Britax has been on a roll lately with their convertible seat line, with the recent releases of the Advocate ClickTight, Boulevard ClickTight, and Marathon ClickTight, all of which I’ve reviewed and recommended. However, as great as the ClickTight line is, parents searching for cheaper alternatives that still carry the high quality side impact protection Britax has been focusing on for the last several years would do well to look into the Britax Advocate G4.1, Boulevard G4.1, and Marathon G4.1, which are all updates to the G4 convertible line that the ClickTight seats are derived from, such as the Britax Advocate G4. I picked up an Adocate G4.1 on sale from Amazon this weekend and set about to see what it had to offer.

2015 Britax Advocate G4.1 – Quick Review

The Britax Advocate G4.1 is the latest version of Britax’s highly popular Advocate convertible car seat, which Britax most recently released as the Advocate ClickTight, and which they previously released as the Advocate G4. As the name implies, the G4.1 is more of a refresh or an update to the Advocate G4 than an entirely new system within the seat, as is the case with the Advocate ClickTight.

Being a convertible car seat, you can use and install it both in rear-facing configurations to transport infants, toddlers, and preschool-aged children, and as a forward-facing car seat to transport older, elementary-school aged children.

Along with the Boulevard G4.1, Marathon G4.1, Advocate ClickTight, Boulevard ClickTight, and Marathon ClickTight, it’s one of the newest convertible car seats available from Britax, and essentially offers many of the features of its ClickTight equivalent, particularly with respect to side impact protection, at a significantly lower price. Britax calls it innovative and one of its safest car seats yet. Does it deliver on its promises? Let’s dig into it together and find out!

Buy the Britax Advocate G4.1 on Sale at Amazon here.

Britax Advocate G4.1 Weight and Height Limits

Rear-facing: 5 to 40 pounds. There is a 49″ height limit for the child that’s based on the top of the shell, rather than to the top of the head wings, as is the case with the Advocate ClickTight. This means you’ll get more seat life out of the ClickTight version, but you still get a decent amount from the G4.1. The seated shoulder height of the child can range from 9″ at the low end to 16.75″ at the high end. The harness settings range from 8.5″ at the low end to 17.5″ at the high end.

Forward-facing: 20 to 65 pounds. The top harness height at 17.5″ is lower than that of the Advocate ClickTight, which means you won’t get as much time forward-facing either in this version of the Advocate as you would in the ClickTight version. The lowest available harness height is 8.5″ and you can raise it in 1″ increments. While forward-facing, your child’s seated shoulder height can range between 12″ and 16.75.”

While Britax states you can forward-face your child once s/he’s a year old and at least 20 pounds, this is still much too early to forward-face. Ideally, you’ll want to rear-face as long as possible, such as until 4 or even later if you can. Children who rear-face are less likely to suffer serious or fatal injuries in car collisions, and you’ll want to forward-face as long as possible in a harness before switching to a booster afterward.

Dimensions of the Britax Advocate G4.1

The seat is 20.5″ wide at its widest point, 26″ tall, and 21″ long front-to-back. Width-wise, it’s identical to the ClickTight version, which means you’re going to need to work for it if you want to achieve a 3 across installation with 3 of these seats, although it’s definitely possible. You can review the full 3 across guide to see which kinds of car seats are guaranteed to fit well in your car, minivan, SUV, or pickup truck. The G4.1 weighs 21.5 pounds, which isn’t nearly as much as the ClickTight version, which comes in at 30 pounds.

Using the Britax Advocate G4.1

Installation, rear-and forward-facing

Out of the box, the Advocate G4.1 is an impressive, and frankly, a bit of an intimidating seat. It’s large and hefty, even though it doesn’t weigh nearly as much as its ClickTight counterpart, and has a solid feel when you put it on the ground or when you get ready to install it. The frame is made from steel that’s designed to add stability to the seat and act like a metallic spine inside the car seat. This essentially means that the seat takes up some of the energy in a collision so it doesn’t go into your child. This kind of tech is sprinkled throughout the seat, since it’s the flagship model for Britax.

Installation is smooth and straightforward, whether you’re doing it with a LATCH installation or through a good old-fashioned seat belt setup. I prefer the seat belt setup for 3 across installations since it gives me much more space, but I like using LATCH when I’ve only got one or two seats to deal with since it takes much less effort to get a tight installation. The LATCH connectors are “Easy-on, easy-off” connectors, which means they’re even easier to connect and disconnect, and they also have the great feature of clicking audibly once they’re securely locked, which adds to peace of mind by letting you know the seat’s not going anywhere in a collision.

