Reviews on Baby Video Monitors

[FerrociousDong]

I am currently looking at buying a new Baby Video Monitor and I see multiple types out there on the market. The other threads that I can find have outdated information about brands and issues with sound interferance which does not seem to be the case with newer models.

I see that the price ranges from $100.00 up to $399.00 depending upon different accessories and functions. There are also other options about PC video monitors that do not really appeal to me other than price. Some monitors out there also have remote access to move the camera and switch from NV to normal colour video. There are also a few that will act as a two way communicator or play multiple night sounds by remote.

At this time I am leaning toward the VTECH "Safe and Sound" video monitoring system which is $169.00 which seems to be the best bang for the buck. The only issue that I see ATT is that there are no reviews that I can see anywhere online for this.

There are others like the SUMMER INFANT "Best View" Digital Video Monitor which are more expensive but have some reviews saying that they are good quality.

I will post feedback on the camera after we use it for a time. Any other input on monitors would be appreciated for other expecting parents needing help.

[peety6]

I had the summer infant best view monitor (old one: http://www.summerinfant.com/Products/Monitoring/Video-Monitors/BestView%E2%84%A2-Handheld-Color-Video-Monitor.aspx) and bought it at 40% off from canabeebaby. It worked well for the first 6 months (batter lasted the day during the times my son was sleeping) until one day it decided to stop turning on. I had to pull the batteries a few times to get it back on.

I eventually emailed summer infant and the replaced my unit with the latest best view monitor (http://www.canabeebaby.com/product_info.php?products_id=3106&osCsid=57784303705d8c40da6ad3bec465c49f). They even sent me mailing slips so that I didn't have to pay for shipping! The new unit has been working for the last 2-3 months fine and the picture quality is a lot better than the older one.

The only issue i have with it is that it uses the 2.4GHz frequency. So if you use WiFi or have cordless phones that are on the same frequency, it'll interfere with the signal.

[baz5]

We got the Angel Care with breathing pad. Was great, gives you comfort.
We got extended warranty and about a week before it was done, the unit died. So we ended up getting another monitor, I forget the brand, but it's at BRU for like $230. Expensive, but we like it. The Angel Care one didn't hav ea camera, jus tsound and breathing pad.

[dafunkgirl20]

http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product.aspx?prodid=10349135&whse=BCCA&topnav=

We purchased this one about 6 months ago and we kind of like it. We wish that it had a clearer picture of the room, and that it had zoom and panning capability. For the most part we are happy with it, as it never ever had any interference, but the sound quality could be a bit better as well. It was our first attempt at a video baby monitor.

We then purchased

http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=10354370&whse=BCCA&Ne=4000000&eCat=BCCA|20373|20508&N=4009688&Mo=17&pos=4&No=0&Nr=P_CatalogName:BCCA&cat=20508&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-CA&Sp=C&ec=BCCA-EC2675-Cat20373&topnav=

There's a lot of things we really love about this monitor - we love the crisp images (a bit distorted when it's on zoom), the clear sound quality, ability to zoom/pan the room! However we are experiencing severe interference with our wireless network, also sometimes the monitor freezes up and you can't zoom or pan. We also find that there is a lot of interference at times.



I will be repositioning the Lenova over the next few days to find a position that I works better for our sons room. It is set up for when he was in a crib and is now in a toddler bed on the other side of the room, so the view isn't as good. I just haven't gotten around to moving the camera. I will be returning the Summer one - when it works... it's awesome!!! When it doesn't - it's a real pain the butt and I am not interested in paying for a part time working monitor! Ideally I'd like something with the quality of the Summer but the reliability of the Lenova!

I will continue following this thread as I am still in the market for a better video monitor.

[baz5]

The SUmmer Infant one, that's the one we got from BRU. I think it was $239.

[aZnRYcEbOi]

We got the Summer Infant Best View as well. So far so good! We've had it for around 2 months now.

[meme888]

I have summer infant best view. It can zoom in and out. The night vision is good. Sound is loud.
:)

[KingRay99]

http://www.samsungsv.com/Model/BabyMonitor

By far the best....an electronics company making baby monitor vs a baby company making an electronics device...

Available in US only but picked one up when I was there at Target store...it even records and does not interfere w wifi in house...expandable to more than one camera...easy to set up.

Easily an essential to any new parent....amazing...hope that helps!

[KingRay99]

http://www.samsungsv.com/Model/BabyMonitor

By far the best....an electronics company making baby monitor vs a baby company making an electronics device...

Available in US only but picked one up when I was there at Target store...it even records and does not interfere w wifi in house...expandable to more than one camera...easy to set up.

Easily an essential to any new parent....amazing...hope that helps!

