Britax Diplomat Convertible Car Seat Onyx | 
| Brand: Britax USA
Buy New: $259.99
New (8) from $259.99
Rating:  33 reviews
Sales Rank: 429
Color: Onyx
Shipping Weight (lbs): 24.5
Dimensions (in): 24 x 20 x 18.5
MPN: E9L6669
Model: E9L6669
UPC: 652182058067
EAN: 0652182058067
ASIN: B000RHGNO8
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
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Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Features:
| • | 5 point harness with patented Floating HUGS system and True Side Impact Protection | | • | Built-in lock-off clips, Versa-Tether & Safe Guard LATCH Connectors | | • | EPS and Comfort Foam for safety and comfort | | • | Quick adjust headrest and recline | | • | Rear facing: 5 to 35 pounds. Forward facing: At least 1 year old and 20 to 40 pounds |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The Britax Diplomat Convertible Car Seat is the little brother of the Boulevard car seat. The Diplomat has all of the fantastic features of the Britax Boulevard, but comes in a smaller size for more compact vehicles. The differences between the two convertible car seats can be found in weight capacity, seat height and seat width. The Diplomat is both rear and forward facing and is suitable for a child weighing up to 40 pounds, whereas the Boulevard is a Britax convertible car seat which can support a child weighing up to 65 pounds. The Diplomat from Britax is loaded with benefits for mom and dad as well as baby. This Britax car seat uses the flexible LATCH system in both positions to make installation safer and easier. The Diplomat is equipped with built-in locks-offs for installation with the car's safety belts as well. The Diplomat is lined with plush padding, which is extra soft and washable. The Britax Diplomat convertible car seat also boasts True Side Impact Protection, a safety measure not found on other convertible car seats. Deep wings on both sides of the Diplomat's headrest and stomach area are lined with EPS and comfort foam. A tangle-free five-point safety harness keeps your child secure and snug!
Amazon.com Product Description
Specially designed for use in smaller vehicles, the Diplomat from Britax is a compact, convertible car seat that's comfortable for baby on long drives, easy for parents to work with and--most importantly!--safe. It fits children weighing five to 35 pounds in rear facing and one year and up to 40 pounds in forward facing, with both positions able to accommodate a standing height of up to 40 inches.  | The Britax Diplomat offers: - HUGS system for maximum safety.
- True Side Impact Protection.
- Light weight for easier transportation.
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The HUGS system exceeds US safety standards. (Huntington color shown.) View larger. | Proper Positioning for a Safe, Comfortable Ride
Proper positioning helps keep your child secure in the car, and that's why the Diplomat is chock full of features that ensure your child is seated and strapped in at the safest angle. An easy-turn knob quickly adjusts headrest and harness height without requiring you to uninstall the seat, while the tangle-free, five-point harness ensures a snug and secure fit at multiple heights. There's also a rear-and forward-facing recline option and soft body pillow for child comfort and proper positioning. Convenient belt holders keep the harness to the side so you can comfortably place child in the seat, and premium push-button LATCH connectors provide a quick, simple and tight installation. Finally, built-in lock-off clips tightly secure the vehicle seat belt without the need for additional parts you could misplace. True Side Impact ProtectionTM and Versa-Tether for Peace of Mind
The Companion also gives you additional peace of mind by featuring engineered True Side Impact ProtectionTM. Deep side walls and head support provide advanced shock-absorption and cushioning in side impact collisions, helping to reduce the risk of injury. Additionally, EPS (Expanded Polystyrene) impact foam lining around the baby's head and torso absorbs energy in side and rear impacts, cradles baby's head to keep it away from protruding parts, cushions violent side to side movements, and creates a comfortable resting spot. Secondly, the rear- and forward-facing recline allows the patented Versa-Tether, an energy management top tether, to anchor the top of seat to the vehicle in the event of impact, thereby reducing movement. Specifically, the Versa-Tether fastens the top of the car seat to factory installed automobile anchor points, minimizing the possibility of a head injury. This system also allows for rear-facing tethering to help keep the seat consistently stable. 
 |  | HUGS for Optimum Safety and Support
When it comes to safety, the Diplomat truly delivers. First, the patented floating HUGS (Harness Ultra Guard) system exceeds U.S. safety standards by reducing forward head movement as it gently cushions the neck and chest with soft padding--a feature that's particularly important both in the case of an accident and during nap time. In addition, this system better distributes the webbing loads, reducing head movement and minimizing harness irritation on baby's neck in case of an impact. HUGS also reduces the chance of improperly positioning the chest clip. Lightweight at 15 pounds, and measuring 19 x 25 x 23.5 inches (WxHxD), the Britax is also certified for air travel. The Diplomat comes with a 1-year limited warranty. The Diplomat is also available in the following colors: Taylor and Huntington.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 28 more reviews...
