If you are looking for the best convertible car seat in which your child can literally “grow” into, there’s nothing better than the Britax USA Boulevard ClickTight Convertible Car Seat.
This is one of the best brands of car seats in the world. In terms of best among the best, this car seat holds the top seat any time any day. There are many reasons for that.
The Awesomeness of This Car Seat
Britax Car Seats Are Super Easy to Install
Let’s be real here. Most people do not know how to install their car seats correctly. It might sound simple. However, once you get down to it, it really feels like installing car seats are meant to be the tasks for men who’s main hobby is weight lifting.
However, it does not have to be that way. The Britax car seat has revolutionized their car seat to the point where almost anybody can install it easily.
Normally, installing any car seat is not difficult, but the key is to feel secure after you have installed it.
Most car seats that are not Britax will most often be installed incorrectly without professional supervision or aid. Car seats that are not installed correctly will wobble around when you drive or make turns on the road.
When it comes to Britax, there is almost no chance that you will install it wrong. The installation of Britax car seat is so easy, that it only takes three simple steps:
- you adjust the angle of your car seat
- you open up the front cover
- you pull the pull the seatbelt over to buckle then close the cover and finish
For some reason, if that sounded complicated, check out this short YouTube video to see how ridiculously easy it is:
After you close the front cover, you are actually securing your car seat at the same time. You will get a nice and big click. When done correctly, even if it is someone who is a couch potato can secure it easily with one hand.
It Is Extremely Comfortable
It is common for children to scream and yell to get out of a poorly made car seat. The reason they do that is very simple. It is because the car seat is not comfortable. Britax is a company dedicated to car seats, comfort and safety of a car seat has always been their top priority. Even though there is no 100% guarantee, but out of 100 children who tries a Britax car seat, 99 of them will find it extremely comfortable.
The reason it is so comfortable is because there are shock absorbers intricately lining all over the car seat.
It Is Very Safe
Britax car seat has lots of protection features. The double layer foam is one of them. The other safety protection is what they call the safe cell impact protection. This is is a steel frame that uses energy dissipating mechanisms to slow down forward movement in case of a car accident.
Normal car accidents causes the car to suddenly stop, and the body of the people in the vehicle will continue to move forward. As an end result, the victims will either suffer whiplash or smash into whatever is front of them.
Since Britax car seat slows down the forward moving motion of the child in case of a car accident, the chance of suffering from damage has been substantially reduced. Of course, it is important for the driver to drive safely all the time. However, you can not control how other people drive, and how other people will crash into you without warning.
It Will Last For a Long Time
Another nice feature of this car seat is that it almost literally grows with your child. It has several recline positions, harness positions, two crotch buckle positions that is meant to be adjustable the moment your child gets taller and bigger.
It can be used for rear facing from 5 to 40 pounds and “converted” to a front facing seat for kids 20 to 65 pounds. This is only possible because belts have high range of adjustability and there are seven reclines to choose from. A child typically grows from 5 to 10 pounds per year, so you figure that this car seat will be a long term investment that lasts several years and possibly several kids if kept in good condition.
Typically, you have to buy:
- an infant car seat- a cheap one costs around $60
- a forward facing car seat – a cheap one costs around $50
- a booster seat – a cheap one costs around $25
If you are smart and more careful about your child’s safety, then you typically won’t go for the cheaper car seats. If you purchase safer car seats separately like the way I listed them above, you could be possibly spending around $300 or more per child.
I say per child because you most likely won’t be keeping the older seats the moment your child grows out of it. You will most likely throw it away or give it someone who needs it. Keeping all the different seats will be a waste of space, not to mention you can not predict when you will get your next child.
Instead of doing that and creating extra luggage in the house, and possibly more money in the long run, a one time investment of a britax is definitely the way to go.
Once your kid reaches the weight or height limit, you have to change car seat to the next size typically if you did not buy the Britax car seat. If you continue to use your current car seat after your child has grow out of it, you can put your child in danger, not to mention it is illegal to do so in most places.
Why Should You Trust Britax?
As mentioned earlier, Britax is more than just a brand name for a car seat. They are actually a company that focuses most of their resources on developing car seats unlike their other competitors. They even have dedicated a whole facility to test the safety of their car seats to make sure that it is safe to be used. Recently, they began making strollers and carriers, but their company has mainly been car seat developers.
Does This Perfect Car seat Have Any Flaws?
Technically, this car seat does have three flaws. They are the following:
- short crotch buckle
- difficult to use the clicktight feature
- difficult to undo the car seat
Honestly, these are not flaws of the car seat. These are the flaws of the users.
The Short Crotch Buckle
The Britax car is designed to secure the child so the short crotch buckle is designed this way to make sure that super skinny children are secured correctly. If your child grows bigger and taller more rapidly than other children, then simply shift the buckle to the outer position.
The reason parents haven’t thought of that is because some of them believe that the outer position is meant to be used for forward facing. Another reason is because the harness around the thigh area feels a little loose when the crotch buckle is shifted to outer position. That is not a problem. It should be alright as long the wrap on the shoulders area is tight enough to pass the finger test. If you can slip a finger between the chest, and the chest clip then you are alright. If you can stick in more fingers, it is too loose, and if your finger will not slip in then it is too tight.
People Think That The Click Tight Feature is Difficult
The second flaw is that the click tight feature is hard to use, because some people find it hard to close the front cover after the seat belt has crossed over and buckled in. As mentioned earlier, you should be able to close the front cover and hear a loud click to affirm that you have installed the car seat correctly. If you can not close it and hear that click, then your car seat is not completely installed yet.
Once again, this is the fault of the user. The main issue here is that the seat belt used to cross over the car seat is buckled in too tightly. The solution is rather simple. Simply unbuckle the seatbelt and try again. This time, leave an inch of looseness while maintaining the security of the car seat.
