As your child goes from a newborn, to an infant, to a toddler you have to change your car seat. Sure the infant carrier you own is probably convenient – it is easy to transfer from stroller to car without even disturbing their sleep. Well it isn’t quite so easy once they get bigger and you have to strap them back in to a car seat every time. Now selecting a car seat can be a bit of a daunting experience. There are countless varieties, brands, fabrics, features, and terminologies. So, given the cost of some car seats we wanted to make sure we were going to get one that lasted as long as we needed it too. That made it easy to eliminate any car seat that didn’t support a toddler over a certain weight. I was familiar with the Britax line and the positive reviews their products have received. So we decided to go with the Britax Boulevard 70 car seat for our needs. Before I talk about the safety features, the 70lb weight limit made me comfortable knowing that this would be the last car seat we would have to buy.
With regard to the features the Britax line is impressive. Between side impact protection, a harness you can’t install incorrectly, the ability to recline the seat, sturdy LATCH connections, and a tether that can hook into most cars for additional impact protection. The car seat fit into our CRV without much of a hassle. Since I was familiar with hooking in the baby seat base the car seat only took about 15 minutes to secure and have ready for you. When we turned the seat from rear facing to front facing I was glad I had the instructions because you have to move the LATCH connections around.
Those of you that want a selection when it comes to the color of your car seat, don’t worry because this seat comes in nine different options. The cover is removable so it is easy to clean after your little one decides to spill their juice box all over it or introduce their ice cream cone to to the headrest.
Some advice when selecting a car seat…go look at them in the store, check the latches, ask if you can put it in your car to check the fit and ease of use, and once you do purchase it, contact your local police department for installation and will ensure that your have installed it correctly.
Cost on this specific car seat is between $230-$320 depending on where you look, but try it out in the store and buy online for the best price. Also plan ahead because you will need a new car seat and if you wait until the last minute you will usually end up getting something you don’t want because you had to get something right away.