In my lifetime, I have been in 3 car accidents. Two of which were with my son in the car (none of which were my fault). Because of that, I strive to be the safest driver I can be, to keep my children in the safest car seats available (this includes extended rear facing and harnessing), and to keep my car free of dangerous projectiles. It’s not me I worry about, it’s the other people on the road.
Over the 4 years I’ve been a mother, we’ve bought and used seven different car seat brands, and ten car seats. Four of those ten were made by Britax USA. It’s not because it’s a status symbol, or because of the “Britax bubble,” but because in my opinion, of all the seats I’ve ever touched and installed in my (and other people’s) cars, Britax is, hands down, the best maker of car seats in the US.
Britax sent me a Roundabout 55, free of charge, to use for my daughters and give a review. The Roundabout 55 is a lesser suggested seat than the other convertibles in the car seat world, but I’m here to tell you we should change that!
The stats: 5-40 pound weight limit for rear facing, (minimum) 20-55 pounds for forward facing. 9” lowest harness slot, 15.75” highest harness slot- four slots total. SafeCell Technology (TM), “designed to compress in a crash, significantly lowering the center of gravity and counteracting the forward rotation which normally propels the child toward the front seat.” Three recline positions for rear and forward facing, two buckle positions for a growing child, and an additional Infant Positioning Insert (piece of curved foam that goes underneath the cover) available for smaller babes. The shell height is the same as the other Britax convertibles.
When the Roundabout 55 first arrived, I immediately sat down to read the manual. It was very similar to the older convertible seat manuals, but as Christie will tell you, we must always RTFM! After reading, I called over to my 2 year old, Fiona, to come play car seats with me (it’s my favorite game). At the time, Fiona was 34” and 29 pounds, was slightly below the 3rd shoulder slot, and had 11 pounds to grow for rear facing. I installed it with LATCH, which was a breeze, and Fiona loved her new seat! A month later, she had a huge growth spurt, went up to 34 pounds, and the harness needed to be moved to the third slot, as she was just above it!
About 2 weeks later, baby Alaina was born. At 7.5 pounds and exactly a 9” torso length, she just barely fit into the Roundabout 55 at 2 days old. She is very petite though, and the chest clip was wider than her whole body. She rode in her infant carrier seat for about a month before going fully into the Roundabout 55. At one month old, the straps were coming from just below her shoulders, and she weighed 10 pounds. The straps were as tight as they could be, which was the perfect tightness. 
I’m impressed with the Roundabout 55. It fits my newborn, who came 2.5 weeks early, and it fits my giant 2 year old. For the price ($160 on sale), it becomes a great option for people that can’t afford the other Britax convertibles, but want the safety and ease of installation that the Britax seats provide. Thank you, Britax, for allowing me to try this seat out! I’m definitely going to be suggesting it to moms!
Twitter: RanaAurora
says:
I’m glad to hear you liked it, since I know you’re way picky. I’m with you on Britax construction — now that I’ve had them, most other seats just feel flimsy to me. But no matter what seat you use, it has to be used CORRECTLY or nothing else matters!
Awesome that Alaina fit it that soon. I wish they’d lower that harness height (their new infant seat will have freaking 5″ as the lowest, holy cow!) but that’s awesome. I think it’s a great lower cost seat, especially with the RFing limit.
We use this car seat in my husband’s car and as our travel seat. It fits into Southwest Airlines seats with no issues and it was great to have a car seat in the rental car we used that I trusted. Much better than buying a random cheap one for a trip. I was surprised at the low cost as well. We got ours from Amazon, I thought it was a heck of a deal! The only thing I like better on the other Britax car seat we have is the adjustable straps without having to unhook them. Still, it wasn’t difficult to do. I had a heck of time moving the straps on the Graco infant carrier we had for my son. I will never get that brand again. It’s only Britax for us!
Great review! Can you tell us how far the inner buckle position is from the back of the seat? I was just browsing the user manual for this seat and saw that, like most of the Britax seats, it says not to use the forward buckle position when rear facing. We had an issue with our Decathlon and my almost 3 year old not fitting between the back of the seat and the buckle rear facing. He was ON the buckle if it was in the middle position (the Decathlon had 3 buckle positions) and the manual stated not to use it RF in the farthest out position. We put him in a Roundabout 50 instead, as the buckle slots are farther from the back of the seat. I did some googling and found out that the different seats have different distances between the seat back and buckles. This is very relevant information, especially for older kids who are still RF!
The inner buckle position is 5″ from the back of the seat without the infant cushion, about 4.5″ with it. I had that same problem with the Decathlon and my son being a super chunk!