Oh yes forgot to mention it can connect to my 52inch LCD...too funny when I hook it up when we have guests...thebteonway talk is great as well since when baby cries you can sooth them while you make your way upstairs to them...works like a charm

[thatguy911]

We elected to go with the summer infant Baby Touch (similar to the above, but a bigger handheld screen, as we felt the best view was a little small, and harder to use).

http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Infant-Touch-Digital-Monitor/dp/B004B762AK

Video and Sound quality are similar to most other units on the market, but it is perfect for what we want.

[sleepyguy]

Another option for those technically inclined is to use skype. We created a private account, set it to autoanswer from a private contacts list... block out all others. Then we just use our android phones to view. It's nice cause my GF can keep watch on her even if she decides to go to the mall for an hr or 2. And I can see him when I'm at work as well. All you need is a cheap laptop (enough to handle skype) and a decent webcam ($20-30). Laptop i used is one with a cracked lcd P3 lenovo. Since all it does is autoanswer skype i never even touch it.

-sg

[Poulet]

I was thinking of buying a DLINK DCS-932L wireless N Day/Night Home Network Camera for someone - for the visual aspect of the monitoring. I guess it could be used later on for home security. I was also thinking about buying a monitor such as the Angelcare for the "audio" part or something like that.

Too many choices... :cry: what do you guys think? :cheesygri

[Deevusone]

I was thinking of buying a DLINK DCS-932L wireless N Day/Night Home Network Camera for someone - for the visual aspect of the monitoring. I guess it could be used later on for home security. I was also thinking about buying a monitor such as the Angelcare for the "audio" part or something like that.

Too many choices... :cry: what do you guys think? :cheesygri

I have a trendnet wireless internet cam (pan/tilt, nightvision and audio) that i purchased from dell days of deals sale. I'm using that as our baby monitor. If you have an iphone, ipad, or itouch, theres a free app for the camera.

[Poulet]

cool. I'll take a look at it.

the dlink also offer possibility to view on iphone, ipad, tablet which I find pretty cool. I don't think it pans & tilt, but I know it zooms.

[oakjefferson]

bought an Angel Care, never even used the pad. Get something used.

[Kenneth]

We have a Angel care, which was great with our preemie who forget to breathe from time to time. With a normal baby the vibration pad isn't as needed and can become annoying at times.

My wife wanted a camera system as well, which I saw as pointless. Rather than going out and buying a separate system forcing us to carry around two receivers (Angel care with video wasn't out back then). I just set up a regular CCD security camera and in the ceiling and patched it through the tvs in the house. Less than 1/3 of the price and infinitely better quality.

I still don't understand the benefit of the camera system when your child is an infant, if you hear them crying your first instinct it to run to there room and not check a grainy video of whats going on.

[jelena-c]

i used angel care for both of my babies
my first one was born with a heart problem that required a surgery to fix it, and the only way i could fall asleep was knowing that if something goes wrong the alarm will wake me up

my second was a preemie, and was sent home with an spo monitor, so the angel care pad was an extra that i needed since he would sometimes stop breathing

we used it until it got fried by a power surge last year.........but by then my preemie was already almost 2 years old, and i only used it to listen to when he would wake up from his naps

[jelena-c]

I still don't understand the benefit of the camera system when your child is an infant, if you hear them crying your first instinct it to run to there room and not check a grainy video of whats going on.

exactly

[LittleMissKate1]

we have a video monitor and love it, but I would not recommend the brand (from radio shack) as it broke and we had to get it replaced after 6 months

[Poulet]

I finally purchased the dual monitor Angelcare system (20% off) along with a dlink 932 wireless camera which can be viewed anywhere and later can be used for something else such as home security.

[r1lee]

I was thinking of buying a DLINK DCS-932L wireless N Day/Night Home Network Camera for someone - for the visual aspect of the monitoring. I guess it could be used later on for home security. I was also thinking about buying a monitor such as the Angelcare for the "audio" part or something like that.

Too many choices... :cry: what do you guys think? :cheesygri


This is what we use. We have 2 internal security camera's from dlink the dcs2230 and 2210 which one we use for our 7 month old, we also have the angel care but we used that for the breathing sensor for the first 3 months. We still use it here and there if wherever we are, we don't have a laptop up and running.

The dlink camera's work great, you can set them up for sound also, and access them from any laptop or computer.

Once she gets old enough, I will decide where to mount these camera for security reasons.

[dafunkgirl20]

Are there any security camera's that can be viewed on an iphone as well as the tv's?

We have a 3 year old who has febrile seizures, so something portable would be great. How do the other ones that you have mentioned in this thread run on different tv's?

[Poulet]

Cool. Thanks r1lee. I installed the camera yesterday. It was in black and white mode as it was late and low light. Seems pretty good. Sound was not great, but I was in the same room as the microphone and speaker, ...

As for the Angelcare, I am sure she will like it as the reviews are very positive.

[actuarial]

I still don't understand the benefit of the camera system when your child is an infant, if you hear them crying your first instinct it to run to there room and not check a grainy video of whats going on.

