Video Monitor review Buying Guide + reviews
The Wise Baby
The Wise Baby - The Definitive Baby Blog
One thing I think our site needs more of is buying guides – or information on a type of product (like video monitors) aggregated in one place and what features to look for. How do you really know if the review you are reading is good for YOU if you don’t know what you are really looking for? Hopefully these posts help you wade through all the info out Over the next several weeks we’ll be rolling out some of these buying guides or product “breakdowns” if you will. Mostly they will be over products we’ve tried LOTS of so almost all products featured will be ones we have first hand experience with. We are always happy to answer questions – you can emails us directly as our comment feature is currently under construction.
First things first, do you really need a video monitor? In my opinion, absolutely. Not only for the obvious safety reasons of being able to see your child as they sleep but for the other times they may let out a random cry, are fighting nap time and for sleep training. There have been countless time I would have run in our girls rooms when in reality I didn’t need to. I highly recommend a video monitor.
The problem is, there is not a perfect video monitor. There isn’t one that I would say “go buy, it, it is the best”. I have probably tried 10 , honestly. Some sent to us for review, many purchased on our own.
Here is what you need to know features wise and what to look for:
- Pan, tilt, zoom often referred to as PTZ: this allows you to move the camera remotely from your parent unit. A great feature because it gives you much more flexibility on where to put your camera. It also allows you to zoom, when needed.
- Voice Control often refereed to as VOX: this feature is when the monitor shuts “off” when no sound is detected and turns back on as soon as any sound is detected. Note it really doesn’t turn off but more goes to sleep giving you silence from the parent monitor. On most monitors that have this feature you can adjust the sensitivity. Ours in Chicago used to be activated by voices outside on our busy street i.e., very sensitive (which I liked).
- Range: this is how far the parent unit will work from the child unit. Most monitors have somewhere between a 500 – 900 foot range but in my mind, these are just sort of numbers. After using the same monitor in very different places, the range varies in a concrete high rise verse a traditional home.
- Some features that vary monitor to monitor are:
– the ability to add additional cameras
– temperature of the child’s room displayed on parent unit (a must have feature in my mind)
– low battery alert
– out of range alert
– two way talk feature (this just freaks my kids out!)
– clock on parent unit
A few of our favorites:
If I am being I honest I have to say we tried the Motroola for a couple weeks (purchased it at BuyBuyBaby) and actually returned it due to lack of VOX feature. It drove both Tyler and I nuts to have the white noise from Eloise’s room in the background. But when my Samsung was failing me with 2 cameras we turned back to it and I am really pleased with it (as was Mallory). I love the pan, tilt, zoom as it allows me to see the girls no matter where they roll to. The temperature display is HUGE to me – especially since we have moved to a place with no central air and each room has its own controls. My favorite feature here is the reliability. The Motorola has never just acted up and stopped working or lost range on me. We have used at my in laws and the range is really incredible. Eloise can be napping upstairs and we can be in the basement in the other side of the house and still pick up a signal. I can rest easy knowing the monitor isn’t just going to give out on me.
Using two cameras here is flawless. We keep it on scan mode but in the event we quickly need to switch back to one camera or another, it is a simple press of the “ok” button. I love the functionality of this monitor with multiple cameras!
The downside, is the no voice control. Meaning we always hear the white noise of the girls rooms. And because we have 2 cameras and we have it on scan mode, there is a slight pause as it switches from room to room so it isn’t quite as soothing as an actual white noise machine. This took some getting used to but now we don’t even realize it anymore. The battery life of the parent unit does diminish over time. I can get through a 1 hour morning nap and 30 minutes of an afternoon nap before needing to put it on the charger. To me, this really isn’t a big deal. I am always using a monitor within the realm of an outlet.
Overall, I really do like this monitor, Motorola, if you are listening, add voice control and you’ll have a perfect monitor!! We have actually written to their customer service with this tip!
LIKE: pan, tilt, zoom, VOX, clock on parent unit, good range
DISLIKE: no temperature display, lost functionality with multi-camera use
This was my favorite for the longest time. I loved the fact it has pan, tilt, zoom camera and the VOX. The VOX is hard to find on many monitors so it as a very welcome feature here. The picture is good and the battery life was pretty good but over time it’s charged life definitely diminished. To me, this isn’t a huge deal as we were always using this monitor inside the house where we had easy access to an outlet. The range on the monitor is great. While we had a smallish condo in Chicago I have friends who have had this in larger suburban houses and been able to have a baby sleeping on the second floor and have adequate range in a basement. We had the same experience at my in laws house.
So I loved this monitor for a long time and in my mind it is a pretty PERFECT single camera monitor. We really started to experience problems with it when we added a second camera. For some reason it lost contact with either camera quite frequently, in the same space it was always in (!!), the rotating between two cameras in “scan” mode wasn’t great as the volume always seemed quieter meaning I couldn’t really hear what was going on and where it was coming from. To switch from camera to camera required you to fumble through the menu which shouldn’t be a big deal but it should be easier.
Overall, I still think this is a great monitor for one camera use, if you need two or more cameras or hope to add more to it, than I would consider another one.
Once we moved to NYC and it wasn’t feasible for us to bring our video monitor back to St. Louis for visits we wanted to purchase one to keep there. The Motorola’s price point was a little to high for us, for a secondary monitor so after some online research we ordered the Vtech. I have to say I am SO pleasantly surprised with it! I had low expectations, mostly because of my extensive experience trying video monitors. This monitor has excellent range. We use it at my in laws house and it can stretch from end to end and their house is pretty sizable. The Vtech has the temperature display
The Vtech monitor does not have pan, tilt, zoom which almost made me not purchase it. But the price was right and I figured we could make due. Because we weren’t mounting these to the wall (at my in laws) I at first thought it would be impossible to get a meaningful view of the crib BUT the little camera display piece, the round silver part on the child unit, folds down incrementally to allow you to give you some angle on your subject. The angle is fixed once you leave the room but this feature allows us to set the camera on a nightstand, within far enough reach of the crib. So all in all not having the PTZ doesn’t bother me too much. Especially if you were mounting this on the wall in a more permanent place. The last minor thing that sort of bugs me about the Vtech is the fact that you have to turn the camera on every time power is lost or the camera is moved. I have walked out of the room several times, to the parent unit and realize I didn’t turn the camera on… and have to go back in the room which isn’t ideal.
All in all I think the Vtech monitor is a great option. It doesn’t have all of the snazzy features of its more expensive counterparts but all of the functionality.
What other question do you have? What monitor are you going with?
