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The most helpful favorable review
The most helpful critical review
47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent choice for small cars or moms of multiples
We are very pleased with the Diplomat and it has many improvements over the original Boulevard. Foremost, it does fit behind the seats in the front of the car - and someone can still fit in the front seat. This is a must of you have multiple carseats in your car. The push button release to adjust the straps in an improvement over the "pull-up" bar on the earlier...
Published on January 14, 2008 by Jamie A. Neidig-wheaton
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28 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
Buckle can bruise inner thigh
I bought a couple of these seats for our twins based on the other reviews. I am very dissappointed with the seats because the buckle is so large it causes bruising on their inner thighs even with use of the belly pad and with the extra back support removed. I called Britax and unlike some of their other models the Diplomat does not come with any adjustments for the...
Published 18 months ago by B Green
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47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent choice for small cars or moms of multiples, January 14, 2008
This review is from: Britax Diplomat Convertible Car Seat Huntington (Baby Product)
We are very pleased with the Diplomat and it has many improvements over the original Boulevard. Foremost, it does fit behind the seats in the front of the car - and someone can still fit in the front seat. This is a must of you have multiple carseats in your car. The push button release to adjust the straps in an improvement over the "pull-up" bar on the earlier Boulevard. The button makes it very easy to loosen the straps, put the child into the seat, and then pull the harness tight. As with the Boulevard, the adjustable headrest/ harness movement is wonderful. You don't have to move the straps to a different hole (and the spend an hour trying to make sure the seat's put back together correctly) - simply turn a knob as your child grows. The recline feature is great because you don't have to uninstall the seat to adjust it. The fabric is soft, but not so soft that you worry about it absorbing every spill. Finally, the carseat is easy to install.
I've heard some children find the "wings" around their heads objectionable. None of my children have had any problems with the side impact protection, but none have ever been in a carseat without side impact protection, so they may just be used to it.
Because the carseat is smaller and more narrow than the Boulevard, I don't think it would be comfortable for a tall, husky toddler. Our 2.5 years old is very tall (about 3 feet) and thin (27 pounds) and although he fits in the Diplomat, he is clearly more comfortable in the larger Boulevard. Thus if you child is over 2 and over 25 lbs, I'd recommend the Boulevard over the Diplomat, especially considering that size isn't as much of an issue when the carseat is forward facing.
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
Outstanding car seat!, September 14, 2007
The Britax Diplomat Onyx car seat is outstanding! We had purchased a Britax Boulevard over a month ago and had a few pet peeves... also, the Boulevard was too big for our cars. We were sure that we wanted the beefy side-impact protection, though; so we were thrilled to hear that the Diplomat was coming out - a compact version of the Boulevard - and signed up. The car seat arrived today and we have noticed that none of our pet peeves were carried over to this model! We easily got the car seat installed, ordered another Diplomat Onyx for the second car, then took junior for a spin to return the Boulevard model.
Specifically... the fabric is fine, the headrest and straps are easy to adjust, the padding is superior, and the placement/length of the buckle and belly pad (which were problematic on the Boulevard) are very good. Although the seat only goes up to 40 lbs. max, its compact size (versus the Boulevard) should make it easier to use on a plane. We are entirely happy with this car seat, and are so glad the timing worked out that the Diplomat was introduced just when we needed it!
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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
Britax Diplomat - great choice for a convertible seat, November 21, 2007
We bought the Britax Diplomat to replace the Britax Boulevard we had been using for our 15-month-old daughter. The Boulevard takes up way too much room rear-facing - our front passenger seat (in a compact car) was basically unavailable because it had to be pushed all the way forward in order to accommodate the Boulevard.
So far, we love the Diplomat. The LATCH installation was a breeze. The seat is a few inches shorter than the Boulevard, so we were able to move the front passenger seat back and resume using it. We like the side impact protection feature, the fact that it is one of very few convertible seats that you can tether rear-facing, and the fact that you can adjust the harness without uninstalling the seat.
Also, the Onyx fabric is far more comfortable for our daughter than the Central Park fabric on our Boulevard. I didn't realize how hot the Central Park (velour) fabric would be in the summer. I would definitely recommend the Diplomat in the Onyx fabric.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
Great Roundabout Safety with added Side Impact bonus and Beautiful Pattern, October 18, 2007
This is a miniaturized version of Britax Boulevard in a Roundabout body. It is easy to install with a seat belt since we decided to install it on the rear middle seat of our Volvo XC90(as sugested by consumer report magazine). It is super easy to get my daughter in and out. I would recommend this product over Roundabout series. Only draw back I can think of is, if your baby is on the large side, this seat may be little tight. My daughter is on the skinny side(19lbs,29") and she fits perfectly in the seat.
We just love the pretty design and pattern of this seat! I am sure glad Britax came out with the Diplomat.
