Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsNot Worth The Cost, and Generally Unnecessary. If You Need One, Buy Used!
Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2020
Like many people, we were convinced that we needed a second car seat base to go into Grandma's car, so we bought one of these and have regretted the purchase ever since! It's expensive, it got used very rarely, and it’s generally unnecessary. Here are some highlights of our experience:
NOT WORTH THE COST OF BUYING NEW: We love our Britax car seat, but this base is just not worth the $119 expense on top of the already expensive car seat. We paid $80 for one of these back in 2016, and even that was too much. But if you really feel like you need a second base, buy one used! They each come with a projected service life of six years (see the Britax website) and are super sturdy and impossible to break, so you can buy used with confidence. Take a look through the used bases before you put a new one of these into your shopping cart!
SECOND BASE SEEMS UNNECESSARY ANYWAY: While the Britax website talks about the safety advantages of the base (and we absolutely use the one that came with the car seat itself), in our experience we trust the car seat design whether it is placed on the base or not. Unless another car is going to be taking baby for a spin every day (in which case, it's really easy to re-install the one you already have in the other car), we trust the seatbelt guide rails that are part of the car seat itself for occasional trips. It's a lot easier to take the car seat in and out without the base, and if you tighten the seat belt correctly the car seat is strapped down securely. We never check the heavy base on airplanes when we travel and instead use the seatbelt guide rails throughout all trips, which has worked great for us. Don't get me wrong--baby's safety is SUPER important, and if you want to always have a base under the car seat you should! But that still doesn't necessarily mean that you need a second base.
Bottom line: The base does what it's supposed to do, but if your experience is anything like ours you won't need it. I suggest you save yourself the expense!
