 Worth every penny! Does NOT require huge SUV. |
| Review Date: April 10, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Little Me Beads, Weatherford, TX United States |
We recently switched from an Evenflo Triumph to the Britax Regent. Our daughter is 33 months old, 33 lbs and just under 40" tall. She had reached the top limits of her old seat, but being less than 3 years old just isn't ready for a traditional booster. I shopped for several weeks before finally deciding to take the plunge with this seat. My hesitation was price and size.
Ultimately price is easy to overcome, as what is more precious and worth more than the life of a child?
As far as size goes, it is a large seat, no question about it. However, I drive a 2006 Honda Civic Sedan and don't really see how this seat is that much larger than the other seats I was seriously considering: the Evenflo Generations (hated the flimsy arm rests and adjustable head positioner), Graco Cargo (too narrow, not much room for a growing toddler), and the Recaro Young Sport (head wings were too big).
This seat is installed in the backseat on the passenger side. It DOES indeed fit in my car and does NOT obstruct my view out the back window. In fact, the top of this seat is actually lower than the rear headrests are in their lowest position. It does take up the majority of one side of the backseat. We are only a three person family, so I do not have to consider space in my car for additional carseats. There is still plenty of space for one additional backseat passenger and the person riding in front of where the Britax is installed can still ride in relative comfort. I will take some pictures and post them for others to see.
My daughter seems to really enjoy riding in this seat - I think her only complaint would be that it rides lower in the car and makes it a little harder for her to see out the side windows. As quickly as she is growing, I don't think that will be an issue for long. She often nods off in her seat and the side is just deep enough to allow her to do so without her head flopping all over the place. All in all, I'm very happy with this purchase and would recommend this seat to anyone who asked! |
Great Seat for Tall Children and Worth the Money!
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| Review Date: February 13, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Rhiannon, Highland NY USA |
| My son has grown so fast. He has outgrown the Britax Roundabout and our Cosco Alpha Omega and is now in a Britax Marathon (in daddy's truck) and the Britax Regent in my car. I thought that the Regent would be huge. It really isn't any taller and only slightly wider than the Marathon. I love the fact that my 2 1/2 yr old that is now 40in and 33lbs can still be in a 5 pt harness. The weight was never an issue for us it was the height that made him outgrow all of his seats so quickly. Since the Marathon goes to 49" and the Regent to 53" and they are the same price we thought we better be safe and go with the taller seat. The new Cosco seat out on the market also has a 5pt harness up to 65lbs and is half the price but you have to be careful about the way car seat companies label their packages and market their products. Most companies use the max height as a booster on the packaging and you don't find out until you have it at home and have read the instruction booklet that the height on the 5pt harness use is several inches smaller. Several more reasons we went with the Britax Regent as opposed to the Cosco products (lancer & apex)... We own a Cosco Alpha Omega. So far it is the ONLY baby item that I am giving away instead of storing until we have a 2nd child. My parents, my husband and myself all hated this seat. The harness was such a pain to keep from twisting and the buckle is torturous with a squirmy child. You have to interlock the 2 top pieces and then put that into the crotch buckle. If you use it enough you can get pretty good at it but with the other Britax seats that we owned nobody wanted to. Britax seats are a dream to install - Latch connectors a breeze and belt lock off clips for use when you don't have latch made installation a great experience. My Roundabout was bought pre HUGS system and I still had no problems with the harness twisting. And Britax includes a PERMA-BOOK -which is really just an extra instruction book that is always attached so you never have to worry that a caregiver will not know the correct way to install your childs seat and when you wash the cover you will always have instructions handy for putting it back together. |
5 Point Harness for over 40 pounds
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| Review Date: February 22, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Wendy Kingsmith, SF, CA |
This is the only decent car seat I could find that uses the 5 point harness for children OVER 40 Pounds.
