Britax Prince & Duo Plus Car Seats
We were very lucky to be sent the Britax Prince and Britax Duo Plus car seats for review so over the Christmas period they have been well and truly tested with long distance visits to family and friends.
Britax Prince
The Prince is a lightweight car seat with a slim base specifically designed for cars with sculpted seats – this suits my car down to the ground. I drive a Seat Altea which has sports seats and has caused a problem when searching for seats in the past. The Prince can be installed in cars with 3-point and 2-point lap belts and has 3 recline positions for your child’s comfort. It features a 5 point safety harness, chest pads and side impact protection in the soft padded, deep side wings. The cover, which comes in two fabric options, can be removed for machine washing which is pretty much a necessity where little ones are concerned.
Specifications
Group 1
Weight 9kg – 18kg
Age 9mths – 4yrs
The seat is really easy to install by passing the seat belt through the rear of the seat and securing the belt through a slot at the top of the seat and closing the red clip to prevent the belt from slipping. Little Bean says that this seat is really comfortable but she refuses to try out the recline positions, she hates to think that she might fall asleep and miss something! The safety harness is easily adjusted with a one pull lap tensioner.
In short I would say that this is a good basic car seat, it isn’t super padded but it does what it is supposed to and has been thoughtfully designed. The only thing which I would prefer on this car seat is for it to be slightly more elevated to give Little Bean a better view out of the window.
RRP £99.99
Britax Duo Plus
The Duo Plus is a versatile car seat which gives you the choice of two installation options. Providing your car is ISOFIX ready then you can install via the ISOFIX system or with a 3 point seat belt. With ISOFIX system the seat is anchored to the car itself so is very secure and the Duo Plus also has a special “Pivot Link” system which reduces the child’s forward motion in the seat in the event of an accident.
As with the Prince the Duo Plus features 5 point safety harness with one pull adjustment, side impact protection with deep, soft padded wings, performance chest pads, 3 recline positions and removable cover.
In addition, the Duo Plus has ventilation panels in the back area to prevent your little one getting too hot, harness retainers, height adjustable headrest and harness.
Specifications
Group 1
Weight 9kg – 18kg
Age 9mths – 4yrs
On first sight it is easy to see that this a higher quality car seat, the covers are more padded and there is extra padding in the form of a removable headrest. I love that this is an ISOFIX seat because I can feel safe in the knowledge that the seat is secure. Eventually this will be the seat which we will use for Beanie Boy but as he is only 15 weeks old, he’s a bit young for it yet. For now we are using this seat in my husband’s car for Little Bean to save moving the seats around. Again we like the one pull system which runs very smoothly (a problem that we have found with other seats is that this is very stiff). Little Bean says this seat is “too comfy” which to her means, its very comfy. The only thing about this seat that disappoints me is that it places Little Bean even lower in the car than the Prince which I already thought was quite low. It doesn’t give her the greatest view out of the window.
RRP £199.99
For more information and stockists of the Britax range visit their site www.britax.co.uk/carseats