The Britax Chaperone Infant Travel System - an infant car seat and stroller that sell in combination or as separates - has won over our family with combination of advanced infant safety features and parental conveniences. Like the Chaperone itself, this is a heavy-duty review: We've been testing the Chaperone infant car seat and its companion stroller for six months, have installed and used the seat in four cars of varying interior dimensions, and have a lot to say about some design advances in both the Chaperone's car seat and stroller. The Chaperone made us put our own money where our mouths are (but we'll save that for the end). First, we need you to know that although we love and are willing to pay for quality, we're a brand-agnostic family of car seat users with two children as well as in-laws in need of safe transport options for our son and daughter.

Our Brand Background

When my oldest was born we bought car seats solely off Consumer Reports' recommendations. That meant that our first car seats were an assortment of Graco, Evenflo, and Cosco.

I bought our first Britax car seat when our tall two-year-old outgrew his convertible car seat, two and a half years ago. At that time, sticking with discount brands would have meant taking him out of a five-point harness and placing him in a booster with a lapbelt - it was hard to find a forward-facing car seat with a five-point harness to kids over 40 inches. I just couldn't stomach my two-year-old riding in a lapbelt booster. The arrangement seemed unwise and unsafe.

Back then, Britax's Regent was one of a few seats large enough offer my son a five-point harness with room to grow. When our second was born, I didn't feel like replacing already purchased equipment, so we used a Graco Snugride through her early infancy.

When our daughter had come close to outgrowing her SnugRide this past summer, we were offered the chance to review Britax's new Chaperone Infant Travel System. I didn't know if we would be able to cram our unusually tall baby into an infant seat long enough to offer a good test, but it turns out she has been able to use the Chaperone seven months beyond completely outgrowing the Graco, and is just now growing out of the Chaperone.

The Chaperone's height limit is 32 inches; our Graco SnugRide maxes out at 29 inches, although the new SnugRide 35 reaches 32 inches as well (and both it and the Chaperone offer a maximum seated shoulder height, or torso length, of 11 inches). [Thanks to reader MBR for some of this info.]

Assembly and Initial Impressions

As soon as I pulled the stroller out of the shipping carton and started laying out parts, my friend working in South Africa called. My geek mind couldn't resist assembling the stroller while we talked. Even while holding a phone, it took me about 7 minutes for a flawless assembly. Britax's instructions are sequentialand very clear. I knew where every part had to go and didn't have any trouble identifying the right part for proper installation.

The car seat assembly consisted of snapping on the sunshade.

An unexpected kids' gear critic in my life is an Engineering Ph.D. (mechanical and aeronautic) who is also my dad and a doting grandfather. He tends to hone in on a product's weakness in seconds. Comments starting with the phrase "That will work fine until you..." have proved entirely accurate. Don't tell my dad this, but I rarely lose the receipts until he's given new gear a thoughtful once-over.

When I rolled the Britax Chaperone set before him for review, he said "That is built to military specification." In case you don't speak engineer, that's high praise ("an elephant is a mouse built to military specification"). He declared the materials to be a surprisingly high quality and he chuckled with admiration at the folding and braking mechanisms.

I stuck my hand into the basket and showed him how the brake cable was slightly exposed. "Could it be broken with rough treatment?" I asked. For my dad, that may have been the funniest suggestion of the year. Apparently the cable is of notably high strength and I have better chances of headlining on the engineering comedy circuit than I do of disrupting that cable.

On the car seat base, he liked the mechanism that secures the carrier in the base and the rebound bar.

The Car Seat

One of the Chaperone infant car seat's most distinctive features is its interior head supports. One in four car accidents involve a side impact, and in the absence of a federal standard, almost every car seat company now has an official-looking program name and badge to go along with their side impact technology. Britax's design, which they've named "True Side Impact Protection," includes well-padded wings which support the neck and spine in a side impact collision. These are significantly thicker than those offered on the SnugRide, and appear to offer significant additional support.

Side impact collisions are particularly dangerous to infants, who lack muscular development which protects the neck and spine. While there are many facets to Britax's TSIP, the snug, reinforced, and well-padded head rest is my favorite feature on the Chaperone. I want an infant seat that gives special attention to head and neck protection in an accident.

