marytara's Full Review: Britax Husky Youth Car Seat - Marina
For quite a while I'd been interested in getting the Britax Husky seat for my 3 1/2 year old son. However, his current seat- the Graco Platinum CarGo 8489 Booster Seat, was suiting us just fine for now. Since he is under the 40 pound weight limit we were still able to use it with the 5 point harness system. However, knowing full well that he was nearing the weight limit for the 5 point harness, and that this seat is not recommended as a booster seat (it has closed loop guides which hinder seatbelt retraction), and that quite honestly my son is not ready for a booster seat [read my horror story here when we tried the Graco TurboBooster 8493]- I was looking at other options to keep him in a 5 point harness longer. Then, Bamm - I was forced to make a decision and replace our seat immediately. Reason? I was in an automobile accident and all seats must be replaced after an accident.
Our Replacement Options
Most seats for a child my son's age/height/and weight lean towards a belt positioning booster seat. However, all children are unique. Though my son's size would indicate he should be able to ride in a booster safely, there are circumstances to consider including his maturity, developmental delays (speech delayed and a PDD-NOS diagnosis) that make going straight to a booster seat not an option for us at all. If he was ready to go to a booster then we'd go with one of the open loop styles like the Graco TurboBooster 8493, Britax BodyGuard or StarRiser Comfy, or the Evenflo Big Kid Booster. Alas, none of these are safe options for us (at least at this time) as we wanted to keep him riding safely in a 5 point harness.
The most inexpensive, in the short run, solution would have been for me to purchase a seat comparable to our Graco Cargo (a combo 5 point/BPB seat). Knowing what I know now, the only Consumer Report recommended combo harness/booster seat is the Cosco (or Eddie Bauer) Summit High Back booster . However, the drawback here is that this seat and most of the other combo 5 point/BPB seats can only be used with the harness to 40 pounds. Then, you need to move to the belt positioner or purchase a different seat. Since my son is right now around 36 pounds that gives basically no wiggle room before he'd be forced to moving to the booster, for which he simply is not ready and it makes no sense to buy a new seat only to have to replace it imminently when my son puts on 4 pounds (for all I know that could be before the end of the summer!).
Lots of research later, I was down to just a few seats that have higher weight limits on their 5 point harness. They were:
Britax Marathon - A convertible seat that can be for rear facing for children 5 to 33 pounds and forward facing up to 65 pounds. $249
Britax Wizard - A convertible seat that can be for rear facing from 5 to 33 pounds and forward facing at least one year old and 20 to 65 pounds, up to 49 inches. $269
Britax Husky - This is a forward facing only youth seat for children from 22 to 80 pounds. $239
Nania (Car Seat Specialty) Airway or Airway LX - 2 carseats in one, this seat has a 5 point harness for children up to 50 pounds and then can be a booster seat afterwards.
Our Purchasing Decision
After some research and a visit to check these seats out in person and talk to a Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician, we went with the Britax Husky for my vehicle, which is the primary. I will also be purchasing a Nania Airway for use in my husband's vehicle, which is our secondary.
We have had really good luck with Britax seats in the past. I am impressed with the brands safety reputation, the seats comfort for my child, and their ease of use. We've used both the Britax Roundaboutand the Britax Expressway and highly recommend either of these seats. The Marathon and the Wizard are similar convertible seats to those we've owned from Britax in the past with higher weight limits and slightly different dimensions. Both of them hold a slightly higher price tag than the Husky (since they can also be used rear-facing which we don't need). Out of the 3 Britax seats, we went with the Husky because it had the highest weight limit, it was the largest seat, we did not require the rear-facing convertible aspect of the other seats, and it also was the most comfortable for my son. (Yes, I had him sit in all of them while I fastened the harnesses to see which seat fit him properly and comfortably. ) Since he had outgrown his Expressway seat before the manufacturer guidelines for weight, I was a bit skeptical seeing him in the harness for the Marathon and Wizard and would he really be able to ride in this seat for any length of time comfortably. The Husky, however, no problem and lots of growing room. The MSRP on the Husky is around $240 dollars, but I was able to get it for $205 due to a sale.
Features of the Britax Husky
The Britax Husky is a forward facing only youth seat for a child who is between 22 and 80 pounds and under 53 inches tall. The seat dimensions are: 30.25"H x 22"W x 22.5"D (from the Britax Website). Due to its large size it cannot be used on aircrafts.
The Britax Husky has a highly adjustable 5 point harness system with HUGS. The harness has 4 different harness slots to adjust the height of the shoulder straps, an adjustable chest clip (you can slide it higher or lower), and Britax's HUGS straps. To adjust the strap level for your child there is a EZ Adjust Harness Mechanism in the back with a yoke on it so that its relatively quick and easy to move the straps from the rear of the seat. The straps should be at the slot closest to or above your childs shoulders. If you are not familiar with the HUGS system (Harness Ultra Guard System) it is a combination of rubber protector guides on the straps, and soft padding which velcros around the shoulder straps. In conjuction this strap protection adds to child's comfort, reduces head movement, and adds to safety in a crash by reducing the chance of the nylon webbing edge loading onto your child's neck/shoulder/chest in the event of an accident. To adjust the snug-ness of the straps in front there is a One Pull Harness Strap Adjuster at the base of the seat near the crotch area of the seat. The buckle on the Husky is a two piece buckle - each tongue side clicks in independently. There are two different buckle positions for the lower "crotch strap", also. The forwardmost position should only be used if your child is over 50 pounds. Like the other Britax seats we've owned this one has what Britax calls the "belly pad" (we call it the groin protector) which is a circular piece of fabric that goes around the buckle strap. This piece of fabric can be removed and sometimes will come off when you are unloading/loading the seat.