The base of the Advocate G4.1 is designed to absorb impacts in collisions by compressing, which means less crash energy goes into your child, which is a very good thing. The base is also designed to act a bit like an anti-rebound bar by reducing forward movement, which helps reduce the likelihood that your child will collide with the seat in front of him or her. These are the kinds of details that make Britax seats worth buying over those from just about any other manufacturer, with the exceptions of Clek and Diono, with seats like the Fllo, Foonf, Rainier, and Pacifica.

There are 3 recline positions available for the Advocate G4.1, and each is clearly marked with a level indicator to help you get the right rear- and forward-facing angles. The belt paths for rear- and forward-facing installations by seat belt and by LATCH are also indicated clearly, reducing the chances of an incorrect installation. Remember that when you’re forward-facing, you should always use a top tether for safety, even though it’s sadly not yet a legal requirement in the United States.

Harness, Fit, Safety

There’s a 10-position no-rethread harness in the Advocate G4.1 that makes it a snap to find the right harness height setting for your child. Remember that you’ll need the straps to be at or below your child’s shoulders when rear-facing and at or above them when forward-facing. There’s a 2-position buckle strap as well to help provide a comfortable and snug experience for your little ones.

And speaking of comfort, it’s a luxurious, padded seat. There’s padding practically everywhere–in the shoulder pads, in the buckle pad, in the cover, and in other locations. There’s also an infant positioning pillow available to help both keep your youngest ones comfortable while also helping them properly fit the harness at lower settings.

The harness itself includes impact-absorbing materials to increase the chances that the chest clip will stay in its right position were a crash to occur, and as with the frame and base, it’s designed to take some energy in a crash. There’s also an easy-buckle system that’s designed to keep straps and buckles away from your child so you can get him or her into the seat without fighting the straps along the way. I’ve got to admit that while I’ve always been skeptical of the system, it works quite well. The harness is your standard 5-point harness and it feels good against the fingers. The cover of the seat can be removed quickly and machine washed.

The shell of the Advocate G4.1 is the show-stopper, as far as I’m concerned, when looking over the seat. It’s thick and filled with energy-absorbing foam to keep your child shielded from the tremendous forces that occur in collisions. The wings and sides are also designed to keep your child shielded from debris while keeping the head and neck in secure positions during a collision. There are even external cushions, which are only present in the Advocate and Pinnacle 90 (i.e., the best booster seat on Earth), that are designed to not only reduce energy that would otherwise harm your child, but also protect nearby passengers (including other children) from these forces. That’s good design.

Buy the Britax Advocate G4.1 on Sale at Amazon here.

Why Buy the Britax Advocate G4.1?

When it comes to car seats, we buy them to protect our children, and when it comes to protecting our children, it’s best to start with the basics, which means rear-facing as long as possible. With the G4.1, you can rear-face your son or daughter until 40 pounds. Keep in mind that there are a number of other seats that will allow you to rear-face significantly longer by weight, but even if this seat isn’t at the top of that list, it’s still pretty good. What we want to do is to keep our children out of the line of fire, which means we aren’t going to turn them forward-acing at 1, or 2, or even 3. We hold off until 4 if possible, which is the norm in Sweden. It’s no coincidence that nearly no children die each year in car accidents in Sweden; they’re using best practices, and we can too.

Besides the fact that the Advocate G4.1 allows you to rear-face until 40 pounds, I love, love, love the various safety features built into the seat, as they show just how much attention Britax places on reducing injuries and fatalities in the children they protect–the children we love. The side impact protection in particular is my favorite, as side impact collisions are the most likely to be fatal among front-, side-, and rear-impact collisions, simply due to the lack of protective structures in vehicles between our most precious passengers and the outside world. Seats that can increase our childrens’ odds of walking away from crashes are worth buying.

More broadly, I’m also a fan of the fact that the seat is already approved by the FAA for aircraft travel, as well as of the fact that it’s more or less made locally in the United States and has a long product life.

In conclusion, to answer the question of whether the Advocate G4.1 can serve as a good ClickTight alternative to the Advocate ClickTight, I’d say yes, and yes in spades. It’s a quality convertible with great side impact protection. You can buy it here in Broadway and Silver Diamonds. Canadians can buy it here.

If you find the information on car safety, recommended car seats, and car seat reviews on this car seat blog helpful, you can shop through this Amazon link for any purchases, car seat-related or not. Canadians can shop through this link for Canadian purchases.

Kiddy has been in the car seat industry for a number of years, and the Kiddy Evolution Pro, which is the topic of this review, has just raised the bar to become one of the best infant seats available today in the United States. It’s been sold in Europe for more than a year now, but it’s only just crossed the Atlantic to become available here in the US via Amazon.  This seat follows on the heels of the Kiddy Cruiserfix Pro, which I’ve reviewed here, and a number of high quality infant seats like the UPPABaby MESA, and is poised to become a strong competitor in the world of rear-facing car seats. When Kiddy notified me about the Evolution Pro, I put in my order on Amazon, and it arrived this weekend, which meant I had to test it out. What do I think?

