Hi. I'll start with your first observations about the differences in price of the seats. The Britax seats are more expensive because they have more user-friendly features such as easier-to-use harness adjusters, more padding (though the ComfortSports are very nicely padded any more), more choice in covers, velcro on the straps to keep them out of the way, rear-facing tethers, etc. You will find that in the store the harness adjusters work about the same on both seats, but once they are installed in cars with children in the seats, Britax wins hands-down. Some people don't care, so it's not worth it to them to pay extra.
As for the angle indicator, in my tech class, we were taught to ignore them because they are sometimes inaccurate. That was nearly 4 years ago and I think they have improved them somewhat. When installing seats, I do look at the angle indicator, but more importantly, I guestimate the angle by looking at the back where the baby's head lays to see if I think it's at a good angle for that baby. You can see how to do this here:
http://www.carseatsite.com/reclineangle.htm .
Some advantages the Wizard has over the Roundabout include: side impact head wings to protect the head, a taller back to allow a child to rear-face for longer (and forward-face for longer), a higher forward-facing weight limit, and an "infinite" harness height adjuster--the harness can easily be adjusted to accommodate your child's height, as opposed to needing to be re-threaded through a different slot.
HTH!
Heather, CPS Tech
http://www.carseatsite.com
10-30-2004
Roundabout - getting the recline angle right in RF mode?
Linear Mode
