Customer Reviews

Britax Advocate 65 CS Click & Safe Convertible Car Seat, Onyx

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The Britax Advocate CS appears similar to the Boulevard model but with the Side Impact Cushion Technology. The CS stands for Click & Safe Harness Adjuster, which tries to notify you of the proper "snugness" of the harness with audible clicks. What most Amazon readers probably want to know is, is this car seat worth the premium and how is it different from the other Britax models? Hopefully this review will help you make the best decision for you, but I cannot provide a definitive answer to the question of whether it is worth the premium. It is to my family.

My Configuration:

2002 Toyota 4Runner

Rear Facing

Shoulder Belt Install

PROS:

- Britax safety history

- Side Impact Protection (including Side Impact Cushion Technology)

- Fantastic weight range (5-35lbs rear facing) (20-65 forward facing)

- Comfortable and super soft cover with shoulder pads, belly pads, and infant body pillow

- Push-button LATCH connectors

- Versa-tether allows tethering even if your vehicle does not have built-in tether anchors

- Easy harness adjustment without rethreading

- Built-in Lockoffs

- Easy to recline

- Expires 6 years after manufacturing date

- Britax website provides manuals and video installation guides

CONS:

- Premium price

- Enormous size may not fit smaller vehicles well

- No ball/bubble recline level indicator

- Serial number difficult to locate

The Advocate CS is one of 4 high-capacity convertible car seats that Britax currently sells. The others are the Britax Marathon, Britax Decathlon, and Britax Boulevard. The Marathon and Boulevard are also sold with CS (Click & Safe). From what I can tell, the Marathon and the Decathlon have smaller bases for installation in smaller vehicles. The Decathlon has an infant body pillow and multiple buckle positions, but otherwise, it is similar to the Marathon, including height and weight ratings. The Boulevard and Advocate CS are very large yet still have the same child size ratings, and include what they call True Side Impact Protection. The Advocate CS is their most advanced, and expensive convertible, because it adds Side Impact Cushion Technology.

The Advocate CS is one of three Britax car seats that we actually own. We started with a Boulevard 2 years ago and recently got a Marathon CS and the Advocate CS. We installed the Advocate CS in our Toyota 4Runner in a rear facing position for our 9 month old. The Advocate CS is HUGE but fit in our vehicle pretty well. The front seat can still be far back enough to be comfortable for adult passengers to ride in. The Advocate CS may not have fit in our VW Jetta as well. We have the Britax Boulevard installed in the adjacent seat to the Advocate CS and the Advocate CS dwarfs it. The Side Impact Cushions make the back of the seat quite a bit wider, but ultimately safer.

The shoulder strap installation took about 15-20 minutes, even after having watched the installation video and reading the manual before installing. I recommend that new owners do the same. Because of the sheer size of the Advocate CS, it was difficult for one person to thread the belt through, buckle it, and tighten it. I didn't have a lot of interior room to work with, but maybe it would be easier in a mini-van. The built-in lockoffs were a bonus and much easier than having to install a separate one. I took the seat to our local police station for a car seat check and they gave it their blessing.

Our baby seems to like the Advocate CS and sits comfortably in the seat. One mistake I made at first was putting the lap belt OVER the buckle strap, under the cover. That made the buckle considerably shorter and as a result, uncomfortably tight. So be sure if you are using a shoulder belt, to put it UNDER the buckle strap. The shoulder pads, belly pads, and infant body pillow help make it more comfortable for our baby. However, the police officer recommended that we remove any pads on the actual harness because they can hinder getting the correct harness tightness. The Click & Safe system is supposed to help alert you when the correct snugness has been reached. At the point it would click, I felt it should be tighter but it was helpful to at least know I was near the correct tightness.

The service life for Britax car seats is 6 years from the manufacturing date. I had to look this up on their website, which has a lot of useful information including installation videos and user guides. It would be nice to have the expiration date located right on the serial number sticker. Until recently, I wasn't aware that car seats even had an expiration date. The serial number can be hard to find on the car seat itself so be sure to make a copy of your registration card, which has all of the information on it.

