Baby Monitor

tabauder · September 2015

What baby monitor do you have or are registered for? Do you like it? Video? Standard? Both? A friend of mine is selling her iBaby video monitor by Apple.. Not sure if I should buy from her or register for something different

Twindling · September 2015

We have the ibaby & love it. H loves being able to log into it while at work and see what we're up to. It doesn't have voice but I'm okay with that.

camusoh2011 · September 2015

We just had to replace our monitor, and just bought one used at a yardsale for a dollar. I'm not really a fan of it as it doesn't have great sound quality. I put a video monitor on our registry that will be compatible with our phones for viewing and audio.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/42356129?registryId=80523493018&listId=93480a41-962c-41b3-a905-5031e8783e87&listType=BR&listItemId=6fde03ac-8ed6-43ec-af15-8cf968f69296

It's not a deal breaker as we found we have never used our monitors a whole lot with any of our kids, but we still would like to have something.

AdventureMama · September 2015

I saw so many scary stories about strangers hacking into video monitors that I didn't get one for my first, but I want one this time (I actually think it'd be more useful in the toddler stage than the newborn stage, haha). I'll look for one that can't be infiltrated, but I haven't started that research yet (I think someone told me it has to be on a closed Wifi system or something?). If anyone knows, I'd love to hear! I'll be following this thread.

camusoh2011 · September 2015

AdventureMama said:

I saw so many scary stories about strangers hacking into video monitors that I didn't get one for my first, but I want one this time (I actually think it'd be more useful in the toddler stage than the newborn stage, haha). I'll look for one that can't be infiltrated, but I haven't started that research yet (I think someone told me it has to be on a closed Wifi system or something?). If anyone knows, I'd love to hear! I'll be following this thread.

This was a concern for me too, but DH is a tech master and assures me that he can keep the wifi cameras totally secure so no creepers are watching our kids.

ohbaby714 · September 2015

We have a Motorola video monitor and love it. I was really nervous moving dd into her own room and that helped ease my mind so much. Plus it's nice when you lay them down for a nap or something you know when they go to sleep vs when they are just being quiet. I like being able to see her in there vs just hearing her.

CuriousKiddosMama · September 2015

We have the Motorola video monitor and I love it. We bought the kit with 2 cameras originally and I'm glad we did because it has been a very good monitor, and it was nice to have one in the play room for a while.

excited2816 · September 2015

We have just a plain monitor I couldn't convince myself that I wouldn't stay up all night watching the video if we got that instead. It's worked out fine

Twindling · September 2015

The ibaby was nice for us with the twins because we were able to move the camera around the room from our phone or iPad and view each baby vs. having to buy two monitors or a dual monitor system.

rachrobertson · September 2015

We used an angelcare monitor with DD and loved it. But, we plan to also keep this baby in a rock n play at our bed side for the first few months, and can't use the angelcare in that time. So, we plan to get the monitor that clips to the baby diaper until we move him to a crib. My SIL gave us the angelcare, so we are still only spending money on one monitor.

SoSirius · September 2015

So, for securing, you are looking for a camera that supports encryption and obviously set your password to something difficult and random. We use Foscam cameras (not the baby monitor) but DH knows security and he says it is a hard camera to configure properly and not the easiest to use out there. I love it because the picture is SO clear. I can literally see if DS is scratching his ear or something tiny like that. I know Dropcam supports encryption so that could be a good bet. It isn't nearly as hard to set up and maintain. A LOT of baby monitors do not support encryption and I would avoid those. Remember that all the features are useless though if you don't set them up properly!

tumblefluff · September 2015

We used a plain monitor with DS (no video) and loved it. It was discontinued by the manufacturer but we were able to find a new one on eBay. We'll be using that for the new baby since we still use the old one with DS. It has the talk feature, night light, reach up to 2000 ft, 2 parent units, and shows temperature of the room.

tabauder · September 2015

Wow I never even thought about someone hacking into a baby monitor.. Do people actually do that? And why? Just to watch them or like to kidnap them??? Obviously we would never leave the baby alone in the house, plus we have a dog who is a very good "guard dog" (barks at any strange noise) and let's just say DH and i are both ver good marksman so I'm not overly concerned about anyone coming into our house.

ameliejoe · September 2015

We are registered for an audio baby monitor; the Motorola one from babies r us. Our plan is to also add a security camera in the baby's room (we have the Foscam like another person suggested) so we can listen/view activity with baby and nanny while we are at work.

I wanted to be able to see baby while I'm on the road, but I'm concerned about security of the baby monitors.

Monkeybutt80 · September 2015

tabauder said:
Wow I never even thought about someone hacking into a baby monitor.. Do people actually do that? And why? Just to watch them or like to kidnap them??? Obviously we would never leave the baby alone in the house, plus we have a dog who is a very good "guard dog" (barks at any strange noise) and let's just say DH and i are both ver good marksman so I'm not overly concerned about anyone coming into our house.

