Britax B-Safe Infant Car Seat, Black
From Britax USA
| List Price: | $179.99 |
| Price: | $153.99 |
Product Description
The new B-Safe infant car seat from Britax is designed to be lightweight and travel friendly yet engineered to the high safety standards of Britax. Designed to be compatible with more vehicles and equipped with the click and go system to fit seamlessly with Britax strollers and your on-the-go lifetstyle. With Side Impact Protection, and an energy absorbing foam liner, the Britax B- Safe Infant Car Seat provides industry leading front, rear and side impact protection. Removable comfort pad, harness pads, and an extra large canopy keep children comfortable and safe throughout their first year of life. Premium push button latch connectors, a built-in lock-off and an ergonomically designed carry handle make the seat easy to install and carry. The B-Safe fits infants rear facing from 4 to thirty pounds and up to 32" tall. The B- Safe is compatible with all Britax B-Series strollers through the Click and Go system and fits most other major stroller brands (requires use of adaptor or adapter strap - sold separately).
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #15708 in Baby Product
- Size: Birth -and UP
- Color: Black
- Brand: Britax USA
- Model: E9LE53C
- Released on: 2011-07-22
- Dimensions: 24.50" h x17.50" w x27.50" l,16.00 pounds
Features
- Side impact protection distributes crash forces, shields from vehicle intrusion and contains the head and body
- Tangle free, five-point harness distributes crash forces across the strongest parts of the body and provides a secure fit
- Energy-absorbing foam liner absorbs and distributes crash forces
- Stroller compatible design-integrated click and go adapter system works with Britax "B" Series strollers
- Ships in Certified Frustration-Free Packaging
Most helpful customer reviews
399 of 406 people found the following review helpful.This is a review of the Britax B-Safe infant car seat. I am a mom with two small children and have owned and/or tested over 30 car seats in the past 5 years. Overall, the Britax B-Safe is a wonderful infant seat that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to friends and family. It is very similar in features and price to the Chicco Keyfit 30 Car Seat, so I'll give a basic comparison to help parents decide between the two.First of all, if you want to use a Britax stroller, such as the Britax B-Agile Stroller or the Britax B-Scene Stroller, choosing the B-Safe car seat totally makes sense. The click-n-go adapters that come with the car seat (already attached) and the receivers on the strollers (easy to attach, takes under 30 seconds) make it seamless to convert those Britax strollers into fantastic travel systems. If you want to use a non-Britax stroller, check with that stroller's manufacturer to see if they make a car seat adaptor that's compatible with Britax infant seats. It does take practice to line up the connectors when you're dropping in the car seat, but it does get easier with time.Moving beyond travel system usage, let's take a look at the car seats themselves.Fit: The Britax B-Safe and the Chicco KeyFit 30 both have a 30lb weight limit. The B-Safe has a stated height limit of 32", vs the KeyFit's 30" limit. In reality, both seats are outgrown when your child's head is 1" from the top of the shell, and in reality, the Britax shell is no taller than the Chicco. So don't let that stated limit trick you into preferring the B-Safe.Both the B-Safe and the KeyFit 30 fit tiny babies really well, thanks to the infant padding provided by each manufacturer. Both of these seats fit small babies FAR better than the Graco Snugride 35 Infant Car Seat. The B-Safe's head and body pad is removable for older babies at the discretion of the parent, whereas the infant body padding in the KeyFit must be removed after baby weighs 11lbs, though the head pad removal is at the parent's discretion in that seat. Both seats also fit older infants well, with plenty of harness positions (a major downfall of the Graco Snugride 22 Infant Car Seat, which only has two harness heights). I give a slight edge to the Britax because it has two crotch strap positions. I'd recommend that parents buy an infant seat with a 30 or 35lb weight limit rather than the 22lb limit any day -- avoid the SnugRide 22!The Britax B-Safe has one drawback on the "fit" side of things: the straps can be somewhat "twisty", e.g. they can get twisted in the buckles and can be a pain to untangle. This is because the straps are the thinner, more slippery webbing. The Chicco straps are slightly thicker and do not twist easily in the buckles, which is a big win in my book (my husband twists the straps in the B-Safe buckles every time he takes our daughter out of the car...it's a talent, really!).Note: After outgrowing either of these seats, you'll want to move your child into a rear-facing convertible car seat and keep them rear-facing to the limits of that seat, NOT into a forward facing seat. Check the AAP recommendations on this -- they recommend keeping your child rear-facing to age 2 or the limits of your car seat, which is usually 35-40lbs and way past age two. Your child is 500% safer rear-facing!Installation: Both seats come with one base, which you install in the car and leave there even when removing the infant car seat. Both bases have an adjustable "boot" that helps you to achieve the appropriate angle of recline, and both have a level indicator on the base. The Chicco base wins for ease of installation, with its pull-strap mechanism for LATCH and easy seat belt lockoffs. The Britax base is easy enough to use, but the tightening mechanism isn't as smooth, and the belt lockoff requires a TON of force to open and close, making the parent feel like they're going to break it! For installing without a base, the Chicco KeyFit also wins, since the seatbelt guides are exposed already, whereas with the Britax seatbelt guides are under the cover, so you have to futz with elastic bands on the cover every single time you want to access them.Fabric: Britax gets the edge in fabric, with a slightly easier to wipe clean seat cover. I highly recommend the black for hiding dirt. The KeyFit 30 has light colors in the head and feet area, both of which show sweat and grime marks readily. Both the Britax seat and the Chicco seat are warm -- there's not a lot to be done about this. If you have a sweaty baby, they're going to sweat in any infant seat.Canopy: Britax wins hands-down in the canopy, with a generous canopy that stays where you put it. I know that would seem like such a simple thing, but the KeyFit canopy really does not always stay fully extended, and it's not as long as the B-Safe canopy, which is really nice when you want to shade your baby! Added benefit: the B-Safe canopy is so long that if you have two kids sitting next to each other in car seats, the B-Safe canopy can actually prevent them from seeing each other if it's fully extended, which can be great if you want to encourage car naps.Customer Service and Manual: both Britax and Chicco have well-written manuals. Britax customer service gets a slight edge, with very knowledgeable techs answering the phones.So overall, I give the new Britax B-Safe a 4-star rating, to account for its few quirks and twisty straps, and strongly recommend it. The deciding factor for me would really be stroller compatibility and nothing more.
