Britax Advocate 70 CS Car Seat

Let me start by saying that this is a review using my own car seat.  Not one that I was given to try by Britax (as lovely as that would have been).  After my car accident roughly 2 years ago safety of my daughter is my number one priority when it comes to finding the right car seat.  Byron and I sat for hours and hours on separate computers before concluding this was the way to go when we were looking to replace Keeley's infant carrier.  Along with safety we were looking for something that would fit in my car in the rear-facing installation.  I drive a Toyota RAV4, you would think almost anything would fit in a small SUV, but you'd be wrong.  So, 6-7 hours of reading reviews, company websites, measurements, US department of transportation websites later... here we are, I present... the Britax Advocate 70 CS Car Seat.

This car seat will last a good long while.  It boasts a generous capacity of 5-40 pounds rear-facing and up to 70 pounds forward facing and a height limit of 49 inches.  This is a large seat, but it doesn't take up nearly the room in your vehicle as so many others.  This seat has all the bells and whistles you could ever want along with all the safety you demand from a car seat.  

The product itself weighs 21.6 pounds, so it's hefty without being heavy.  It features Britax's safe cell technology which compresses in a crash and counteracts the force of the child flying forward in a crash.  There are steel bars to strengthen the seat in a crash, and there's my favorite feature- the versa tether system that tethers the seat on the upper part of the back to really keep the seat in place in a crash.  If you think about it, it only makes sense.  If a seat is only hooked in at the base, that leaves it able to flip forward, injuring your baby against the seat in front of him/her.  Not only is it super safe front to back, it's super safe side to side.  The Advocate has side impact cushion technology that helps to reduce the side impact rash energy by 45%, which is awesome, but it ALSO helps protect a passenger sitting next to the seat!  Two injury savers for the price of one!  These are just a few of the great features that this seat offers for safety, you can read about all of them on www.britaxusa.com 

What I really like about the use of this seat is that it offers Click and Safe technology, which is great, because what good does it do to have a really nice, safe car seat, and have it installed properly, if your child isn't fastened in properly?  The seat takes a lot of the guess work out of that too!  The Click and Safe fastener is what you pull after fastening the buckle, it clicks when it's tight enough, making it super easy to use.

The range of colors Britax offers are subtle and attractive, not loud or "babyish" as some other car seat makers offer.  Here are their selections for this model:

Anna

Cowmooflage

Onyx

Opus Gray

Riviera

Byron's Weigh-In:

I am comforted with the feeling that my daughter is in the safest car seat that we could find.  While the overall size of the seat is a little daunting at first, I was pleasantly surprised at how easily it fit in my wife's car.  The buckling system is simple to harness around her properly using the quick release lever at her feet to give more slack to get around her.  Then it simply tightens to the correct tension using the "Click Safe" feature webbing; one quick pull on the strap, while the shoulders are in the correct spot, and I know that she is properly secured the sound of the features 'click'.  Removing the seat is quick and easy as well, which unfortunately I learned in the middle of the recent blizzard.  We plan on purchasing another Britax for our next child, or as a back-up for my vehicle.  I give this company an excellent rating all the way around.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 (couldn't be happier with this purchase)