More on that below!

Tech Tip: For a rear-facing infant seat, the harness straps need to come from at or just below your baby’s shoulders. The number on the box matters, but how your baby actually fits in the seat matters, too.

Why Choose a Baseless Infant Car Seat?

The Nuna PIPA urbn's claim to fame is its rigid LATCH system built directly into the seat for a two-second installation with no base required. In fact, it isn’t compatible with a base at all.

There are a few reasons this can be a game-changer depending on your family, your vehicle and how often you’re moving that infant seat around.

Easy to Move Between Cars — No Extra Bases Needed

The first, and probably most popular, reason to consider the Nuna PIPA urbn is how easy it is to move between vehicles. There’s no base to uninstall and no need to purchase extra bases for every car your baby regularly rides in. Simply click the rigid LATCH connectors into the vehicle’s lower anchors and you’re ready to go.

If the price tag of the car seat + stroller gives you sticker shock, consider the cost savings of not needing additional bases. If your baby regularly rides in Mom’s car, Dad’s car or Grandma’s car, those extra bases can add up quickly.

Great for Travel, Rideshares, and Taxis

The Nuna PIPA urbn is also a great infant car seat for travel. At about 9 pounds, it’s relatively lightweight, and the baseless design means you don’t have to lug a base through the airport or worry about installing one when you reach your destination.

It installs on an airplane using the airplane lap belt (as do other infant seats!), but the urbn really shines once you land. The rigid LATCH installation makes it incredibly convenient for hopping into rideshares, taxis, or rental cars without having to install a base every time.

Paired with a compatible Nuna stroller, especially the urbn Flex Travel System frame, you’ve got yourself convenience that rivals the Doona’s!

Tech Tip: All infant seats currently on the U.S. market, including the urbn, can be installed without a base using the vehicle seat belt, and yes, this is completely safe! It’s just not quite as convenient as it is with a baseless rigid LATCH seat.

Easier Third-Row Access and Tricky Car Seat Setups

If you’ve already got a car full of kids, the Nuna PIPA urbn has some unexpected tricks that might solve your car seat setup dilemma.

Nuna PIPA urbn for Third-Row Access

If you need third-row access using a feature like tilt-and-slide or by folding down a second-row seat, not having a car seat base permanently installed can be a huge advantage. Load everyone into the third row first, then simply click the urbn into place.

Does the Nuna PIPA urbn Work for Three Across?

A baseless infant seat can also make it easier to get everyone loaded and buckled in a three-across car seat setup. Just keep in mind that this is most helpful when your three-across isn’t super tight. You still need enough room to line the urbn up with the vehicle’s lower anchors to use rigid LATCH.

Tech Tip: Don’t assume a baseless infant seat automatically makes a three-across work. Rigid LATCH requires the car seat to line up with your vehicle’s lower anchors, so an ultra-tight setup may actually work better with a seat belt installation.

When Rigid LATCH Doesn't Work

If space is really tight, you can install the urbn with the vehicle seat belt instead. This gives you a little more flexibility to position the seat slightly off-center, which can be especially helpful in a three-across setup.

The urbn also allows European belt routing, which means the vehicle’s shoulder belt wraps around the back of the infant car seat during a baseless seat belt installation. It’s one of my favorite infant car seat features and gives you another installation option when rigid LATCH doesn’t work for your setup.

It won’t be quite as quick and easy as clicking the rigid LATCH connectors into place, but it gives you another safe installation option when your vehicle or car seat setup doesn’t cooperate.

Is the Nuna PIPA urbn Safe Without a Base?

Yes. All car seats sold in the U.S. are required to meet the same federal safety standards, whether they install with a base, a vehicle seat belt, or rigid LATCH.

But Why Does the Nuna PIPA urbn Move?

This is the part that tends to make parents nervous.

The rule for checking the tightness of a car seat installation is that it should move no more than one inch side to side when checked at the belt path. With the PIPA urbn, the rigid LATCH connectors may slide slightly from side to side along the vehicle’s lower anchor bars. That movement is normal and does not mean the car seat is installed incorrectly.

You may also notice that the PIPA urbn can lift upward more than you’d expect when you pull on it. You don’t need to check for upward movement when testing your installation. Depending on the shape of your vehicle seat, there may even be a small gap underneath or behind part of the PIPA urbn, and that can be completely normal, too.