I am impressed. Very impressed. Let’s find out why!

Kiddy Evolution Pro – What’s the big deal?

The Kiddy Evolution Pro has a number of features that simply aren’t available in any other infant car seat in the United States today. First of all, it’s the only infant car seat available in the United States with a 37″ height limit. The majority of infant car seats currently available top out at 30 inches, which means that despite the fact that some of them have higher weight limits, all of them are likely to be outgrown by height before they’re outgrown by weight. Thanks to the 37″ height limit, the 35 pound weight limit is far more likely to be reached by the average child. It also means that a child of average height would be able to rear-face until 3! This is simply unheard of in an infant seat.

Secondly, the Evolution Pro is the only infant seat in the US today that allows your child to sleep in a completely flat position when the seat is flat on the floor and not installed in a vehicle. We’ll talk about more details in a moment, but these are the two biggest reasons to pick up the Evolution Pro.

What kind of car seat is the Kiddy Evolution Pro? Broadly, the Evolution Pro is an infant car seat. That means it’s only designed to be used rear-facing when installed in a car. To forward-face, you’ll need a different kind of car seat, like a convertible or combination car seat. However, as long as you have the appropriate insert, you can use the Evolution Pro straight from the hospital to bring your baby home on his or her first car ride, and the Evolution Pro will be much lighter and easier to use than any convertible car seat that currently exists.

Buy the Kiddy Evolution Pro on Sale with Free Shipping at Amazon here.

Kiddy Evolution Pro Limits for Weight and Height

Rear-facing: 3 to 35 pounds. It comes with a preemie insert that takes the minimum weight limit down to 3 pounds. The insert is essentially a headrest with body support and a crotch support to keep the child from slumping. Children can be up to 37″ tall (wow!), which blows away the competition from every single other infant seat currently on the US market. There is a 1″ height limit relative to the highest part of the seat shell ass well.

Legally in most states, children can forward face at 1, but as readers of The Car Crash Detective, you know that’s way too early, and I recommend extended-rear facing until at least 4, just as the Swedes do, in order to keep your little one as safe as possible. You’re going to need a convertible seat to continue to rear-face after your child outgrows the Evolution Pro, but there are plenty of great ones to choose from here.

Dimensions of the Kiddy Evolution Pro

The Kiddy Evolution Pro is around 18″ wide, 27″ high, and “26” tall. The seat itself weighs 11 pounds and the base adds another 9 pounds when you use it. The width of the Evolution Pro means that you shouldn’t have much trouble installing it in 3 across configurations in cars, trucks, minivans, or SUVs. If you’d like to learn more about which kinds of car seats are likely to work well in your vehicle or beside the Evolution Pro, you’ll want to have a look at the 3 across car seat guide I update here.

Using the Kiddy Evolution Pro

Installation

Out of the box, the Kiddy Evolution Pro is a gorgeous, gorgeous seat. It resembles an egg in its shape, with smooth curved lines and an appealing shell in a variety of colors. Structurally, it feels solid, with molded plastic and steel throughout the shell and substructure, while various plush fabrics are used in the canopy. The fabric seat cover only takes a few seconds to remove and is machine-washable. The canopy itself, or sun roof, as Kiddy calls it, is infinitely adjustable, and gives a good amount of shade. There’s also a rain and mosquito cover that helps keep kids dry and bug free.

The Evolution Pro is designed to offer secure installations, as are most infant seats, through the seat belt or through LATCH anchors. In general, I like the standard lap and shoulder belt installation, especially when I’m trying to figure out 3 across installations or working with older vehicles that didn’t necessarily come with LATCH anchors. However, when dealing with infant seats, I really like LATCH setups whenever I can use them simply because they let me attach the base and then attach and disconnect the infant seat without waking a sleeping baby.

Something neat about the Evolution Pro is that it allows for European belt-routing (behind the shell of the seat) in addition to traditional belt-routing (on top of the seat) when installing it with a seat belt and without the base. Euro-belt routing helps protect against rebound, so it’s nice to have that option when you don’t have the base handy.

Base, Harness, and Fit

kSomething I’m a fan of when it comes to installing through LATCH anchors is the “One-hand-secure system”, which is Kiddy’s terminology for what amounts to a really easy installation of the Evolution Pro base. I tried myself and was able to get a secure installation of the base in as little as 6 seconds after a few minutes of getting used to it, so 5 doesn’t seem far off the mark.

