As my daughter has grown, we have moved from the
Graco SafeSeat (an infant seat from birth to about 30 pounds or 32" long) to a
Britax Boulevard convertible seat (can be used at birth but we waited until she was closer to outgrowing the SafeSeat). Recently, I purchased two Britax Regent seats--one for each grandmother as they will be ferrying her around much more when baby #2 arrives in early June.
Our Reasons for Choosing the Britax RegentRather than buy 2 more Boulevards, I opted for the Regent because it has higher weight and height limits than the Boulevard but it still offers the 5 point harness (which is the safest way to restrain a child in a vehicle). We wanted a good value for our money and the safest system out there. Of course, every car seat for sale in the U.S. meets minimum safety standards. However, Britax is known for adding additional safety features, offering more comfortable seats (with plush covers and foam padding), and convenient features (like easy harness height adjustment). All of this comes at a high cost, but averaged out over 6 years (the length of time a Britax car seat is said to last per Britax), it's not as scary as it initially sounds.
My 3 year old is about 34 pounds and 36" tall (with a 14" torso height), so she should be able to stay in the Boulevard we have installed in my car and my husband's car for at least another year or two (as its limits are up to 65 pounds forward-facing and about 49" height or maximum 16" torso height). However, the Regent goes up to 80 pounds and about 53" height or 20" in torso height. Thus, it didn't make sense to buy 2 more Boulevards for the grandmothers.
If we're lucky and my daughter hasn't inherited my long torso, she might be able to use the Regent until she's 7 years old and large enough to use the regular car seat belts with fewer risks. If we're not lucky and she outgrows it earlier, we'll still have to get her a booster seat. Regardless, a 7 year old in a booster seat is not as risky as a 4 or 5 year old in a booster seat given the larger size of the child and relative maturity (i.e., ability to listen to directions and not slouch/wiggle/move out of the proper position for the vehicle seat belt to work correctly).
Unparalleled SafetyThe safest seat belt system is a 5 point harness, where the belt runs across both shoulders, across both hips and between the legs. However, many older toddlers (some starting around age 3) are moved to booster seats that rely on the car's built-in 3 point seat belt harness (which only covers one shoulder and the hips). Children, whose growing bodies don't quite fit adult-size seatbelts yet, face greater risk using the car's built-in 3 point harness (especially if they wiggle around/slouch) because the seatbelt might fall in the wrong position (e.g., on soft parts of the body like across the neck and across the stomach instead of against the stronger bony parts like hips and sternum).
Unfortunately, most children outgrow their convertible car seats (which usually feature 5 point harnesses) by age 4 or 5 and parents opt for the booster seat because those meet minimum safety requirements and seem to be most commonly used. Public education campaigns are starting to spread the word about 5 point harnesses, and I think more and more parents will opt for
The Britax Regent is one of only 3 models of car seats that provide a 5 point harness option for older toddlers up to 80 pounds. Compared to the Britax Frontier and the Radian 80, the Briax Regent has the highest harness height slots. This is particularly important for parents with children who have long torsos, as your child will likely outgrow the seat by height before he or she surpasses the 80 pound limit.
I considered the other 2 models, which each offer some advantages over the Regent, but given the great deal I found on the 2 used Regents (2 years old, never been in an accident, used only 6 months, and $100 each), it was an easy decision for us to choose the Regent based on our needs.
Easy to Install, Easy to UseEven at almost 6 months' pregnant at the time, I was able to install this large seat by myself. Thus, I think most parents out there should be able to do it unless you're unable to lift 25 pounds or have a very small arm span (as this is a bit unwieldy). For reference, I'm a little over 5'7" tall so it's possible a very petite parent may not be able to lift this and install it without help from a second person.
