Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I researched a lot of car seats. None of them had all of what I wanted. Not even this one, but it sure came close. I researched on Amazon, car seat blogs and websites, and I even called Britax 4 or 5 times. I am sure they are tired of hearing from me. Design: I DID NOT want a black car seat. All that is going to do is show dirt and dog hair and get HOT in my small sedan. Oh and I really wanted a girly seat, since I have a girly girl that I need to buy into the idea of having a new seat and giving her pink seat to her sister. ...So I picked the coral, which looks more like a bright electric pink than a coral. It is going back before she sees it. How I agonized over this... I know you don't care if you have a boy, or a boy you need to pass your seat down to, but I needed another choice that wasn't black! I hate all of the choices in the click tight options. The younger seat types have so much better options for fabrics! I ended up settling on the Beckham print which I found on another website. It is okay. (DD thinks it is okay too so far as I played up that it has 2 cup holders.) In case you are wondering, I was told they are not expecting any new prints until toward the end of this year, and even then they will be limited edition and gone when they are gone. Safety Features: Yes. I care about this. I care about this more than fabric choices. However, when I called Britax they let me know that the Pioneer is THE SAME seat as the Frontier minus 3 features: The click tight installation, the EZ buckle system, and the Hugs pads. In addition, the Pioneer is compatible with the hugs pads and the EZ buckle pad, and you can buy those separately from Britax. I verified this at least 3 separate times I called Britax with different representatives because I am crazy like that. I have a couple of Marthons and don't want to give up EZ buckle feature, and I am not compromising the safety of the Hugs pads which distribute the force of the impact around the chest clip. Did you know they don't have chest clips in Europe because they can break your child’s ribs in a crash? Apparently most of what the chest clip does is keep the little ones harness in position and keep them from wiggling out. Comfort: I understand the click tight is easy, but I have read A LOT of reviews, and even looked at my friend's click tight. I saw no ridge they were speaking of and could not even feel one if I dug down with my fingers. However, the seat did slide around, and the opening in the seat is in the middle, so I can see how some children would say it is uncomfortable. Two of my friend's kids have zero problem with this so I would guess it has to do with how sensitive your child is? Back to the Pioneer: It is well padded in my opinion, at least as well as a Graco. The pioneer also has a recline feature, which put my DD back far enough that I don't think that her head will be lolling any more than in her Marathon. This is part of what the Graco's turned me off on. The harness straps on the Pioneer are also a little wider than both the Marathon and the Graco, which helps with not cutting into DD's neck. (Thank goodness!) They are plenty narrow enough to keep her in place though, and I hope by the time this is an issue again we will not need a booster. Ease of Use: Compared to my old Graco Snugride, this was not hard to install using a seat belt. You must install using a seat belt when your little one hits 40 lbs, and it may be better to do that before then because you will surely be close by the time you purchase this. No, it does not have lock offs, and I was worried about this, but the install is ROCK SOLID. No tilting. No weirdness. Put your knee in the seat to push it down, make sure the belt is as straight as possible as you pull the belt out all the way and push it back in to lock it off, WATCH THE YOUTUBE VIDEO, and you will be okay. I was worried that the seat belt would bunch behind DD, but it doesn't if you have it tight. It was pretty easy. THAT SAID: It did take me about an hour to get it in my car correctly the first time. With any seat you have to adjust it to fit your child best. I also added the EZ buckle and the Hugs pads. I will give you a couple of tips. First, DO NOT, under any circumstances, take the chest clip off. Just stretch the rubber of the Hugs Chest pads over them. I considered it for a moment, but really think I would never get them back on, and would just lead to a lot of crying on my part. You must take the buckle off to get the EZ buckle pad on, but it is easy to get back in. Also, the bottom of the EZ buckle pad needs to go under the foam of the seat. Recline the seat before you put it in, but if you have a small car like me don’t bother adjusting the seat until you get in in your car. (It won’t fit through the door if it is too tall!) This may keep you from installing it 3 or 4 times like I did. (well one of those times was because the mail came with Hugs pads!). Like anything, there is a learning curve, and installing it now would be easy peasy and would probably take me about 10 min or less.