Product Description

Britax Roundabout 50 Convertible Car SeatThe Britax Roundabout 50 Convertible Car Seat maintains many parent approved features from the ever popular Roundabout compact convertible car seat and comes with recent advancements in child safety and the best practice to keep children harnessed as long as possible. This Roundabout has been stretched to accommodate a child up to 50 lbs.  The Roundabout 50 features a tangle free, five point harnesses with 4 harness heights and 3 buckle positions for a snug and secure fit. The higher forward facing weight capacity allows children to remain harnessed up to 50 pounds. The premium push button lower latch connectors provide a quick, simple and tight installation. Its unique features include the patented Versa Tether for energy management, and rear and forward facing recline for child comfort and positioning. The Roundabout 50 fits children rear facing from 5 to 35 pounds and children forward facing from at least one year old and 20 pounds, up to 50 pounds. 

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1041 in Baby Product
• Color: Onyx
• Brand: Britax USA
• Model: E9LA669
• Released on: 2009-05-18
• Dimensions: 27.50" h x 19.50" w x 25.50" l, 15.50 pounds

Features

• Convertible rear facing five to 35 pounds and forward facing from at least one year old and 20 pounds, up to 50 pounds
• Side impact protection distributes crash forces, shields from vehicle intrusion, and contains the head and body
• Higher forward facing seat capacity allows children to remain harnessed up to 50 pounds
• Tangle free, five point harness with four harness heights and three buckle positions for a snug and secure fit
• Premium push button lower latch connectors for a quick, simple and tight installation

Amazon.com Product Description
With the Britax Roundabout 50 Convertible Car Seat, you get top safety features in a versatile car seat that your child can use from birth through toddlerhood. With both rear-facing and forward-facing configurations, this convertible car seat can handle a weight load of up to 50 pounds, giving you the option of using it into your child's toddler years, and making it an economical and practical choice for your family.

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Side Impact Protection distributes crash forces, shields from vehicle intrusion, and contains the head and body

Tangle-free, five-point harness with 4 harness heights and 3 buckle positions for a snug and secure fit

Convertible Car Seat: Practical and Economical
The Roundabout 50 is a convertible car seat, which means that it can be used in both rear-facing and forward-facing configurations. Infants are required by law to sit in a rear-facing position until the age of one and until they weigh over 20 pounds. After that, they can sit in a forward-facing car seat. Rather than spending your money on separate seats for each configuration, you can economize by meeting the needs of each stage with the Roundabout 50.

The Roundabout 50 has higher weight limits than many other car seats, allowing infants between five and 35 pounds to ride in the rear-facing position and toddlers up to 50 pounds in the forward-facing position. These higher weight limits extend the seat's usability and make it more practical, more economical, and also more comfortable to use with larger children.

Side Impact Protection and Other Safety Features
Several premier safety features work together in the Roundabout 50 to keep your child safe. For starters, the seat is designed with Side Impact Protection, which means that the seat's deep side walls are padded with energy-absorbing foam. Not only do these side wings provide stabilization for your child's head and neck, they're designed to distribute forces created by impact and to shield your child in the event of a crash. The seat also features high-density, energy-managing foam throughout, which not only offers protection but also a comfortable, padded ride for your child.

The Roundabout 50 features the patented Versa-Tether, which tethers the seat at two top-located points. This unique system is designed to minimize forward movement when the car stops suddenly. It also can be used for seat stabilization in the rear-facing configuration. An additional feature of the Roundabout 50 is its innovative energy-absorbing base that is contoured to fit most vehicles.

Comfortable, Stylish, and Convenient
Yes, the Roundabout 50 is safe and versatile, but it's also designed to give your child a cushioned and comfortable ride. High-density foam offers plush padding, while rear- and forward-facing recline functions let you position the seat to your child's comfort, making the Roundabout 50 an ideal choice for long trips. And the plush, washable cover comes with matching comfort and belly pads to keep your child extra-snug.

The seat is built with parents in mind, too. Moms and dads will appreciate the tangle-free five-point harness, as well as the belt holders that hold the harness out of the way while parents place their child in the seat. Four adjustable heights and three buckle positions make it easy to adjust the belts for a snug, secure fit for your child.

The Roundabout 50 installs easily with a premium LATCH connector that's designed for easy, tight, and secure installation. It releases easily with the push of a button.

The Roundabout 50 measures 9.5 x 27.5 x 25.5 inches and weighs 15.5 pounds. This product is warranted against defective materials or workmanship for one year from the date of original purchase.

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From the Manufacturer
The Britax Roundabout 50 convertible car seat maintains many parent approved features from the ever popular Roundabout compact convertible car seat.  This comes with recent advancements in child safety and the best practice to keep children harnessed as long as possible. This Roundabout has been stretched to accommodate up to a 50 pounds child.  The Roundabout 50 features a tangle free, five point harnesses with 4 harness heights and 3 buckle positions for a snug and secure fit. The higher forward facing weight capacity allows children to remain harnessed up to 50 pounds. The premium push button lower latch connectors provide a quick, simple and tight installation. Its unique features include the patented Versa Tether for energy management, and rear and forward facing recline for child comfort and positioning. The Roundabout 50 fits children rear facing from five to 35 pounds and children forward facing from at least one year old and 20 pounds, up to 50 pounds.  The Roundabout 50 is made in the USA with U.S. and global components.