Tech Tip: Check for movement only where the car seat connects to the vehicle and resist the urge to yank on the entire seat from every direction. No need to try to replicate a crash!

What Makes the Nuna PIPA urbn So Easy to Install Correctly?

This is actually where rigid LATCH has a big advantage. Instead of tightening a flexible LATCH strap or installing a base with the seat belt, the urbn’s rigid connectors attach directly to the vehicle’s lower anchors.

Line up the connectors, click them onto the lower anchors, make sure both indicators turn green, adjust the recline if needed, and you’re good to go.

As CPSTs love to say, the best car seat is the one that fits your child, fits your vehicle, and that you can use correctly every single time. The urbn’s incredibly simple installation is a big reason I’ve come around to loving the baseless concept.

Nuna PIPA urbn's Manual-Rethread Harness: Is It a Downside?

The Nuna PIPA urbn uses a manual-rethread harness rather than the no-rethread harness you’ll find on many other  infant car seats. That might sound like a downside, but I actually prefer it!

Without an extra mechanism for the straps to go through, I find that the harness tightens really smoothly. The tradeoff is that changing the strap height takes about 60 seconds instead of two, but you’ll only need to do this a couple of times over the course of using the seat.

Tech Tip: As your baby grows, remember to check the harness height. For rear-facing babies, the straps must come from at or just below the shoulders.

Does the Nuna PIPA urbn Fit Newborns and Small Babies Well?

Yes, and this is one of the reasons the PIPA urbn stands out to me. With a 4-pound minimum weight and a lowest harness height of about 4.5 inches, it can provide a great fit for even very small newborns.

That distinction matters. Many infant car seats technically have a 4 pound minimum, but the lowest harness position is still too high to get a proper fit on a tiny baby. For rear-facing seats, the harness straps need to come from at or just below the shoulders, and the Urbn does a really nice job accommodating those smaller babies.

A Tip for Getting a Better Newborn Fit

The PIPA urbn comes with supportive newborn inserts, but more padding doesn’t always mean a better fit. I’ve found that the top layer of the optional two-piece head support almost always gives me a worse fit on a newborn.

I recommend trying the seat without that top head-support layer and the bulky harness pads when fitting your newborn. You may be surprised by how much better the harness sits.

Tech Tip: A car seat’s minimum weight tells you when your baby is allowed to use the seat. It doesn’t guarantee your baby will actually fit correctly. Always make sure the harness can sit at or just below the shoulders and fits snugly against your baby.

Does the Nuna PIPA urbn Fit Well in Small Cars?

Because there’s no bulky base underneath it, the Nuna PIPA urbn is incredibly compact front to back. That makes it a great infant car seat to consider for smaller vehicles or anywhere front-to-back space is tight, especially compared to some of the other Nuna Pipa models.

The recline bar automatically lowers when you install the seat and does most of the work of getting the PIPA urbn to the correct angle. From there, you can simply tilt the seat as needed to finish adjusting the recline.

What If Your Lower Anchors Are Hard to Reach?

Some vehicles have lower anchors that are really recessed into the seat crease, which can make rigid LATCH harder to connect. The Urbn comes with lower anchor guides that help open up that space and guide the connectors directly onto the anchor bars.

If your anchors are buried deep in the vehicle seat, don't toss those little guides aside when you open the box! They can make the Urbn’s quick installation actually feel as quick and easy as it’s supposed to.

Is the Nuna PIPA urbn Good for Twins? Let’s Talk Twins

There’s no single “best” car seat for twins, but the Nuna PIPA urbn is one I’d absolutely consider. Of the rigid LATCH baseless seats on the market, and even compared to more traditional infant seats with bases, it checks a lot of boxes for twin families.

A Great Fit for Smaller Babies

Twins have a tendency to be smaller at birth, so newborn fit is something I’d pay extra attention to when choosing your infant seats. As we talked about above, the PIPA urbn starts at 4 pounds and has a low harness height, so it can provide a really nice fit on smaller babies.

And when you’re buying two of everything, the fact that you don’t need to purchase extra bases for multiple vehicles certainly doesn’t hurt!

Then There’s the Stroller of It All...

Finding a double stroller that accommodates two infant car seats at the same time can narrow your options pretty quickly.

Nuna offers the Demi Next + PIPA urbnx2 Travel System, which gives you a high-end, fully compatible setup from day one. Both infant seats work with the stroller, and as your babies grow, you can transition to the compatible stroller seats later.

