The Britax brand is world reknowned for being the safest, best manufactured seat range. For this reason, when our daughter outgrew her baby seat, we decided to look for a Britax.

We went to our local Toys R Us store where they had the Britax Evolva 123 on display in this light blue colour. As our daughter is small for her age, we decided to try her in it. She was 12 months old at the time, but small for her age - and it was a very comfortable, safe fit. So we decided to buy it, only our store did not stock the pink (candy hearts) colour we wanted (she has everything pink!) so we had to order online.

The seat cost £149.99 with free delivery. It also comes in red, black, blue and grey, but not all stores have each colour in stock. This particular model is not isofix, but there is an isofix version you can buy which is approx £50 more expensive, in addition to the isofix base which is approximately £100-150 depending on model and shop. Isofix is great as it means you just click the seat into the base, which stays in the car and can remove the seat easily. However, being as the seat is quite big and heavy and not one you would need to carry around, I cannot see the point of isofix unless you regularly remove the seat for some reason.

Installing the seat is easy and takes less than five minutes. It secures into the car with the normal adult seatbelt, which goes around the back of the seat. I find that it is a very secure fit, not like some car seats where they seem to move a lot.

The seat is stage 1-2-3 which gives an approx age range of 9 months (20lb) to 11 years (79lb) which means you should only ever need this seat once you buy it!

The seat has a moveable headrest which is fantastic as our daughter is petite, so it means her head is protected despite her size. As she gets taller, we can just move it up by pulling the sides simultaneously upwards. It also stops her head moving around too much if she falls asleep. The headrest and sides are well cushioned and provide side impact protection, a must-have in my opinion. This is a feature I was adamant that the car seat we bought must have, as it is the ultimate in safety.

The child is secured into the seat with a five-point integral harness which also has harness pads for added comfort. This can be adjusted to fit the child. The buckle is very firm to push so it means toddlers shouldn't be able to open it themselves which is a huge relief! The sides also have elastic so that you can keep the straps out of the way when getting your child in or out of the car - not entirely necessary, but a handy feature nonetheless!

The seat also comes with a comprehensive manual which has it's own plastic pocket on the back of the car seat so you always know where it is. The manual covers installation, use and cleaning of the seat as well as troubleshooting (more on that later!)

Once the child is big enough, you remove the five-point harness and secure the child using the normal adult seat belt. I haven't had to do this yet, it's years away for me, but it looks very easy to do having read the manual, and there are guides on the seat to show you where the belt goes.

The seat reclines via a lever underneath the seat, which you need to adjust before fitting the car seat into the car. Be warned though that it doesn't actually recline much at all, definitely not as much as you might expect. But then again, if the baby is 9 months old, it should be able to hold its own head up, so it doesn't need a full recline. My daughter was 12 months when we bought it, but probably the same size as the average 9 month old, and we had no problems with her in it, although her head did flop forward a lot when she fell asleep - this is a very common thing with young babies - but now that she's older it never happens.

The seat has cup holders either side - a pull out plastic tray with a circular hole in. Handy for bottles and cups, but not all varieties obviously. Great for toddlers on long car rides! The covers are washable at 30 degrees which is a key factor as we all know how messy they get! It is a hassle to do though, as you have to take the whole seat out of the car, unthread the belts from the seat and get the cover off, then put it all back on. It's not something I'd want to do every week, but it's handy for when you need to do it.

The harness has a click and safe mechanism, you click the two harnesses together and insert it into the buckle until it clicks - that's how you know it's done correctly.

The big downfall is the buckle that the harness secures into. If you get food, drink, crumbs etc. into it, then it stops working and you may or may not realise. My daughter's sprung open one day as we pulled off the drive and we thought she'd managed to do it, luckily we hadn't gone anywhere, so we were able to sort it out before there was chance for an accident. We referred to the manual which tells you to wash it and leave it to dry - we did this and the problem was fixed.

All in all, it is a very safe seat, and worth every penny - I'd much rather pay the price for a seat like this, as it is one of the safest in the world. Also, it grows with your child, so it is a very worthwhile investment.

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