For me, there are only two challenges to the Advocate CS. The first is the enormous size. It would be easier to install with two people because of the size and it may not fit smaller vehicles as easily. You might be better off selecting one of Britax's other, smaller car seats. The second, is the price premium. We could have bought two of the Consumer Reports Best Buy recommended Evenflo models and extra toys or accessories for the price of one Advocate CS. We decided on the Britax anyways because of the number of safety features available along with our previous experience with Britax. The fact that the car seat technicians at the police station and AAA both said that they chose Britax car seats for their children, only reinforced our decision.

We are very happy with the Advocate CS. We feel confident that our child will be safe and comfortable in the Advocate CS and that it will easily last the full 6 years of service life. It is not the best value available, but that wasn't our number one priority. It probably has the most and advanced safety features of any car seat available in North America. I can only justify the cost for ourselves and I certainly would not fault anyone for going with better value alternatives.

This is actually the third model of Britax car seat I've owned and reviewed. Previous to the Advocate CS, I had a brief period with the Britax Decathlon before buying a second Britax Boulevard.

The Advocate CS is very, very similar to the Boulevard in just about every regard.

From the very top, the headrest is easily moved up and down by turning a knob on the side of the seat. Once this is installed, you probably won't have to take it out of your car, other than turning it from rear-facing to front-facing, and when your child is finally too big for it. Having dealt with the "put three straps on this weird clip thing" seats, you will never, EVER want to go back after you've used the adjustment knob.

The padding is every bit as good as what you'd find on a Boulevard (and a step up from the lower-tier models, in my opinion). The fabric is made very well made and has a somewhat dense feel to it, but at the same time, it breathes well, so your child won't get too hot in warmer temperatures.

The tether system is basically unchanged from the Boulevard. There are nice, soft color-matched shoulder pads, followed by a non-slip chest harness that somehow manages to stay in place without "sticking" to your child. The Click & Safe adjustment strap is of somewhat questionable value to me. When you tug the bottom strap to tighten the harness, you hear a noise almost like a ratchet when it's snug enough. That's great if you're not used to putting your child in a seat, but in my experience, finding the proper snugness isn't very difficult. For me, the clicking was consistent with the tightness I would have used anyway. Obviously, this is something that's going to vary by the individual (and whoever else may be using their seat). Is it a good feature? Absolutely. Would I opt for a less expensive non-CS version of the Advocate (vis a vis the Boulevard and Boulevard CS)? More likely than not.

Actually installing the seat is pretty straightforward. Just like the Boulevard, the LATCH straps are mounted to an independent steel bar. Much like the headrest, this is an excellent feature that you will instantly miss if you ever have to use a child seat that isn't designed this way. Installation for experienced parents takes about two minutes. New parents... I'd give it five. Ten if you count having someone come and make sure you did it right. (No shame. I used to be guilty of this myself.) The top LATCH connector is similarly easy, and as with the Boulevard, the Advocate comes with a nice pouch for storing the tether and / or slack from it.

While the Boulevard is a relatively large child seat, the Advocate CS is a monstrosity. If you look closely at the picture, the off-white hump on the back is actually one of the two plastic side impact "wings" in addition to the cushion wings on the seat. While I like that Britax seems to be taking a "more is more" approach to impact protection, those plastic wings are not only big, they're not even sort of color-matched.

"Color matched? WHY DO YOU CARE ABOUT THAT? YOU ARE AN AWFUL PARENT! SHAME ON YOU!" Okay, let's level with each other here. We're talking about an unusually expensive child seat with replaceable fabric covers that cost nearly as much as buying a whole new child seat from another company. Yes, you're paying for safety, but you're also paying for a certain amount of cachet. So, when you buy yourself an Onyx or Opus Gray Advocate CS expecting it to match your black interior, understand that you're going to have huge white plastic wings, too.

More importantly than color though, is the real value of the side wings -- which, like so many other things, depends on your personal situation. The wings are designed for two main purposes: 1) Additional protection of your child, in the event a side impact is severe enough to cause the interior of your car to make physical contact with the seat and 2) Protection for rear passengers who may be thrown or pushed against the seat in the event of an impact.

