Britax Eclipse

I decided to do a wee review on this car safety seat - the Brittax Eclipse. This seat performs fabulously well in my opinion so read on and find out just why I have so much faith in Brittax and the Eclipse in particular............


WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE AND WHAT FEATURES DOES IT HAVE ?

This seat is one huge beast as far as its dimensions go !! its around 80 cm high and around 40 wide. It doesnt sound too bad ...
...get it into your car its big !!
The seat itself must have been on the red bull as it certainly has a whopping pair of wings on either side of it. Ideal for when your child falls asleep. In other seats we have had, manal has fallen asleep in such awkward positions and we havent been able to move her due to the fact were driving so its good to know that her head and neck are sufficiently supported in this car seat.
The seat does come ... more

I decided to do a wee review on this car safety seat - the Brittax Eclipse. This seat performs fabulously well in my opinion so read on and find out just why I have so much faith in Brittax and the Eclipse in particular............

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE AND WHAT FEATURES DOES IT HAVE ?

This seat is one huge beast as far as its dimensions go !! its around 80 cm high and around 40 wide. It doesnt sound too bad on paper so to speak but trust me when you get it into your car its big !!
The seat itself must have been on the red bull as it certainly has a whopping pair of wings on either side of it. Ideal for when your child falls asleep. In other seats we have had, manal has fallen asleep in such awkward positions and we havent been able to move her due to the fact were driving so its good to know that her head and neck are sufficiently supported in this car seat.
The seat does come in a variety of colour chemes but the basic pattern is the same no matter what colour you go for. Its a fine check detail on the main body and the wings are solid in coluring. We went for the black, gray and tan check with black wing areas.
The material is cotton and is full washable. Its very easy to remove the covering and it does go into a normal wash which is very handy for us parents.
Manal also commented that the seat was very comfortable and on closer inspection it does have adequate padding in the actual seating area. Nones the wonder she falls asleep within minutes of being in there !!!
The seat itself is positioned on a plastic base which is very thick and is very sturdy if fitted properly.
There are 2 ways of fitting this seat depending on the make of car its intended for so this makes it compatible with a bigger range of cars.
When the seat is in position it is quite high and I now have to sort of throw Manal in the right direction and hope she lands in the right place !
Thankfully she usually does - its months of practice you see !!
This is because the base is quite high to enable you to have a view of your child from your mirror when driving amongst other reasons I should imagine.

The seat has a five point strap set up. It has two straps over the shoulders complete with ahoulder pads, two coming up from either hip area and one coming up between the legs. All are attached to two clips which you have to be pushed together a certain way before they will click safely into their correct place. This is great as it ensures that it is virtually impossible to have accidentally not put the clips in their rightful place. A good safety feature for me.

Can you also believe that this seat alone has five different tilts to be choosing from ? Thats true honest !!
If your child is sleepy or usually falls asleep during car journeys like my manal does then this is a handy feature for you to have. I always put this seat into tilted position as Manal is usually propelled into the land of nod once I have been driving for about five minutes ! She always makes me put it as far back as it can go as she likes to be comfy.

INSTALLATION ?

This seat, as big and hefty looking it is - happens to be relatively easy to fit once you have been shown how.
As we bought ours from Halfords, they fitted it for us free of charge as they have specially trained fitters in all of their stores.
They also do something that I dont know of any other stores doing............. they put the parents to the test !
The fitter will install the seat for you but no sooner have they completed the installation, they whip it right back out again.
Then without warning they ask you to go ahead and fit it there and then in front of them.
I recoiled in horror at this as I just assumed theyd fit the seat for me and off Id go - knowing the seat wouldnt ever be taken out I didnt think I needed to listen !
I think they expect people not to listen though anyway as most would like me put their complete faith in the fitter to do their job properly and the guy we had doing ours didnt have a problem with showing me again and again until I felt positive I had got it right. The fitter explained to mwe that it is policy to make sure that the parents know how to fit the seats properly in the event of having to move it from car to car.
Once I had been shown properly, I found the seat very easy to fit. The only tough part is getting the tension of the seatbelt spot on as you rely on this to keep the seat in tight once the belt is clipped into the sides of the chair.
But theres only four steps to getting the perfect fit.

1. Position the seat in the car where you feel you want it to be

2. Slip the seatbelt through the gap to the rear of the seat and clip the seatbelt into the clasp.

3. Get the seatbelt as taut as you possibly can do.

4. Clip the belt into the red clip on the left hand side of the car safety seat. You do not need to use the other clip if the seat is positioned in the back of the car, only if it is in the front.

The manufacturers of car seats in general advise that car seats are not fitted in the front of cars that have activated air bags installed. Airbags can be deactivated to if you really want to fit a car seat in the fron of your car please make sure you remember to switch off the air bags. They can in fact cause fatal injusries to children in the event of a collision.....................

IS IS GOOD ON SAFETY ???

Hang on for a moment and let me tell you a little short story.........

