BRITAX Parkway Booster--is it right for your child?
Written: Jun 14 '05
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Pros: EPS Foam; well padded; high safety rating.
Cons: Bulky; difficult to use while traveling; wings will make child feel squished.
The Bottom Line: Try your child in it before you buy it!!
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| fisch's Full Review: Britax Parkway 9041 Booster Car Seat - Cougar |
BRITAX Parkway Booster
The BRITAX Parkway Booster is not bad. My 3-year-old has been using this for about 4 weeks now and he doesn’t like sitting in it if he has choice between it and his older brother’s carpool car seat (Graco TurboBooster). We also have a Britax Starriser Comfy that has been with us for about 3 ½ years now and have used it with no complaints from my older boys. I wanted to get an additional Starriser for my 3-year-old who felt like he was too big for his Britax Wizard, but it was not rated for his size. The Britax Parkway Booster was rated for his size, so we decided to give it a try since we could always put the Wizard back in the car if he was not mature enough for a booster just yet.
FEATURES --per the Britax website
--True Side Impact Protection (head rest & side wings have EPS foam)
--For children 38 to 60 inches tall who weigh between 30 and 100 pounds
--One-hand adjustable head rest (very easy to use)
--Retractable snack & cup holders (difficult to use and shallow)
--Built-in, open loop belt guides (seat belt material will tend to stick in these)
--Comfort foam on the base and backrest
--Contoured, slip resistant base (it will work its way side to side on leather seats)
--Removable, washable cover (there are a lot of things to unhook in order to remove it)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
--Reasonably priced at about $99 (look for rebates and free shipping)
--Fabric choices:
....Bubbly Fun is dark blue with retro bubbles over the top half.
....Granite is solid gray
....Ivy League is tan fabric with a checkerboard pattern over the top half. The Ivy League is soft like velour; however, when my child slides back into his seat, it tends to slide his pants down a bit in the back which can be a hassle.
--The head rest area is such that if you have a DVD player in your car and the child will be using a wireless headset while riding in the seat, they will not be very comfortable.
--The side wings will not be comfortable for all children since it pushes their arms forward over their chest and stomach area. The wings also make it difficult for a child to strap in by themselves. My 5 and 8-year-old are rated for this seat, but it is terribly uncomfortable for the 8-year-old and the 5-year-old feels squished and complains straight away if he has to ride in it. Definitely try your child in it for size. See the on-line picture at http://www.britaxusa.com/documents/P247200_R01.pdf to get a better idea of how a child looks in it.
--The open loop belt guide tends to catch on the seat belt material and rarely lets it retract properly so that the seat belt can be pulled out and clicked into the seat belt latch. Our Toyota allows the seat belt to be locked into place to reduce the child’s side-to-side and forward motion and the guide makes this challenging.
--Carpooling or traveling to the airport with this seat would be about as easy as carrying the Britax Roundabout or other similarly sized car seat. It is large and bulky and can’t be folded or taken apart for ease of traveling like the Britax Starriser Comfy or the Graco TurboBooster.
--The seat itself is quite wide and I can only get 2 boosters in the middle and third rows of my car which doesn’t leave a lot of room for an extra child.
CONCLUSION
The BRITAX Parkway Booster is definitely not my favorite booster seat in terms of all the complaints I hear about it from my boys. However, it is the best one we have in terms of safety features and overall softness and padding. I would recommend that you test out the size of the seat before you buy it to see how your child fits into the seat and how much room you need for it in your car since it takes up quite a bit of space. If I had it to do over again, I would purchase an additional BRITAX Starriser Comfy because it will grow with your child and it is light weight and easy to use if you travel or carpool frequently.
Additional information and pictures can be found on the Britax site at www.britax.com.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 99
Age Range of Child: 3 to 5 Years
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Epinions.com ID:
fisch
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Reviews written: 37
Trusted by: 6 members
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