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28 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
Buckle can bruise inner thigh, January 8, 2009
I bought a couple of these seats for our twins based on the other reviews. I am very dissappointed with the seats because the buckle is so large it causes bruising on their inner thighs even with use of the belly pad and with the extra back support removed. I called Britax and unlike some of their other models the Diplomat does not come with any adjustments for the buckle strap length. They also admitted having heard of the issue before but have done nothing to address it. Britax's website says that the lap section of the harness should fit above the thighs but there is no way this is possible because the buckle strap is too short and when the shoulder straps are snapped in the buckle is huge and has hard plastic pressing into your baby at mid-thigh.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Thank Goodness!!! Finally!!, November 4, 2007
Ok, I had been searching frantically for our next car seat as my 11 month old daughter was on the verge of popping out of her Infant seat. I have a smaller car, a VW Jetta and my husband has a larger car. So, when we started looking we wanted a car seat that we felt 100% comfortable with having our daughter in (since we live in LA) and one that both my husband and I liked as far as color. We were set on getting the Brittax Roundabout until I went to the store and found this one. Without hesitation I purchased 2, both in Taylor and then my mom went out and bought the same one. I have to say that I love it!!! My daughter is in the 20-25% percentile so I want her rear facing for as long as possible and I can do this with this seat located in the middle of the back seat. She adjusted to this seat so easily from her infant seat and has no problems falling asleep in it either. If your looking for a car seat that has top saftey ratings, is easy to install, has a fantastic design, and has subtle clean line fabrics than look no further. My only advice is this, if your child is over the 50% percentile than buy the Boulevard, but if your child is under that then this would be right for you. Yes it is a bit pricey, but if ever there was a place to spend money it's here!! This is one place where skimping could be costly!!
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
Great for small cars - lives up to description, October 6, 2007
We have a small car, and ordered this based on descriptions that it would be a smaller Britax that would fit in smaller cars. The car the seat is installed in is a Saab 92-X (wagon), which is built off the Subaru Impreza, and we have learned from several online car seat sites as well as in person from car seat sales people that Subarus are a tight fit and that many car seat models cannot be safely installed in these vehicles without losing use of the front passenger seat. We were able to fit this seat in rear-facing on a passenger side very nicely (seat works rear-facing to 35 lbs, up to 40 lbs front facing). If you are not inclined to change your vehicle -- and possibly give up use of your front passenger seat -- just because a car seat cannot be properly/safely installed, look into this seat! Disclaimer: We have not yet had the seat installation inspected by a traind car seat installation expert (such as local police), but I can tell based on how this seat compares with our previous one that it will be a good fit even if we need to tweak the installation for added safety.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Expensive, but worth it, July 23, 2008
I was hesitant to spend so much money on a car seat when there are so many cheaper options out there. I did a lot of research before deciding to purchase this particular brand and model. My reasons for buying were the ratings (both safety and user ratings), and the design of the car seat.
I chose this particular model because the Diplomat is specifically designed to fit in cars that have smaller back seats without compromising the safety of your child. I have a 2006 Subaru Impreza and this seat is a perfect fit - we had trouble with some other seats where we really had to move the front seat forward and incline it forward in order to make room for the car seat, which makes it impractial to use the front passenger seat for another person.
Anywhere you look the ratings for the Britax seats are always 4-5 stars, for both the safety and the usage. I found this seat incredibly easy to install and had it in the car in a matter of minutes. I prefer to use the seat belt system rather than the latch, and most other car seats when you want to use the seat belt system you also have to use a locking clip to hold the belt in place which I find very difficult to use correctly. The Diplomat has 2 locking clips built into the car seat on each side and they are very easy to use.
Two other features that I love on this car seat are the extended head-rest pads on the side and the knobs on the sides that let you adjust the straps. The head-rest pads extend much further out on the side than any other car seat I've seen providing extra safety and more support for when your little one falls asleep and their head tilts to the side. The knobs that let you adjust the straps are conveniently located on the side of the car seat and not the back, so you can easily adjust the straps without having to take the car seat out of the car.
We purchased a Britax Roundabout first and while it's an excellent car seat and very similar I like the Diplomat better. It has those few 'extras' like the removable pads, extended head-rest, and strap-adjusting knobs that make it worth-while.
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27 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
Great for smaller kids but watch for minor issues, February 16, 2008
The Diplomat is the smaller companion to the Boulevard series. Due to its compact size, it's great for parents whose children are in the lower size and weight percentiles - it's smaller overall size will free room in your car also.
Per Britax, the Diplomat can accommodate children in a weight range from 5lb to 40lb and a maximum height of 40 inches. The child can weigh between 5-35 lb while facing rearward and 20-40 lb while facing forward. The American Association of Pediatrics recommends rear-facing seats until the child is at least one year of age and weighs 20 lb.
