Now that we are a family of four, we are needing a more spacious set of wheels. Having a second vehicle also creates a need for additional car seats. We are in the process of searching for an SUV, but couldn’t pass up the opportunity to check out a new car seat (by Britax) to be used in our new wheels. So many parents speak very highly of Britax, so I wanted to familiarize myself with the brand. For the sake of time, we installed the Britax Roundabout 50 Classic Convertible Car Seat (sold at Walmart) in our older Ford Taurus and it’s apparent that it will work best rear-facing in an SUV. Our car can accommodate the car seat forward-facing, but since Jaxon is still very small, we’d like to keep him rear-facing for as long as possible.
We are huge fans of convertible car seats because they can be used from the newborn stage to toddlerhood. We have never had the need to use the infant seats with the handles since I wear our babies or on the rare occasion, put them in a compact stroller. The Britax Roundabout 50 can be used rear-facing for an infant from 5-35 lbs and up to 49″ tall or forward-facing for a toddler from 20-50 lbs and up to 49″ tall and reclines for those fresh out the womb.
The Britax Roundabout covers all of the safety basics; energy-absorbing base, foam liner, and side-impact protection. When it comes to usability, results may vary depending on the type of vehicle that you have. If you have a larger and newer vehicle, you should have no problems with space and being able to use the LATCH system makes installation a piece of cake. Since we have an older vehicle, we’d have to thread the seat belt through which for an older vehicle is to be expected.
The Britax Roundabout features a tangle-free five-point harness, with four harness positions and three buckle positions. It’s very easy to snap and secure. In order to adjust the harness positions, the car seat must be uninstalled in order to unthread and rethread the harness. We are used to adjusting the harness by a simple twisting of knobs, so that caught us off guard. Each car seat has it’s features we love and features that make us work a little, but that’s to be expected. It all depends on the price point of the seat. At $119.00 (rollback), we have ourselves a pretty solid seat that we’ll be using years to come.
As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I’ve received a sample and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.