Wanna take Advantage? (I do!)
Written: Aug 01 '01
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
|
|
|
Pros: All the great features of Britax Roundabout plus infinite harness adjustment and no re-routing.
Cons: Currently only in one fabric (but it's a nice one)
The Bottom Line: Identical to the Britax Roundabout in most ways, the harness adjustment feature is a definite ADVANTAGE and well worth the extra bucks!
|
|
|
| jmmatlock's Full Review: Britax Advantage |
I must be honest - I don't own this seat. I have played with it for endless hours (please forgive me, all you patient ladies at "Baby's Room"). I have tried it out in my car, tried it out with my son (sorry, Aaron, for making you sit in it for nearly 30 minutes while I played with the harness adjustment). I've removed the covers and peeked at the insides (sorry Advantage...hope you weren't too embarrassed). And my conclusion: I WANT THIS SEAT!
Here's the background: I have a Britax Roundabout (you'll have to peek at that review sometime to see how I ended up with one) for my son Aaron, who is currently 22 months (okay, in four days he will be) and still rear-facing in our van. I KNEW about the Roundabout Advantage when Aaron was 4 months old - a product flyer was passed out in my Child Passenger Safety Certification course that described all the wonderful features. They should have called this the Roundabout Plus. (Okay, that was my first instinct, but "Advantage" is a pretty decent name). Unfortunately, the Advantage did not make it onto the store shelves by the time we HAD to move Aaron into a convertible seat, so we ended up with just a plain, regular old Britax Roundabout. Five months later, I got the opportunity to play with the Advantage (and later whine to my rather heavy son that he'd grown too fast for his own good).
Here's what I saw (and loved):
Britax Quality Not many people realize it, but Britax isn't just American seats (and American safety Standards). Britax is European-based and tries to incorporate more testing and higher standards into every product. They are the ONLY US manufacturer of car seats with FOUR crash test sleds (to simulate different types of crashes). Most manufacturer's seats are designed to pass a frontal impact test. Britax goes the extra mile and tests for side impact, rear impact and rollovers.
Safety Features
- EPS Foam EPS stands for Expanded PolyStyrene foam - they type of energy-absorbing foam you find in bicycle helmets. Britax includes this in the shell of the seat to protect your child's precious head from impact.
- Non-twisting Straps You know all those car seats you see that are still on the store shelves and you can't figure out how to get a child into it the straps are so twisted? Well, not only is that aggravating and confusing, it's also DANGEROUS. Twisted straps do not spread out the force of a crash - they concentrate it. Britax straps are thicker and don't twist...therefore safer.
- Versa-tether Versa, as in "versatile", this tether works whether your child is rear-facing or forward-facing. Britax is one of only two companies that even offer this feature (Safeline is the other). What does a rear-facing tether do for you? For one thing, it stabilizes the seat and offers accurate recline. Studies and research in other countries where "anti-rebound" features are required on car seats have found that tethering a seat rear-facing improves performance and offers additional protection to the child. And when using the tether forward-facing, the shape (like a "V" from the floor to the top of the seat) stabilizes the seat from the sides, instead of from the middle like most tethers.
Rear-facing to 30 lbs You're starting to wonder why I'm so gung-ho about this rear-facing stuff. Truthfully, it REALLY saves lives. When a child is turned forward-facing, the protection drops nearly 25%. A higher rear-facing weight limit allows the child to stay rear-facing past that MINIMUM of 20 lbs and 1 year. Much longer for some babies (remember I mentioned Aaron was 22 months and still rear-facing? He was a BIG baby - nearly 9 lbs - and still near the top of the growth chart.)
- Buckle protection It's hot here (it's August in Louisiana). My son wears shorts, and we get into the stifling hot car 4 or 5 times a week. This seat has a wonderful feature called a BELLY PAD that keeps that hot plastic/metal buckle off soft, vulnerable bare legs. No burns!
- Built-in Locking clips No need to fumble with and grumble at traditional metal locking clips. The Advantage has built-in locking clips for both rear-facing and forward-facing use. These keep your seat belts snug and make for a safer installation.
