Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Britax instructions and customer service is AWFUL! Let me say this--I really like this car seat. PROS: - super-easy to install with seatbelt - the click feature when tightening the straps is really helpful (clicks when straps are appropriately tight around baby) - decent safety rating last time I checked CONS: - Britax communication is horrendous--from their "instructions" to their customer service reps - the clicktight knob that opens the seat (to remove the car seat) won't turn unless you push down on the seat part...but of course, that's not written anywhere letting you know - have to buy cupholder separately (after spending $300-400 on the car seat?!?!?!?!) - the cupholder SUCK, SUCK, SUCKS (very difficult to install and eventually broke trying to re-install it) - The tether and anchor strap compartments constantly pop open - if you try to take this on an airplane, it's very heavy. But it doesn't work with Britax's wheeled car seat cart made for that exact purpose. If you ever have to get in touch with Britax, brace yourself. When I called, I got an incredibly unhelpful, unfriendly customer rep named Brenda, who basically informed me that I've been using it improperly ever since we purchased it! I was calling to ask Britax to explain the bubble diagram on the sides of the seat because, ya know, kinda important to have it installed properly. I found their description of their recline positions to be somewhat confusing. The manual says lighter blue is infant, darker blue is toddler. In another place, it describes the blue for "larger children with head and neck control." In the third place, it says it's important that the seat be reclined to maintain proper head and neck control with "smaller infants." Then a new guideline popped up when their oh-so-friendly phone rep Brenda tells me the bubble should be in the light blue section if the child is under 2 years. I asked sweetheart Brenda if that was written anywhere and she said no. I told her that's a pretty crucial piece of information to not have written anywhere (using my best polite words as opposed WTF ARE YOU GUYS THINKING?!?!) and asked her to pass that along as customer input. She said she would but it seemed that she couldn't care less. Awesome. Since there are NO WORDS on the recline diagram sticker ON the actual car seat describing infant/toddler/age/weight limits, I assumed from the pictures in the bubble area that a younger baby should be reclined further back, but since the standing baby picture is in the darker blue rear-facing and forward-facing, I thought okay, maybe once the baby is 1 year or 20 lbs or maybe standing, you can have it up higher in the dark blue? Apparently, wrong! WTF, Britax?! This is SO important, how could you not have that in writing--like, BOLD writing, too?? It's mind-boggling. Then I asked lovely Brenda about the cup holder (that I'm sure we all love having to buy separately with such an expensive seat). I ordered it on amazon, but again, their "instructions" have no words, save a few "cautions." Trying to explain the difficulty verbally without being able to show Britax/Brenda was nearly impossible. You can see from the pictures that the opening on the cupholder clip where you slide the holder down onto the car seat appears to be about half as long as it needs to be, as I see it. She kept telling me to just push/shove it down through the crack/gap where the seatbelt would go, and it would "click" in. It never did, and when I push it down, it pulls the gray plastic section of the car seat away, bending it. That seems like a terrible design if that's how it's supposed to attach, or terrible instructions if it's not. I finally got it clicked in, just to find that when I went to close my car door, it hit the cup holder and wouldn't close. This doesn't happen with car seats w/ built-in cup holders (as this seat should absolutely have for the price). So I had to detach it and struggle all over again to put it on the other side of car seat. The rubber piece on the cup holder would hold cups/bottles so tightly that I finally had to take it off so my kiddo could actually get her cup out. Of course, to do this, you have to take the cup holder off again. There isn't a cup/liner within the cupholder that's easily removable, like if drinks spill or the holder gets dirty, so if you ever want to clean it, you have to remove it again. Then struggle to put it back on. It's SUCH a pain in the #*@, I can't truly convey it. I just tried putting it back on yesterday, and after several minutes trying to remember how I'd done it, which I thought was just really jamming it down, as Brenda instructed, it broke. I'm going to call Britax about replacing it... and hope to get someone who's not Brenda. Another little tidbit they don't tell you is when you push down the cover and it "clicks," securing the seat, when you want to open it, you can't just turn the dial--I wasted a lot of sweat and cussing struggling with that until I realized you need to push down on the cover, then the dial turns pretty easily. I've read other users who've found the same thing. If this is just how it works, why doesn't Britax TELL US THAT?? Seriously, this company needs a friggin' seminar on COMMUNICATION! Also, as I mentioned above, if you try to take this on an airplane, it's very heavy. You'll want to buy the Britax wheeled cart to go with it... except wait, don't. Because even though that cart is made BY BRITAX, FOR THEIR SEATS, these Clicktights don't have the normal, newer anchor strap connections, so you cannot tighten it onto the cart, meaning not only can your kid not sit in it as you wheel it through the airport, but the seat itself slides off at every turn because it can't be tightened on. My husband and I spent so much time in the airport parking lot trying to figure out how the hell to attach the car seat to the cart that we ended up missing the cutoff for our flight by four minutes. It was a nightmare. This is the most CAPS-filled review I've ever written. SO ANNOYED with Britax right now. SO annoyed.