My 2 1/2 year old is not mature enough to sit with a booster and seat belt yet, although she is 44 lbs and 40" tall. The Britax Regent seat only offers the 5 point harness system, but it can be used for children up to 80 pounds. It does not have a seat belt positioner but I don't see this as a problem since i feel the 5 point harness will be safer for my child, and I can't in good conscience put my child in a car with a only a seat belt holding her and some free floating booster seat in the car.
Another important thing for me is that my toddler can easily get into this seat as it rests lower on the car seat verses having to lift her into the Evenflo car seat we just moved from. There are no arm rests or cup holders, but the padded seat cover does have mesh nets on each side for books or whatever. The seat cover and straps are also easy to remove for washing.
Latching the seat into my car was easy and quick and adjusting the straps to fit my child was extremely simple. When my child reaches 48 pounds i will need to use the seat belt to attach the seat to my car, but that looks pretty easy and simple to do, too.
Who knew my child would be well over the 100 percentile in size and I realize now that I should have bought a Britax the first time around, since most do offer the harness system up to 65 pounds. |
Slightly lower quality, but nice seat
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| Review Date: January 12, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Mom2BE, Mckinney TX |
This is our 2nd Britax car seat. Or other seat is the Britax Decatholon.
I wanted to move my baby into the Decatholon, so I needed a new seat for my tall 3 year old. I chose this model due to the excellent safety record of Britax & due to the fact it will be the last car seat he ever needs. I plan to keep him in it until he maxes out on weight & height. (I don't plan to move him out of it just because he turns 4 or 5)
My review
Negatives: This seat isn't as nicely made as my Decatholon. The straps are thinner. They twist more then the Decatholon. The seat has a plastic feeling 100% polyester cover with soft fabric on the sides. I'm not sure if Britax was saving cost or they felt it would clean easier, but my son does not like sitting on it when it's 5 degrees outside. It's like sitting on an ice cube. I hope it doesn't get just as hot in the summer as it gets cold in the winter. I prefer a full fabric cover. The cost is TOO high. I think it's a complete scam Britax charges so much just because they can. I imagine many parents can't afford Britax. Lastly, it doesn't recline far enough even with the recline bar. My son suffers serious head flop on long trips, but it's an ok price to pay for safety.
Positives: It was easy to install. We looked on their website for better pictures then the included manual. We did not have problems with the recline bar. We have a Jeep Cherokee- mid size SUV. I can fit this seat + my Decatholon in the back. They do take up the entire back seat. No room for another child or adult back there. My son sits lower. I like this a lot. I hated his head being only a few inches from the ceiling in the Decatholon. I worried about a rollover accident. It fits VERY snug. Much better then my Decatholon, but I imagine that varies with each car model.
It's BIG. I find this a positive. I sat in it in the living room & found it very comfortable! (I am 5'6" & 110 pounds) We could even buckle me in!
It is heavily padded & great for long trips.
Overall I am happy with this seat. I would have changed a few things, but compared to the other options you can't beat the safety of this seat. The added bonus is that your child can be in this seat for years. My biggest wish is that Britax would come down on their pricing so every parent could have such a nice seat. |
Cadillac of Car Seats
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| Review Date: July 30, 2007 |
| Reviewer: J. Hall, VA |
| I admit I was hooked into buying this by a very sad video that was circulating on the web. This was expensive, but in the long run you may save $$ because it is the only car seat you will need once baby is a year old (& 22 pounds. It is a really nice, comfortable car seat and child will be secure with a 5-point harness for as long as possible. If you think about it, everybody probably should be (even adults!) CONS: it's not as easy to switch from one car to another quickly as other carseats I've owned because it has this bar thing that is used in some arrangements and not others. Instructions, especially recent "Product Update" about "lap belt short route versus long route" instructions seem overly complicated (this is one reason it is difficult to move the seat from one car to another if the set up is any different, i.e. if the car doesn't have LATCH, because you have to stop and think--"do I need to use the bar on this car? Do I need to use the short belt route or the long belt route for this car? Aww shucks, maybe we'll just stay home . . .) |
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