Britax Highpoint/Skyline 2-Stage Booster Review

Britax Skyline 2-stage booster fully extended

The Britax Highpoint/Skyline has been a great high back booster option in both Canada and the United States since 2018. It has had a solid spot on our recommended seats list in both countries since the release, and we were very excited when Britax announced a revamp of the seat that provides a backless booster option for older kiddos. Join us as we take a look at the 2-stage Britax Highpoint and Skyline booster seats!

Unassembled Britax Skyline 2-stage booster

Assembling the 2-stage Highpoint/Skyline is a quick and easy process.

Attaching the back to the base of the Britax Skyline 2-stage booster

The brightly colored “Quick Assembly Guide” attached to the manual and registration card indicates a three-step process for attaching the back: simply put the bottom flat on the ground, attach the back, then pull the back upright until you hear an audible “click. Once assembled, the booster stays upright on its own. We suspect that anyone who has owned a high back booster that falls apart when left unattended will understand why this is a bonus!

Attaching the Britax Skyline 2-stage booster cup holders

The cup holders snap in easily (don’t forget this step!).

Tightening the lower anchors of the Britax Skyline 2-stage booster

The 2-stage Highpoint/Skyline feature premium lower anchors. To loosen the anchors: press on the red release button on the left side of the seat and pull on the anchors to steal webbing from the adjuster straps which is also located on the left side of the seat.
To tighten the lower anchors after attaching them to the vehicle: pull on the adjuster strap.

Note: if the booster shifts on the vehicle seat, tightening the lower anchors may be difficult. If you encounter resistance when tightening, double check that the lower anchor connectors are lined up with the gaps in the back of the vehicle seat and try again.

Britax Highpoint 2-stage booster SG clip

The SecureGuard clip is designed to position the lap portion of the vehicle belt low on the child’s lap, touching the thighs. Britax identifies the SecureGuard Clip as a system meant to prevent a child from submarining, or sliding under, the lap portion of the belt.

The SecureGuard clip is attached to the bottom portion of the Highpoint, and slips into the shell using a system parents and caregivers should be familiar with if they’ve ever used a harnessed seat with an adjustable crotch buckle strap. There is a metal plate on the end of an adjustable strap; with instructions in the manual stating to make sure that the clip positions the belt on the child’s lap. The generous padding on the SecureGuard Clip keeps it more upright, which seemed to help our 6 year old model to use the clip.

6 Year Old

Britax Skyline 2-stage booster – 6 year old

Our 6 year old model is 52 inches tall and weighs 56 pounds. One of her favorite boosters is the one-stage Britax Skyline, so she was more than willing to test out the two-stage Skyline for our review.

Not surprisingly, the Skyline fits her very well – the shoulder belt is centered on her shoulder and the lap belt is low on her hips, touching her thighs.

8 Year Old

Britax Skyline 2-stage booster – 8 year old

Our other 8 year old model is 56 inches tall and weighs 80 pounds. He is a big fan of high back boosters for the support, and the Skyline fits him with room to grow. The shoulder belt is centered on his shoulder and the lap belt is low on his hips, touching his thighs. This model has approximately 1.5 inches of growth left before his shoulders touch the bottom of the headrest and the seat is outgrown in high back mode, but that could be another year and would potentially last until he passes the 5 Step Test.

Converting to Backless Booster

Converting the Britax Skyline 2-stage booster to backless mode – our trick

While this sounds like the process is simple, that is not the experience either of our reviewers had. Both of them worried that they were going to break the seat when attempting to convert the booster to backless mode. Not only does the seat require what seems like excessive force to push the backrest down until it lies flat, the rotation beyond 180 degrees required two people and a LOT of force — to the point where it felt like the plastic would snap any second.

Both reviewers WERE able to convert the seat to backless mode, but the process doesn’t get any easier after multiple attempts (and always feels like the seat is about to break).

IIHS Graph of Rating Zones for Lap Belt Scores (mm)

We want to start our summary of the backless booster mode of the 2-stage Skyline/Highpoint with an explanation of what an ideal booster vehicle seat belt fit looks like.