The seat itself is very large and unwieldy. At 26 pounds, it measures 21.5" wide and 30" high. It basically consists of one very large black "roto-molded shell" with a foam layer on top of the hard plastic (just along the seat back) and a plush fabric cover over it. The harness system can be removed fairly easily and should only be removed when you need to remove the cover to wash it. Re-installation of the harness was easy as well as you just reverse the steps.
With a seat this large, I wouldn't feel comfortable having a very small child in it. Britax says you can have a child in this Regent starting at 1 year old, 22 pounds and about 11.5" torso height (the lowest shoulder harness height), but the Regent does NOT have a rear-facing option. Thus, I'd expect most experts (i.e., well-informed pediatricians and the child passenger safety technicans) would tell parents not to do so. Rear-facing for as long as possible is the safest for young toddlers due to the stress of whiplash and other issues when forward-facing. Thus, I'd wait until your child can no longer sit in a rear-facing seat due to height/weight limits before moving him or her into the Regent.
There are 4 different options of installation, depending on both the type of vehicle restraint system you use (LATCH vs. seat belt) and the weight of your child. Note that the manual requires you to use the seat belt when your child is over 40 pounds.
While my mother-in-law's Lexus RX300 SUV has LATCH anchors, I couldn't easily find them (they were buried in the seat crevice) so I just used the seatbelt. The differences between the 2 seat belt installation methods and the 2 LATCH installation methods is just the belt path (e.g., the long versus short route in the seat base). I installed the seat in her car in the outboard position so she could still fold down the remainder of the bench seat for storage purposes.
For my parents' Toyota Avalon sedan, I installed it in the center position of the back seat and used the seat belt. This installation was a little trickier because I couldn't get a solid install at first (where the seat doesn't move more than an inch side-to-side or front-to-back). I'd say I spent about 10 minutes pulling on the belt and unlatching the seat belt to re-route it again to get a solid fit.
Since my 3 year old is still under 40 pounds, the manual requires that you use the "long belt" method of installation (whether it's by LATCH or seat belt). The first time I installed the seat in my mother-in-law's car, it took me about 10 minutes of reading (and RE-READING!) the manual trying to figure out how to distinguish between the long and short belt methods. Once in the car, I spent about 10 minutes of trying to install it in the right path, as the seat belt in the Lexus kept locking just short of the buckle so I had to slowly feed it through the belt path while making sure it didn't retract back in. The Versa-Tether is very simple to click onto the built-in anchor behind the vehicle seat and then pull on one end to tighten. An experienced parent can probably install it in just 5 minutes if it fits well in the car.
Still, with that said, I wouldn't want to move this seat back and forth between cars on a regular basis. It's heavy and unwieldy. Moreover, the recline bar that MUST be inserted into the back of the seat adds an additional degree of complexity as it requires you to juggle holding the Regent firmly against the back of the seat (so it doesn't slide down) while you're struggling with the vehicle's seat belt.
There are also some handy videos on-line of how to properly install the Regent, which I only discovered after installation. See this page www.carseatsite.com/videos.htm.
In terms of using it, my daughter climbs in it herself. We then pull the harness into place, buckle, and tighten to ensure that no more than 2 fingers can fit underneath the harness. The Regent also has Britax's HUGS system, which are rubber-y guides on the harness system that are intended to reduce head movement and help ensure proper placement of the chest buckle near your child's armpits.
The only minor issue is that sometimes she ends up sitting on the crotch strap buckle so I have to pull that out from underneath her. I try to hold that out of the way for her when she climbs in, but it isn't always possible. We have the same issue with the Boulevards, too. I'd also like to point out at this time that, unlike our Boulevard, the Regent has two crotch strap positions, so you can always adjust it farther out as your child grows.
Plush Comfort Offers a Throne Away from HomeThis seat has the typical plush Britax cover that is very cushy. Our Regents' covers are both the Onyx pattern, which matches the Boulevard covers we already have. We opted for the Onyx pattern, which combines a plush velvety black fabric with some gray patterned fabric with a smoother finish (almost like nylon). While the dark colors may absorb more heat than a lighter pattern, it certainly helps hide stains! I only wash the covers once a year or so, as needed.