Other features of TSIP are deep side walls to prevent direct impact when the car doesn't offer an adequate crumple zone, a seat that curves around the infant to retain their bodies and shield them from intruding objects, and energy-absorbing foam (EPS).

The Britax is a heavier seat than most infant carriers on the market. While this heft made me joke that it should come with a personal trainer, I am happy to know that my baby is surrounded by something of substance. While it's tempting to choose an infant carrier for convenience in carrying, caregivers shouldn't forget that a car seat is what may stand between an infant and the tremendous and violent forces of a car crash. It's easy to get distracted by fabrics and secondary features, but when the chips are down, the seat's performance in a wreck should hold primary attention.

As my dad noticed, the carrier's handle is well-reinforced with metal. This allows the user to leave it in an upright position while in transit (something banned in most infant carriers because of their less substantial construction).

The five-point harness offers no-rethread harness adjustment. Not needing to rethread the seat straps saves time, makes the seat much easier to adjust as the child grows, and prevents performance problems from misthreading. It's also more versatile than a threading seat, as the height can be adjusted gradually rather than being threaded through one of a few designated slots.

Here's how it works, compared to standard fixed-height threaded harnesses.


The Chaperone's front harness tension adjustment is easy to access and operate. Tightening the straps snugly before driving and loosening them when getting out is simple. Britax makes it easy to secure an infant properly every time.

The very large infant canopy works well providing shade and protection from inclement weather.

The lower buckle's belly pad prevented me from pinching the baby's clothing (and the baby) when locking the harness. The seat's fabric is resilient but soft and wiped clean.

The Stroller

Let's start with a video rundown of the basic features and functionality. Text discussion and more details below.


At 25 pounds, the Britax Chaperone stroller weighs more than a jogging stroller we tested (bumbleride Indie, 19 lbs.), but less than Graco's popular full-sized Quattro Tour Deluxe (26.1 lbs.).

The stroller's weight proves advantageous. With a low center of gravity and solid materials, the stroller is not prone to tipping even when fully reclined or with an infant carrier on board. Compact and lightweight strollers simply cannot offer such stability. I enjoy being able to set the kids' coats on the stroller without worrying that it will tip over.

The adjustable handle raises to 42 inches, which is high enough to be comfortable for adults over six feet tall. It has a central hand grip for one handed steering and foam coated grips for two handed driving.


Storage capacity is one of the stroller's strengths. The parent console includes sizable cup holders and a large storage compartment with a snapping lid. I can easily put my sunglasses, wallet, and/or giant key chain in this handy space. I am pretty surprised how often I use it, and I love how it keeps my prescription glasses out of the fray.

The basket design, shown below, is smart. Not only did the designers make it so the back side lowers for good access, they placed the basket far enough forward that a walker with a long stride doesn't accidentally knock it open. The shape allows for taller objects to sit behind the stroller seat supports which is really handy.




The wheels seem to have metal bearings, so they roll with less friction than plastic wheels; this smooth functioning promise a longer life. The front wheels have a quick release mechanism so they can easily be removed for transportation and storage. This presented no problems in use or when the stroller was stowed upright in a vehicle. For some reason when I stowed it laid down in my station wagon, the release was periodically accidentally tripped when I pulled the stroller out of my car. It was easy enough to set the stroller up with three wheels, then quickly reinstall the fourth wheel. I would recommend stowing the stroller upright (which also has a smaller footprint, but doesn't work in my cargo space) if possible.

For the passenger, the included tray serves as toy storage and a traveling snack bar. (I love that Britax didn't cut corners and make this useful feature an add-on accessory.) Our determinedly independent baby loves being able to manage her own stuff, so the tray's basins and a sippy cup or toy provide her ample amusement.

For the convenience of older kids, the tray can be removed and replaced with dual armrests.

Our tall four-year-old son can ride comfortably in this stroller, although we usually make him walk. There's even some room for him to grow.

Using the Infant Carrier on the Stroller

One of the distinctive new features in the Chaperone is the mechanism that locks the car seat into the stroller.

