Britax Roundabout Car Seat

One of my favorite options for convertible car seats is the Britax Roundabout.  The Roundabout is equipped with all of the fantastic safety features offered in every Britax car seat, considered the best car seats on the market, but is compact enough to easily fit in the smallest of backseats. 

Britax Roundabout Car Seat Features

The Britax Roundabout car seat can be used rear facing from 5lbs-35lbs and then converted to a forward facing car seat after one year or from 20lbs-40lbs. After the baby reaches 40lbs and is 40in in height, it is time to purchase a booster car seat. The Roundabout seat comes with Side Impact Protection (which distributes crash forces, shields the baby from vehicle intrusions (debris like flying glass caused by an accident) and contains the head, neck and body of the infant. It also comes with a 5-point harness and is an ideal seat for compact cars.

Other features of the Roundabout are:

• Energy-Absorbing Base deforms in the event of a crash to absorb impact forces
• Plush, Premium Cover Set with matching belly pad provides extra comfort
• Front Harness Adjuster provides effortless front adjustment when loosening the harness system
• Small Contoured Base ensures a tight installation in all types of vehicles
• Convenient Harness Holders keep harness straps out of the way while placing child in the car seat
• Built-in Lock-Off(s) secure the vehicle seat belt so that the child seat does not move more than one inch side-to-side or front-to-back at the belt path
• High Density Comfort Foam provides an extra layer of padding to gently cushion the child
• Energy-Absorbing Foam Liner (EPS) absorbs and distributes crash forces
• Rear and Forward Facing Recline for child comfort and positioning
• Premium, Push-Button Lower LATCH Connectors for a quick, simple, and tight installation
• Patented, Energy-Absorbing Versa-Tether with staged-release tether webbing, anchors the top of the child seat at two points to minimize forward movement in a crash

This Britax Roundabout car seat is FAA approved and can be used as a safety seat for babies and children on airplanes.

The Roundabout weighs approximately 13.09lbs.

The Britax Roundabout retails for $179.00.

Britax Roundabout Car Seat User Reviews

The Britax Roundabout car seat has received hundreds of rave reviews on amazon.com, diapers.com, and toysrus.com. On average, the seat has received a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars from reviewers on these sites.  

After reading through these many reviews I have summarized the main points given by the parent reviewers. Almost every parent makes a point of saying how simple the Britax Roundabout car seat is to install and all love the LATCH system. Parents also comment on how easy the Roundabout is to clean and how comfortable their baby is sitting in the seat. They also say the straps are easy to tighten and loosen, although some mothers note the straps are not as padded as they would have liked, but this is easily remedied by putting a towel or soft cloth between the baby and the straps.

All of the parent reviewers love how the seat is not bulky and how it fits perfectly in most compact cars and sedans without forcing the front passenger seat to move forward. Parents are also happy about the safety standard of the seat due to the side impact protection provided and due to the high rating the Roundabout has received in Consumer Reviews. The Britax Roundabout is ranked as one of the safest car seats available. One reviewer writes about a car accident her and her baby were in, which caused the car to flip over. She said her baby was perfectly fine after the accident, just a little bit of bruising from the straps, and that the seat was a life saver for her baby.

The one main negative for the Britax Roundabout care seat I found throughout the reviews is that some parents feel their child outgrows the seat too quickly, before the weight and height that would allow them to purchase a booster seat, and this then forces them to spend extra money buying another, larger convertible car seat. Many of these parents say they wished they had bought the bulkier Britax Marathon car seat which accommodates children up to 65lbs.

However, most parents say the Britax Roundabout car seat has grown well with their baby and that this seat is a great investment. No regrets.

*All Britax products are made in the USA.

I typed car seats into the search engine on the Internet and found myself overwhelmed with the amount of options that came up.  Did I want an Infant Car Seat, a Backwards Facing Car Seat, a Forwards Facing Car Seat, a Convertible Car Seat, a Booster Seat or a Travel System (a car seat/stroller in one)? I had no idea what the differences were.  Now I know and really it is pretty simple. 

An infant car seat is a car seat designed for a baby’s first year of life and is meant to be positioned facing backwards in the car.  All babies should sit rear facing in a car until at least age one, or until about 30lbs and 32in in length/height.  Therefore, a backwards facing car seat is an infant car seat. 

A forwards facing car seat is a car seat that faces forward and is designed for babies over the age of one who weigh more than 25lbs.  These car seats are usually good for a baby until 50-80lbs, depending on the seat. 

Booster seats are designed for older children who weigh at least 40lbs and who have outgrown their regular car seat but who are not yet big enough to be secure in the car with just a seatbelt.  Boosters are recommended for use until a child reaches 80lbs and grows to 60in tall. 

So then, what is a convertible car seat?  A convertible car seat is a car seat that can be used from birth (at least 5lbs) until the age of 3 or 4.  This kind of car seat can first be used facing backwards during the baby’s first year, and then turned around and converted into a forward facing car seat until the baby weighs between 40-65lbs, depending on the seat.  At this time parents can then switch to a booster seat.  For many parents this seems like the most practical and cost efficient option.  Why spend money buying an infant car seat, then a forward facing car seat, and then a booster seat when you can just have a convertible car seat and then a booster seat?  However, many parents choose not to take this route when choosing car seats due to the invention of the travel system. 

A travel system is the combination of an infant car seat and stroller in one.  Most brands of strollers/car seats offer at least a few of these options.  When you purchase your stroller you also purchase an infant car seat designed to fit into your stroller.  This way you can move a sleeping baby from the stroller to the car or from the car to the stroller (or to the home/restaurant/shopping center etc…) without waking the baby.  This car seat comes with a handle and is easy for using as a baby transport device, even without the stroller. 

Sounds great, huh? 

However, most parent reviews I read say that maneuvering a stroller with an infant car seat attached (and an infant inside) is like driving a tank.  Many of these travel systems are heavy and hard to steer, especially in tight places like the supermarket or the mall.  In addition, new research has said that leaving your baby in an infant car seat for long periods of time, i.e. allowing your baby to nap there all day without disturbing him/her, will affect the amount of oxygen your baby receives.  Apparently the angle of car seats restricts the flow of oxygen to your baby.  While this doesn’t affect your baby during car trips, unless you are on the go everyday for many hours per day without taking your baby out of the car seat, parents with travel systems tend to leave their baby in the car seat all day long and even sometimes allow their baby to spend the night in the car seat.  They hate to move the baby to his/her crib or cradle and risk the chance of waking the baby in the process.  This long-term sitting in car seat is what can be dangerous over time for babies.

Personally, I am all for the convertible car seat.  I like the idea of buying one car seat that would last until my baby was a toddler and not having to deal with purchasing too many products.  Also when checking out safety, my top choices for car seats mostly happened to be convertible car seats and this is then how I made my decision.  Check out my posts reviewing different car seats available on the market today.