I don't think it's for kidnapping or breaking in. It's my understanding that it's really just for the thrill of 'hacking' and scaring the parents or the kids. We have Foscams throughout the house that are secured, and we love it. You can check it while at work, or from phone/ tablets, I can use it to check downstairs if some strange noise wakes me up at night instead of waking my husband up to go downstairs to investigate or to check on our dogs or the house when we aren't home.

OctoberStars · September 2015

I have a friend who had the video style monitor. One day on the video she saw a stranger reach down and pick up her baby. It turns out she was tuned in to the wrong baby the whole time! So yeah make sure you can secure the feed so you aren't accidentally watching someone else's kid.

ashcody2 · September 2015

We have a motorola video monitor from when our son was born and still use it actually - we will be getting a summer infant one though with this baby and an extra camera to put in my son's room (yep, I'm the crazy mom that still wants to peak at her toddler sleeping) our motorola still works perfectly but it's almost 3 years old so time to upgrade!

pbtoast · September 2015

OctoberStars said:

I have a friend who had the video style monitor. One day on the video she saw a stranger reach down and pick up her baby. It turns out she was tuned in to the wrong baby the whole time! So yeah make sure you can secure the feed so you aren't accidentally watching someone else's kid.

Oh my god I would DIE.

MrsJG3 · September 2015

I have a summer infant video monitor. We have had it almost 4 years and it works great. You can't view it from your phone or PC but since I am SAH that hasn't been an issue.

BabySeaTurtles · September 2015

Now I am a little confused about the security of video monitors. If your wifi is already protected how can they hack into the monitor feed? Or can any hacker with enough skill hack into protected wifi? Also if you have a regular video monitor that isn't on your wifi, is that not protected? Anyone tech savvy enough to explain?

RN0107 · September 2015

ashcody2 said:
We have a motorola video monitor from when our son was born and still use it actually - we will be getting a summer infant one though with this baby and an extra camera to put in my son's room (yep, I'm the crazy mom that still wants to peak at her toddler sleeping) our motorola still works perfectly but it's almost 3 years old so time to upgrade!

I still have cameras on both toddlers. My husband just asked yesterday when I'm going to give up the cameras. I said when they move out

)

We have a Summers Infant video monitor. Not only do I love the product but their costumer service is phenomenal. A few months ago our charger stopped holding a charge. I called to order a new battery. They offered to send me one free of charge. They didn't just send me the battery but a whole new system. Monitor and camera! Now I don't have to buy a third camera

ETA words

SgtLou2 · September 2015

@AdventureMama, just like @SoSirius, we have a Foscam (as she said, it's not a baby monitor, but actually a home security type monitor). We love the clarity of the picture (we also have a sound only baby monitor too). The thing with security is that it is most secure if you have it set up to only view it from within your home via your home's secure WiFi system. If your WiFi is not encrypted and secure that creates an issue initially. The place that most people have security issues is that they set their video monitors up to be viewed from anywhere (work, Starbucks, any place with WiFi). As soon as you do this, you risk the chance of people being able to hack into and view your system because you are no longer using one secure system, but now open to public systems. We have ours set up so that we can only view when we are in range of our home WiFi (anywhere in the house or the front or back yards). This is the best way to keep your video monitor as secure as possible from hackers. I gather most people want to watch kiddos when they are away from the home, and these types of set ups are where the majority of the problems occur. Just my understanding of this (via my tech savvy hubby).

Monkeybutt80 · September 2015

SgtLou2 said:

@AdventureMama, just like @SoSirius, we have a Foscam (as she said, it's not a baby monitor, but actually a home security type monitor). We love the clarity of the picture (we also have a sound only baby monitor too). The thing with security is that it is most secure if you have it set up to only view it from within your home via your home's secure WiFi system. If your WiFi is not encrypted and secure that creates an issue initially. The place that most people have security issues is that they set their video monitors up to be viewed from anywhere (work, Starbucks, any place with WiFi). As soon as you do this, you risk the chance of people being able to hack into and view your system because you are no longer using one secure system, but now open to public systems. We have ours set up so that we can only view when we are in range of our home WiFi (anywhere in the house or the front or back yards). This is the best way to keep your video monitor as secure as possible from hackers. I gather most people want to watch kiddos when they are away from the home, and these types of set ups are where the majority of the problems occur. Just my understanding of this (via my tech savvy hubby).

