This day I love.......: Britax

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Before Little Man arrived I loved running and walking. I enjoyed the freedom and space to think, as well as exploring and discovering new places. I want to continue my love for exploring and discovering new places with Little Man, which means we need a pushchair to match.

Over the next few months we are putting the Britax Bob Revolution Pro through its paces. The Revolution pro sounds perfect for our families needs. As standard it is suitable for ages 6 months and over, however you are able to purchase the carry cot separately to make it suitable from birth. If using the Cary cot you also need to buy the infant carry adaptor to enable the carry cot to be attached to the pushchair.

We have decided to do a series of posts and video on the Britax BOB revolution pro. This first post will give an overview of the Revolution pro and its use with the carry cot. A video will follow shortly which will detail how to fold and the BOB in use and then finally another post detailing how we are finding BOB for running.

The BOB revolution pro requires some assembly, the wheels need fastening which although simple to do is actually quite hard to ensure a secure grip. Once assembled the brakes need testing to ensure a correct fit and air needs to be put into the tyres.

The BOB has a two stage fold, first folding the top half down before finally folding in half. You do need to remove the carry cot first before folding, and if you wanted to make it more compact you could also remove the wheels.

The wheels on BOB are a good size and are air filled. They can be filled with air as needed and are capable of tackling the toughest terrain, even sand,

For a large pushchair the BOB handles really well, the journey is smooth and the handling is light weight. I am often surprised at how easy the BOB moves, as if gliding over the bumpy ground.

The BOB features two brakes, the first a foot brake is operated by lifting and lowering the bar. As it is a solid bar it is easy to access as any point.

The second is a hand brake which is really handy if walking and I also imagine running, as it does stop the pushchair very quickly. It is operated by squeezing the lever and works like a bike brake to stop the pushchair.

The wheels can also be removed by pulling forward the silver lever.

The carry cot adaptor is attached to the main frame of the BOB and can be detached by pressing the red button. It simply slots into place and a click can be heard to say it is correctly positioned. The bar can be left in place when folding. The carry cot is then clicked on to this bar and sits over the main seat of the revolution pro.

Little man has lots of space inside the carry cot. The hood is also a great size and provides lots of shade. The carry cot comes with a rain cover.

Little man does like to kick the carry cot cover off. The cover is attached at various points with velcro.

There is plenty of storage on BOB. The basket is of a decent size, and we even put a few items on the seat as the carry cot is sat just on top, it allowed a small gap for storage. There is also a gap by the base of the carry cot and the back of the seat, which is where I stored the rain cover.

The front wheel has two modes, sport or city and there is also a wrist strap on the handle bar

The Britax BOB revolution pro is perfect for exploring and for walks in the countryside. It handles all terrains with ease, even sticky mud.

Grandma also loves pushing the revolution pro and finds it very lightweight to push.

The biggest fan thought is Little man who finds it so comfortable he falls asleep.

The Britax BOB revolution pro has given us the ability to explore as a family and enabled us to continue our love for the outdoors. Little man is very happy in the carry cot and I am excited to try the revolution pro with the seat in a few months time and take Little man with my on a run!

All words are my own opinion. Thanks to Britax for sending the BOB revolution pro to review.

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For the past few months we have been trying the Britax Advansafix. Regular readers will know of my love for car seats and car safety. The first thing that caught my attention with the Britax Advansafix was the use of the 5 point safety harness up to 25Kg. This is much higher than other Car seats were the use of the harness is normally up to 18Kg. The harness adds further security to the child and its prolonged use adds a safety element.

The other factor which caught my attention was the 3 methods to attach the car seat. The Britax Advansafix is attached via IsoFix, Seat belt and by Tethering point. By using all three you limit the rotational movement of the seat. This has helped the Britax Advansafix pass the rollover test.

As the Britax Advansafix uses three methods to secure the seat into the car it can take slightly longer than expected to install. I found it rather tricky to install the isofix which is the first part of installation. There is a grey cord to pull to pull out the isofix bars. The problem I had was trying to lock the bars. The slightest pressure pushes the isofix bars back into the seat meaning as you are installing you need to keep releasing the isofix bars.

The next part of installation is via the seat belt. This is relatively simply to perform but you do need to watch as you thread the seat belt through as it can catch the back of the harness. I was impressed by the top tether connection as there was a handy green square which helps you to see when there is enough tension in the strap.

The Britax Advansafix has multiple recline position which are easily accessible and have proved to be very useful when my daughters fall asleep in the seat.