Most strollers that tote a car seat do so by locking the head end of the infant carrier onto either the front tray or a bar at the front of the stroller. Depending on the stroller, the foot end of the infant carrier is secured by a strap, a set of small plastic tabs, or not at all. These configurations rely heavily on gravity and always make me wonder what would happen if the stroller were to fall or be knocked over. I am uneasy with the unsecured feet and feel like the tabs are easy to forget. While the strap system may be the most secure of the methods mentioned about, it is the least convenient of configurations. I often see parents skipping or forgetting the strap when using car-seat-carrying strollers.

The Chaperone breaks new ground with its mechanism that locks the seat into the stroller at the foot. In order to use the carrier in the stroller, the user must pull up a flap located at the lower back of the stroller seat and turn two large tabs upwards before lowering the seat back fully. This two-minute process prepares the stroller to hold the infant seat. These simple steps must be reversed for a child to sit in the stroller without the carrier.

The carrier is lowered straight down (not tilted in) into the stroller seat. The foot end of the carrier locks solidly onto the stroller frame via the metal reinforced tabs. The head of the carrier rests upon the snack tray (which is locked in its lowered position). Because of the locking mechanism at the carrier's foot end, the entire carrier is very secure. The head end cannot be lifted or wiggled from side to side without unlatching the carrier from the stroller.

The locking mechanism for the stroller operates in the same way as it does with the car base. The user simply grasps the handle under the car seat head and slides it back while lifting directly up. For me, the motions to remove the Chaperone carrier from its stroller are simpler and more efficient than removing the Graco Snugride carrier from its matching stroller frame. (Britax offers an adapter strap which makes the stroller compatible with most other infant carriers. If you are committed to a competing brand of carrier, you might call Britax to confirm that it will be compatible with the Chaperone stroller.)


The steel-reinforced supports in the photo above are where the car seat docks. The supports are raised to the position shown, the stroller seat is then reclined to the lowest position to accomodate the infant carrier.

The overall weight of the stroller and carrier combination might make it difficult for a mom who had a C-section to use on solo trips in the first week's of the baby's life. However, the weight of the stroller coupled with its low center of gravity make the Chaperone a surprisingly tip-resistant carrier-toting stroller.

When the carrier is in place, the baby is facing the caregiver. The stroller's large sunshade can overlap the carrier's ample shade which is great for keeping out the weather, offering some naptime privacy, and offering shade on a sunny day. The peep-hole window in the top allows caregivers the opportunity to check on the child without disturbing the baby.

The Infant Carrier Base

Since both of our cars are pre-LATCH, foreign cars, we chose to test the seat in an additional two vehicles that are more modern and larger. The four cars we used to test the Chaperone in were a 1995 Toyota Corolla, a 1997 Honda Accord, a 2000 Ford Winstar, and a 2007 PT Cruiser.

The Chaperone car seat base is much easier to install well than our Graco Snugride bases. With the non-LATCH, lap-shoulder belt installation, it's sometimes rather challenging to get the slack out of a seat belt. Britax has made the process a lot easier to see and the belt pathway more accessible. With average geek upper body strength, I am able to pull the belt taut enough that the seat can't be moved more than 1" after installation.


To aid in the non-LATCH installation, Britax has added some clips that clamp over the car seat belt when it is properly threaded. These clamps keep the base from shifting along the car's seat belt.




LATCH installation is simple. By pressing the red button on each clip, the user unlocks the LATCH belt from its ingenious in-base storage. Clip the belt ends to the car's anchors and pull the slack from the belt.

The anti-rebound bar not only keeps the seat from rebounding, but it also wedges the infant carrier into the car's seat base. A lot of infant seats attach to the car only at the foot, and that limited amount of contact with the car seems to offer a lot of opportunity to shift. The Chaperone has the foot anchor, but the 90 degree angle formed by the anti-rebound bar offers a second contact area (touching the back of the car's seat). The anti-rebound bar not only prevents the base from lifting off the seat during a crash, it also minimizes side to side shifting by offering a second contact area with the car seat.

The only drawback to the addition of the rebound bar is that it makes the seat's total footprint longer than most car seats on the market. This doesn't make a big difference in larger vehicles or when front seat passengers don't need all the legroom available, but it might be an issue in smaller cars with taller drivers.

The base's height adjustment knob solves a lot of positioning problems without adding rolled up towels or swim noodles. These feature assists so greatly in achieving a secure installation that I had to wonder why car seats were ever designed without it.

