2nd Britax Explorer STS 139.99

Britax Explorer STS
Colour schemes Five
Recommended Retail Price 139.99

Overall

Features
The seat feels well padded and the harness straps strong, padded and soft. There are four recline positions, although the seat is broader than many so the child's head could roll about a bit.

Ease of operation
Once you've digested the instruction booklet, fitting the seat is easy with the tilt, thread and go' system. The seat tilts forward so it's easy for you to pull your three-point seatbelt behind it. The seatbelt is then ratcheted tight when you lock the seat back into its base. There are three different height adjustments for the five-point harness, but it's a little fiddly to move it. There are hooks to keep the harness out of the way while you're getting your child in, however.

Buying
This is a reasonably priced seat, and it's widely available at below the recommended retail price, so it can be a real bargain.

Quality
It might be affordable, but it doesn't feel cheap - the Explorer STS feels robust and constructed from decent materials.

Special features
Safe strap' indicators flip down to let you know when you've properly tightened the belts around your child. We felt we were tightening the belts more than we would usually do, so found the feature helpful at first. However, the indicators started to flip back up a few minutes down the road, leaving us wondering whether the belts had slackened off. They hadn't, so you do still have to check the belt tightness yourself.