The Britax Advansafix has been designed not only for safety but also for comfort. The shoulder pads help reduce forward movement in the event of a crash but they are also really soft. They tend to stay in place which helps reduce error in installation. The shape of the seat reminds me very much of a high back booster. It is slim yet with great side protection and a very deep padded head rest to give optimum head protection.

There are plenty of indicators to allow you to see when the Advansafix is correctly installed. There are two features for me which let the Advansafix down. The first is the harness adjustment. The pull cord to adjust the harness can often be difficult to pull tight. The harness has become stuck on more than one occasion at the back of the seat. This has meant I have had to untangle the harness from the back of the seat. I feel many parents would assume the harness is tight enough and simply leave the harness as is, which would compromise their child's safety.

The second issue for me is the headrest. I find it difficult to adjust and it also can become stuck. On more than one occasion I have had to take the seat out of the car to adjust the head rest manually. My eldest is quite small in height for her age but she is almost on the highest setting. I do wonder if it would last to the full weight limit of the seat.

Overall there are many impressive features to the Advansafix that add an extra layer of safety. In particular the three connection methods and the side impact protection. What lets the Advansafix down in my opinion is the head rest and the harness tightening. I would always recommend doing the pinch test on a harness just to ensure it is tight enough, and before purchasing any car seat to check that it fits both your car and your child. Performing both of these should remove the issues that I feel there are with the Advansafix.

I was sent the Advansafix in exchange for a review. All words are my own personal opinion

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This week it is National Child safety week and I thought it would be the perfect time to write the review for our Britax King II LS. I published earlier the general statistics for the Britax King II LS which you can see here. I want to focus here more about our experience of using the Britax King II LS and would also like to make it clear that I have not tested how the car seat would be in a crash. I will be writing a separate post and hopefully a You tube video on installation.

The Britax King II LS comes fully assembled and can therefore be used straight from the box. I was impressed with the number of different languages the instruction books came in and also that they could be stored on the seat itself. I often misplace instruction books so this was a great benefit.

The installation was very easy to follow, and I shall write more about how to install the seat in a later post. I managed to install within 10 minutes and subsequent installations are much faster. I have noticed that the installation is easier in cars with a higher roof as its easier to lift the seat up.

The look and feel of the Britax King II LS is really sleek. I love the tough looking outer shell which is also wipe clean and the seat feels lovely and padded. There appears to be a lot of protection around the head and as the head rest is adjustable it can easily be moved into the correct position.

The seat itself weighs just over 10Kg so it is relatively easy to move between cars. The padded material of the seat is soft and feels comfortable. There is a slight snag in that sometimes the back of the seat padding can twist round, exposing the interior shell. It is not a huge problem as you can simply twist the padding back round but it is worth noting to make sure the child is fitted in the seat correctly.

We recently did a 5 hour car journey with my youngest in the Britax King II LS. She usually does not like being in the car but we had no problems. In fact she fell asleep

In fact falling asleep in the Britax King II LS is a rather common theme.

There is a really handy lever just under the seat near where the feet of the child is which reclines the seat. The recline is very smooth and so has not yet woken up my daughter. You maybe able to see the recline in the above picture. The seat moves within its own shell and therefore does not take up additional space in the car. I have also noticed that my daughters head does not seem to fall forward as much in the Britax King II LS when she is asleep as what it has in other seats. She appears to have a lovely deep sleep and her head is always back against the head rest.

The unique point of the Britax King II LS is the light and sound click. To adjust the seat harness ,you either press a button under the seat and pull the straps to loosen, to tighten you pull the strap between the child's legs.

When the harness is tight enough there is an audible click and a green light

This a great way to check that the harness is tight enough. I still do the pinch check on the straps just to make sure, as if my daughter has sat forward the harness would be too loose. 99% of the time the audible click and light needs no further adjustment. What this has meant is that my daughter who used to constantly take her arms out of the straps, has so far in the past 2 months never managed to get her arms out of the straps. I think this is partly down to the secure fit but also the padding on the shoulder straps meaning that she is comfortable with the straps over her shoulders.

My daughter appears to be comfortable in the Britax King II LS. I wanted to trial on both long and short journeys before writing this review and give it at least a month to pick up any snags or little niggles. If I am honest other than the little niggle I have already mentioned the only other thing is the adjustable strap can be quite long and it simply dangles to the floor. I have caught my daughter playing with this and I just think it would be more in keeping with the sleek design to have somewhere to store this. It in no way alters the performance of the seat and it is probably me just being a little picky.

