Britax Harness-2-Booster Car Seat, Du New/Open Box

You know when you’ve had something nice, and then when you don’t have it anymore you miss it? Yeah, that happened to me with car seats. I have sworn by Britax car seats for years and absolutely love the ClickTight. When I transitioned my son from a convertible to a harness-2-booster, I went with a seat that was about $100 cheaper. It’s still a good seat, but it lacks everything I LOVE about Britax. First of all, there’s the rigid steal frame. It’s not a lightweight seat because of this, but it’s rigid and solid! Then there’s the Safe Cell technology. It’s the red honeycomb looking piece in the base of the seat. It’s there to compress and absorb energy. Pretty cool safety feature if you ask me. The v-shape top tether fits nicely on either side of the headrest. It is also easy to tighten and loosen. There is side impact protection with foam lining the side shell of the seat and the headrest “wings”. The headrest is easy to adjust with one hand with 9 height positions. It gets very tall! The ClickTight installation is amazing! I had that other seat installed with the latches and had forgotten that there is a weight limit for latch use! Since ClickTight uses the car’s seat belt to install the car seat, you don’t have to worry about remembering that very important safety detail. It’s also sooooo much easier than LATCH installation, and the car seat doesn’t budge! You know the struggle I’m talking about when using LATCH installation. You have to put your body weight in the seat while trying to tighten the tether and the dern seat still moves although it’s probably within the allowed 1inch of movement. The Britax ClickTight is such a secure and easy installation that I know it’s done right which means I’m confident my child is safe. The next feature that I really missed not having on that other seat that Britax has is the stay put buckle. The crotch piece on this seat stays forward so there’s no digging under your child to grab hold of it in order to buckle them. This is by no means a safety feature or a have to have, but it sure is nice having it and when I didn’t have it, I wished I did, so it’s a nice to have feature. The hugs pads on the chest part of the harness do not bother my kids, and they actually help keep the harness from twisting, so there’s another safety feature. The neck pads at the top of the harness Velcro around it, but they are attached to the back so they don’t go sliding around. Another annoyance I had with the other seat is that the “male part” of the buckle that slides on the hip and thigh part of the harness would always slide to the bottom of the harness so I’d have to shove my hand between the seat and my child’s hip to get that piece to buckle him in. The way the Britax harness is made, that piece stays up higher so again, there’s no digging. It is also more comfortable for my child now that I don’t have to dig. There are cup holders on both sides of the seat with another little section for holding other things. Unlike the other seat I had, the cup holders do not make the seat wider than any other part of the seat. They are not removable but they can be wiped out easily. There are two recline angles. I honestly don’t see much difference between the two, so this isn’t something I’d rave about. My kids seem to like the arm rests. The fabric is cool and comfortable with just enough cushion. I love that the fabric can be thrown in the washer and dryer! Game changer! I haven’t had to do that yet, but I love that I can. I love the color options as well. My husband was in a car accident that required us to get new car seats. We decided the new seats would go in our 2019 Suburban which has a middle bench seat. I began researching seats that I could fit 2 side by side and still be able to fold down the 1/3 seat to access the third row. Researching was impossible because all of the Suburban reviews had been done with middle captain seats. There are more narrow seats out there, but the ClickTight installation allows you to shift the car seat over so it’s not centered in the seat if need be. I missed all of the features of the Britax that I went ahead and purchased two of these and crossed my fingers that they would fit as I tried installing them. They are a perfect fit! They barely touch (which is fine) and I’m able to fold the 1/3 seat down without a car seat interfering. I could definitely fit 3 of these across the bench seat with no problem. What I found with one of the most narrow seats, is that the cup holder isn’t very accessible and impossible to use if seats are side by side. I don’t know about you, but cup holders are a must for me so it’s a deal breaker. These seats will grow with my children as they go from harnessed boosters to high back boosters, so we will be using them for many many years. I know they will withhold the test of time, and my boys will be safe! Best of all, I have all the features back that I missed with that other seat! It’s worth every penny because you’re getting a great quality seat with wonderful conveniences. Britax definitely keeps baby and caregiver in mind!