IIHS rates booster seats annually on their shoulder belt and lap belt fit. Their booster rating guidelines are the “gold standard” for booster seat fit, and one that the Child Passenger Safety community takes very seriously.

Figure 1 is directly from IIHS’s “Booster Seat Belt Fit Evaluation Guidelines for Ratings” and the measurements are shown in millimeters (the range of a correct belt fit per this criteria is very small). Per this document: “An effective lap belt position allows the belt to engage the bony pelvis during a frontal crash… If the belt is too far forward on the thighs, the body will undergo excessive excursion, and the pelvis may begin to rotate and increase the likelihood of submarining (lap belt passing above the pelvis and loading the abdominal organs).”

We are looking for a booster seat to place the lap belt low on the child’s thighs, touching their hips. Let’s see how effectively the 2-Stage Highpoint/Skyline does this.

This 6 year old model is 47 inches tall and still weighs in at 45 pounds.  This kiddo has recently graduated from a harnessed car seat to a high back booster almost full time. Ideally, we’d continue to use a high back booster for a while before moving onto a no back option for her. However, she meets the minimum height and weight for the Highpoint, so we wanted to show how that would fit her.

Britax Highpoint 2-stage booster in backless mode- 6 year old

On this model. the shoulder belt fit squarely across her chest, but the lap portion of the belt is positioned pretty far down her thighs. Referring back to the graphic above, the fit provided by the Highpoint does not appear to be a good one. Luckily, this kiddo can continue to use the Highpoint in high back mode for some time.  We had the same lap belt struggles with some of our other models, but it did seem to fit better as the children got older.

Britax Skyline 2-stage booster seat in backless booster mode – 6 year old

Our other 6 year old model remains 52 inches tall and weighs 56 pounds. She does not yet ride in a backless booster because she fits in all of the high back boosters at home, but she agreed to try out the Skyline in backless booster mode for us.

Lap belt fit of Britax Skyline 2-stage booster seat in backless mode – 6 year old

We had some challenges with the belt fit in this mode for this model as well. Without the back on, her bum is positioned much farther back on the seat. This in turn positions the lap belt on her thighs, well away from her hips (and in the IIHS red zone). This is not a good belt fit on this kiddo, so we are thankful that she has quite a bit of growing room in high back mode.

Britax Skyline 2-stage booster seat in backless mode – year old

Our 8 year old model remains 56 inches tall and weighs 80 pounds. He ran into the same lap belt fit issues as his 6 year old sister in the Skyline.

Lap belt fit of Britax Skyline 2-stage booster seat in backless mode – year old

The lack of back forces his bum (and hips) away from the lap portion of the seatbelt, which in turn positions the seat belt on his thighs and not his hips. Again, we are glad that he fits in the Skyline in high back mode, because we are not comfortable with the way this seat fits him in this mode.

Important Information: Where to Find

Britax Highpoint/Skyline manual storage location

Manual Storage: The manual stores in the bottom of the seat.

Britax Highpoint date of manufacture label

Date of Manufacture: The date of manufacture label is located on the bottom portion of the seat.  It’s kind of in a hidden location — lift up the cover on the bottom portion of the seat to expose it.

Britax Skyline/Highpoint NSM

National Safety Mark for Canadian users: The National Safety Mark is located on the child’s left of the seat, on the side of the shell.

Britax Skyline 2-stage booster seat in smallest setting

The high back booster mode of the Britax Highpoint/Skyline has been a solid option since it was first released. While we were excited to see this seat available in a 2-stage mode, unfortunately for us the backless booster mode fell a little flat.

With none of our models fitting the backless booster mode well, we can’t see a time where the backless booster mode would actually be useable (but are very thankful that, due to the high shoulder belt guide and high height and weight limits of the high back booster mode, it may never need to be used).

All in all, if a caregiver is looking for a solid high back booster option that fits a wide range of children and vehicles, we would still recommend the 2-stage Britax Highpoint/Skyline – but with the caveat that we would not expect that they would not be able to use the backless booster mode.