For my personal situation, we have one child, whose seat is positioned in the center of the rear seat. There's nobody else back there to be hurt by the child seat, and if an impact is severe enough for the interior to make contact with the seat, the accident would almost certainly be fatal for all passengers, regardless. On the other hand... If I regularly had passengers who sat in the back seat such that there was someone else who could potentially be injured, and I had to put the seat near one of the side doors, I would not hesitate to buy the Advocate precisely for the added protection. Seriously. When you're looking at this much money for a child seat, what's an extra $40?

So... would I recommend it? To many people, without question. Sure, some things border on gimmicky, but I can't think of a safer seat you can buy. That said, if money's a concern, if you don't have other back seat passengers, or if you're concerned about appearance almost as much as safety, I really think the Boulevard may be a better choice. If you have your heart set on Click & Safe, maybe the Boulevard CS. If you took off the side plastic wings from the Advocate CS, you'd have a Boulevard CS. At the end of the day, all three are incredibly well-built seats that are packed with features, and better than "comfortable" for your child.

My son is eight months old and was ready to move out of his starter seat into something bigger. I wanted something that we could, of course, still use rear facing until he was at least a year old, then use forward facing until we no longer needed a car seat.

I also wanted the top notch in safety that I could buy. As I researched this purchase, I learned more and more about the deadly effects of side impact collisions and how limited most children's car seats are in terms of protection from this type of event. Fortunately, Britax has done their homework and this seat builds on the pioneering work they've already done with side impact protection on the Boulveard. This seat has two huge crash energy absorption pads on either side to limit damage and protect kids from smashing their face into glass in a side collision.

The seat also has a tether feature that I've attached to my overhead tether connectors in the back of my Infiniti FX35 and this monster is going absolutely nowhere.

Installation was a snap, took me about fifteen minutes. Just remember to put it in full recline before installing it if you're installing it rear facing.

While the safety is clearly the key rationale for spending this money, I also feel good knowing my little guy is comfy cozy in what has to be one of the plushest car seats ever made. This thing is the kid version of a Heavenly Bed.

While the side panels certainly make it larger than the Boulevard, it is easily manageable for taking on airplane trips if you're going on vacation. We took it with us to St. Croix and had no problems. However, I do feel it is big enough that it's not something you're going to want to remove from your car on a daily basis.

Feel good knowing you purchased the safest seat money can buy and your baby won't mind the fact that he's sleeping in a giant marshmallow!

Comparing this rear facing until 35lbs car seat to others available in the Britax USA line, the Advocate seems to be the best available.

The most obvious change beyond the Boulevard, is the air bag like cushions affixed to either side of the head area.

Less obvious differences are: weight, the Decathlon weighs only 15.5 lbs, the much loved Marathon only weighs 16.5 lbs, the Boulevard weighs 19lbs, and finally the Advocate weighs a hefty 21 lbs; the depth/width measurements of the wider and deeper Decathlon are 9.5/11.5, the Marathon, Boulevard, and Advocate are all 9/11 inches; seating compartment height, the Decathlon is tallest, only by a fraction of an inch, the Marathon is the shortest by 1/4 inch; the Advocate and the Boulevard offer the most shoulder space, greater than 1.5" difference.

However, after researching car seats, I am profoundly sorry to say, this *NEW(!)* car seat is still not as safe as those available in Sweden and in the UK which can cost less than half the list price of an Advocate. Let me rephrase this comment, Britax UK/Britax Sweden car seats are safer for children passengers, than Britax USA car seats, and they're ALSO less expensive on average.

According to most recent research the most vulnerable areas of car crashes are the solidity of the base, and side impact. However, it is also important to note rear facing children are 5 times more safe than forward facing kids in a head-on collision. Safety experts say children's skeletons and muscles aren't able to cope with the forces in a head-on collision until they are four years old, which is why in Sweden, children are rear-facing until they weigh 55lbs.