The car seat is permanently attached to a hard base that allows the seat to be swiveled forward and backward. Ideally, the swivel base would allow a wider range of motion - our seat could not be made level without the addition of padding underneath the base. Also, the Chicco infant carrier that preceded the Diplomat in our car had a separable base, making the base install easier. A separable base would be a big plus in my opinion. The Chicco base also held the infant carrier more snugly to the car.
The Diplomat headrest can be adjusted up and down to maximize the comfort of your child, and there are multiple seat pads that can be removed as the child gets bigger. The seat cover is removable (with work), so this seat works for parents that have to deal with spit-up, spills, and other debris that is left in the wake of the typical kid. Because the seat is big enough to accommodate a 40" long, 40lb kid, a one-year old transitioning into it may feel a bit "loose" after the snugness of the infant carrier preceding it.
A variety of attachment options are possible, from standard car and aircraft seat belts (3-point or lap) to the LATCH system, which is my personal favorite. The seat is certified for use in aircraft, a big plus if you have to travel. Here, the smaller size of the Diplomat really becomes handy since running through an aircraft aisle with all the baby goodies is hard enough as it is. Threading the seat belt through the base might get interesting, depending on the size of the aircraft.
I noted two minor annoyances with the unit that was shipped to us. The fixed base has a single set of LATCH buckles, requiring them to be reversed every time the seat orientation is changed (i.e. left has to become right). A separable base and seat would not require this extra step. Also, our old Chicco infant carrier base had a air-bubble level to make a proper install easier to gauge than the "this line should be level" instruction on the side of the Diplomat. The Diplomat base is also wide enough where attaching the LATCH buckles is not necessarily easy.
This unit really requires the careful study of the manual... which is permanently attached to the unit in a location that is inaccessible when the seat has been installed in a rear-facing orientation. I wonder how many parents will struggle and/or install their seats incorrectly because they did not notice the fine print in the manual. A nice to have would be a small manual attached to the chair, and a bigger one (with a text font size above 4pts) delivered separately inside the same box.
Another minor ding is that the injection molded base that the seat is permanently attached to was still covered with fuzz from the injection-molding process. Most manufacturers deburr such edges to make them smooth and to remove such fuzz, but Britax has elected not to. In my opinion, such fuzz is undesirable around children, you cannot discount the possibility that a kid will try to eat it. Fixing the problem is easy enough, just run over those coarse edges with a Brillo pad to remove the fuzz and smooth them over.
Which brings me to my last issue with Britax and their web site. They want you to register your e-mail address as part of the product registration process, but they do not reciprocate by allowing you to contact them by e-mail once you have registered the product. Perhaps there is a legal reason, but there is no means to contact them other than snail mail or to wait until weekday business hours and to call them. Curiously, they do publish one e-mail address on their site for employment opportunities.
Still, all in all a great seat. I expect this seat will continue to delight our daughter and keep her safe while we're driving.
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
Not compact enough, May 5, 2009
I really want to like the Britax Diplomat. I spent hours reading reviews and decided that it was the one convertible car seat that would fit rear-facing in my BMW 3-series sedan. But it doesn't. Well, technically it fits, but it effectively turns my 5-seat sedan into a 3-seater (including the baby).
If it's installed correctly behind the passenger seat, the front seat has to be up so far that I wouldn't dream of asking anyone to sit in it. If it's installed in the middle seat, it's so wide that it would be extremely uncomfortable to sit in the back seat on either side of it.
If you want to use it front-facing, it's probably fine. If you have a larger car, I'm sure it's fine. But I thought the whole point of the Diplomat was that it would fit nicely in smaller cars. I'm very disappointed.
**Edit 08 May 2009**
I wanted to clarify what I mean by "if it's installed correctly". The user manual says that when rear-facing, the back can be anywhere from a 30 to 45 degree angle, but that the seat back must be fully reclined. This means that the only way to adjust the angle is by adjusting the angle of the base of the seat. However, on the base of the seat there is a red line that says that you must make the red line level when installing the seat rear-facing. This means that there is only *one* allowable angle to install the car seat rear-facing, which is the full 45 degrees, which means it takes up the max amount of room in the car. There are plenty of people out there who will tell you that you should just ignore that red line and that it doesn't need to be level, and that you can save space by making the back more upright (up to 30 degrees). Well, we called Britax, and they clarified that the red line MUST be level when rear-facing. Unfortunately, because their documentation is poor, there are a lot of people installing this car seat incorrectly, and those people are sure that they are installing it correctly. A comment on a message board even said "call Britax again, the person you talked to doesn't know what she's talking about." So we called Britax again, and got the exact same answer from a different person.
So, if you follow ALL the guidance from Britax (user manual + red line on the base + their phone support staff), it means you have to install it at 45 degrees, at which point it does not fit well in a mid-size car such as a BMW 3-series sedan.
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