Another feature of the base I really love are the easy to see instructions for placing the car seat in the base. While the guidelines' prominent placement might not seem important to a caregiver who uses the seat more than once a day, they can help to secondary caregivers who only uses it a couple times a week or month. When our kids ride with other drivers, we usually install the car seats in their vehicle. With an infant carrier, I always want to be sure that the adults know how to secure the seat to the base. The simple, visible instructions provide ready answers.

Attaching the seat to the base is simple. The base guides the seat into the proper position.

The base is easy enough to install, even in non-LATCH situations, that a second base might not be required. This is a base I wouldn't mind moving from one car to another because I feel confident that I can get a secure installation every time.

Cramped in Small Cars

For the first installation, I was able to place the Chaperone in the center of the back seat of a 97 Honda Accord. The Chaperone fit, but if I lowered the carrier handle to the head it projected into the front row. This might not bother other drivers of similarly small cars, but I keep my front row seats in the farthest back position. Also, the Chaperone's carrier handle (unlike most infant carriers) does not have to be lowered while in transit.


Britax has given the Chaperone a much stronger handle than other infant carriers. It looks like the handle is metal-reinforced plastic, while competing brands tend to opt for a honeycombed plastic design. Leaving the handle upright (or lowering it below the head of the carrier) reduces the seat's length about 4 inches.

Because of the narrowness of my car's back bench and the width of my son's car (large) seat, the Chaperone doesn't install in the middle position with both seats in place. See photo at left. It can be installed behind the Honda's passenger seat, but it doesn't leave much leg room for the tall people who ride in my car. The configuration is fine for local travel without adult passengers, but it wouldn't work for a long trip. See photo below, where it is paired with a six-foot-tall passenger.

Our 95 Corolla yielded similar results: Good fit in the middle position, too cramped behind a tall driver (my knees hit the dashboard when the driver's seat was forward enough to accommodate the Chaperone's length), and okay (although crowded for tall folks) behind the passenger seat.

Better in Bigger Cars

In a 2000 Ford Windstar the seat's length was less of an issue. It would have fit behind a driver's seat in its farthest back position except for the poor placement of an odd handle on the back of the driver's seat. With this atypical obstacle, we opted to lower the handle below the carrier's head rather than leaving it upright. This made the seat a little harder to lower and raise from the base, but it worked well otherwise. Take a look:


We later moved the Chaperone behind the passenger seat. In this location we were able to lower the handle to the head and have the carrier fit well with only a slight forward adjustment of the front passenger seat.

We also used the Chaperone in a 2009 PT Cruiser. It fit well in the center, with some crowding behind the driver, and an acceptable fit behind the passenger. In the PT cruiser we could place our son's large car seat on one side and still have the Chaperone in the center position.

In my opinion, the Chaperone (like many car seats) is easiest to use in a larger vehicle. There may be some legroom compromises in a smaller car, but the seat does fit.

Summary

Despite the complications of fit in some of our cars, the seat's nestling head supports and sturdy body won my heart. The Chaperone's excellent materials and design innovations convince me Britax's designers have each infant's well-being in mind. The Chaperone seat is heavily constructed, but the weight is not notable when used with the stroller. The stroller is likely one of the strongest (in terms of construction) I have seen on the market. It will last through a number of children.

Perhaps the best testament to the the Chaperone's strong, well-considered design is that it convinced me to replace our previously purchased mass-maker convertible seats with two new Britax convertible seats with similar head supports, purchased at my own expense. After using the Chaperone, all our non-Britax seats looked flimsy by comparison, and the additional expense felt like an investment worth making. All in all, the Chaperone is the heavyweight car seat that I want in my corner.

The Chaperone retails at $230 for the car seat, $300 for the stroller and $90 for an additional base. Stroller accessories include a rain cover ($30), canopy netting ($30), foot muff ($40), and arm rest covers ($8). While the accessories might be nice, I didn't feel that any of them were necessary to enjoy a full range of stroller use.

Adrienne Jones has reviewed the bumbleride Indie and bumbleride Queen B strollers for Z Recommends, and also blogs at Baby Toolkit. ZRecs does not require guest reviewers to dispose of review items in accordance with our Keep No Stuff policy.