Britax Advocate 70 CS Click & Safe Convertible Car Seat (Previous Version)

by Britax USA

Product Features

• The Britax Advocate 70 CS convertible car seat is designed for children rear facing from 5 to 40 pounds and forward facing up to 70 pounds
• Safecell technology features safecells designed to compress in a crash, significantly lowering the center of gravity and counteracting the forward rotation of the child seat which normally propels child toward the front seat
• Integrated Steel Bars strengthen the connection to the vehicle and reduce forward flexing of the child seat during a crash
• Side Impact Cushion Technology features patented energy-absorbing cushions on the exterior of the child seat to reduce side impact crash energy by 50%
• True Side Impact Protection offers a head restraint creating an extra layer of energy-absorbing EPP foam

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 19.5 x 18.5 x 26 inches ; 20 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 25.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B003OUWIPI
• UPC: 652182065331
• Item model number: E9LB91K
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,984 in Baby (See Top 100 in Baby)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (117 customer reviews)

Product Description

Color: - Riviera

Amazon.com Product Description

The BRITAX ADVOCATE 70 CS Convertible Car Seat achieves optimum head safety through the combination of BRITAX SafeCell Technology, integrated steel bars, and a Versa-Tether, which work together to minimize head excursion and reduce the risk of head injury during a frontal impact. It also features easy installation, Side Impact Cushion Technology, and the innovative Click and Safe Snug Harness Indicator. The seat fits children in the rear-facing position from 5 to 40 pounds, and children in the forward-facing position starting at one year old and 20 pounds, up to 70 pounds.

ADVOCATE 70 CS (Riviera) Convertible Car Seat At a Glance: Age/Weight Requirements: In rear- facing position, fits children weighing 5 - 40 pounds; in forward-facing position, fits children 1+ years old weighing 20 - 70 pounds Warranty: 1-year limited warranty

Available in (from left to right): Cowmooflage, Onyx, Opus Gray, and Riviera

Safety features include SafeCell Technology and Side Impact Cushion Technology. View larger.

Comfort features include dual recline positions and high-density comfort foam. (Shown here in Opus Gray.) View larger.

BRITAX 360 Degree Protection
The BRITAX ADVOCATE 70 CS features technologies that work to minimize injury to your child during a crash from any direction, including both frontal and side impact crashes - the most frequent types of crashes. These technologies work together with other features on the car seat to minimize injury to your child during a crash by:

keeping your child in the vehicle, diverting crash forces away from your child, helping to slow down your child's body, minimizing movement of your child, and protecting your child's brain and spinal cord.

SafeCell Technology for Advanced Head Safety
Designed with SafeCell Technology, the ADVOCATE 70 CS features SafeCells, which are engineered structures located in the base of the seat designed to compress in the event of a crash. This compression significantly lowers the center of gravity and counteracts the forward rotation of the car seat, delivering unprecedented performance in a crash.

The ADVOCATE 70 CS also features integrated steel bars, which strengthen the connection to the vehicle seat and reduce the forward flexing of the car seat. In addition, the energy-absorbing Versa-Tether anchors the top of the car seat and minimizes forward rotation of the car seat to reduce the crash forces that can reach your child if an accident occurs. These three features work together as a system to provide revolutionary head safety protection for your child.

Side Impact Cushion Technology for Advanced Security
Offering both Side Impact Cushion Technology and True Side Impact Protection, the ADVOCATE 70 CS delivers superior protection if you happen to face an unexpected side-impact crash. Side Impact Cushion Technology is comprised of energy-absorbing cushions on either side of the child seat that reduce side-impact crash energy by 45% by diverting crash forces away from your child and providing extra protection for the adjacent passenger. The side-impact cushions are designed to compress during a side-impact crash, transferring crash energy away from the seat before it reaches your child. The ADVOCATE 70 CS then uses True Side Impact Protection to keep your child's head, neck, and spine properly aligned to limit injury during impact.

Click & Safe Technology for the Safest Fit
When it comes to children's safety in the car, it's vital that they are properly secured, because loose harness straps can leave them vulnerable to injury during a crash. The ADVOCATE 70 CS assists in the process of securing your child with the Click & Safe Snug Harness Indicator feature, which provides an audible sound when you are tightening the harness to indicate when it is in the range of appropriate snugness.