In both the hot and the cold weather my daughter has been comfortable in the seat. I feel she is well protected and because I find the seat simple to install I am confident it would perform as intended in a crash, although I am hoping I never have to find out. My daughter is very happy with her Britax King II LS and one of her favourite games to play in the car is Peekaboo.

I have found the Britax King II LS really simple to use. I changed cars and have had no problems moving between cars. The extra hard shell gives the seat a really sleek look and it is easy to keep clean. The smooth adjustable recline has meant my daughter can fall asleep in comfort without being woken up and thanks to the unique light and sound indicator I have found securing her in the seat incredibly easy with great reassurance. I can really understand why Britax gave this car seat the name King.

I had to include this picture in this post as whilst I was trying to take photos of my youngest in the seat, my eldest had other ideas and it simply is my #king moment!

We were sent a Britax King II LS to review, all words and opinions are my own.

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Not so long ago I wrote this post about choosing a car seat. Since then a new European standard known as i-Size has come into practise. This new European regulation should help to make poorly fitted car seats a thing of the past. The effectiveness of a car seat is heavily reduced in a crash if it is badly fitted. You could therefore own the safest car seat there is, but fit it incorrectly and it may be one of the worst.

From the 9th July 2013 the i-Size regulations will run alongside the existing ECE R44/04 regulations. This phase of i-Size aims to

Keep children rear facing for longer. There is a video looking at this on my previous car seat post. This is due to the increased protection to the child's head, neck and vital organs. The age will be at least 15 months old.
help make choosing a car seat easier by basing on a child's height rather than weight.
to fit into all ISOFix points and having 'i-Size' ready vehicles.
Tested more rigorously, including a side impact crash. [Which? currently do this but the ECE R44/04 does not require it]
Better protection to head and neck for young babies

Both regulations will continue to run in tandem until around 2018. This means once i-Size car seats come into the market parents will have greater choice. As I discussed in previous post the decision to change to forward facing from rear is up to the individual, but it should be according to existing regulation over 9Kg and new regulation 15 months.

The current law and this is taken from Britax states :

'The law requires all children to travel in an appropriate child restraint until they reach 135 cm tall or their 12th birthday (UK, NL, DEN) or 150 cm tall or their 12th birthday (GER, AU, CH, IT, CZ) – whichever comes first. It is the driver's responsibility to ensure this is the case.

Under the existing laws, parents could switch their baby from their rearward facing Group 0&0+ seat into a forward facing one when they reach 9kg (around nine months old).

Now the new regulations, called ‘i-Size’, have come into force mid-July 2013, parents that purchase a child car seat approved under i-Size will have to keep their baby in a rearward facing seat until they are 15 months.

There will be no change to the overall law about child seats being compulsory to the age of 12 or 135 cm/150 cm tall.'

Therefore the new i-Size regulations do not mean we all have to rush out and buy new car seats. Rather we need to be aware that these two regulations are running side by side, in tandem. From 2018 we will need to be following i-Size and keeping our children rear facing for longer. My youngest is still rear facing at 14 months and she has no problems. The new regulations will help to keep our children safer in the event of a crash and we will start to see the introduction of the new i-Size car seats on the market giving us, as parents, greater choice.

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My Mum accompanied the girls and I to the Baby show at Birmingham NEC. Having attended quite a number of shows in the past I now know what to expect, but each show is unique and just gets better every time. My Mum and I love to watch as the pregnant visitors and their partners stock up on all they need for their, what appears to be imminent, new arrival. Those with their lovely newborns picking up some amazing bargains and those like myself shopping for their beautiful children.

The baby show really does cater for many offering superb bargains and discounts and displaying some of the latest in baby products. It was really lovely to meet Aquaint which is a brand I have come across recently. I really loved the idea and it was great to finally see the product in action. It is a 100% natural cleansing water that is safe if drunk and can be used to clean hands, face, cuts, baby products what is really great is that it kills 99.9% bacteria. I think this is certainly a product to watch.

Having visited the baby show before it is always lovely to catch up with friends, Vital Baby, Easi Dream, Water wipes, Cheeky wipes and MaByLand. I must also say a huge thank you to Cheeky Rascals who helped me fix my daughters Buggy board and to Maxi Cosi for some amazing transportation, more on this to follow shortly.

The Baby show also gave me the chance to see Mia Tui bags up close. All I can say is wow, I think my Mum and I stood there for a good while just loving the bags. I had a lovely chat with the Mums at Tots Bots, who have such wonderful knowledge on cloth nappies. At every Baby show I always have to have a walk over to the Bunk Cot company, as I just love the Bunk cot. It is such a great product for those with more than one child who are short on space, a really innovative idea.