That's exactly why one is needed. If we didn't have a video camera, my wife would go in every time she coughed or cried to go get her. With it, we're able to tell if she's awake or not and what's going on which means we go in there way less. We've always had a good sleeper, and I believe that part of that is due to the fact that we weren't rushing in there all the time at night.

We've had a motorola one which was really good until it wasn't. Great video/sounds quality, could mount it upside-down on a shelf, but the battery life on the handheld unit was nil after a month or two, and eventually the part where you plugged it into the wall got very finicky and we would spend tons of time just trying to get power to the damn thing. Customer service was also horrible, with hour long wait times on the phone and then getting disconnected. By the time we finally got through to someone the warranty period had expired so we were SOL.

Just got a Mobi one which is pretty good. Head only tilts but doesn't pan, and the installation mount is only for vertical installation, so it's a lot harder to get installed with a clear view. The angle of view is also relatively narrow. If my daughter was still an infant we'd probably have to install it on the mobile. You use your own batteries in the receiver which is great for us (hello eneloops) and the battery life seems really good. It also has vox. We've only had it for a week but are pretty happy with it. It can accommodate up to 4 cameras which will be nice if we have a second one.

[c-ditty]

We recently purchased the Motorola MBP36 for our 2nd child. The unit works well. In normal lighting situations the video quality is excellent. In low light (or no light) the unit surprisingly picks up quite a bit. I am happy with it and it has certainly surpassed my expectations for the low-light operation.

My only complaint is the interference this bad boy causes. If I use a cordless phone near it the call is all but inaudible. If I am using a laptop nearby the base of monitor it causes serious slowdowns and internet interference. We learned to just turn both units on only when we are using it and it causes less headaches that way.

BTW, this was purchased from Amazon in the US. I don't know if/where you can buy this unit in Canada.

[CeeEll]

You could buy a wireless IP camera (look up foscam wireless IP camera). Those cameras are about 80-90 bucks each and connects to your home network (if you have one set up). You can view and even pan the camera using your finger on your smartphone or ipad. There are some foscam/IP cam apps available. My brother has been using it for some time and I have just ordered one myself from ebay few days ago.

[EugW]

I've been considering a wireless IP camera, as I have one as a cat cam in the house and one in the backyard as a deer cam. Furthermore, I just wired up the baby's room with Gigabit Ethernet.

However, the drawback here is for these cameras I load up the viewer (or web access) when I want to view it. It's not on 24/7. If I want to be able to monitor it 24/7, I'd have to have some sort of computer in the bedroom, or at least an iPad or something on 24/7 as well. Doesn't seem ideal.

I'm considering still using an IP cam with infrared support so that we can check it as necessary, but just getting an audio monitor in addition that's on 24/7. For the IP camera, is anyone using the Y-cam Knight (http://www.y-cam.com/y-cam-knight-s/)? It's a bit expensive, but supposedly has better Mac support. No HD support though. Not that I need HD support to look at the baby, but if I use the cam later on for something else I'd rather have something that's decent quality.

What do you guys and gals think?

Plus, are pretty all the audio-only monitors plug-in-able? I don't want to go through a bazillion batteries. Alternatively, I'd consider getting one of those DECT audio/video monitors. I'm not interesting in 2.4 GHz monitors, because of the all the possible interference, both to the monitor and by the monitor.

[stansoltz]

I had the summer infant best view monitor (old one: http://www.summerinfant.com/Products/Monitoring/Video-Monitors/BestView%E2%84%A2-Handheld-Color-Video-Monitor.aspx) and bought it at 40% off from canabeebaby. It worked well for the first 6 months (batter lasted the day during the times my son was sleeping) until one day it decided to stop turning on. I had to pull the batteries a few times to get it back on.

I eventually emailed summer infant and the replaced my unit with the latest best view monitor (http://www.canabeebaby.com/product_info.php?products_id=3106&osCsid=57784303705d8c40da6ad3bec465c49f). They even sent me mailing slips so that I didn't have to pay for shipping! The new unit has been working for the last 2-3 months fine and the picture quality is a lot better than the older one.

The only issue i have with it is that it uses the 2.4GHz frequency. So if you use WiFi or have cordless phones that are on the same frequency, it'll interfere with the signal.

the same thing happened to me with this one http://www.summerinfant.com/Products/Monitoring/Video-Monitors/Slim-Secure-Handheld-Color-Video-Monitor--Silver.aspx and the interference kills my wifi completely.

[michiebaby]

Hi All,
Bumping this thread up as we're going to have to start shopping around for one soon. Any more comments from users? What do you recommend?

Thanks!

[random pattern]

Hi All,
Bumping this thread up as we're going to have to start shopping around for one soon. Any more comments from users? What do you recommend?

Thanks!

I think there's one for $100 on WagJag right now...

[Toukolou]

So, do the video people switch it on and stare at the monitor/tv watching their baby sleep? How long do you watch for, until it's time for you to go to sleep too, or do you stay up all night watching your kid sleep?