The Britax Affinity Review

Earlier this year I joined the Britax Mumbassador programme. I was really pleased to be invited into the fold as I have always been a big fan of Britax and already had their products firmly in mine and Leo's lives. When it came to choosing Leo's car seat there was only one brand on my mind, and that of course was Britax. They have a trusted reputation with parent's and this put me in a good stead to make the big decision in choosing the car seat that Leo still sits in today.

As part of my role as a Britax Mumbassador, it has given me a fabulous opportunity to try out more of their products so that I can share my personal experience on this here blog. Back in the Summer I was sent the Britax Affinity with a very stylish Blue Sky colour pack to try out with Leo, and we have been using it ever since. We have been on trips all over the place and now we are in a very good position to share our opinion on this very attractive pushchair. 

Before the Affinity even arrived I really liked the entire look of the pushchair, there is a choice of frame from Black, White and Silver. I was instantly drawn to the Black, I always think they look so much smarter with a jet Black frame. 

What is in the box?

What's actually included in the initial price is always a good place to start and in the Britax Affinity box you will find:

- The Chassis

- Wheels

- Bumper Bar

- Rain cover

- Newborn inserts and wedge

The standard price of £360.00 gets you all of the above, and the colour packs come as an extra unless you find a deal that includes this. The colour packs include the rest of the fabrics that make up the Britax Affinity. 

In the colour packs you can choose from a variety of different colour ways:

- Black Thunder

- Chilli Pepper

- Blue Sky

- Cool Berry

- Cactus Green

- Fossil Brown

With a retail value of £48.00 per pack I think this highlights a very reasonable price tag that will give you the flexibility to change colours every so often if you are like me and like to switch things around. It would also be ideal if you were to have multiple children of different genders and wanted to indulge in the different colours available.

In each colour pack you will recieve:

- Seat Pad

- Hood

- Apron

- Shoulder and Crotch Pads

- Basket Liner

You can use the Affinity without a colour pack if you don't mind not having a hood, but personally I couldn't imagine just having the pushchair and not completing the look with one of the colour packs. For me having a hood is something I expect out of a pushchair, so it would never have been a option for me not to have the finished look.

Assembly

I found the entire assembly process very easy. It involved simply clicking the wheels into place. Dropping the seat unit into the allocated slots and then simply attaching the colour pack. 

The hood clicks into place and then has a zip to secure it at the back, I found this a little fiddly but got there eventually. The seat pad it's self just sits in the seat unit and then you have to bring the 5 point harness through each of the slotted holes and attach the harness belts. It was all very straight forward and I found the instruction manuals very helpful. 

The one bit I did spend a bit of time scratching my forehead over was the basket insert, I couldn't quite work it out for love nor money, but it just sits in place and buttons into the basket. 

First Impressions

With the Britax Affinity completed in front of me, the jett Black frame and the Sky Blue Colour pack I was sufficiently impressed. It did look very smart and ready for business, so I wasted no time in getting out and about with it. 

In compassion to any of the other Britax pushchairs the Affinity is one of a kind, it's curved frame and smooth finish is nothing like their usual chunky styling. I think this opens up the Affinity to a whole new range of people who are in the market for a complete travel system alternative.

The pushchair it's self is pretty light which made me optimistic as to how it may maneuver with my chunky 2 year old at the helm. The back air filled wheels are nice and chunky and look like they could handle some of the terrain I like to frequent on my travels, but I was a little dubious about the front wheels and couldn't help thinking that it would make more sense for them to all be air filled.

Getting out and about with the Affinity

Now after using the Affinity for a fair few months I am looking forward to sharing my personal experience with this pushchair. We have stayed local and enjoyed park visits, we have visited destinations further a field such as Drayton Manor Theme Park, and we have even hopped on a train to London, each different outing has given us a new insight into the Affinity.

The Affinity is a pushchair you can use from the word go, the newborn inserts mean that you can have your little one in the seat unit from the start. Thanks to the very easy to use reversible seat you can even have them facing you. If you don't wish to put your newborn straight into the seat you have a couple of other options.

- Carry Cot

- Baby Safe Plus SHR II Car Seat

The Affinity is travel system ready so you only need to click either of these options straight into the chassis, and you are on your way. Leo and I haven't personally used this part of the pushchair with him being that much older, but it is still a great feature to have. If we had this pushchair with Leo as a little baby this is something that we would have certainly been making the most out of.

Leo sits in the seat comfortably but he is getting to the larger end of the scale, he is pretty tall for his age and his head does reach the hood. The seat unit it's self is spacious and comfortable with the option of 4 different recline positions.

For me personally pushing Leo around in the Affinity, you certainly know that he is in there after a while, but regardless of this it still pushes smoothly and steadily. The Affinity seats children until they weigh 17kg. I would say Leo is very almost at this weight so he really is the top end of the scale for the Affinity these days.

One of the things I really love about the Affinity is the ease of being able to change the seat unit from world facing to parent facing. It is as simple as clicking it into place either way you wish. To get the seat back out again you just have to hold in the buttons on either side and pull it back out again. It looks great in either positioning and Leo loves that we can have a chat as we walk along, but if he tires from this we can effortlessly change the position back. 

For the most part actually driving this pushchair with Leo in has been lovely. There was one occasion recently where I went to push Leo up a dropped curb and the wheel caught pushing me back into the road. It was no problem and I just adjusted the way I was pushing the stroller up the curb, but it is here where I think the front wheels may benefit from being a little bigger, or air filled like the back.

