Britax Boulevard 70 CS Convertible Car Seat: A Review

For most parents, choosing the right car seat for your family can be a struggle.  Finding the perfect combination of safety, comfort, usability, and price can be difficult.  With the new safety guidelines that state children two and under should remain rear-facing, finding a convertible car seat that meets all of your needs has become increasingly important.

The market for convertible car seats has expanded rapidly in the last few years and there are many options and features to consider when purchasing a seat.  Is the child going to be sitting in the seat frequently, or for occasional use?  Will the child be sitting in the seat for long periods of time, or just for quick trips into town?  Will the seat need to be frequently transferred between vehicles?  All of these questions one must consider when purchasing a car seat.

Our family first purchased a Graco My Ride 65 after reading some positive reviews.  It met the budget requirements, but upon trying to install it, we quickly realized we had made a poor decision.  I turned into a car seat shopping, caffeine fueled, car seat manual reading fool on a mission to find the perfect car seat.

After spending hours in various stores testing all of the convertible car seats, I dipped into my pocket book and purchased the Britax Boulevard 70 CS.  The following review details my experience with the Britax car seat and is intended to be used as a guide to determine if this car seat might be right for you and your family.

Review Overview – Click to Jump Ahead

• Price
• Safety
• Harness
• Installation
• Comfort
• Ease of Cleaning
• Customer Support
• Color Options
• Pros and Cons

Price

The Britax Boulevard 70 CS convertible car seat carries an MSRP of $339.99.  For $40 less, you can purchase the Boulevard 70.  The only major difference is the click and safe feature (more on this feature under harness).

While the seats price tag definitely causes your jaw to drop, rest assured – if you are patient you can score this seat for much less with coupons and sales.  Websites such as Amazon.com frequently offer the seat for $217.  I recommend watching your favorite retailers so you can purchase the seat at a discounted price.

Safety

Britax has a number of added safety features.  Car seats manufactured after 2010 come with the new

SafeCell Technology.  This technology is located in the base of the seat.  Upon crashing, the SafeCells compress, lowering your child’s center of gravity, and further protecting them from injury.

Safecell Technology - Image from Britax

As well as SafeCell technology, in 2010 Britax begin using reinforced steel bars in the car seats (See Fig. 2).  These bars strengthen the seats connection to the vehicle and help keep your child from hitting the back of the seat in front of them.

Integrated Steel Bars - Image from Britax

Britax also offers true side impact in their car seats.  This is an extra layer of EPP foam that surrounds your child’s head and chest, further protecting them from side impact crashes.

True Side Impact - Image from Britax

You can find more information on these features and further explore Britax’s safety features by visiting their website.

In comparing our Britax seat to our Graco My Ride 65, there is a significant difference in the amount of EPP foam of the seats.  The plastic form of the Graco seat makes it feel cheap and flimsy in comparison to the Britax Boulevard 70 CS.  The integrated steel bars add a significant weight to the seat, but do make the seat feel sturdier.  However, if you are looking for a lightweight seat, the Britax Boulevard 70 CS is probably not for you.

Harness

The Britax Boulevard 70 CS harness is one of the best things happening in this car seat.  To begin, the release feature that allows you to loosen the harness and remove the child is easily accessible when the car seat is rear facing – something that I have found to be difficult in other car seats I have used.  It is also very easy to tighten the harness.  There is no throwing your back out trying to pull the harness tight enough.

The harness of the Britax Boulevard 70 CS car seat also comes with an additional feature that helps to ensure your child is properly strapped in.  As the harness comes into a range of appropriate tenseness, you will hear audible “clicks.”  This is the click and safe technology (hence the CS in the name).

This feature costs you an extra $40 from the original Boulevard seat, but if different people are harnessing your child into the seat – it is a great investment.  I found it very easy to teach my son’s Grandmother the appropriate harness tenseness with the click and safe and she feels more confident strapping my son in.  Personally, it’s one of my favorite features of the seat and this Mom feels better knowing her son is strapped in safely.

Adjusting the harness to fit your child’s height is easy and requires no rethreading.  This is a benefit for a number of reasons.  It can be incredibly difficult to rethread a convertible car seat, and if you rethread the harness incorrectly you may risk your little ones safety.  It can also be really difficult to figure out which slot is appropriate when rethreading a harness for your child’s current height.

With the Britax Boulevard, simply press the lever in the true side impact head restraints and slide to the correct position for your child.  You can do this without removing the car seat from the vehicle, and with your child sitting in the seat.  This guarantees a perfect fit every time your child is in the car and is a fantastic convenience feature.

