CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 19, 2012 — BRITAX introduced today its all-new, B-READY, http://www.britaxusa.com/strollers/2012-b-ready, stroller, a versatile and stylish modular stroller equipped with convenient, comfortable features to meet the needs of growing families.

The 2012 B-READY’s new design offers many updated features, including four recline positions on the top seat, with a new, more upright seated position and a deeper storage basket.  It also includes new, all-terrain, bump-absorbing, foam-filled rubber tires that ride like traditional pneumatic tires, yet never “go flat.” The B-READY accommodates baby from birth up to 55 pounds.

Like the popular original B-READY, the 2012 version accommodates growing families.  It easily converts into 14 configurations that can carry one or two children using any combination of the top seat, 2nd seat, bassinet and infant car seats (sold separately).  Thanks to the integrated CLICK & GO system, parents can alternate the top seat, bassinet and infant car seats without an additional purchase. BRITAX’s unique infant car seats are built to attach to BRITAX strollers right out of the box, allowing easy transfer of the infant car seat from stroller to the car.

“We listened to our customers and developed a stroller with new, improved features to help make parents’ lives a little easier,” said Jon McGuire, Director of Marketing at BRITAX.  “The newly designed B-READY offers non-inflatable tires, a more upright position, an even smoother ride; and provides more storage, among other things.  Parents can trust that, along with convenience, this stroller provides a safe and pleasant ride for their children.”

Parents also will enjoy the ease and convenience of the B-READY’s adjustable top handle with its molded grip and cup holder. An automatic chassis lock secures the frame in a folded position, with or without the second seat attached.  One-step, linked rear brakes with color-coded indicators confirm the stroller is locked in place, or ready to roll.

Available in five fashions, Navy, Black, Red, Silver and Twilight, the 2012 BRITAX B-READY (MSRP: $499.99) will be sold in independent and mass retailers in April.  Additional accessories are the 2nd Seat http://www.britaxusa.com/accessories/b-ready-second-seat (MSRP: $149.99), Bassinet http://www.britaxusa.com/accessories/stroller-bassinet (MSRP: $149.99), Stroller Organizer http://www.britaxusa.com/accessories/stroller-organizer ($29.99), Stroller Board http://www.britaxusa.com/accessories/stroller-board ($89.99), Infant Car Seat Adapter http://www.britaxusa.com/accessories/infant-car-seat-adapter-frame ($49.99), Full Rain Cover http://www.britaxusa.com/accessories/b-ready-full-rain-cover ($49.99), Lower Infant Car Seat Adapter http://www.britaxusa.com/accessories/b-ready-lower-infant-car-seat-adapter ($79.99) and UV Net http://www.britaxusa.com/accessories/uv-mosquito-net ($39.99) (sold separately). For more information about BRITAX, visit www.britaxusa.com, or find BRITAX on Twitter, Facebook or YouTube.

About Britax Child Safety Inc.

BRITAX manufactures and markets a full line of premium car seats, strollers, baby carriers and accessories.  Since its founding in Britain in 1939, the company has established itself as a trusted juvenile products brand, known for a commitment to thoughtful, innovative engineering of safe, top-quality and intuitively designed products.

In 2011 BRITAX acquired BOB Trailers, Inc.  This addition reflects the company’s commitment to offering a full line of strollers to meet the modern family’s lifestyle needs.  BRITAX and BOB offer versatility and a lifespan beyond one child.

BRITAX USA is located in Charlotte, N.C., and employs more than 200 people.  For more information, visit www.britaxusa.com.

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Four popular booster seats from BRITAX Child Safety Inc. — the FRONTIER® 85 SICT Combination Harness-2-Booster™ seat, the FRONTIER® 85 Combination Harness-2-Booster™ seat, the PARKWAY® SGL and the PARKWAY® SG belt-positioning booster seats — were given “best” and “good” ratings by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in a 2011 study released in October, 2011. The independent study tested how well various booster seats provide proper vehicle seatbelt positioning on a child.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111013/CG86517)

The FRONTIER 85 SICT, FRONTIER 85 and PARKWAY SGL were among 31 booster seats to receive a “best bet” rating, and the PARKWAY SG was among five to earn a “good bet” rating. Researchers evaluated 62 boosters.

“At BRITAX, we encourage parents to keep their children safe in car seats as long as possible,” said Jon Chamberlain, president of BRITAX. “We work to develop car seats that can accommodate older, larger children while still offering the most advanced safety features. These favorable IIHS ratings for our entire line of BRITAX combination and booster seats reflect our long-standing commitment to keeping children safe.”

