Customer Reviews

Britax Companion Infant Car Seat, Black/Tan

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

If you have a tall family, the Britax infant carseat is for you. It allows for a baby height of 30 inches. The popular Graco only goes to 26 inches and our son outgrew that carseat at 10 weeks. You will find the Britax to be heavier, the clasp is harder to use, and it doesn't give you a loud, reassuring CLICK when you hook it to its base, but at least you will be able to use it for many months!

I love this car seat. After researching many different seats I decided to go with Britax after hearing so many great things. The seat is very comfortable for my daughter, every time we go out she is asleep in her seat within minutes. There is a head support with True Side Impact Protection in case of an accident, which is very reassuring to me. The material is very nice and easily washable. The straps on the five point harness are easy to adjust with just the push of a button and the pull of a strap. You can loosen or tighten the straps with the baby already in the seat. The base is set up for a car with LATCH but can also be used with a seat belt. When the seat is hooked onto the base, there is a loud click to let me know that she is locked in unlike the other reviewer mentioned. The seat is rather heavy. However, safety is more important to me than how much a seat weighs. This is one of the best seats on the market, a little pricey but what price would you put on your child's safety? My next car seat will be a Britax!

Great rugged infant car seat, but it does have a few problems. It's really heavy if you ever use the seat outside of the car. The little head TSIP (true side impace protection) piece keeps falling down, last of all, adjusting the handle is difficult as the latches on each side really require a good pull. If you have large access car doors and plan to leave the seat in your car attached to the base, it's a great safe seat.

I used britax seats with my older son, and even though he was big and
hit the 20lb limit on that 8 yr old version at 10 1/2 weeks, I loved its ease of use, ease of washing the covers removing and adjusting straps etc. This new version with side impact protection SIP and the snap in base is even nicer!

Cons --
* the SIP insert tends to slide out of place or fall over, so you have to jiggle it up and then slide baby in, not always easy with twins especially:-)
* On the heavier side -- but thats the price for safety.
* Does not go to 30 lb like the chicco and graco.
* need to purchase and install a foam insert for 4 to 7 lb babies an extra cost item, and time issue too, since you need to buy from their web site. should really be included in the packaging at the store with instructions. my twins were both in the 6 lb range at birth, and being exclusively breastfed ended up being 5 lb something while heading home, luckily, I had ordered and installed these inserts, since without them, their heads would probably be falling forward when the seat is installed correctly. I removed it actually when they were 8 lb something betw 3 and 4 weeks. The foam insert keeps them much more reclined than the other seats. thats another reason to pick this seat for me since with twins due, i had a reasonable expectation of low birth weight.


* the shoulder strap is actually already in the 2nd/middle position since I took out the insert, so hope the seat fits thro their growth. The crotch strap is still in the inside position, even with their winter buntings, so I think that should work out ok with lighter summer and fall clothes here in CA

* the included strap cover for their necks is totally useless since its impossible to slide that comfortably into the side of the SIP which is pretty snug fitting, and my twins are in the 5th to 15th percentile only!.

Pros --
* feels totally snug, comfy and secure for my twins, they were totally secure in it, and the rebound bar is a safety feature not found in the chicco or graco 30 lb seats which are the only real competition. The primo viaggio is much more bulky and less easy to use.

* the SIP keeps their head totally snug!
* totally takes 5 minutes to rethread straps, remove covers etc. any time you feel like washing them, or adjusting the fit. mine came thro the wash really well, but wouldnt throw in the dryer, better to drip dry.

* the light chest clip is not a heavy burden on the delicate newborn, and who wants to mess with a puzzle piece etc with a screaming infant!

* the handle is a breeze to move out of the way or into carry position if you hold it with 4 fingers on the grey button, and thumb on seat. handle moves really easily into position though you do need two hands to get it to change position.
The baby trend seat my s-i-l had was a nightmare to buckle up, to move the handle, and even to snap in and out of the base. The graco another friend had,, had a ton of movement without the rebound bar, and the straps were really tangly /twisty too. Can totally feel the solid quality here with this seat. The material is soft and comfy and washes well, no weird smells from flame retardant like folks reported with the chicco seats on amzn reviews. I would say try out the seats yourself before trusting say the consumer reports reviews.

* the click when you snap it into the base is audible, but not loud enough to wake a sleeping baby.

* works great with my baby trend snap n go twin stroller.

* the heavy weight and 22 lb limit are not a real issue, since you would not want to carry around heavier babies in their car seats after say 15 lbs. The competition is actually a tad heavier, and definitely bulkier! I plan to switch to a roundabout or a marathon (depending on which fits in my car/truck at that time) once they hit my carrying weight limit and keep them rear facing till well into their second year for safety reasons. I did so until 20 months for my older son.

At the time when they are the most vulnerable new borns, I want nothing less than the safest car seat out there, and I feel Britax delivers that thro the years.
I am petite, and don't hope to really carry my infants in their car seats once the combined weight tops 20 lbs that would be a 15 lb baby
The chicco was rated better for ease of use by consumer reports, not for safety, and guess what, they had a huge safety recall where those seats would not secure correctly to the base. The only britax I owned that was recalled, was the marathon, and that was more a seatbelt issue, than the seat construction. The britax is plenty easy to use, and so much more quality than graco etc.

