We bought this infant carrier over others on the market because of Britax’s reputation for carseat safety. I’m very happy with the head support system this seat has included. It inflates (by squeezing a hidden pump) to fit your baby’s head perfectly and keeps the head from needing any additional support, which is a nice feature and very convenient. It also has a bar on the base which I haven’t seen on any other infant carrier to keep it from tipping into the car’s seat in the event of a crash. While we haven’t been able to test this ourselves in a crash (thankfully), the idea makes good sense. The padding seems sufficient and our infant always sleeps well while in the seat. The canopy extends all the way forward, keeping my baby shaded when it’s too sunny outside. It also holds a baby up to 22 pounds, 2 pounds heavier than many other seats on the market. It is L.A.T.C.H. compatible, although we have not been able to use this feature as our car is too old. It is however expensive (about $200), heavy (I tend to use 2 hands when possible and rest it on my hip to carry it but I’m a fairly petite person), and could use a little improvement in design. The release that you have to squeeze to adjust the handle bar (there’s a trigger to squeeze on each side), is very difficult to do. After playing with the seat awhile, we were able to figure out how to make it work. We basically have to be directly over the top of the carseat (a little difficult with the height of our SUV), squeeze both handles HARD and rotate the handle bar back or forward as needed. The canopy tends to get in the way of the movement a bit as well, making it a little more difficult. Also, releasing the seat from the base was extremely difficult until I figured out the trick to it. My neighbor even tried helping me release it when I first installed it for about 10 minutes before we finally got it to work! The trick to that is to squeeze the release using both hands (even though there is only one trigger to squeeze, unlike the handle bar) - positioning one hand to each side of the release mechanism so the pressure is very even. I had realized while trying to release it with just one hand that one side of the carrier was coming free but the other stayed locked to the base. Positioning your hands to the outsides of each side of the release really made it work much easier. Despite these inconveniences, which aren’t too horribly bad once you figure them out, I’d still recommend this seat based primarily on Britax’s safety record. We’ve owned several other seats by them (Roundabout, Advantage, Marathon, and Handle with Care), and have been very impressed with the quality and safety this company shows. Hopefully Britax will improve next year’s model to be a little easier to use! One last thing to note is that the product description says that this seat has Britax’s patented Versa-Tether system, which it does not. I had hoped that it would (to further stabilize the base), but unfortunately it doesn’t.
Tags:
Britax,
Infant Car Seat