The Britax Husky has comfort foam on the entire seat (from top to bottom) which makes the seat both very comfortable and provides impact protection. The seat is available in either a tan color (Wicket Loden) or blue (Marina). We have the Marina (blue) fabric which is a very posh velour type material. The material is not machine washable, nor are there a variety of covers available for this seat - which are both minor downsides for us.
Installation of the Britax Husky
The Britax Husky can be installed using either the vehicle seat belt or the LATCH System (available in newer model vehicles). (LATCH stands for Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren) It should be noted however, that even your vehicle has LATCH that this seat must be installed using the vehicles seatbelt if you are putting a child over 48 pounds in the seat (that is the LATCH upper limit). None of the vehicles that I have used this seat in have the LATCH adjusters so I will not address this type of installation in my review.
The Britax Husky can be installed with either a lap belt only, or a shoulder/lap belt combination in either a long or short route. The installs that I have done are the long route belt path in a '99 Subaru Outback, Chevy Suburban (not sure of the year), and '00 Dodge Grand Caravan. All of these installs were not too challenging (easier with 2 people, but doable for one person), and solid installs - the seat will not budge.
The recommended installation takes a "long route" for the seat belt which is a bit different than other carseats I've put into our car. Instead of going into the back of the seat through a guide and then out the other side, the Husky has a different belt path. There is a diagram on the side of the seat which details this quite clearly for anytime you might have to move the seat. On the long route, the belt first must be pulled out all the way (so it is as long as possible), then the belt goes out and around one arm/side of the seat and into the back of the seat, behind the seat and around, back to the front of the seat and then around the other arm/side of the seat and buckled in. Because the Husky is quite wide (22") you can imagine that for all the front to back, around, back to front action that it requires the seat belt to really be put to the test.
If your seatbelt is not long enough to take the long route, then you can use the standard come from behind, go around and back through method -"the short route", which has also been tested and safe (according to revision 2 of the Britax Husky manual on the Britax website). This installation can ONLY be used if the versa-tether is also in place.
Properly installed, the seat will not budge and the seat bottom will rest completely flat on your seat. There is a U-shaped metal bar that first needs to be put onto the seat which helps assure the seat is properly "reclined" and positioned. Finally, the seat should be tethered into your vehicle using the Versa-Tether anchor system which straps the seat down to your vehicle's frame. The tether is required for use of this seat with any child over 50 pounds and/or if you are using the "short path" seat belt installation. However, Britax recommends the tether be used at all times with this seat.
Our Experience with the Britax Husky
When I first saw the Britax Husky at a local baby/child specialty store I was overwhelmed with its size. The photos on the Britax website simply didn't convey to me just how large this seat is. Britax surely named this seat the Husky for a reason. This seat is absolutely huge, enormous, gargantuan. It looks like the king of all carseats, sort of like a giant recliner chair. The Britax Husky is extremely padded and the blue fabric is attractive, soft and posh. My son finds this seat very comfortable to sit in and doesn't complain to get into it. I happened to chuckle when I saw that Britax has put a large tag on the side of this seat that shows a cartoon of a baby in a crossed out circle that says "No baby's allowed, big kid seat!".
Definite downsides to this seat are that there is a limited fabric choice available - blue or tan. Unlike other Britax seats for which you can purchase covers for, for the Husky you cannot. You also can't take the cover off and put it through the washer and dryer. The cover must be handwashed and line dryed. My son is a carseat puker for long trips so this is definitely not in our favor. Ewwwww.
Unlike many other seats on the market the Britax Husky does not have a beverage holder, snack cup, toy pouch, or raised arm rests. My son noticed the lack of a cupholder the first time he rode in it. A cupholder is not necessary but kids like to have them and they are sure convenient. I'll mention that neither our Britax Roundabout nor our Britax Expressway had them, and we lived just fine. However since he's used the Graco boosters that do have them he's come to expect them.
If you plan on traveling by air, you can't use the Britax Husky on the plane - it is simply too large.
This seat rides lower than both our other Britax seats since it is not on a base. The seat itself is right down on the cars seat so your child is not given too much of a boost. This is sort of a catch-22 for us because while my son has not as good of a view out of the windows the seat has a less "babyish" feel not being so raised up.
The large size of this seat has not been much of a problem for us as we have large vehicles. I cannot imagine installing this in a smaller vehicle or even moving it around much at all. The seat is bulky and heavy and to get it into and through the door of my Subaru it had to be turned sideways and manipulated just-so. If you get this seat you won't want to move it around much. You also will probably have trouble putting other seats near and next to it. When our next child is born in the winter we'll have to cross this bridge, I'm sure.
Cost of the seat is comparable to other Britax seats, in the $200 dollar range. This is high, but a price I am quite comfortable paying for a very high quality seat that has passed higher than US, European safety ratings.
Overall, we are really happy with the Britax Husky for our child. I am thrilled with the fact that my son will be able to ride safely in a 5 point harness now for some time to come. I highly recommend this seat for parents who are looking to keep their child in a 5 point seat for as long as possible. This is a great seat for bigger kids who are not quite mature enough to go into a booster - I know many 2-4 year olds that fit this bill and this seat is just the answer. The Husky is also really good for children with special needs. In the case of our son who is on the Autism Spectrum and has the PDD-NOS diagnosis this seat has does a great job at keeping him safe. If you are a parent of a special needs child, I can't say enough good things about this seat and highly recommend you check into it. I wish we'd gotten ours sooner!
Note- Britax does sell a seat specifically for Special Needs children (the Traveller Plus) which is similar to the Husky but 3 times the price (its around 600 dollars).
We are currently out of stock in this fabric.Product Features:? LATCH compatible? Fits children weighing from 22 to 80 lbs.? Unique, patented ultra-se...More at Albee Baby
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