 Outstanding car seat! September 14, 2007
Leo's Folks (Boston Area, MA, USA)
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
The Britax Diplomat Onyx car seat is outstanding! We had purchased a Britax Boulevard over a month ago and had a few pet peeves... also, the Boulevard was too big for our cars. We were sure that we wanted the beefy side-impact protection, though; so we were thrilled to hear that the Diplomat was coming out - a compact version of the Boulevard - and signed up. The car seat arrived today and we have noticed that none of our pet peeves were carried over to this model! We easily got the car seat installed, ordered another Diplomat Onyx for the second car, then took junior for a spin to return the Boulevard model.
Specifically... the fabric is fine, the headrest and straps are easy to adjust, the padding is superior, and the placement/length of the buckle and belly pad (which were problematic on the Boulevard) are very good. Although the seat only goes up to 40 lbs. max, its compact size (versus the Boulevard) should make it easier to use on a plane. We are entirely happy with this car seat, and are so glad the timing worked out that the Diplomat was introduced just when we needed it!
 Great for smaller kids but watch for minor issues February 16, 2008
Constantin (US)
17 out of 22 found this review helpful
The Diplomat is the smaller companion to the Boulevard series. Due to its compact size, it's great for parents whose children are in the lower size and weight percentiles - it's smaller overall size will free room in your car also.
Per Britax, the Diplomat can accommodate children in a weight range from 5lb to 40lb and a maximum height of 40 inches. The child can weigh between 5-35 lb while facing rearward and 20-40 lb while facing forward. The American Association of Pediatrics recommends rear-facing seats until the child is at least one year of age and weighs 20 lb.
The car seat is permanently attached to a hard base that allows the seat to be swiveled forward and backward. Ideally, the swivel base would allow a wider range of motion - our seat could not be made level without the addition of padding underneath the base. Also, the Chicco infant carrier that preceded the Diplomat in our car had a separable base, making the base install easier. A separable base would be a big plus in my opinion. The Chicco base also held the infant carrier more snugly to the car.
The Diplomat headrest can be adjusted up and down to maximize the comfort of your child, and there are multiple seat pads that can be removed as the child gets bigger. The seat cover is removable (with work), so this seat works for parents that have to deal with spit-up, spills, and other debris that is left in the wake of the typical kid. Because the seat is big enough to accommodate a 40" long, 40lb kid, a one-year old transitioning into it may feel a bit "loose" after the snugness of the infant carrier preceding it.
A variety of attachment options are possible, from standard car and aircraft seat belts (3-point or lap) to the LATCH system, which is my personal favorite. The seat is certified for use in aircraft, a big plus if you have to travel. Here, the smaller size of the Diplomat really becomes handy since running through an aircraft aisle with all the baby goodies is hard enough as it is. Threading the seat belt through the base might get interesting, depending on the size of the aircraft.
I noted two minor annoyances with the unit that was shipped to us. The fixed base has a single set of LATCH buckles, requiring them to be reversed every time the seat orientation is changed (i.e. left has to become right). A separable base and seat would not require this extra step. Also, our old Chicco infant carrier base had a air-bubble level to make a proper install easier to gauge than the "this line should be level" instruction on the side of the Diplomat. The Diplomat base is also wide enough where attaching the LATCH buckles is not necessarily easy.
This unit really requires the careful study of the manual... which is permanently attached to the unit in a location that is inaccessible when the seat has been installed in a rear-facing orientation. I wonder how many parents will struggle and/or install their seats incorrectly because they did not notice the fine print in the manual. A nice to have would be a small manual attached to the chair, and a bigger one (with a text font size above 4pts) delivered separately inside the same box.