This appears to be an unfortunate corporate decision, rather than a decision based on regulation. US regulations state seats must meet a certain threshold to be deemed "safe", UK/Swedish seats exceed the threshold. Clearly deciding to sell less safe seats in the USA was not based on cost or market: it's less expensive to manufacture in the USA than in the UK or Sweden, free trade enables duty free importing, the US market supports a product line of seats which already exceed the cost of UK seats.

What kind of company would make a decision to sell less safe car seats for substantially more money, to parents of American children, because there is a lower threshold of regulation in which to meet?

For skeptical parents, please visit the Britax.co.uk website to compare side-by-side photos of (larger & more advanced) car seat bases, and the width and depth of side cushions on: the Eclipse, First Class plus, Evolve 1-2-3, the Baby Safe line, and all the others for that matter. Then visit the Britax.se site, to examine rear facing until 55lbs, Britax MultiTech, Britax Hi-Way, Britax Two-Way.

I am disappointed that this appears to be the best seat available to US children, and look forward to one day buying a much better American made product.

Most, if not all of us would prefer safe to sleek any day.

(Apparently carseat.se is one vender who would sell to english speaking American buyers. But I'm not sure if there is a premium for doing so!)

To start off let me say I have been a faithful Britax fan after trying out various other brands with my older one.

This is absolutely the best built, safest car seat out there for your baby, that said, it does not work for all babies.

Only for skinny ones. I have fraternal twins, both normal sized, one is built slim and long, coming in at the 50% on

wt for ht etc, while the other one is at the 85th% or so in wt for ht. Neither is off the charts or anything

Anyway, the chubbier one, outgrew his 22lb companion seat at close to 8 mo, so I purchased two of these seats to

switch both over to rear facing since I could no longer use the snap n go stroller and appreciated that unlike the

convertible roundabout available 10 yrs ago for my oldest, this one could keep him protected for a long while.

Had to buy it sight unseen since it wasn't available locally.

The biggest con for me on this seat but it is a deal breaker -- The crotch strap is completely under my chubby little ones butt

even with the infant body pillow taken out. At least it works for my skinnier child. I called Britax, and they were totally unhelpful,

they do not make a longer crotch strap for me to purchase or anything.

One more con - This is a giant seat in terms of width. I have two lexus trucks the RX and the LX. Even on the LX, with

two of these side by side, I cannot seat someone in the third seat in the middle row. In the RX, you cannot even install

in the middle position and have two people sit comfortably on the sides in the back row. So the side impact protection comes

at a huge cost.

I didn't really want to go for a minivan, so I am using this britax towards the window, and have purchased

two more of this car seat Sunshine Kids New Radian 80 Convertible Car Seat - SuperCool for the middle position.

No side impact protection, but I decided that was ok for a middle seat. The radian also has a top tether for

super safe installation. Only issue is that it is a tall seat,(quite a few inches taller than the Britax)

so the person in the front seat will be uncomfortable. The skinny radian permits a third person to sit in the middle or

back row of my LX and RX respectively.

To summarize, pick the Britax if you need only one seat, don't need a full back seat of seating, and can install as a window side seat

in a normal size car. And absolutely only for a skinny baby.

The Radian, you can buy if you want 3 in a row say, or all functioning seats in the back row. But for rear facing prepare to be

very cramped in front if its in anything but center position.

I used to have a Britax Boulevard until my car was broken into and my insurance damaged that car seat. I thought about getting another Boulevard but opted to upgrade to the Advocate. The only difference is this: SIDE IMPACT. I got the Onyx seat but the Side Impact things are SOOOOOOO UGLY! they're these gray end caps on the seat. It's not that obvious from the photos but in person, they're there. Other than that, it really looks/feels/installs just like the Boulevard.

This seat is practically the same as the Boulevard and that includes installation. ho hum.

