Britax Regent Booster Car Seat - Onyx

I currently own a Britax Roundabout and Britax Marathon for my 1 year old daughter and a Graco Nautilus and a Britax Regent for my 3 year old son. I really like Britax car seats because they are very easy to use (LOVE the lock offs for non-LATCH compatible vehicles!) and very easy to install. This was exactly why I knew that I had to have the Britax Regent for my son. I wanted a seat that would keep him in a five point harness as long as possible. At the time, the Britax Frontier was not on the market. I believe I may have tried that seat over the Regent.

First off, I am going to say what I am sure every other reviewer has said. This seat is HUGE. If you have a small vehicle you should definitely try this seat in your car before buying it. All of our childless friends crack up when they see this seat in our car. My husband's friend who is approximately 5"10, 175 pounds was able to sit in this seat...obviously he exceeds the weight and height limitations of the seat, but he was able to sit in it quite comfortably! If you want a smaller, more booster like seat, I highly recommend the Graco Nautilus.

This is a very plush and cozy seat. This seat is currently in our 3/4 Ton Suburban, which is the vehicle we generally take on longer road trips or vacations. This is a very comfortable seat for my son to sleep in. I have the black onyx version and the fabric that you sit on wipes clean very easily.

The biggest cons for us is that it doesn't have a cup holder and it doesn't look quite as "booster like" as the Frontier or the Nautilus. The cup holder is truly something I didn't know we needed until we had it on the Nautilus. Its definitely a feature I like to have now. I think that the fact that this seat looks more like a convertible than a booster may become an issue as my son gets older and realizes a lot of his friends are sitting in booster seats and he is still in a "baby seat". The Nautilus and Frontier look just like boosters because they convert to boosters. I rationalized this because if it does become an issue I can move my daughter (she is 1) into the Regent when she outgrows her Roundabout and then get my son a Regent or a Frontier.

I had previously stated that I love Britax seats for their lock offs. My car is not LATCH compatible and at the time that I purchased this seat I thought it would go in my car (we later decided to put the Nautilus in my car). This seat does not have lock offs. I have no idea why, maybe because it has such a high weight capacity? This seat also cannot use LATCH for the duration that your child will use it. Once your child reaches 60 pounds you will have to use your seatbelt to secure the seat. My understanding is that this does not have as much to do with the seat, but because LATCH connectors were not built to withstand weight of more than 60 pounds. This is not information I have found easily and is something that I think should be made a little more clear to parents purchasing this seat. I researched this seat for a very long time and found this information on a few sites that are frequented by car seat techs. The information is also in the instruction manual.

I was able to purchase this seat for $180.00. Britax has sales twice a year - one in February and one in September. Be on the look out for these sales and you can get some incredible prices on car seats from a select few online retailers. Amazon frequently runs sales as well, but none quite as good as I was able to get in February.

The manufacturer states that this seat is good from the age of 1 and 22 pounds. Frankly, I think this seat is much too big for a baby of that age/weight. My daughter is 1 and 23 pounds and would be lost in a seat of this size. She is also well within the weight/height limits

This is not an easy seat to install and will most likely take more than one person. We move our car seats around occasionally to give one to grandma or something....but this seat is NEVER moved. Its way too much of a pain to take out - its heavy and very large - and just an overall pain to install. But, if you are going to just keep it in your car, its fine and we were able to get a rock solid install on this seat. It just took a little practice!