Another minor ding is that the injection molded base that the seat is permanently attached to was still covered with fuzz from the injection-molding process. Most manufacturers deburr such edges to make them smooth and to remove such fuzz, but Britax has elected not to. In my opinion, such fuzz is undesirable around children, you cannot discount the possibility that a kid will try to eat it. Fixing the problem is easy enough, just run over those coarse edges with a Brillo pad to remove the fuzz and smooth them over.
Which brings me to my last issue with Britax and their web site. They want you to register your e-mail address as part of the product registration process, but they do not reciprocate by allowing you to contact them by e-mail once you have registered the product. Perhaps there is a legal reason, but there is no means to contact them other than snail mail or to wait until weekday business hours and to call them. Curiously, they do publish one e-mail address on their site for employment opportunities.
Still, all in all a great seat. I expect this seat will continue to delight our daughter and keep her safe while we're driving.
Excellent choice for small cars or moms of multiples January 14, 2008
Jamie A. Neidig-wheaton (Herndon, VA)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
We are very pleased with the Diplomat and it has many improvements over the original Boulevard. Foremost, it does fit behind the seats in the front of the car - and someone can still fit in the front seat. This is a must of you have multiple carseats in your car. The push button release to adjust the straps in an improvement over the "pull-up" bar on the earlier Boulevard. The button makes it very easy to loosen the straps, put the child into the seat, and then pull the harness tight. As with the Boulevard, the adjustable headrest/ harness movement is wonderful. You don't have to move the straps to a different hole (and the spend an hour trying to make sure the seat's put back together correctly) - simply turn a knob as your child grows. The recline feature is great because you don't have to uninstall the seat to adjust it. The fabric is soft, but not so soft that you worry about it absorbing every spill. Finally, the carseat is easy to install.
I've heard some children find the "wings" around their heads objectionable. None of my children have had any problems with the side impact protection, but none have ever been in a carseat without side impact protection, so they may just be used to it.
Because the carseat is smaller and more narrow than the Boulevard, I don't think it would be comfortable for a tall, husky toddler. Our 2.5 years old is very tall (about 3 feet) and thin (27 pounds) and although he fits in the Diplomat, he is clearly more comfortable in the larger Boulevard. Thus if you child is over 2 and over 25 lbs, I'd recommend the Boulevard over the Diplomat, especially considering that size isn't as much of an issue when the carseat is forward facing.
Britax Diplomat - great choice for a convertible seat November 21, 2007
Sherry M. Noud (Burke, VA USA)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
We bought the Britax Diplomat to replace the Britax Boulevard we had been using for our 15-month-old daughter. The Boulevard takes up way too much room rear-facing - our front passenger seat (in a compact car) was basically unavailable because it had to be pushed all the way forward in order to accommodate the Boulevard.
So far, we love the Diplomat. The LATCH installation was a breeze. The seat is a few inches shorter than the Boulevard, so we were able to move the front passenger seat back and resume using it. We like the side impact protection feature, the fact that it is one of very few convertible seats that you can tether rear-facing, and the fact that you can adjust the harness without uninstalling the seat.
Also, the Onyx fabric is far more comfortable for our daughter than the Central Park fabric on our Boulevard. I didn't realize how hot the Central Park (velour) fabric would be in the summer. I would definitely recommend the Diplomat in the Onyx fabric.
Great for small cars - lives up to description October 6, 2007
First time mother (West Hartford, CT)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
We have a small car, and ordered this based on descriptions that it would be a smaller Britax that would fit in smaller cars. The car the seat is installed in is a Saab 92-X (wagon), which is built off the Subaru Impreza, and we have learned from several online car seat sites as well as in person from car seat sales people that Subarus are a tight fit and that many car seat models cannot be safely installed in these vehicles without losing use of the front passenger seat. We were able to fit this seat in rear-facing on a passenger side very nicely (seat works rear-facing to 35 lbs, up to 40 lbs front facing). If you are not inclined to change your vehicle -- and possibly give up use of your front passenger seat -- just because a car seat cannot be properly/safely installed, look into this seat! Disclaimer: We have not yet had the seat installation inspected by a traind car seat installation expert (such as local police), but I can tell based on how this seat compares with our previous one that it will be a good fit even if we need to tweak the installation for added safety.
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