Britax Römer Advansafix III SICT Review

Quick Summary: The Britax Römer Advansafix III SICT Car Seat can take your child from approx 9 months all the way up until 12 years of age - so 9-36kg. This undoubtedly makes it a really great investment in terms of its longevity and the fact parents won't need to worry about hunting for a new car seat every time their child meets a new weight or age milestone. The fact you are able to convert the seat from 5-point harness up to 18kg onto a car seat belt with SecureGuard for the rest of the time is a real bonus.

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The Advansafix II SICT was ever so popular with parents. We have been taking a look at the new Advansafix III SICT and putting it through its paces. It is a Group 1-2-3 car seat offering a perfect solution for parents who want the safest mode of travel for their little ones, without having to replace their car seat as their child hits those all important weight milestones and outgrows their previous seat.

The Advansafix III SICT is suitable from approximately 9 months all the way up to 12 years of age. The beauty of this seat is the ability to seamlessly transition from a 5 point safety harness of the seat that babies and toddlers need, to using the seat as a safer than safe high backed booster seat for your child as they grow.

Britax are renowned for packing the most innovative of safety technologies into their seats to ensure the safest mode of travel for our babies and children. We've been testing the Advansafix III SICT out with children of different ages and this is how we got on.

Installation

The seat itself has multiple modes to suit the weight and age of your child, however the main bones of the installation of the seat and its integrated ISOfix base remain the same. Un-boxing the seat is gloriously simple: There is no separate base, the seat comes as one, so all we needed to do was carry it to the car and read the instruction manual on how to fit it.

The ISOfix connectors at the base of the seat are handily covered to protect them, just clip of this cover and extend the arms to their longest length.

It is important to install the seat according to the correct age/weight bracket that your child is in, as the installation changes slightly as your child grows and develops and the seat grows with them.

Group 1 Installation:

If you plan on using the seat from the beginning of its suitability (9kg or approximately 9 months in age) then the first thing you will have to do is adjust the harness height to the correct position for your baby. We simply popped our little one in the seat on the living room floor and used the grey lever at the back of the seat to slide the harness to the correct height for him.

This does mean that every time you want to change the harness height that you will have to take the seat out of the car - but this isn't something that should need doing too often if the seat is just going to be used for one child.

Next, pop the seat on your car seat. Line the ISOfix arms up with the anchor points of your vehicle's seat. Push the arms into place until the two green indicators are visible on either side of the seat.

This seat also has a top tether cord for extra stability on the seat. This is stored in the storage pouch on the back. Pop the tether strap over the top of the seat and hook it onto the tether point - these are usually on the back of the vehicle seat at the bottom, but can also be placed on the floor. Pull the strap tight until the green tension indicator shows. We especially liked the green indicators on the tether strap, as it leaves you in no doubt as to whether the installation of the tether strap is correct.

You do also have the option of threading the seatbelt through the back of the seat to secure the seat in further.

That's it! The seat is ready and raring to go.

Group 2-3 Installation:

When your child reaches 18kg, they are ready to use the seat without the harness and instead use the car's 3 point seatbelt to secure them into the seat.

To remove the harness from the seat you will need to take the seat out of the car so you can reach the back of the seat shell. Lift the storage pouch up and slide the harness adjusters to their highest position. Unthread the harness loops from the metal hooks and draw them through the seat. Remove the harness pads and roll the straps before tucking them into their own little storage space in the edge of the seat unit.

When you use the seat in Group 2 or 3 mode you have the added safety feature of the SecureGuard technology, which in simple terms resembles a plastic crotch strap but for older children. It cleverly guides the lap belt over the safest area of the child's pelvis and avoids putting pressure on the delicate abdominal area in the event of an impact.

To fit the SecureGuard strap you need to unthread the harness crotch buckle and thread the SecureGuard buckle through the slit nearest to the front of the seat.

It may sound a little long winded, but it was actually a very simple process and bear in mind that you only need to complete this process once, it won't be a daily or weekly occurrence!

You can now pop the seat back into the car using the ISOfix connectors and the top tether strap as before.

Seat

The seat is to be used forward facing and is packed full of innovative safety features.

The seat shell and mouldings are strong and robust and are quite clearly made of the highest quality materials. The fabrics neatly cover the seat and there is a nice amount of padding to make sure your little one is comfortable, especially on longer journeys. The super quality fabrics can also be taken off the seat shell quite easily, just in case there is a spillage!

The adjustable headrest has really deep sides, which are perfect for protection your little one's head and neck in an accident.

Toddlers often fall asleep in car seats and we loved that the Advansafix III SICT has a recline lever on the front of the seat to allow baby to sleep in comfort with their head and neck in a secure and safe position.

When you remove the harness from the seat and use it in conjunction with your car's 3 point seatbelt, the seat comes complete with a clever SecureGuard technology crotch strap. This strap cleverly inserts where the harness buckle would have done previously and by tucking the seat belt underneath it, you ensure that pressure is spread across the child's harder pelvic area rather than their delicate abdominal area.

Once we had removed the harness to use the seat with an older child, we loved how the clear red markers showed us exactly where to place the seat belt across the seat. Our 6 year old tester really enjoyed fastening his own belt and following the guides marked out.

The car seat also has SICT technology which provides Side Impact Protection to help keep our little ones as safe as possible. This comes in the form of a removable pod (included in the box with your Advansafix III SICT seat). Simply clip the pod onto the side of the seat nearest to the car door and in the event of an accident it distributes the force of the accident away from your child's body.

Our verdict...

The Britax Römer Advansafix III SICT Car Seat can take your child from approx 9 months all the way up until 12 years of age - so 9-36kg. This undoubtedly makes it a really great investment in terms of its longevity and the fact parents won't need to worry about hunting for a new car seat every time their child meets a new weight or age milestone. The fact you are able to convert the seat from 5-point harness up to 18kg onto a car seat belt with SecureGuard for the rest of the time is a real bonus.

It's the little features such as the recline lever at the front of the seat that make a difference to the daily use of the seat and that also make life that bit simpler for parents as well as that bit more comfortable for toddlers.

The safety technology that Britax Römer have packed into the seat gives great peace of mind that your child is as safe as possible, however our only wish is that the seat had the ability to allow rearward facing travel for some duration of its use.