The BRITAX FRONTIER 85 SICT and FRONTIER 85 Combination Harness-2-Booster seats allow children who weigh up to 120 pounds to ride in booster mode. The booster seats accommodate older children and have unique features to help parents ensure a correct fit. Color-coded vehicle belt guides, arm rests and an option to add the SecureGuard™ accessory, help position the booster seats properly and safely secure the child. Additional features including Side Impact Cushion Technology® on the FRONTIER 85 SICT and True Side Impact Protection® on both the FRONTIER 85 SICT and FRONTIER 85 divert crash forces away from the child.

The BRITAX PARKWAY SGL and PARKWAY SG belt-positioning booster seats feature SecureGuard™, color-coded vehicle belt guides to indicate the path and positioning of the vehicle lap and shoulder seat belt, and arm rests to provide a secure fit and proper belt positioning. Both booster seats have True Side Impact Protection® which deflects crash forces away from the child. The PARKWAY SGL is equipped with the ISOFLEX Flexible Lower LATCH Connection System which secures the booster seat to the vehicle, prevents it from becoming a projectile when not in use, and stabilizes it during a crash.

All children whose weight or height is above the forward-facing limit for their car seat should use a belt-positioning booster seat until the vehicle seat belt fits properly, which is typically between 8 and 12 years of age, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Many states have age, height and weight requirements for the use of child restraints which can be found at the Governors Highway Safety Association website.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is an independent, non-profit, scientific, and educational organization dedicated to reducing the losses — deaths, injuries and property damage — from crashes on the nation’s highways.

SOURCE BRITAX

Electronic gadget maker Binatone licensed the Motorola name for a line of baby monitors that debuted in 2011.

Binatone has been expanding their video offerings in recent months and now have four models (and a fifth coming in 2012). All video monitors include infrared night vision, lullabies, sound/light display, room temperature monitor and a two-way intercom feature. The main difference is the size of the screen.

The basic MBP20 ($130) has a 1.5” color LCD screen, while the MBP33 ($160) has a 2.8” screen. The MBP35 adds a 3.5” screen, plus a sleep mode for power saving, The camera also has a battery for 3.5 hours of wireless monitoring.

The BMP36 ($200; pictured) also has a 3.5 screen, but adds a camera that can pan, tilt and zoom.

For 2012, Binatone will add a new model: the MBP2000 ($400) which works on a wifi network and can be expanded with up to four cameras. You can record up to 30 hours of video on a Micro SD card. The receiver also doubles as a telephone and answering machine. At $400, it looks like Binatone is throwing in everything including the kitchen sink for this model.

Parent feedback on these video monitors has been quite positive, with few reports of static or interference. Much of that credit probably goes to the monitor’s 2.4 GHz FHSS technology—FHSS stands for frequency-hoping spread spectrum—which enables strong, secure reception. Both the MBP33 and MBP36 have FHSS, while the simpler MBP20 works on DECT.

Perhaps the biggest complaint about these cameras is their weak night vision—compared to other brands, the Motorola night vision pictures are not very clear.

Rating: A-

A EXCELLENT-our top pick!
B GOOD-above average quality, prices, and creativity.
C FAIR-could stand some improvement.
D POOR-yuck! Could stand some major improvement.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 at 11:03 am and is filed under Baby Monitors, Reviews, Video baby monitors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Mobi Technologies, Inc. (getmobi.com), a leader in family-oriented portable electronics, has garnered four prestigious national awards for four separate products. The National Parenting Center has awarded two of its Seals of Approval to Mobi, one for the MobiCam Digital DL Wireless Monitor and one for the tempTalk Digital Oral Thermometer. The Mom’s Choice Awards have honored Mobi for its Digital DXR Wireless Monitor and its DualScan Ear/Forehead Digital Thermometer.

The National Parenting Center’s testing division is run by independent testers, including parents, educators and panelists. Mom’s Choice judging panels include education and media experts as well as parents, children, medical professionals, authors and scientists. As such, being acknowledged by both organizations holds great significance within the parenting community.

“We are excited to be receiving these four major awards”, says David Naghi, president. “We strive to maintain a leadership position in family-oriented consumer electronics and these four recognitions from National Parenting Center and Mom’s Choice serve to motivate us even further. Our soon-to-be-unveiled new products will continue our tradition of providing safe, high-quality products with great value ­­– a combination upon which our loyal customers have come to depend.”