Customer Reviews

(4.5 stars) A very good choice for safety and value
The new Roundabout 50 is a very useful addition to the Britax line, if it matches what you're looking for. It's a somewhat compact seat with the safety and convenience features Britax offers (though with a couple convenience feature changes). And it's Roundabout-level price makes it a very good choice value, as a safe seat that will have a long useful life.

The notable differences vs. the original Roundabout is that this model can handle a child of up to 50 lbs, and up to 49 inches in height. (The original Roundabout was 40 lbs and 40 inches.) Given that a lot of children will outgrow the height of the chair before they outgrow the weight, this provides another somewhat compact option for parents, and lengthens the amount of time the chair is useful.

By the way, this seat is a "Roundabout" only in concept - a somewhat compact, moderately priced seat (compared to the rest of the Britax line). It isn't physically a version of the original Roundabout. Reportedly it's actually based on the Decathlon, and it does have the same overall dimensions and weight and very similar details like strap heights. (Though the Decathlon has the extra HUGS padding and more pillows.) So you may want to read comments on the Decathlon, too, if you're wanting more info on this new model.

Other important differences relative to the earlier Roundabout:
- Larger (19.5 W x 27.5 H x 25.5 D vs. 18.5 W x 24.5 H x 24 D).
- Bigger seat area (9.5 D x 11.5 W, vs. 9 D x 11 W)
- Heavier (15.5 lbs vs. 13.1 lbs.), but still lighter than many seats.
- Four harness slot heights, so seated shoulder height of 10.75" (rear facing) to 16.25" (forward facing), vs. three heights with a range of 10.5" to 15".
- Three buckle strap depths (2.4", 4.4", 6.4") rather than just one (6.6").

There are a couple features the Roundabout had that you may miss having on the Roundabout 50:
- The Roundabout 50 does not have the push button harness adjustment, which many parents really (really) liked on the original Roundabout. Instead it uses a lift lever.
- The Roundabout had built in belt lock offs, while the Roundabout 50 uses a locking clip. (We use the LATCH system on our own cars, the lockoffs were nice because they were easy to use on rental cars, but I imagine we'll adapt.)

I don't find any of these seats especially compact, though! We have a large station wagon and the back seat is very crowded with two. So you'll want to research how it fits in your specific car - since this model is new, perhaps see what people say about the Decathlon and your car.

We bought a 50 to use as our older child grows, and we'll use the smaller original Roundabout for the younger child, to help a little with the space in the back.

We did use another car seat (with a base and a detachable bucket) for the first several months, because we found it easier to put a newborn baby in the seat in the house and use that to carry her around in that, than to try to use a seat permanently installed in the car. So I can't say what it's like to use either of the Roundabouts with a newborn.

And just a reminder to keep your child rear facing well past the old 1 year / 20 lb guideline, if your circumstances make that at all possible - a quick web search will give you the safety facts. This larger seat will help somewhat with making that possible.

Yes, yes, yes-- THE car seat for precious cargo
When our son was ready to transition from his infant carrier to a convertible ("big boy") car seat, we read all the Consumer Reports, asked friends and relatives, and then went to BRU to "test drive" all of them with our son. Suffice to say, we selected this seat, no question-- it was absolutely the best, hands-down. We wanted something that could keep him harnessed longer, and accomodate a higher height than most of the other convertibles. AND, it had to be able to fit in my compact car. Remember that the weight limit is not as useful a measure of the lifespan of the seat as the height limit is-- unless you have a really rotund kid, they are going to hit 48 inches well before they hit the 50 lb. weight limit.

Unlike other seats on the market, the buckles on the Britax models are SO much sturdier and clip securely. With other seats, I found myself squeezing and squeezing the buckles just to get it "snapped" in properly-- and this without even inserting the wiggling 7 month old! (And we confirmed this was not just the floor models at BRU by trying the same models out in other stores as well-- we continued to experience the same phenomena)

Many pinched fingers later, we were delighted to try out the Roundabout 50. Although the Britax brand is slightly more expensive, there are some things that are just worth the money. Those things being: crib, car seat, and stroller-- no sense in "cheaping out" on these three necessities, since you will be using them every single day.

In addition to the obviously higher-quality construction, I also appreciated the ease of installation (and so did the firefighters who initially installed it-- I have since done it myself once), and the ease of removing and "reapplying" the cover (for those inevitable baby messes). Best part is that the Roundabout 50 fits in my car, a 2007 Toyota Corolla, easily, while still having ample room for our son to grow-- this can not be said about many other brands.

I think this is an excellent choice for children 15-50 lbs. We have since purchased another Britax model-- Decathlon (to 65 lbs)-- for my husband's car, and I can actually say that after using them both for some time, I actually prefer this model, though it lacks some of the pillows and "plushness" of the Decathlon. We expect that both of these seats will make it through to our son's 5th birthday at the least. We have had this seat for two months now, and I highly recommend it.

Better than the Roundabout
I have a Roundabout in one car and this Roundabout 50 in the other car. I bought the Roundabout before the 50 came out, but I wish I had waited so I could have bought 2 of these. The 50 has 3 positions for the bottom belt. My son is in the 90th percentile, so having the option to move the belt a little forward is important. The belt on the Roundabout always leaves a mark on his leg, but it doesn't on the 50. If you're deciding between the two, pay a little extra for the 50!