Kids are expensive!
Some studies claim that raising a child to the age of 18 will cost the average family almost a quarter of a million dollars! With that kind of expense ahead you may be questioning the cost of baby gear such as car seats. But buying the best car seats is one of those baby accessories we think is worth every penny.
No one wants to sound cheap when it comes to baby gear that serves a safety purpose. I mean why would you put all the time and effort into raising your little angels right if you didn’t want to keep them safe? In reality though, a $400 car seat can give even the most safety conscious parents sticker shock.
In the interest of full disclosure, I was sent the Britax Advocate ClickTight ARB convertible car seat at no cost in order to provide a review. Looking up the price online, I felt a little bit of apprehension. With other brands and models available at a significantly lower cost would I be able to make an honest recommendation to readers? Was it going to be worth the price tag?
Read our 5 best car seat safety tips here!
Yes. The Britax Advocate ClickTight ARB Is Worth the Hefty Price
There I said it. I am one of the most frugal folks I know. But after installing and using the Britax Advocate ClickTight ARB I would have purchased it with my own money. In fact, I spent an hour online looking up sales on it because my sister is planning to purchase one for my niece after our experience with it. Want to save even more? Buy through a site like Ebates to get some money back.
Hint: When searching online you will see some models with a lower price that don’t include ARB in the name. These models do not come with the ARB (Anti Rebound Bar) and you have to purchase it as a separate accessory. It is cheaper to just buy the car seat that comes with it.
Safety features abound in the Britax ClickTight Advocate ARB. Photo: Britax
The Features that Cemented our Love of the Britax Advocate ClickTight ARB Car Seat
Some of the features we loved are:
- The anti rebound bar (ARB). This makes an already safe car seat even safer with a rear facing install. When a seat is installed rear facing it can “bounce” towards the back of the seat in the event of a crash. The ARB cuts down on that movement. Great peace of mind to have in case of a crash.
- Many car seats brag on how easy they are to install. That’s all well and good. But in reality up to 75 percent of car seats are still being installed incorrectly. While the installation of the Advocate car seat wasn’t the easiest I’ve ever experienced it was still simple enough. Best part? It would be really hard to install this car seat incorrectly. Multiple mechanisms are in play here to guarantee the correct install.
- Tight installation. This seat has the tightest installation we have ever gotten with any car seat that we have owned. I truly feel that the baby is extremely secure and that is the main reason why I feel that this seat is worth every penny.
- Easy to use harness. In other seats it has been tricky to get a secure harness fit. The Advocate ClickTight has a harness indicator that takes the guess work out of that fit. In addition, there are 14 different harness positions to choose from!
- We love that the Britax car seats are engineered and manufactured in the USA.
Read more about the Britax commitment to safety here.
What You Need to Know about the Britax Advocate ClickTight ARB
With everything that we love about the Britax Advocate ClickTight ARB car seat there are a few things to keep in mind:
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- This seat is fairly wide. If you have multiple kids in car seats and need to put three car seats across a backseat, you may want to seek out a narrower seat.
- The seat is heavy. This is a 30 pound car seat. If you switch the car seat between cars frequently this may not be the right choice for you. It is easy to install once switched but can be awkward to move.
- The written instruction book has lengthy and verbose directions. If you are having trouble with the booklet I highly recommend turning to the YouTube installation videos like this one for your first go round.
Cleaning the Britax Advocate ClickTight ARB
We all know that a car seat can be amazing but if it’s hard to clean then who wants it? There is enough hassle in every day life that we don’t want to deal with a tough to clean car seat when kids are messy!
- The material of the car seat makes it extremely easy to wipe down. As a bonus, liquids/messes don’t really “soak” into the seat to begin with.
- The cover can be a bit of a challenge to remove the first time but after we did it once we were able to replicate it easily!
Disclosure: Britax provided the ClickTight ARB child car seat for this review. All opinions are my own.