INSTALLATION:

I wish I had done more research (not on the car seat) but the actual installation of the car seat. When we opened the box, I was surprised that 1 - the box was a square (unlike the Boulevard) - AND there wasn't any items inside as a filler for the seat itself. We have a Subaru Outback Station Wagon. Thinking that it was a family car, a car seat wouldn't have been an issue. Think again. There are only tethers in the roof (near the hatch). There are no tethers in the floor. (When we had the Boulevard, we were rear facing and that was a pain) - now that our seat is Forward Facing, It's not as bad. It does take up some width of the backseat =(

LATCH system - easy to install. make sure to pull the straps TIGHT after install. Seat will wobble a bit but once you tether it down (or up) it's very secure. If you do tether it up, make sure the seat is still within the 30-45 degree requirement. It makes it hard to keep the seat secure AND at those degrees. When we tethered it up, it looked like the seat was being pulled upright. My car has squishy seats.

Recline: If installing rear facing, MAKE SURE TO RECLINE THE SEAT before installing the LATCH system. It's very hard to reach once your seat is latched.

Background Info: My son is now 16 months old. Sitting up on his own. 20lbs, 29" tall

SEAT:

Straps: REALLY SOFT!! Harness is easy to use and unclip to get our baby out. Drawback is that the rubber part of the strap is too tall (it's longer than my son's torso (I had the same complaint when he was 6 months). It irritates him and doesn't seem comfortable. Britax has a lot of extra padding to make the straps bearable, there's a padded cushion that is useful to make sure the strap doesn't dig into his neck. There is also another pad behind the buckle so it doesn't push onto his bits and his belly.

Padding: Infant inserts removes easily so as my son gets bigger, we can take the cushion off. There's a way to fold the flaps/sides in so it gives a snugger fit for smaller babies. Looks like there will be plenty of room to grow.

Headrest: Easily moves up and down. Wish the side flaps weren't so stiff. Seems like it will work with his large head.

Style: Good looking. Fabric is soft and feels nice. Color combination is attractive. Looks like a "big boy" seat and blends in well with my car. It's nice that this seat has a pattern vs the Boulevard which was just a color scheme.

Overall: The seat is pretty light. I carried it without a problem (Surprising b/c the box is the size of a small playhouse). It looks great in my car. Took a bit of fussing but well worth it. It's great that the seat sits a little higher so my son can look out the window. He could see some stuff in his infant carrier but not really that great. I feel very confident and comfortable that my son is in a secured and well rated seat. (I wish that car seats came with it's own carrier bag b/c I hate having to find one that fits - for the $ that these seats are, I'd think that's a fair request).

I purchased this seat about 2 weeks ago and have I absolutely love it. This is the third Britax that I have purchased, my older boys are in Regents and I have been happy with all of them. Britax seats are so easy to install correctly, once they are in they don't move an inch. This seat is totally worth the money. I have wasted money on cheaper other seats and ended up spending the money and buying a Britax. save yourself they hassle and buy a Britax first.

We had issues with this seat rear and front facing. We bought it because it was the top of the line, had additional safety features and seemed most comfortable. But, the belt tightening system is badly designed and is really difficult to use.

We bought the first one and installed it rear facing. We couldn't tighten it well partly because the angle is wrong for rear facing and partly because there is so much resistance when tightening. My husband and I took turns trying to tighten and got friction burns in the process. Also, it has the additional click and safe (CS) system and we couldn't hear a clicking. So, we figured we got a lemon and exchanged it.

The next one we had did click. However, it clicked way too soon when the belt was really loose and it was still so hard to tighten. Also, we had to crank the height level to it's highest to make sure the straps were level to the ground (advised in the booklet). Our son is only 13 months, what would we have done 6 months later?

We returned this and bought the Roundabout 50, a much simpler model that has has a great track record. What a relief.

The 4 & 3/4:

I bought this car seat, like many other people, because it is top of the line here in the states. I am a very frugal person, so dropping $200 something on a car seat is very uncharacteristic of me. However, there are things you skimp on: hand me down clothes, second had toys, etc. The safety of my child just wasn't one of those things. This car seat is miles ahead of the infant carrier car seat we had when my daughter was first born. Being frugal, before my daughter was born, I bought infant carrier car seat because it came with a stroller it connected with. My daughter out grew the weight & height requirement by the time she turned 10 months old. For what I spent on that car seat, vs what I spend on the Britax and how long it will last her, I feel like I got ripped off on the earlier car seat. Not only did she out grow it quickly, but it was complicated to snap her in, and although I had it latched down and had the seat belt through it and ratcheted tight, it still moved when I went over bumps.