35 of 45 people found the following review helpful.I love Britax car seats and have been using them for my children for the past ten years. The B-Safe was our first experience with a Britax infant car seat and I am rather disappointed in this seat. My first issue with the seat is the car seat base. When the seat arrived the base was broken right out of the box. Britax customer service is great and after having to email photo proof that the base was indeed broken, they agreed to send a replacement. The replacement base was defective and one of the level indicators did not work. Customer service wasn't exactly willing to replace the base for a fully functional one at first, but after I insisted that I wanted them to honor their warranty and replace it with one free of defects, they agreed to send another replacement. Turn around time from when the seat was delivered to when I was actually able to use it with the base was a full month. I was also saddled with the inconvenience of lugging the base that had to be shipped back along with an infant to the UPS store twice.Once I was was able to install the base in the car I found myself annoyed by the base which claims "superior ease of use" on the base box. Adjusting the foot of the base is not as easy as a Chicco KeyFit or Graco Snugride base. The locking clip on the B-Safe base is very stiff and you feel like you are going to break the clip when you try to open it. It was so difficult to release that I needed my husband to do it and even he had some difficulty with it. The button that allows you to adjust the base foot does not function as the owners manual states when you are trying to put it back in it's original position. I cut several of my fingers adjusting the base. If I were to recommend an infant car seat based only on the car seat base I'd rate this product only one star and tell you to steer clear of it at all costs.The seat itself isn't horrible. I like that it is slightly lighter than our Chicco Keyfit 22 and can accommodate an infant up to 30lbs. The canopy on the seat is generous and is more user friendly than the Chicco Keyfit canopy. The fabric on this seat wipes clean quite easily which is a plus if you have a baby who spits up frequently. The headrest for the seat is nice and plush, but it is unclear as to whether using it is optional or not. Chicco comes out and states that it does not have to be used past 11lbs, but Britax makes no mention as to whether or not it must be used.I found the harness straps easy to adjust as is typical of Britax car seats. I was disappointed that the velcro tabs to hold the harness straps open when you are loading the baby into the seat which are typical on the convertible models are not part of the infant seat design. That small touch would have made the seat much better in my opinion.If you have a compatible Britax B series stroller, this seat can be used with it to form a travel system. I have a B-Agile stroller so I tested this seat out with the stroller. The seat snaps on to the stroller nicely and sets the baby up a bit higher than the Chicco Cortina travel system has the baby, but I didn't like that the car seat seems to wiggle and have some play when it's attached to the stroller. I also do not like how the seat detaches from the stroller. You have to use both hands and press a release button on the sides of the seat which leaves you holding the seat not by the handle but by the sides. I don't like this feature at all and see it as a great way to increase the risk that you might accidentally drop the car seat.Overall, I really don't recommend this seat. For the money, you'd be better off buying a Chicco Keyfit seat. The Keyfit is easier to install and is more user friendly than the Britax B-Safe.
20 of 26 people found the following review helpful.Very nice seat, detachable carrier from the base means that you can install the base onto your car (or preferably, have a spouse or family member pre-install it while the mother-to-be is waiting for the kid to be born!) and then it's all a matter of snapping the carrier to the base.I personally like the darker color, it means that this will not look dirty so easily, and also means the cover blocks out sunlight better.Sturdy handle, the only thing of note is that I've seen some where the handle is twisted 90°, so that a person can carry the baby carrier for a bit and not have to rotate the arm/wrist. But let's be serious, it's not like Britax is intending the parent to be carrying around a kid for long, that's what strollers are for! Therefore, no minus points for that small quibble.Overall, still highly recommended. This is the gift you hint at to get your friends and family to get for your baby shower! Of course, try to get the stroller as well, as this snaps onto it as a stroller, the same way it snaps onto the car seat base. Especially with very small babies, a lot of anxiety can be removed by not having to lift a baby in and out of a stroller/car/seat, and instead use the snap and lock system!
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