Premium Fit and Comfort Features
Whether children are watching the world go by or snuggling in for a nap, they'll enjoy that the ADVOCATE 70 CS reclines in both the forward and rear positions. And thanks to additional features, which include high-density comfort foam and a plush cover set with a matching belly pad, they'll always ride in style and comfort. A 70-pound weight capacity, two buckle positions, and a tangle-free five-point harness with ten harness height settings provide a snug, custom fit for your growing child. Plus, an optional Infant Positioning Insert (sold separately) allows you to properly and securely fit smaller infants into the car seat.

Ease-of-Use for Safety and Convenience
Packed with perks for parents, the ADVOCATE 70 CS makes it easy to secure your child in the proper position without the guesswork. Premium lower LATCH connectors make for a quick, simple, and tight installation, while the push-button allows you to easily uninstall the connectors. Easy-to-access built-in lock-offs allow you to install the car seat with ease using your vehicle's lap and shoulder belt. The quick-adjust harness system and buckle allow you to reposition the harness height without disassembling the harness straps.

Additionally, an anti-slip contoured base grips and protects the vehicle seat, ensuring a tight installation in all types of vehicles. Convenient holders keep harness straps out of the way when you're placing your child in the seat, and the plush covert set with matching pads removes easily for cleaning without requiring you to disassemble or uninstall the car seat.

The BRITAX ADVOCATE 70 CS Convertible Car Seat is backed by a one-year limited warranty.

What's in the Box
One BRITAX ADVOCATE 70 CS Convertible Car Seat and manual.

From the Manufacturer

The Britax Advocate 70 CS convertible car seat is designed for children rear facing from 5 to 40 pounds and forward facing up to 70 pounds. The advocate 70 CS achieves revolutionary head safety through the use of patent-pending Britax safecell technology, integrated steel bars, and versa-tether that work together to minimize head excursion and reduce the risk of head injury during a frontal impact. The Advocate 70 CS also incorporates energy-managing Side Impact Cushion Technology, reducing incoming side impact crash energy by 50 percent by diverting crash forces away from the child. It is also equipped with Britax True Side Impact Protection, hugs and a click and safe Snug Harness Indicator. It also features a five-point no-rethread harness, a quick-adjust head restraint, multiple buckle and recline adjustments, and a body pillow for comfort and infant positioning. An easy access cover and access to belt paths from the front of the seat make it easier to install.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

251 of 256 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Are the air bladders worth the money? I think yes., January 22, 2011

By 

M. Smith (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Britax Advocate 70 CS Click & Safe Convertible Car Seat (Previous Version), Onyx (Baby Product)

Update 2: As you read below you will see that I think this is a good seat and recommend it for people concerned about safety. That being said I'm hoping Britax engineers will read this and quit building the CS feature into their seats. As I state below the CS feature of the 70 model is much better than the 65 model, however, it's really just a gimmick. It offers ZERO value to the seat other than letting Britax add another feature on the feature list. The click is almost never enough tension (even if you groom the belt and tighten it around your kids legs first). One should always check the tension of the belts with their hand. I'm willing to bet that parents that rely on the click are not properly tightening the straps. The 70 model is still easy to tighten on your kid, but the CS feature needs to go Britax. The 65 model's CS feature/belt path is well below average in terms of usability. I own two Advocate 65's and one Advocate 70 and would pay 50 dollars right now to remove the CS feature on all of them. Don't let this point cause you to buy another seat. This is still a great seat.

Another complaint, and again this is just nit picking as I do honestly recommend this seat: The 65 model had an excellent head rest/upper belt feed-through adjustment drive screw. They replaced this with a pull handle above your kids head in the 70 model claiming it was an upgrade..... Nope. I think this was a cost reduction redesign. You can't adjust the head rest height if your kid is in the seat (unless you push them away from the back of the seat) as any weight at all on the back of the seat renders the mechanism unusable. You could adjust the height on the 65 with your kid in place. Also the drive screw of the 65 has infinite adjustment while the 70 has a set number of positions (not a big deal but still). You only adjust this a handful of times over the life of the seat (unless you are using it with two different size kids back and forth) so it's not a big problem.

The Advocate 70 adds lots of great safety features and it's my seat of choice. For the next model Britax needs to delete any sort of clicking anything and just have a standard cam locking tightening strap. Also go back to the drive screw as implemented on the 65 model but smooth out the belt path like the 70..... That would be a GREAT seat.