Going from that to our now installed Britax was night and day. It is so easy to get her in and out of this, there are even little velcro patches on the sides that you can stick the straps to to get her in and out easier. The Clicking system is great for knowing when it's just snug enough, I find that it takes between 2-3 clicks to have it snug enough, but it's reassuring to hear the clicks (it's also great for her grandparents). My daughter is still rear facing and I really like that it has a rebound strap that connects to the floor. I also like that she will be able to remain rear facing until she is 35 pounds, all the safer for her. I don't think I will ever buy anything but Britax again.

The 1/4 star left off:

(Note: I don't list expenses as a con, because I feel like I have gotten what I paid for)

1.) It was difficult to install in the rear facing position. We had a car seat check done (I would HIGHLY recommend this, these people put in a lot of hours to learn how to keep our kids strapped in safe and properly, and their services are free! It's worth 30 minutes out of your Saturday), and we had done it mostly right, but even the car seat tech had a bit hard time getting it into just the right position (She also raved about the Britax car seat and told us advantages about it we were unaware of).

2.) The seat - although it doesn't move a smidgen left to right (love that) - actually slips down towards the back of the seat of the car making my daughter more reclined back (I hope that made sense). I think this is because of the angle of our leather seats. Kind of annoying, but quick and easy to scooch it back into place.

3.) This thing is big. And takes up A LOT of room. I can't see this fitting in a smaller car rear facing. It just barely fits rear facing in our Sequoia in the center spot (I know it wouldn't fit behind the seats with them pushed all the way back - my hubby and I are both 6 ft+, so that's a bit of a downer if we had to have her on the side).For that reason, and the difficulty of installing it rear facing initially (I think I could do it okay again on my own, I just don't want to mess with it), I have never taken this car seat out of the car, instead I always offer to drive. Because again A) it's a little tricky to install (mostly because it is so big) and B) It is SO BIG :).

That being said, I really love this car seat and feel so good about having made this purchase and have recommend it to friends and family. I love knowing that my little one is safe, secure, and pretty darn cozy in her car seat.

I have 2 different Britax seats and I love and hate both of them for the same reasons. They are safe. They are soft. They sit higher than most car seats, which my kids love, because they can see further. They are easy to adjust for height, and they have a broad weight range which can save you buying multiple car seats as your child ages (and having to store them for later). These seats don't "expire" for a full 6 years, at which time you will still only be able to use it mostly for one child, because if you have another in that time, you'll need a different seat for them. However, in those 6 years you may have purchased 3-4 other seats for each stage of weight/development.

The 3 outstanding negatives to me are these...

The thing is HUGE and HEAVY. It is a pain in the derrier to transfer from one vehicle to another.

There is no LAP BAR for smaller children. This is a drawback in my opinion because it's a good place to strap toys to keep little ones occupied. My solution was to buy a lap bench/tray, but the seat is so high that most of the trays don't work adequately without falling off.

The click/lock feature isn't all that great. Quite frankly, the click isn't that loud. I certainly wouldn't have noticed it if it weren't touted heavily on the packaging.

The price. If I hadn't received these as a "gif" from Amazon, I wouldn't have seriously considered the price, especially after having already purchased several other seats.

The outstanding positives are...

Safety and comfort, hands down. These are very cushy and the head supports actually support a childs' head. No more dangling necks in the back seat.

Height. My kids love that they can see out all the car windows in these seats, espcially in the van.

The weight range adaptability. I wish I had gotten these BEFORE I bought all those other seats, but now I can get rid of the rest instead of shuffling them around in the storage area.

No threading of the seat belt. It adjusts quite simply with a turn dial, which is awesome.

No movement. These truly stay in place, even without the tether strap. They are the most secure of all the seats I have used from multiple brands.

Overall, if you are fortunate enough to come across this seat as your first purchase, it is well worth the money that you will save on multiple seats, and the hassle. If your main concern is safety, it is also a good investment. If you already have good seats and this is a budget burden, you're on your own.