With an abundance of new and updated features including live video monitoring, infra-red night vision and pan, tilt, zoom functions, Motorola’s ‘next-gen’ baby monitors have been designed to offer a simple yet effective way of assisting parents with child supervision.

The Motorola MBP33 and the MBP36 help parents keep a watchful ‘real-time’ eye on sleeping baby. The high-quality video and infrared night vision capabilities of these monitors enable parents to check on baby’s sleeping position, watch for smothering or choking hazards, or see if baby is in distress. The monitors also provide high-quality, secure, interference-free audio thanks to their advanced multi-channel digital technology. They come complete with sound-level indicators, so that parents can tell whether baby is just making a little noise, or crying.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a video on The Safety 1st Air Protect featuring the true story submitted by a couple who was in a car accident with their baby in the car.

http://airprotect.safety1st.com/stories.php

When we see stories like this it makes us proud to sell such quality products.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.

Name of Product: Jogging Strollers

Units: About 22,000 in the United States and 7,200 in Canada

Importer: phil&teds USA Inc., of Fort Collins, CO

Hazard: When folding and unfolding the stroller, a consumer’s finger can become caught in the hinge mechanism, posing amputation and laceration hazards.

Incidents/Injuries: phil&teds has received three reports of incidents resulting in injuries to the adult users including a finger tip amputation and two reports of lacerations.

Description: This recall involves sport v2 and classic v1 model single-seat jogging strollers. The three-wheel strollers have a metal frame, cloth seat and a canopy. The sport v2 model stroller was sold in red, orange, green, black, charcoal, navy and in graffiti print. Sport v2 serial numbers included in the recall are 0308/0001 to 0510/0840. The classic v1 model strollers were only sold in red. Serial numbers for the classic v1 are 0308/0001 to 0510/0906. The first four digits of the serial number is a month/year date code and the last four digits are for the individual stroller. Serial numbers are printed on the inside of the folding hinge. The phil&teds logo is located on the crotch piece of the harness on both models.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has released their new Booster ratings. 21 are “Best Bets”, 7 are “Good Bets” and 8 out of the 72 seats evaluated are not recommended. Below is the list of the “Best Bets”. You can find the full report on the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s website.

Best Bets

Britax Frontier 85 (combination highback)
Chicco Keyfit Strada (dual highback)
Clek Oobr (dual highback)
Cosco Juvenile Pronto (dual highback)
Cybex Solution X-Fix (highback)
Eddie Bauer Auto Booster (dual highback)
Evenflo Big Kid Amp (backless)
Evenflo Maestro (combination highback)
Graco TurboBooster Crawford (dual highback)
Harmony Baby Armor (dual highback)
Harmony Dreamtime (dual backless)
Harmony Dreamtime (dual highback)
Harmony Secure Comfort Deluxe (backless)
Harmony Youth Booster Seat (backless)
Maxi-Cosi Rodi XR (dual highback)
Recaro ProBOOSTER (highback)
Recaro ProSPORT (combination highback)
Recaro Vivo (highback)
Recaro Young Sport (combination highback)
Safety 1st Boost Air Protect (dual highback)
The First Years Pathway B570 (highback)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted (5-0) to issue a final mandatory rule under section 104(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) for infant walkers.

The rule adopts the applicable voluntary industry standard, ASTM F 977-07, Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Infant Walkers, and adds the following more stringent requirements:

• using the actual weight of a walker in a calculation to determine the launching distance for the stair fall test,
• specifying equipment used in the stair fall test,
• adding a parking brake test for walkers equipped with parking brakes.

These changes were made to strengthen the standard and reduce the risk of injury from these products. There has been an 88% reduction in injuries from 1994 to 2008, which may be attributed to the addition of a stair fall requirement included in the 1997 version of the ASTM voluntary standard.

Read the rest of this entry »

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 21, 2010

BabyLuxe announces the launch of its new website, babyluxebrands.com

Livermore, CA May 21, 2010 – BabyLuxe, a leading brand in bedding essentials for the juvenile products industry, announces the launch of their new website. The site, www.babyluxebrands.com was designed to showcase the extensive selection of product offerings and provide informative content for consumers.

Consumers can browse the full catalog of BabyLuxe products, learn about organic cotton and the certification process, and find a local or online store to purchase BabyLuxe products.

Read the rest of this entry »