******

Update: We have had the Advocate 70 three months now and are still very satisfied with the seat. As initially observed, the CS feature is much more viable in this model over the 65. One of the clips that holds the cover on came off, but it doesn't seem to even have been needed anyway. One thing that has become obvious to me is that the 70 model (as opposed to the 65 model and other manufacturers) has a lot of structure on the side and forward of the child's head. This makes it more difficult to get a kid in and out (while facing backwards the gap between the car seat and advocate seat is smaller), but what it boils down to is your kids face is completely protected on the sides. As I stated further in the review, I want maximum safety and am happy to give up a little convenience and view so the kids side is pretty much completely protected. Our kid seems to be perfectly happy with this seat, but it doesn't offer much side viewing. You can't have your cake and eat it too. For every person there is a happy medium. On one extreme you could give your kid a breathing tube and pack them in a foam sphere four feet in diameter, on the other end is no seat at all. I'm very happy with the Advocate 70's safety vs. convenience trade offs.

******

I had an Advocate 65 prior to buying this 70 model, but the extra EPP foam lining the shell (the advocate 65 has no foam on the side of the shell...... what gives Britax?), collapsing honeycomb base, smoother belt path to smooth out the CS feature, and stronger/more integral mounting bars convinced me to drop another 300 bucks on the 70. Some guys get a new iphone when a new version is available, I get another car seat. The CS feature is junk on the Advocate 65, but it doesn't get in the way as long as you pay attention and get the straps tight enough (I always just ignored the click and kept on pulling/guiding the straps). My wife was getting very irritated with the CS feature on the 65 and said "the new one is ten times better". The 65 had sharp edges where the belts feed through the back of the seat causing the belt tension between the back of the seat and clicker to be high, but not tight enough around your child. The 70 model has smooth curves though the back of the seat so tension in the clicker area equals tension around your kid.... much better.

I've read countless posts by "certified technicians" saying the air bladders on the Advocate are a waste of money. I've read reviews where people say it's "Twice as safe" with the air bladder. My assessment is that many of these people are making statements beyond their understanding. To become a certified CPS technician you take a 4-day class and pay 75 dollars, not an impulse and momentum physics class. Be careful what you believe in online reviews. It's also well known that companies have departments that talk up their products in online reviews and talk down the products of their competition so you really never know.

Consumer Reports is apathetic to the Advocate's air bladders. They state they do not test side impacts and subsequently rate the Advocate lower than the Boulevard (same model without air bladders) because it costs more. What this amounts to is they completely ignore the air bladders potential in their rating, don't test for it, reduce it's overall rating because it costs more and then make a small comment about the fact it may help in the small print. A few years back they did some side impact testing and published a worrisome review about American car seats (European seats were better in their test). They retracted the article for some litigious reason I believe (excessive testing or something.... but just the same the European seats were not flying off the base whether or not it was an excessive test). For this reason Consumer Reports will never get another dollar from me. They are being lazy and litigation weary instead of jumping in head first and creating an excellent side impact test that would reveal the value or lack of value of side impact technologies from all the manufacturers. For now people that just look at the rating dots will never know CS is throwing out safety features from the ratings because they don't test for side impact, which they say result in a large percentage of fatalities (***shaking head***). As of Jan 2011 an "Excellent" safety rating from CS is only referring to frontal testing and side impact appears to have zero weight in their rating system.

Here is my opinion based on an engineering background. Because crash dynamics are complicated, I don't want any of these statements to be taken as a God given fact in the application of every car wreck. I'm taking the time to write this because all the one-line negatories from certified technicians. I'll just state the simple laws of physics that apply in these types of situations so you can decide if you want to spring for the air bladders or not. It is very likely that if the OUTSIDE of the advocate impacts another object in a crash be it a caving door panel or the bumper of a jacked up truck, the air bladder will slow down the rate at which your child's head goes from motion to rest because the air bladder functions just like an air bag in your car (a balloon that is not air tight but allows for forces to be dissipated over a longer time (milliseconds longer). The time it takes for your child's head to go from motion to rest is inversely related to the impact force your child's head will experience. In simpler terms the the slower they slow down, the lower the maximum impact force they will experience. This is why air bags are in all cars now, they slow down how fast you come (measured in small factions of a second) to rest greatly reducing maximum force. Maybe any wreck that these features come into play is unsurvivable I don't know.... It makes me go cross eyed when a certified tech says "the air bladders on the advocate don't do anything". I'm not certain they are as valuable as Britax says they are, but geeeezzz. Ask yourself this: If you are wearing a hockey mask (similar to your child's seat shell) and your greatest enemy gets one free swing at your face with an Aluminum baseball bat, would you or would you not opt to place an air bag on the front of your hockey mask?

