First impressions of Britax Monarch

Horrible.

Actually, that's not fair.

The seat is incredibly sturdy and secure feeling. It's very large for a booster, with great head and torso support/protection. If I were searching for a booster for my child, I would seriously consider it. But that is because I will buckle my child in.

For someone who wants their kid to buckle himself in, forget it. It was very difficult for ME to buckle the seat WITHOUT a child in it. I imagine it would be harder with a child and impossible for a kid under 7 or 8 to do it themselves. The armrests (which will rest no arms, they are SO low and small) leave less than an inch to buckle under.

Unfortunately, they will be used incorrectly for my boss' kids. Marilyn (whom I love) went on and on about how Britax makes the best seats, etc and now he thinks they are completely secure. I told him point blank I disagree (not about Britax, about the kids being safe) because they are just too small for boosters.

But, they said that they would figure it out and if not it wasn't that big a deal to go over the armrests, right?

Sure boss man... the manufacturer just lies.

But hey, the seat itself is great, just NOT user friendly in the least.

That was my initial thought when looking at the pics Lisa posted--that the armrests would seriously get in the way of buckling. My dd is so independent that she prefers her harnessed seat to her booster because she can buckle up all by herself. She can't even do the Parkway on her own at almost 5.5. I love the sidewings on the Monarch, though.

Should I say I told you so. LOL! Just kidding.

Really, I love Britax, but I have yet to find a Britax booster that worked for my family.

When 10 yo dd was younger I tried a Starriser Comfy for her and ended up returning it for a Fisher Price Booster which lasted us for many years. I just recently tried the Parkway (and waited over 4 months for a collegiate cover mind you) for my 5.5 yo twin boys and ended up returning those too. I nearly cried when I had to send those back. My boys are 48 in tall and have proportionate leg/torso height, but there was no way that seat would work for them. They felt extremely squished in them and the seating area ended mid-thigh on them. The Parkway may be the tallest booster on the market, but they really need to extend the seat area to make it more proportionate the back height.

Lynette~Mommy to my 3 sunshine's

Hey, I tried to get him to go for the PW, I saw this coming with them. I even pushed the UF parkways on him... but he thought these would be safer. I don't doubt they are very safe, they're sturdy and build (like the Regent... these things are HUGE) but That armflap (not even an armrest) is ridiculous. I have a problem buckling it, no way a little kid could.
But, if they make it work, then these will work well for them. But I was steering him away from the Racaro Young Style because of the armrests, and now I've steered him into something worse, totally by accident. Oh well.

Does anyone know if the Monarch is ultimately to replace the Parkway in the long run? Is Britax planning on discontinuing the Parkway or will it continue to make them? Sounds like it would be a terrible move on their part if this is their goal

Don't they test out these things using kids & parents in a practical setting before putting them out on the market?

We've barely used our Monarch, only one car trip. I didn't find buckling awful, but I'm still in "new seat excitement" mode. I think the wonderfully cushy base padding has a down side in that all that puffiness can make buckling more difficult. I was a bit surprised at how low the armrests are. My ds helped snap me out of my above mentioned "mode" when he immediately complained about the armrests and how he couldn't get his arms on them. The armrests were something I thought he'd like as he wanted to use our vehicle seat armrests on many occasions but, of course, can't reach them in his carseat. Quick slap to reality, thanks to my fickle little boy. I assumed his biggest complaint would be that I bought something with a red cover since he insists they all be blue.
He had been riding in a Recaro Start so his next complaint was, "where is my footrest"? I wanted to scream at that point as he rarely uses the silly footrest anyway and prefers to prop his feet on the front seat armrests. He quickly burst my happy bubble.
I told him he needs to take a few days and give it a chance. He did happily tell me how he was able to unbuckle easily to get out. Thanks for that son.
I was getting tired of dealing with the Start belt guide as something about the angle of my seatbelts causes the belt guide to lock when I don't want it to....for instance when I'm pulling the shoulder belt to buckle (makes it unlikely that my child could buckle himself), so I'm staying hopeful that the Monarch will work for us.
The seat has alot of positives, but like the Bodyguard has a con here and there that stands out a bit too. As far as being a solid and well protecting seat, I think it's definitely a winner. Hopefully, the cons won't stand out.

You do realize that they are not meant as armrests? They are actually meant to hold the seat belt down in position over the lap especially when used backless.

Belinda

cantech said:

You do realize that they are not meant as armrests? They are actually meant to hold the seat belt down in position over the lap especially when used backless.

Belinda

Click to expand...

On the Britax website, on the 360 viewer, they are labeled as armrests.

They are meant to be armrests much more than the Bodyguard's armrests, LOL! They made these soft and shaped like armrests, and Britax calls them armrests.

For that matter, the Turbo's armrests are there to hold the lapbelt low and in place, yet they are still called armrests.

What, your kids don't have ET arms that reach down that far? LOL

LMAO!

Hayley doesn't mind not having armrests at all. You can see in my sig that she rests her arms on the PW's torso wings, and that's good enough for her. She never even mentioned the lack of armrests on the PW when we switched from the Turbo...and she's a very observant kid who will let you know if she's unhappy about anything.

The Monarch is the seat that my kindergartener chose. He can buckle it up by himself and does. My 10 yr old or I give it a tug once he is in to check it is tight. He doesn't have any problem. Neither of us liked the parkway much and he hated the flaps where his arms go, he kept whining and pushing at them. We got the Combi Kobuk as our backup in DHs car -- that was his second choice and he can get himself in that too and I think that one is harder.

He loves the plush on the monarch and when we have friends in the car, that is the one they fight over.