I took the opportunity at this show to sign up with Nappies 2 go, as I ran out of time to talk to them in detail at Excel. I am a huge fan of reducing waste and recycling and I think it is amazing value for money to help reduce the amount which goes to landfill. I look forward to the service commencing. As a huge fan of wooden toys I was amazed by the selection on Batteries not Included. The bright and wonderful colours on Great little Emporium had us wishing we could buy everything.

As with every show, I find I always run out of time and wished I had had more to spend talking to Bramble Rose. I was so impressed with not only the quality but how beautiful everything looked

I loved the new advanced comfort bottle from tommee tippee, which is designed to reduce air injection and encourage a good latch on to help reduce colic in infants. It is a shame I no longer use bottles with my daughter else I would have been very tempted to purchase one. Kiddy also had me wanting another baby just so I could try out their new evolution pro . It is a new generation of car seats, which just by moving the handle moves the baby into a more relaxed, natural sleeping position. It conforms with new car seat regulations by growing with a child up to 15 months, and as you would expect can be used on a travel system. I was just amazed by how easy to use, light weight and well protected a new born, or even premature baby would be.

If all that wasn't enough there were free drinks from Peter Rabbit Organic Drinks, which went down a huge treat with my girls who are already a fan of the product. Beautifully decorated stands including fake grass from Cosatto which my youngest loved the feel off, apologies once again to Cosatto for my daughter 'exploring' your stand. Wonderful pictures which would make amazing gifts from the day that and a first aid app from the red cross, which I shall be downloading.

My eldest daughter was in amazement at the pic and mix, I don't think she has ever seen so many sweets before

I think by far her highlight of the show was the play area provided by Little tikes

I think she would have happily played there all day had the promise of an ice cream not tempted her to come out. Amazing facilities by Little Tikes, who played games including pass the parcel, which my eldest has not stopped talking about.

For me though my favourite finds of the show were Gumi Gem, as my youngest is teething at the moment and I am hoping this will help her, Brush baby as I am beginning to struggle to brush my youngest teeth [almost on a full set] and this should make things easier, Bundle Bean who I have seen the products on the Internet and was even more impressed up close, I managed to find the cuddle twist from Cuddle Dry after rather a lot of searching, and finally BOB gear as the range of strollers available would be perfect for taking the girls with me on my training for the Yorkshire 3 peaks.

I think though for my youngest her favourite part of the show, other than the previously mentioned Cosatto stand was the colourful and and beautiful products from Funky Giraffe bibs. I could not resist them and I know I am biased but she does look ever so cute in them

We all had such an amazing day and I cannot wait for the next show and for some new discoveries.

This day I love a good family day out at the Baby show.

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Make	Britax
Model	Advansafix
Group	1,2,3
Age/Weight	9M - 12Yr / 9-36Kg
Direction	Forward facing only
Installation type	Isofix, seat belt and Top tether
Harness/Shield	5 Point Harness
Location in car	Needs Isofix points. Comes with supplied list of suitable seat locations dependant on make and model of car.
Headrest adjustable	Height-adjustable headrest and harness with easy single-handed adjustment allows the seat to grow with your child without the need to remove and re-thread the harness Height-adjustable headrest and belt guide in group 2-3 position with easy single-handed adjustment allows the seat to grow with your child whilst keeping the adult seat belt in the correct position over your child’s shoulder
Recline	Yes
Instructions	Paper copies stored in side of chair. Multiple Languages
Assembly	No Assembly required
Ease of First Installation	Instructions on side of seat with simple step by step guide for first installation
Depth, Height Width	54cm, 72cm, 44cm
Weight	11.2 KG
Testing and Certification	ECE R 44/04 and incorporates the supplement 7 amendments

Make	Britax
Model	King II LS
Group	1
Age/Weight	9M - 4Yr / 9-18Kg
Direction	Forward facing only
Installation type	3 point seat belt
Harness/Shield	5 Point Harness
Location in car	Only compatible on seats with 3 point retractor safety belts, and which face direction of travel. If used on front seat with air bag, refer to instructions in vehicle owner's manual.
Headrest adjustable	Yes
Recline	4 position
Instructions	Paper copies stored in back of chair. Multiple Languages
Assembly	No Assembly required
Ease of First Installation	Very easy to install first installation within 10 minutes.
Depth, Height Width	54cm, 67cm, 45cm
Weight	10.3KG
Testing and Certification	ECE R 44/04

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