If your seat is in the center of the car and nothing impacts the air bladder, then it won't help. An example would be a side crash in which the seat was mounted in the middle and the car did not crush and nothing penetrated the interior of the car. In this scenario the base of the seat would hold the upper part of the seat (via the car belt/latch) in place while your child hits the inside reducing their velocity and momentum to zero. In this situation the air bladder does not help.

What my assumptions lead me to believe is that if you are putting your seat right next to the vehicle's door with a good chance of something hitting the side of the seat (or another person), or the seat pivoting and slamming on the interior door panel in a side impact or roll, then the chances the air bladders will be advantageous are high, where as if your seat will be in the center there is less of a chance (but not zero) this feature will lend a helping hand in an accident. I have a minivan with the seat mounted in the middle and I still believe strongly in my extra investment for the air bladders based on the impact and momentum laws of physics and the potential of objects penetrating the... Read more ›

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth Every Penny..., November 20, 2010

By 

Marisa Suarez-Stearns (SE) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Britax Advocate 70 CS Click & Safe Convertible Car Seat (Previous Version), Cowmooflage (Baby Product)

If you're not familiar with Britax, I believe they are the BEST car seats you can spend your money on. We own a Marathon for our very long 3.5 year old and now that our also very long 10 month old had outgrown her infant carrier, I knew what brand to turn to. Since last having a child, Britax has added some new safety features to their already super safe car seats. :)! I won't bore you with the logistics of why this is such a safe car seat, you can watch videos and read the research on Britax's website for yourself (I know I did ENDLESS research as I imagine you're doing right now :)). I can tell you that once out of the box, I couldn't believe how the shell (which is now reinforced with steel bars) curved around and literally surrounded where your child sits. I installed pretty quickly rear facing (with seat belt and tether). If you've done this before, it's not different, lock off and pull tight. If you're unfamiliar with Britax, you can watch a quick video and do it easily. Once installed, I put my 10 month old in and noticed immediately how supported her head was, and overall, how her whole body was being cradled. The high density comfort foam and super soft cowmooflage cover also contributed to the whole cradling effect of the seat. The quick adjust harness is INCREDIBLE. I repeat, INCREDIBLE. The mechanism (a wide button) is smooth and easy to pull up or push down. No more uninstalling the car seat and dismantling the whole thing to adjust straps to the perfect height. I am so glad I sprang for this car seat, I went back and forth between the Boulevard and the Advocate but the extra $40ish you'll spend on the side impact technology (the "cushions" on the side of the car seat) is well worth it. In our case, we have an older car with no rear side air bags and I have 2 kids riding outboard (2 car seats behind the driver and passenger seats). I can really see how this would absorb some of the impact in the event of a crash. This seat is a tank that is super padded, will cradle your child (and installed correctly) will keep your child safe. I am in love with the Advocate 70 CS. In this case, you truly get what you pay for. It's super safe, so plush and comfortable and easy to use. It's the most expensive thing I've ever purchased for my children but well worth it. Highly recommended.

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best car seat available., August 20, 2010

By 

B. George (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Britax Advocate 70 CS Click & Safe Convertible Car Seat (Previous Version), Riviera (Baby Product)

When I needed to buy a convertible car seat for my older son, I bought a Britax Boulevard. I felt this was the best car seat available at that time. We've had it for a little over two years and it has been a great seat, although we haven't had to test it in an accident, luckily. Compared to all other seats, I always thought the Boulevard was the best quality. However, now that my younger son is large enough to move into a convertible seat, I ordered him the Britax Advocate 70 CS, as this appeared to be the best seat available at this time. Well, it arrived yesterday and I am extremely impressed. The quality is clearly a few notches above the Boulevard. Not only is the fabric superior, but it seems more sturdy and solid. It is wider, though, due to the side impact protection. It seems even safer, too. So, despite the Boulevard being an excellent seat, I just order another Advocate 70 for my older son. I want him to be in the safety seat available, and I am confidant that this is it.

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