VERSAFIX from Britax

I seem to spend an awful lot of time helping children in and out of car seats, so it is very important to me that our seats are not only extremely safe, but also that the children are comfortable and happy once in them.

We have been very pleased with the Trifix from Britax, so I was intrigued to see how the VERSAFIX compared. VERSAFIX is a group 1 car seat suitable for between 9kg and 18kg, a weight range both my girls fit into.

 

The seat itself is a little smaller than the Trifix, but both my 4 year old and 2 year old fit into it very comfortably. The straps are very simple to adjust. My girls go in either the Trifix or the Versafix and it only takes me a few second to alter the straps so they are secure.

We have three children and two cars. There is no way we could justify having 6 car seats, so the seats we do have get moved around a fair bit. We do have Isofix in both cars so moving seats around is quite easy, however the Versafix makes the moving even easier as it can be fittted using one of three methods. Seatbelt, ISOFIX or ISOFIX and Top tether. This means we can also use the seat in the cars of friends and family who don’t have ISOFIX. The seat weighs just 10kg so even I can move it between cars! The isofix attachment is very straight forward and the seatbelt method is easier than most other car seats we’ve used.

Isofix and Top tether 

The ISOFIX+ system  installation system is a brand new type of car seat launched by Britax. Not only does it fix into the car with the ISOFIX system, it also has an additional top tether which provides a third anchorage point and fixes to the rear of the passenger seat in the car. This substantially reduces forward and rotational forces, and so better protects the child’s head, neck and pelvis in the instance of an accident.

Once the car seat is fitted, indicators confirm it is correct which is excellent for peace of mind. Only 30% of car seats fitted with a seatbelt are installed correctly compared to 96% of ISOFIX seats, this shows just how simple and safe ISOFIX is.

Safety Harness

The seat has a 5 point safety harness. As I mentioned above the fastener is easy for me to fasten and unfasten, but too hard for the girls to undo themselves.

 

ISOFIX

The ISOFIX attachments mean that the VERSAFIX is very easy to fit into any car with ISOFIX, this can be used with or without the Top tether. We have definitely noticed both the VERSAFIX and the TRIFIX move around a lot less than our previous seats.

Straps

The straps are wide and padded, meaning they are very comfortable and also stay firmly in place. We’ve had seats before where the girls have been able to pull their arms out of the straps, they can’t do that with the BRITAX car seats.

The sides are well padded also, meaning it is again comfortable, but also would protect the girls if we were involved in a side impact collision.

The seat also reclines which is handy for when the girls fall asleep.

 

Finally, I was most impressed at how easy it was to remove the cover when Little H was sick one day. I am not very patient and usually my husband does all the fiddly bits with the car seats, but he was at work and I had to wash the cover inbetween school runs. Not only was the cover a very easy to remove, it was also simple to put back on. It’s a small thing, but for me  a big plus point.

The VERSAFIX is available in 5 different colours. I quite like the Zebra option!

The Britax website also has a handy video guide.

Please refer to the BRITX website for further information and car suitability.

We were sent the VERSAFIX for the purpose of this review.