The harness is also equipped with the HUGS feature.  These chest pads help prevent your child from moving forward in a crash by creating friction.  They’re a little bulky, but they don’t seem to bother my son. They also seem to help keep the harness from getting overly tangled

There are also Velcro tabs that allow you to attach the harness to the car seat cover. I guess the purpose of this is to keep the seat open and accessible to make the strapping process easier.  This is worthless.  When you have a wiggly child who doesn’t want to go in the seat the harness pulls off of the Velcro and you will find yourself digging behind your child’s back for the strap.

Installation

Installing the Britax Boulevard 70 CS is a breeze.  The LATCH system clicks into the vehicle’s anchors and have a red release button.  No need to try to hook the seat into the anchors like other models!  You can hear audible clicks when the LATCH system connects.  This is a major benefit that makes using the seat very easy, especially if you are working with any kind of hand disability.

The Britax Latch System is easy to install!

Hook systems like the Graco My Ride 65 are difficult to anchor

By pressing down in the middle of the seat, you can really tighten the seat down with very little effort.  Unlike our Graco seat, I do not need to climb into the Britax seat to ensure the straps are as tight as possible.  I also don’t have to give myself a hernia trying to tighten the straps.

When you uninstall the seat, just simply press the red release buttons and unclick the LATCH system.  This doesn’t require a lot of hand power – a feature that is beneficial to users that may have arthritis or lack grip power in their hands.

The seat also comes with a versa tether. This tether is yet another safety feature Britax includes.  It took me a while to understand how to use the tether and I wish Britax went slightly more in depth on tether use in the car seats manual.  After some digging online, I discovered Britax’s YouTube channel with a video on how to install the versa tether.  When the tether is properly installed it makes the car seat virtually impossible to move.  I can push, pull, kick, and yank in any direction and this seat doesn’t budge.

The level indicator isn't clear when it is just a line.

 

My only grumble with installing my Britax Boulevard 70 CS is that it lacks an effective method to ensure the angle of the car seat is correct once installed.  While some car seats, such as the Graco My Ride 65, come with a visual level that tells you when the seat is angled properly, the Britax seat simply has a line printed on the base that must be level with the car.  In order to ensure a proper angle, some users may need to place a rolled towel or pool noodle under the car seats base.  Having the proper angle on the seat is important for safety, and I would prefer a visual level versus a printed line that you have to eyeball.

 

Comfort

The Britax Boulevard 70 CS has enough padding to make the seat comfortable without making it bulky.

The harness comes with a belly pad that keeps the crotch strap from digging into your kid.  My husband finds this pad to get in the way of strapping our son in.  The pad is easily removable and my son doesn’t seem to mind if the pad is on or not.  Personally, I don’t mind strapping him in with the pad there and I think it looks more comfortable when the pad is in place.

The seat has a number of recline positions, but these can mainly be used when the seat is forward facing only.  When rear facing, the seat MUST be in the furthest reclined position.  Be sure to read your owners manual for guidance.

The only draw back with this car seats comfort is that it does not have a cup holder.  On long trips, or even trips to the super market, it is nice to have a cup holder for not just a drink, but snacks too!  Britax makes a cup holder that you can purchase separately and I’m begrudgingly buying two of them for our long car rides.

Ease of Cleaning

Kids are messy – especially in the car.  You will, from time to time, find the need to clean the car seat. While the cover holds up well to wipe downs with a cloth, there will come a time when you are forced to remove the entire cover and wash it.  You will definitely want your manual handy when you are trying to pull the cover off this seat.  There are a lot of tabs that need to be connected in order to keep the cover in place, and the true side impact feature adds an additional complication to the cover.

The cover is not machine washable.  It has a lot of padding in it, which makes for a comfortable ride, but a long drying time.  I tried to wring out the water but it seemed to just sit in the cover.  Don’t wash the seat if you’re going to need to use it within the next 24 hours – it simply wont be dry.

Customer Support

You can contact Britax directly by phone with questions about your car seat.  Their customer support website provides phone numbers as well as frequently asked questions.  Britax also includes videos of how to install your new car seat.  They go above and beyond the competition in ensuring you, the parent, know how to properly install the seat.

Their manuals are also very easy to understand.  A major win for sleep deprived parents who just want to install a car seat!

Color Options

For those who are worried about color coordinating their car seat to their car, no worries – the seat comes in SEVEN color options.  This includes Cowmooflage for the families that like to have a bit of fun.

Images from Britax

Closing

While the price tag is steep, this car seat not only meets, but also exceeds, all of my expectations.  Both my husband and I can install the seat properly and our son seems very comfortable riding in the seat – even on long car rides to Grandma’s house.

Pros

• Easy to install
• Tangle free harness
• No rethreading needed to adjust harness height
• Superior safety
• Extensive height and weight range
• Video tutorials to help with installation

Cons

• High price point
• Hard to eyeball proper angle for installation
• Hard to clean Cover
• No cup holder