Britax Frontier-Red Rock Booster Car Seat

We have already a Britax Boulevard for our older son, which we intend to use for our younger son (he has just outgrown his Graco s
Snug Ride infant carrier), so the older son needed a new seat. My husband and I decided to buy the Britax Frontier after we had seen other comparable car seats in the store, which did not meet our expectations or had features that we did not think were very comfortable or convenient.

The Frontier has a very thick padding, also on the back rest, with no uncomfortable seams, which is a plus on long car rides. In this respect, the Frontier is clearly superior to other seats. The fabric (we have the "Red Rock" pattern) is of a "net" type, I hope it will hold up just as well as the "velvet" type fabric of our Britax Boulevard seat. I have not taken off the padding for washing yet, but I expect it to be just as easy as on other car seats, or the Boulevard.

The harness straps are a little softer than that of the Boulevard, but they do not tangle. I found this much better than in other seats (evenflo, Cosco, Safety First, The First Years). The harness adjustment works well, although it is somewhat hard to pull (similar to that of the Boulevard). The buckle works very well, but it is a little hard to push to open it, especially if you have arthritis in your hands like me. I found the buckle of the Graco Nautilus (which opens by sliding the tab towards your thumb rather than pushing it into the buckle) more thought out, as this one can more easily be operated with one hand only.

We are using the Frontier in harness mode, so I do not have experience with the booster mode.

My husband and I had read about installation problems with the Frontier ("unusual belt path") on several web pages, so we were concerned when we ordered the seat through the internet (we would have felt more confident if we had been able to try it out in a store).
However, turned out that the installation was as easy as strawberry pie. Not different from the installation of any other car seat that I know of (and as a frequent driver for our preschool, I get to experience many different seats). It can be a bit tricky to loop the buckle of the car's seat belt through the openings in the seat, as these are not very big, but that's about it. And if you use LATCH, the installation is simple and quick, no different from other seats. So don't get too impressed by other reviews on this topic.

The Frontier is a very bulky and heavyweight seat, so it might not be easy to change the seat between cars frequently. This is not a concern for us, however, because we use the seat almost exclusively in our Honda Odyssey (right next to the Boulevard, so that the third seat in the row can be used by our older daughter), and not in our second, smaller car.

The price of the Frontier is high, but we got a very good deal on it, and the difference to other seats was then only about $40. I think the better comfort and safety of the Frontier clearly make up for its higher price.

All in all, I am very happy with our Frontier, and if I needed another seat today, I would definitely buy a Frontier again.