Robust and well constructed, this carseat is top quality. We did have an issue with the head support during the first few weeks of use. It proved to be quite big for my son when he was a newborn. We had to pad the sides so that his head won't tilt sideways. This didn't last too long though since my boy grew big quickly and the head support now fits snugly.

We got the onyx color which on hindsight was probably not a great idea for our baby who gets hot easily. There are many times when we'd pull him out after a car ride sweaty at the back and behind his head. If you have a hot baby, we suggest getting a lighter color.

Other than these 2 issues, we have been VERY happy with this product.

Despite the Consumer Reports debaucle at the very beginning of 2006, I have every confidence that the Britax companion lives up to its reputation as the safest infant car seat on the road.

That said, if I had a time machine and could go back and convince myself to register something else, I would have gone with the top of the line Chicco instead. My daughter hated the closeness of the head pads, even on their most deflated setting. Later in her infant-hood, she seemed to hate them because they obstructed her vision.

While we were glad to own something so safe all along, nobody *enjoyed* the companion. We're glad to be out of the companion and into the utterly wonderful Britax Marathon.

Oh, and one more thing, I recommend the zippier, newer, companion-compatible stroller. We have the old one, which, while very stable, is too bulky for city use.

This thing is built like a BMW. When you get in a BMW, you feel safe, capable, and secure. This car seat may not be as cute as some but is that really what you are looking for in a car seat? It's strong, sturdy, adjustable, and has real side impact safety. You pay for quality, this seems to deliver.

We purchased this after the fact due to a substaintial sale from amazon. We started with and currently still useing Eddie Bauer carrier/stroller combo. Which we found to be very accomadating for our tall newborn. We then splurged on the Britax stroller Vigor for its rear facing for walks. Amazon refunded extra savings so that was very nice and then they placed the matching carrier on sale so we jumped on it.

In comparison, another review mentioned that the Britax carrier was advantageous for tall childen, perhaps its better then others but he Eddie Bauer surpasses Britax, in addition the Eddie Bauer is a bit more roomy or so it seems.

However we are very impressed with the Britax carrier, the design of the handle is much better design to make for a much easier comfortable hand carring experience, so much more that it seems easier to manuver while holding, it even seems lighter although the two carrier realy do not feel any different in weight by themselves. The Britax head stabalizer seems as if it would be uncomfortable especially for our 4 month old, but surprisingly it was not. It sure does seem much more safer, with EPS foam all over the place on the carrier. The canopy does fully extend to give cover. All adjustments are very easy to make.

The Britax seems like a wonderfull carrier for a small newborn and would highly recommend however be prepared for the carrier to be out grown sooner than expected.

My husband and I really liked this car seat. It easily snaps in and out of the base, and it does make an audible click, contrary to another review saying that it doesn't. If yours doesn't click when placing it in the base, you are probably doing something wrong. It was nice to be able to keep our daughter in the seat while running errands instead of having to constantly strap and unstrap her. Especially since most babies tend to fall asleep in the car.

The seat fit extremely well in our Dodge 3500. If you tried to aggressively move/wiggle the car seat, the truck would move instead.

The head pad/support is superior to any other car seat's. It is also adjustable via a little built-in finger pump. We never had any problem with her little head flopping around like I've seen in some other car seats.

A couple of things that prevented me from giving it a five star rating. The chest clip is not as sturdy as I would like. After a year of use ours had bent out of shape. However, a new chest clip only costs $3 on Britax's USA website, and I would highly recommend buying one or two extra and replacing them as needed. I am thinking that the reason they continue to use it on the Companion is because it seems like it is more comfortable than the bigger, sturdier clips that are used on Britax's other car seats. This chest clip is flexible and conforms around the baby's chest instead of pushing into it like the more durable ones might.

The other thing that I didn't like was that the Companion was advertised as being suitable for children from four to twenty-two pounds. But, if your child is less than seven pounds, you have to purchase the "Low Birth Weight Foam" and put that in the car seat, THEN it will actually be good for a smaller baby. Our daughter weighed less than seven pounds for her first few weeks, and she always seemed to be a little scrunched in her car seat during that time. We didn't realize until much later what the problem was. It does mention the need for the foam in the user guide, but we either didn't pay attention to it thinking that our baby would be an 7+ pounder, and/or we forgot about it. My recommendation is that you purchase the additional foam, use it if you need it and return it if you don't. That way you'll be prepared if you have a skinny baby.

Our daughter is pretty tall, so we had to switch to the Britax Marathon at 11 months, which is another great car seat.

Would we use this car seat again? Absolutely. We've already refurbished our original one by completely washing it and replacing the chest clip and adding the Low Birth Weight Foam. It's ready for our next skinny baby. :)

I have used the Britax Companion with my first child and will use it again with my second child. Buying extra bases makes it easy to move the carrier from car to car. This car seat has great side protection and the anti-rebound bar is a great feature. Don't know what the previous reviewer had in mind, but it is #2 out of 11 infant car seats on that famous consumer reports web site.