The Evolution Pro base looks beefy and feels solid and comes with 7 different adjustment angles to help you achieve the best recline for your baby as well as a highly visible position indicator. You can buy as many additional bases as you would like to in order to be able to move your Evolution Pro easily from one car to the next without needing to handle a baseless seat belt installation, which takes more time and is likely to rouse a sleeping baby. The process to install the base, as I noted above, is a quick one and the Evolution Pro clicks in and out of the base without any fuss.

The harness of the Evolution Pro is a no-rethread harness, which is always nice for speed in adjustability, and you have five different harness heights to choose from. Something else that’s unique about the Evolution Pro is that you get a 3-point harness instead of a 5-point one. It’s just as safe and is actually the default harness configuration in Europe. The reason why a 3-point harness is used is because it allows the Evolution Pro internal seat to lie flat when it’s not in the vehicle, which is the next point of discussion.

You can use the Evolution Pro to achieve a completely flat recline for a child when the seat isn’t installed in a vehicle! This is pretty incredible, as a flat position is what’s best for newborns, but it’s not possible in any other infant car seat currently on  the market. You can either lie the seat flat when using it on the ground or when using it in a stroller. There are safeguards built into the seat to keep people from being able to install it in a vehicle while the seat is flat. For example, the Pro will not click into its base unless the internal seat has been adjusted into a reclined position. Similarly, once the seat has been reclined into a flat position, tabs pop up to keep the belt path on the seat from being usable.

Besides that, just keep in mind that your harness straps must either be below your child’s shoulders or at her shoulders in order to use the seat. Thanks to the 37″ height limit, you’re going to be able to get a lot of time in the seat.

Fit wise, the Evolution Pro will fit regular-sized newborns as well as premature infants, which means it can be used, as is the case with every infant seat sold in the US, to take your baby home straight from the hospital.

Safety

Safety-wise, the Evolution Pro passes all applicable US safety tests, as well as the relevant European ones. European car seats are tested to higher standards than American ones, including with side impact and additional force tests that we could really use here to give us a better picture of how different car seats compare to each other.

Buy the Kiddy Evolution Pro on Sale with Free Shipping at Amazon here.

Why Buy the Kiddy Evolution Pro?

There are several reasons why the Kiddy Evolution Pro is worth buying. The first and biggest one is that it’s officially the best infant seat for extended-rear facing in the United States, simply due to the height limit that blows away every other infant seat out there. According to CDC growth charts, a 50th percentile child by height won’t reach 37″ until age 3, at which point he or she would weigh 30 pounds if also 50th percentile by weight. This means that you could literally rear-face an average child in this infant seat until he or she turned 3! That’s as good as it gets for an infant seat right now.

The high weight limit of 35 pounds combined with the high height limit of 37″ makes this seat an excellent value for parents who are interested in continuing to rear-face for as long as possible. This is particularly important since the most important factor about car seats for children under around 4 or 5 is their ability to keep our children rear-facing as long as possible.

This means that you shouldn’t stop with the Kiddy Evolution Pro once your child eventually outgrows it, even though it’ll take longer for your child to do so. While 35 pounds and 37″ are great compared to what’s currently available in the infant seat market, it’s not going to get your kids to age 4, and that’s where I think we need to aim for when it comes to rear-facing. And if that’s your goal, you’ll want to look at convertible seats like the Advocate ClickTight, Marathon ClickTight, or Boulevard ClickTight, which are among the best convertibles that rear-face until 40 pounds, or the Fllo, Foonf, Rainier, or Pacifica, which all rear-face until 50 pounds.  These seats are, in my opinion, the safest convertible car seats young children can use.

Beyond the ability to practice extended-rear facing in an infant seat, I also like that the Evolution Pro allows you to fully recline an infant for sleeping while the seat is in a stroller or on the ground, as this is truly what’s best for babies at this age. Ideally, you don’t want them in car seats at all when you can help it, but when you can’t, if you can have them flat, that’s as good as it gets. Oh, and the Evolution Pro is approved for aircraft travel by the FAA.

There is no better infant seat available today in the United States than the Kiddy Evolution Pro. It’s raised the bar in what we should expect from an infant seat, and is officially the best infant seat I have ever reviewed. You can buy it here in Lavender, Walnut, Zebra, Hawaii, or Racing Black. Unfortunately, it’s not yet available in Canada, but a good Canadian infant seat I’d recommend is the KeyFit 30, available here.

If you find the information on car safety, recommended car seats, and car seat reviews on this car seat blog helpful, you can shop through this Amazon link for any purchases, car seat-related or not. Canadians can shop through this link for Canadian purchases.