Britax Regent Youth Car Seat, Onyx
by Britax USA
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List Price: Category: Baby Product See more product details |
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Baby Products Reviews of Britax Regent Youth Car Seat, Onyx
Customer Review: Slightly lower quality, but nice seat
Summary: 4 Stars
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.
Customer Review: Great Seat for Tall Children and Worth the Money!
Summary: 5 Stars
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.Customer Review: Worth every penny! Does NOT require huge SUV.
Summary: 5 Stars
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!
Customer Review: Save $200 Now!
Summary: 1 Stars
We have three kids that have gone through 2 Britax car seats. They are ok. They rattle, and one of the shoulder restraint holders cracked off. They had a recall on our particular model a couple years back and it took 3 tries calling their customer service to get them to send the repair parts for the fix, which we had to do ourselves. The cam operated adustable belt (a must have - many manufacturers now have it) has been fairly smooth though going on close to 4 years now so that is a plus.
The main reason that I took the time to write this is to point folks to check out the Cosco Scenera. It is almost identical to the Marathon to include the cam operated adjustable belt. The belt feeds through the entire seat identically to the Britax models (patents must have run out I guess) It also costs less than $40. We puchased one of these for our second car and have been impressed thus far, though it is admittedly new. At such a dramatically lower cost, it may be worth buying the Cosco first to see how it works out before opting for the waaaay more expensive Britax - that is unless buying the $600 Peg Pergo stroller that's identical to the $100 Graco or the $300 Britax that's identical to the $40 Cosco makes you feel better about yourself. Don't worry, we're not judging, we've been there too.
A quick note on "growth" car seats. We at first justified spending the zillion dollars on our first couple Britax seats thinking that we could use them for a long, long time with the generous weight limit. Make sure you take a look at the useable overall height and usable torso height though. Our 45 lb 43" 4 1/2 year old son's torso is already too tall to fit in the Wizard, which claims it can support a 65 lb 49" child. Something to think about before shelling out so much money. I completely agree that any price is worth a child's safety, but paying way more for an identical product that works just as well is just silly.
Customer Review: Not as good as I was anticipating
Summary: 3 Stars
After reading all the positive reviews on this product and already owning a Britax Roundabout, I was excited to get this car seat and install it in my vehicle - a '99 Plymouth GrandVoyager. Well, after just over 1 week of use I'm not overly impressed, and am some what disappointed in it.
It is HUGE - I didn't realize just how huge until I put it in my vehicle. I did get it installed, barely. It used 100% of the seatbelt for the under 40 lbs installation. Which is probably a good thing, considering it doesn't have the built in belt locking clip like the roundabout. But what really miffs me is that it is difficult to adjust the harness straps because of the design of the seat. What I loved about the Roundabout was it was so easy to adjust the harness for different clothing and the like. But with the Regent the straps are squished between the carseat and the vehicle seat - the pressure makes it difficult to adjust the harness. Perhaps this would not be as much of an issue with bucket seats? But if it's hard to get the straps tightened appropriately, the child is less likely to be strapped in correctly and safely.
Within a few days of use I had the harness straps get twisted around some how, I have no idea how. As for the little elastic things that are suppose to hold the straps back to make it easier to get kids in and out - worthless. Maybe they will be more useful when my daughter is much larger.
Hopefully though it is as good for safety as they say. Though I hope to never need to find out. Because that's about the only positive thing I've got to say about it - other than it seems a comfortable seat to be in. Which is important when you take a lot of 3-5+ hour drives.