Britax Boulevard...an excellent choice
Pros:
easy-to-use, comfortable, safe
Cons:
not neccesarily a good fit for small newborns
The Bottom Line:
Once your child is approximate three months old, you cannot do better for a convertible seat than the Britax Boulevard.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
My elder son rides in a Britax Wizard. The seat had been discontinued when my daughter was born, so I purchased its reincarnation, the Britax Boulevard.
As both a mother of three, and a Child Passenger Safety Technician, I cannot find enough good things to say about this seat.
1. Comfort: With a plush, soft seat cover, padding in the behind, back, and head, and an easy-chair style recline, this seat could not possibly be more comfortable for any child.
2. Ease of installation: I have used this seat in the following vehicles: Hyundai Santa Fe, Dodge Stratus, Ford Freestar, Toyota Rav4, Nissan Quest, Nissan Altima, Ford Escort, Toyota Sienna and Hyundai Elantra. Each and every time, the installation, both forward facing and rearfacing, has taken under 1 minute and was rock-solid. The separate LATCH bars allow tightening of the lower anchors independently when installing with LATCH, which is a great deal easier than trying to tighten a single strap. The internal lockoffs make installing with a seatbelt a breeze. No locking clips needed for older cars!
3. Ease of Use: The harness uses a pull-and-stop, pull-and-stop adjusting feature in the rear-facing mode, which takes some getting used to if you accustomed to a single pull such as is common with a Graco infant seat. In the forward facing mode the seat adjusts quickly and easy with minimal force on the adjuster strap. Velcro tabs on the side of the seat allow the harness to remain in an 'opened' position when you are putting the child in the seat, which prevents having to dig the harness out from under the child. The infinitely adjustable headrest allows adjustments to the harness without ever rethreading it, and you can actually adjust the harness height while the seat is installed in the car and the child is sitting in the seat. The cover is removable for washing, and the harness is removable and replaceable in case of severe damage (such as vomit).
The one drawback for this convertible is that it isn't a good choice for newborns (nor is any Britax seat). The lowest position for the harness is 10 inches from the seat. No newborn has a 10 inch torso or anything like it, and the seat simply is not a good fit, especially when considering the harness height should be at or below the shoulders of a rearfacing child.
3. Safety Features: Besides the standard five point harness and EPS foam (energy absorbing foam much like you find on the inside of bicycle helmets), this seat has added features as the pinnacle of the Britax collection. The 'headrests' feature added head support and EPS foam, protecting the head and neck especially in a side impact collision. The rear-facing top tether option (currently only available in Britax and Sunshine Kids' seats), prevents cocooning, allows the child to ride down the forces of an impact with the vehicle, offers additional stability to the installation, potentially reduces head excursion in a side impact, and allows adjustments to the angle of installation for younger versus older rearfacing children. While unscientific, it is clear when you hold the carseat that the plastic is of much higher and denser quality than that of a typical Graco or Evenflo seat.
This seat rearfaces to 33 lbs and forward faces to 65 lbs with a 16.5 inch maximum torso height. This allows rearfacing into the second, and sometimes the third and fourth year (which is by FAR safer than turning forward facing at a year and 20 lbs) and will keep the child harnessed til at LEAST 4 years and 40 lbs, likely older and heavier, before it's necessary to buy a belt positioning booster.