- Vehicle belt shield Getting your vehicle seat belt tangled in the car seat harness is a no-no. And it's avoided with the shield that protects the car seat belts from your car belts. No tangling means a safer, accurate installation.
- Contoured base A recent compilation of data showed that the Britax Roundabout was one of the most likely seats to fit in most vehicles. Having the same sculpted base, the Advantage offers the same ability to fit in a wide range of vehicles.
Ease of Use Features
- Easy harness adjustment You've got to adjust that harness more than once a year. Preferably EVERY time you put the child into the car. The Britax harness pulls snug SMOOTHLY and without effort. Just buckle the child in, pull the harness snug and go. No tugging, sweating, grunting, swearing...
- Harness holders How many times do you go to put the baby in the seat and end up with the latches under him. Go digging (not to deep, most of these kids still wear diapers...) and find them. Or use the Advantages' useful velcro strips to hold the harness out of the way.
- Puzzle buckle This is also a safety feature, but you have to fit the buckle latches together before they will snap into the buckle. That step makes sure that you don't accidentally leave part of the harness unbuckled. Once you get used to it, the buckling seems easier than a traditional buckle.
Other Features
- Three Position Recline. A small bar in the front is squeezed (when the seat is not installed) and the seat rocks back in the base to three recline positions.
- Two-piece chest clip. More difficult for "houdinis" to undo or slide down.
- Deep side wings. More comfortable for sleeping children.
- Well-padded. More comfortable for longer trips.
- Britax Customer Service. By far my favorite for child safety seat customer service. The reps are well-trained and try very hard to please each and every customer.
THE BEST PART
PRECISION HEIGHT ADJUSTMENT!!!! Unlike any other car seat available on the market today, you get to choose the EXACT perfect height for the harness on the child. Is your child rear-facing? That harness can be EXACTLY AT or slightly below the shoulders. Is your child forward-facing? That harness can be EXACTLY AT or slightly above the shoulders. HOW? The "advantage" on the Advantage is the unique Height Adjustment Knob. The harness is routed on a track (no more re-routing the harness as your child grows...YAY!) that is moved up and down with the turn of a knob (on either side of the seat). This is the feature that is truly unique to the Advantage, and the feature I wish I had the most.
Remember Aaron? Well, about 8 months ago, he had a little growth spurt in his regular Roundabout that made the harness come out of the bottom slots pretty far below his shoulders. But the middle slots in the seat were still above the shoulders (for rear-facing, the harness MUST come out of the seat AT or BELOW the shoulders). If we had the Advantage, I could have simply moved the knob until the harness was the correct height. Instead, we've had to deal with eight months of him seeming to be PULLED down by that very low harness and me worrying that I'd have to turn him around because he was getting so uncomfortable. If it weren't for the fact that I'd JUST bought a $200 car seat AND that I'd promised my husband that that particular car seat would be IT for 2 whole years, I would have run out and purchased the Advantage immediately. This is definitely at the top of the list for any future children.
Other comments
For now, the Britax Advantage only comes in the "Marina" fabric. It's a VERY soft blue. I had some concerns that it might cause some "overheating", but I did try my son in the seat in a warm vehicle in July in Louisiana for nearly 30 minutes. He normally is a pretty sweaty kid, but did not sweat or seem uncomfortable.
Britax has an optional "buckle cover" that is free from retailers (you have to pay shipping if you get it direct from Britax). If you have kids who figure out the buckle on the seat, this is helpful.
The Britax Advantage is IDENTICAL in design to the Britax Roundabout. The difference is simply the harness adjustment. In my opinion, this difference is DEFINITELY an ADVANTAGE, and worth the extra $30.
Epinions lists the price at $250. Most specialty stores that I've seen it at are charging $229 plus tax. It can be found cheaper (occasionally) on the internet.
Please remember that the SAFEST seat is the one that fits your child, fits your vehicle, fits your budget, and that you will use correctly every single time.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 229
Age Range of Child: 12 to 36 Months
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
jmmatlock
|
|
Location: Indiana
Reviews written: 64
Trusted by: 45 members
About Me:
Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician/Instructor and Mom of 4
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2010 Shopping.com, Inc.