It Is Difficult to Uninstall
The last flaw is that people find it difficult to “uninstall” the car seat and move it to another vehicle because it is secured too well. The solution to this is to first unbuckle the seat belt of your car before you attempt to open the cover of your car seat.
Last but not least, this is not a flaw, but remember to adjust the angle of the car seat before you install it into your car, or things can be a hassle later. The car seat itself is made to be comfortable like an actual chair so it’s bulkiness can make it difficult to maneuver if you didn’t get your angle right ahead of time.
Conclusion
The Britax car seat is definitely a car seat your child will love for a very long time. It has many safety features that other brand name car seats do not have. It is also extremely convenient to install and remove.
It seems to have some flaws, but as mentioned earlier, those flaws occur because the car seat is designed to suit as many different children size and shapes as possible while maintaining safety and comfort. There are simple solutions for it as stated earlier.
If you haven’t already, buy yourself a Britax car seat today. Your child will love it. If you have more children afterwards, they would all love it too.
I was so confused when I had to pick out a car seat a year ago. Luckily it all worked out!
I am pregnant again however (yay!) I’m 14 weeks. This sounds like an excellent car seat and I’ll totally consider it! It seems a little pricey, but I realized that it saves more money in the long run, because I do not have to purchase a higher level seat for at least 5 years. It still seems a little early to think about this stuff, but I need a car seat to bring the baby out of the hospital anyway. I might as well get it now.
This car seat does seem expensive at first, but I promise it will be worth it and your child will definitely love it. Yes, you do need a car seat to leave the hospital with your baby. This is part of the protocol nowadays. Congratulations on your baby by the way.
wow! You explained with so much detail, I am currently looking for a car seat for my son and it’s overwhelming going to a store and trying to choose one. But I think this might be the one. I have one question, must of the carseats I have looked at the retailers tell me they have a 3 year expiry for safety some have up to 10 years…this is all new for me to be honest, but does this one have any safety rule saying you can’t use it after a certain amount of years?…I’m new…I hope I make sense.
Thanks for your time 🙂
Actually the answer is yes and no. The reason is because standards for car seats keeps on improving. New safety standards might actually be much safest than older car seats. Not to mention if a car seat has been used long enough, it will actually have a little wear and tear and unable to take abuse. You can use old car seats, but use at your own risk. This is especially true if it has been involved in an accident. If that was the case, then the car seat is very risky to use.
Hi Bill,
Great review!
My sister is pregnant, and she needs a safety and comfortable car seat. I know it’s a bit early to buy this type of car seat for a baby born because he needs to know how to sit first, but they grow so fastly:) However, I am thinking to buy a car seat for her birth present, and this one is exactly what I was looking for. Is there a warranty on the Britax car seat? If so how long?
Thank you for this excellent post!
Actually it is not early to buy this seat because it works for babie 5 pounds up. Not to mention it can be installed rear facing with many recline positions. You need a car seat to get your baby out of the hospital anyway so get it now for your sister. As for warranty, there is a one year warranty. Hope that helps.
Thanks for your thorough review of the Britax carseat.
I totally agree with your pros for this carseat. We choose this one for our baby in the end because it was by far the safest and was going to last a very very long time and grow with baby.
After using it, I actually found that it is very easy to install and uninstall, when we need to move cars. It is also very easy to take apart the car seat for cleaning for any accidents along the way.
Highly recommend it!
Hey I am glad that you like it. This is one of the top car seats out there. If you kept it in good condition, you can use for as long as you like with the next few children. It really is very easy to install with the cool click tight feature. You simply just pop it in and that is pretty much it.
I was super excited to find this review about Britax CT convertible carseat. I have not used this carseat personally but my nephew has it and his mom is very happy with the overall seat functions…even my brother can install it properly. I’ve been educating myself for the last 6 years on carseat safety and the many types of carseats. The britax has been out of my budget for as long as my large child was in the five point harness… and yes i’ve spent more money on other carseats but that’s how it goes when you are learning. One thing I do know though is that ALL carseats pass the same requirements for carseat testing in your state or country. All carseats pass the same testing whether it’s a $60 or $400 seat; it all comes down to the bells and whistle that you want (extra padding, metal framing, etc)
I love that the ClickT feature on this Britax model eliminates the pulling and pushing and physical strength when installing other carseats. ( I am used to this now as I’ve had many practices with the convertible carseats from graco, safety1st, and evenflo)
I also I must point out that when checking to see if the five point harness is tight enough on the child’s body (shoulders and thighs area) it’s standered now to do the “pinch test” on the tops on the straps near their shoulders instead of the “finger test” under the straps. This has been confirmed by Canadian and US certified car seat technicians that I’ve spoken with.
The Britax website also states this correct method using the “Pinch test”
Thank you for telling me about the pinch test. I would be sure to put that in. It makes a lot of sense too because a pinch test also tests the “tightness” of the harness to make sure they are just the right amount of tension without choking the child. You are right in the fact that most car seats pass the safety test. However, in my local area, they sold these “car seats” that are meant to be used as a temporary measure to allow parents to bring their newborns out of the hospital. They are really flimsy so I am really skeptical that they passed the safety tests, but I am assuming you are talking about the big brands like graco, evenflo, Britax, etc…
It is true that beyond the safety of the car seat, everything else seems to be extra. As you realized, the clicktight feature of Britax car seat seriously simplifies the process of installing a car seat which is really awesome. Another thing I have to point out is that it is also important that your child likes. the car seat. The padding and design of Britax car seats are very comfortable and almost every child loves it. That is pretty important especially if you like to go on long trips with your children.