In July my daughter, her father and I were involved in a bad crash on the A19 dual carriageway.
It involved both our cars and was a little unusual to say the least.
Sirf was driving his car - a Rover 220 Turbo Coupe and I was in my trusty Citroen AX Cascade witrh Manal safely strapped in the back in her then car seat which was the Brittax Eclipse.
I had broken down on the way to visit a pal in Durham and Sirf came to my rescue. Then as he was in the middle of his rescue mission he made a near fatal mistake. He decided that he was going to tow us home ! How we wish he had neve come to this decision - anything else but that.
So my pal Barry brought us a tow rope and off we went. We got quite a way and I was ever so chuffed with myself for handling my car like I did - its not easy to be towed as you have to keep the rope taught otherwise theres trouble to be had as we consequently found out..........
Suddenly out of nowhere there was a massive tug on the rope and my car swung out to the inner lane and then the rope snapped !
This propelled Sirf off the road, down a bank, through a fence backwards and into a field full of crops !
It wasnt so easy for me and Manal though as we were catapulted into the metal barrier on the central reservation head on. All I remember is seeing the metal coming at me and my final thought was ' ok I didnt want to die like this but Im ready' and I went all calm like I had resigned myself to the fact that I was dead in seconds to come.
The strange thing is that I had blocked everything out around me and this included the fact that Manal was in the car.
Well.........the car hit the barrier, it ricotched back across the two lanes and stopped in the middle of the two lanes blocking the road off almost. Everything was swerving around me and I just sat there frozen. Then once I realised I was still alive, Manal came back into my thoughts. I realised she had not uttered so much as a whimper during all of this and I was convinced that she was dead. I screamed at this point and tore round to the other side of the car to get her. I couldnt look though to see how she was and as luck would have it there were two nurses travelling behind us in a car that stopped. They raced over and looked for me and told me she was fine. I just screamed and at that point she did. I must have scared her.
I just grabbed her out of her car seat and ran across the lanes to the road side.
We were treated at the side of the road by the ambulance while the police closed the road off to clear the debris.
Anyway, to cut it all short, when I got my car back, the only decent looking thing in it - still entirely intact and practically unscathed - was Manals Brittax Eclipse car safety seat.
I was injured quite a bit but Manal was totally fine though in shock of course. Her seat had done its job 100 %
I have had to tell you this story first of all to demonstrate to you just how sturdy and safe this car seat really is. It is none other than a literal life saver. I know that had Manal been in her old seat - a booster style car seat - she would have been hurled all over and would likely not be with us today. Just the thought of it makes me begin to cry...............

Sirf and I took this seat down to Halfords for them to inspect and they were amazed at just how it faired in an actual crash. The only sign of the crash was on the safety sticker which lies underneath the seatbelt by the buckle. It was a little bit scratched as obviously the seat belt had become taught at the point of impact and rubbed the writing off .
Truly amazing were the guys words !!
Alas despite the fact that he declared the seat fit and well he did advise me against using it any longer. The majority of manufactureres of car safety seats recommend that in the event of a crash, the seats must not be used again as they cannot guarantee that they would be structurally sound enough to withstand another should this unfortunately occur.
I can see the sense in this and so Sirf and I quickly shelled out the money for another car seat. We bought the exact same seat as it had proved its worth and value a thousand times over to us and though it cost us another £130, we would have gladly paid twice that for it as it has become a priceless piece of equipment to us.
The seat is reinforced with metal rods in strategic places and so this along with other points I have made show and prove to me that brittax definately see the safety aspect of their seats of paramount importance.

This seat is suitable for children of birth right to four as it does come with a fitment to attach reducing it in size to accomodate babies. This too is entirely machine washable and on ours it came in a cream colour.

THE COST ?

The downside for many mums and dads will be the cost. No matter how much we feel the need to ensure the safety of our children, if the money is not there then its simply not there.
This seat retails in Halfords for £129.99 whcih is alot for a car safety seat but if you can manage to scrimp and save to purchase this make and model then you will not be let down. It really is worth every single penny.
Please do not buy the cheapest you see as it is highly likely that it will not be the safest if put to the test..............

A FINAL WORD.........

Now I know I do veer off in all directions during this review, its just you do have to know certain things before you just go right ahead and fit a seat. Would you have known about airbags if I had not cared to mention them ? I suspect not with many of you. This is not unusual and so this is why I made the inclusion of several little important issues.
Knowledge of all of these will help you to get the most out of your car safety seat and thats exactly what you should be aiming for.
Hopefully I have managed to include all youll need to know in relation to this car safety seat in particular all whilst giving you some valuable general pointers to be thinking about before you make a decision on what seat youll be going after and where you will buy your seat.

** Please note that I have had to put that this seat is aimed at 0-12 months as I was not given the option of highlighting that it is in fact suitable for use between the ages of 0 - 4 years.

Thanks for reading and rating this review !

Love and best wishes to everyone x

Heidi xx
 

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