While it says hand wash only, I used the gentle cycle on my front-loader washing machine without any problems. Definitely line dry only, though, as you don't want to risk shrinking the cover.
Given how wide the seat is, your child can sit cross-legged in it (though I'm not sure if that's recommended). I've seen photos of kids sitting in it cross-legged on various message boards touting its comfort. As a very pregnant and somewhat large mom, I don't fit in myself to test its comfort level, but some petite moms are able to do so and were impressed.
Like other Britax seats, the Regent's seat belt harness also has the belly pad and neck pads to prevent pinching your child when you tighten the harness. The used Regents I purchases were missing these, but you can buy replacements for $20. Frankly, my daughter hated the neck pads on her Boulevard anyway and my husband always forgets to pull the belly pad up properly when he straps her in, so I didn't bother ordering two more $20 sets of pads.
Unlike the Britax Boulevard or the Frontier, the Regent does not have the side impact protection wings for your child's head to rest on when s/he falls asleep. However, it still has slightly flared sides so your child's head can rest there when napping in the car seat.
There are also mesh pockets on each side of the seat cover within reach of your child for toys/drinks, but we haven't used those since they're in Grandma's cars (as opposed to Mom and Dad's, where we regularly let her eat and drink water).
No One's Perfect: Minor Drawbacks of the Regent
Unlike our Britax Boulevard (which had a convenient knob to adjust the harness height), the Britax Regent requires that the entire seat be un-installed in order to manually adjust the harness strap height by re-threading it through different harness slots. The harness straps should be above your child's shoulders, so that means you should be checking regularly and will likely have to uninstall the seat a few times. There are four slot heights, so parents needs to choose the one closest to your child's shoulders that is still ABOVE their shoulders. This is to avoid compression of the spine in an accident. Fortunately, changing the harness height is not something parents need to do every month as children don't grow that quickly.
Another drawback, as mentioned earlier, is the fact that the Regent does not have the side impact protection wings. While the Britax Frontier has that option, I found a great deal on the two slightly used Regents I bought so I was ok with giving up that option. Thus, I might have opted for the Frontier if I were paying full retail price (since they seem to be priced equivalently to the Regent) just for this additional safety feature.
The final drawback is that the Regent apparently won't fit in every car. Parents with vans, SUVs, and other large vehicles should be fine, but I strongly suggest you go to a local store and borrow a Regent to see if it fits in your car before purchasing one from a website. I've also read on several message boards that parents who need to fit 3 carseats across cannot do so with a Regent because it's so wide. Since we only plan to have 2 children, the Regent only needs to fit next to either our Boulevard or our Graco SafeSeat. I installed the Regent in the outboard position, as I don't think you can fit another car seat next to it if it's in the center position.
Final ThoughtsWhile this may not be the last car seat I buy for my 3 year old, I feel confident that the purchase is well worth it to keep her in a 5 point harness for as long as possible until she outgrows it by height (either 53" tall or 20" torso height) or by the weight maximum of 80 pounds. Britax says that the Regent will expire 6 years from its manufacturer date, so that gives me until she's about 7 years old (since I purchased used ones that were already 2 years old). That's an exceptionally long period to use one carseat. Even if I had purchased this new (which might anywhere from $200-$280 depending on sales), that might be less than $40 per year if your child succeeds in using it for the full six years.
When it comes time to move up from the Boulevards in our cars, I probably will opt for the Britax Frontier as I've read on several message boards that the Regents are being phased out and that the Frontier will get higher shoulder harness heights (which is the one major advantage of the Regent now). As mentioned earlier, the Frontier has side impact protection wings, longer expiration date (9 years from manufacture date), and conversion to a backless booster. Still, we should be able to get at least 1-2 more years in the Boulevard and the Regents will work great until they expire.