On our day out at Drayton Manor Theme Park the Affinity got lots of admiring looks and I even had a few people ask me what brand it was. I am always more than happy to answer any questions people may have, and I even offer to let them have a push with a 2 year old at the helm if they are interested in purchasing one. Just so that they can see how much use they will get out of it with my big boy comfortably demonstrating. 

The brakes on the Affinity are effective and easy to use. They are located on the right hand side of the pushchair using a foot pedal with Green to indicate kicking the brake off and red to instigate the brakes. I like how Britax have made it very apparent in terms of how to operate the brake, kind of like a traffic light system.

The Affinity handled the park beautifully and Leo was in and out of the seat throughout the day depending upon his mood. The one time I insisted he go into it was around the gift shop... We all know how toddlers look with their hands rather than their eyes...

It's days out like this that really highlight to me how much Leo still relies on having a pushchair, he gets tired and he also needs confinement. Or I need him to have confinement...Regardless, we still very much rely on having a pushchair.

It was easy to fold the pushchair up when we had to jump on board Thomas the Tank Engine in Thomas Land, and it was easy to pop it back up again when we arrived back from our little adventure. I love pushchairs that make it obvious how to put them up and down, the Affinity is one of those pushchairs. 

How to put the Affinity up & down

To put it up all you have to do is release the black clip on the side and push it up until it all clicks into place. To put it down You need to locate the two slider buttons which are actually situated on either side of the handle bar. The right hand slider has a small button which you push in and then both sliders need pulling towards you so that the Affinity’s frame can collapse and fold towards the ground. You then push it closed so that the auto lock engages.

I have had to collapse the Affinity after I got on board a train to London with Leo as there was no where to safely leave it erect. So I sat Leo safely on a seat and collapsed the Affinity to store behind our seat, once collapsed it is quite bulky so it was good to get it out of everybody's way.

The folded Affinity does not fit in the boot of my Peugeot 206 but I can transport it around on the back seat of my car. This is usually ok as it is only me and Leo in the car so I don't miss the back seat that I lose, however this would potentially cause issues if I had to take the Affinity and a car full of people out anywhere.

Once in London I got around perfectly with Leo in the Affinity, it handles beautifully in urbanised areas. Unfortunately for me Leo decided to projectile vomit while we were on our way to a rather swanky event. Right in the middle of London... All the while sitting in his Affinity pushchair. Sufficed to say I had a little panic. Luckily I had Mummy Adventure and Rock 'N' Roller Baby on hand to pick me up and send me on my way for my rather long journey back home... with a poorly baby.

Leo soon fell asleep as the bug took a hold on him, it was around about then that I realised that I had no idea at all about how to recline the Affinity. As I had a rather long wait for the next train and at that precise moment in time.. A sleeping toddler I didn't want to faff about too much in case I woke him up. So for that moment I left it and vowed to find out where exactly the recline was when I got home.

The recline is actually located on the side of the Affinity just above the foot rest buttons. If I hadn't been in such a panic about whether or not Leo was going to be sick on the train.. It would have actually been a easy spot for me to find.

The basket, hood and handle bar

Baskets for me are always a first look, I tend to accumulate a lot of 'things' while I am out and about. Not to mention the fact that everywhere I go, Leo has to take his security blanket, that just so happens to be a fully fledged cot duvet. This alone when Leo is not in need of it, happily resides taking up the majority of my basket... But as an essential piece of luggage to keep Leo content, it comes with us... EVERYWHERE.

The basket it's self is actually pretty spacious, but there is one bit that let's the side down for me and that is just how open the back is. Although it does make life easier in actually getting items in, it does make it just as easy for them to fall out again. I have managed to fit both my changing bag and Leo's blanket in the basket, and then I have managed to strategically balance items so that they stay put, so the size of this basket is perfect for getting everything we actually need for a day out and about.

The opening at the back aside, if packed correctly you can make use of all of the space and avoid items getting trailed along the way.

The hood is fabulous on the Affinity, and is very generous in size and keeps a solid structure. It even features a pull out sun visor which only adds to the size of this hood and makes so much difference when the sun is blaring down into the pushchair. What I really liked about the hood was the zip at the back that opens up the mesh netting so that you can let fresh air circulate around the pushchair, perfect for a hot day. Finally there is a Velcro tab with a peek a boo window so that you can always have a watchful eye as to what is going on behind the hood. 

The handle bar is really easy to adjust and has different positions so that it is perfect for either parent who may be pushing baby around. Although I am not the tallest person in the world I still like having the height on the handle bars when pushing Leo around. The handle bar it's self is covered in a leather like material which sets it aside to any other pushchair I have ever used, I like how soft and easy to grip it is.

Theft Protection System

The Britax Affinity is the only pushchair to boast it's own anti-theft protection. Each Affinity has it's very own unique code which you can register online at code-no.com. This system makes it possible for anyone to carry out a status check with their unique code number.

Over all thoughts?

Over all I really like the Britax Affinity, it is an all round pushchair at a reasonable price that can see you through from the day your little one enters the world until you no longer need a pushchair. Leo still sits very comfortably in the seat, and is happy to face either way in the unit. I like how it steers while we are out and about and it handles multiple terrains very well. I do think that it may benefit from 4 air tyre's instead of just the two back wheels but then that is what I have become accustomed to over time. I wouldn't say the Affinity is a completely off road pushchair and do feel that it is more suited to urban routes. 

I do really like the Affinity package and love just how sturdy and safe it feels, I would definitely consider this option for a newborn baby and would probably look more into the carry cot and car seat options to make use of the travel system.

Disclaimer: I was sent the Britax Affinity for the purpose of this review. All views and opinions expressed are completely honest and my own.