For my twin nephews, this combination of small-baby fit, baseless convenience, and a double stroller that actually works with two infant seats is a big part of why the PIPA urbn x2 made so much sense.

What to Know Before Buying the Nuna PIPA urbn

I’ve clearly become a baseless car seat convert, but the Nuna PIPA urbn isn’t going to be the right infant seat for every family. There are a few things I’d consider before adding it to your registry.

You’ll Need to Buy a Nuna Stroller, Too

This is the big one. The PIPA urbnn isn’t currently sold on its own, so you have to purchase it as part of a Nuna travel system. If you already have your heart set on another stroller, I’d look at other baseless infant car seats instead.

It Has a Lower Height Limit

The PIPA urbn can be used from 4–30 pounds and up to 29 inches. Many other infant car seats have a maximum height limit of 30 or 32", so if getting the longest possible use out of your infant seat is a priority, that’s worth considering.

It’s Not My First Pick for a Super-Tight Three Across

The urbn can be helpful in three-across setups because there’s no permanently installed base taking up space, but there’s a catch: to use rigid LATCH, the seat has to line up with your vehicle’s lower anchors.

If your setup is especially tight, you may not have enough room to do that. Fortunately, the urbn can also be installed with the vehicle seat belt, which gives you the ability to position the seat slightly off-center, but this method does take longer each time you put the seat into the vehicle.

And Yes, It’s Expensive

There’s no getting around the fact that this is a premium car seat + stroller purchase. But if you’re regularly moving between multiple vehicles, remember that you’re also skipping the cost of buying multiple infant car seat bases.

Whether that convenience is worth the price will depend on your family, but not needing multiple bases is definitely worth factoring into the overall cost.

Is the Nuna PIPA urbn Worth It?

I’ll admit, I started out a little skeptical about baseless infant car seats. But after seeing what the Nuna PIPA urbn can do, there’s a very strong chance I’d choose a baseless seat if I were picking my infant car seat all over again.

The PIPA urbn is especially worth considering if you regularly switch between vehicles, travel or use rideshares, need third-row access, or want an infant seat that fits smaller babies well. And for twin families, the combination of the small-baby fit, baseless installation, and compatible double stroller system makes it an especially interesting option.

Whether you’re deciding between the baseless options, comparing the different Nuna infant seats, or you’re not committed to either category yet, the PIPA urbn has an impressive list of features and capabilities that make it worth considering.

Nuna PIPA urbn FAQs

Does the Nuna PIPA urbn need a base?

No! The Nuna Pipa Urbn is a completely baseless infant car seat and actually isn’t compatible with Nuna’s Pipa bases. It installs directly into your vehicle using its built-in rigid LATCH connectors or the vehicle seat belt.

Is the Nuna PIPA urbn safe without a base?

Yes. The PIPA urbn is designed and tested specifically to be installed without a base. Some movement can look alarming if you’re used to a traditional infant seat and base, but that doesn’t mean the seat is installed incorrectly.

What are the Nuna PIPA urbn height and weight limits?

The Nuna PIPA urbn can be used for babies from 4–30 pounds and up to 29 inches tall. Its 4-pound minimum and low harness position are two reasons I think it’s worth considering for smaller newborns.

Is the Nuna PIPA urbn FAA approved?

Yes! The Nuna PIPA urbn is FAA certified for aircraft use and can be installed on the airplane using the aircraft lap belt. Its lightweight, baseless design is one of the reasons I think it makes such a great travel seat.

Can you install the Nuna PIPA urbn with a seat belt?

Yes. If rigid LATCH doesn’t work for your vehicle or setup, the PIPA urbn can also be installed with the vehicle seat belt. It allows European belt routing, where the shoulder belt wraps around the back of the car seat for the baseless installation.

Can you buy the Nuna PIPA urbn by itself?

Currently, no.

Is the Nuna PIPA urbn good for twins?

I think it’s a really strong option for twins. It fits smaller newborns well, eliminates the need to buy multiple bases, and Nuna offers the Demi Next + two PIPA urbn travel system specifically for families who need two infant seats. That combination of small-baby fit, baseless convenience, and a double stroller that accommodates both infant seats is why I think the PIPA urbn deserves a serious look for twins.

How much does the Nuna PIPA urbn weigh?

The Nuna  PIPA urbn weighs about 9 pounds. That makes it relatively lightweight for moving between cars, traveling, and using with a compatible stroller.