In addition to having your home WiFi secured, you have to password protect it the Foscam itself. If you just have your Wifi protected, that's relatively easy to hack (and obviously, there are those problems when using in unsecured open Wifi source like SgtLou2 mentioned)

The problem often arises when you think that Wifi protection is enough and not change the default username and password on the actual Foscam when setting it up. In addition, you want to change the default port to make it harder for the hackers to locate the camera. ETA : to clarify that This way you can be protected doubly while you use at home, and you can also be protected while you access it somewhere else with open Wifi.

SoSirius · September 2015

@BabySeaTurtles, basically, yes. A hacker with sufficient skills will still be able to hack in, especially if they are in close proximity to your house. The thing is, there are MANY easy targets and baby monitors aren't a huge target with sophisticated hackers. So unless you have a reason you specifically would be targeted by a hacker with crazy skills, that's not a worry. These stories on the news are from people who didn't use encryption, didn't set up their password (default), or it was easy to figure house (like your house number or name).

You can have a secure connection even if you access it outside of your home WiFi by securing the actual camera through the software. It's a bit more in depth but as long as the camera supports it, I think it's worth it.

SgtLou2 · September 2015

@SoSirius, thanks for mentioning the Foscam password as well. I completely forgot that we did that when we first set it up!

kateryna72 · September 2015

We have a Motorola video monitor and honestly it's been invaluable. My son is a light sleeper and so he moves around and makes a lot of noise in his sleep, but if I go in there when he's just repositioning then he's wide awake. Also when he's sick or restless, it's really great to be able to check on him without waking him up.

jellybellybean3 · September 2015

Motorola video monitor here too. It kicks butt! I wouldn't go without it now. We have a cheap no video one for when we travel but the video one is so worth it, and it's really easy to buy an extra camera and set it up so that you can watch two children/locations at the same time.

BabyHope2013 · September 2015

We just have an audio vtech monitor with two receivers. I keep one in our bedroom and one in our living room. We still have it hooked up in DS's room, even though we haven't really used it much in months. I never missed having a video monitor. I stuck with just the audio because I knew I would just stare at the video monitor all the time otherwise. If baby needs you--you will hear it and can tend to them. As DS got older, I stopped even using the one in our room at night. I kept hearing him toss and turn all night and that would keep me up at night. I became a very light sleeper when he was born so I could hear him down the hall just fine without the monitor on at all.

BabySeaTurtles · September 2015

@SoSirius - Thank you for explaining that! We have a Summer video monitor on DS but will need to get another camera for this LO so I don't want to add to a bad system if I really need to just buy a better and more secure system.
I agree with @AdventureMama . Video monitors are so much more useful (and entertaining) on toddlers than babies! We watch DS slowly get one body part off his bed at a time when he's sneaking out of bed at night. It's so hard not to laugh sometimes.

glitteryant · September 2015

I have the dropcam, which is awesome because you can watch it from your phone, so it could double as a nanny cam when baby is older. To tell you the truth though, my house is not all that big, so we don't really need a monitor because you can hear him from anywhere.

robinj716 · November 2015

Has anyone used the Levana brand?

VitaLuna · November 2015

We have a Motorola video one that has been fine, but plan to upgrade to a better video monitor. The Motorola, summer infant, etc video ones are a closed system, if you will, and have no connection to any type of wifi, which makes them non-hackable.

I refuse to get one that operates off of wi-fi (and feel the same about home security type cameras that you can view remotely). H and I are not tech savvy enough to understand or know the proper way to keep them absolutely secure. I don't even trust places like the home security companies that offer them. I don't like the thought of anyone creeping on us.

heatherlemieux · November 2015

A different type of monitor than I think you are asking about but we ordered the owlet sock which is basically just a pulse ox that can alert you if sats or hr are low. We have a tiny house and am not worried about baby waking without my hearing but am looking forward to potentially less running to the crib all hours of the night to make sure a baby is still breathing. I'm sure that's just paranoia but SIDS has struck my immediate family and while I know it will not prevent it I like the idea of knowing immediately my child is in distress vs hours later when absolutely nothing can be done.

lostarz14 · November 2015

We registered for the Philips Avent DECT audio monitor. It got good reviews on Amazon and was highly rated on Lucie's List. I was sort of creeped out by a potential hack into a video monitor too.

tabauder · November 2015

I got the Apple iBaby from my friend. Tested it out by watching my dog who had puppies this week., worked great!

satuttle1014 · November 2015

I received a summer infant video monitor from my registry. It's the brand my sister uses as well and she loves it. She has used it for 3 years.

BabyByTim · November 2015

I have a Motorola video monitor and I love it. It works with the wifi which we have a secured password to. When I use my phone to check in I don't use wifi I use the data on my phone that way I don't have to log into public unsecured wifi. The screen is very clear and the night vision is great. I can see everything in the nursery clearly with no night light. It has two way talk so I can comfort my LO without going in the room. I love it and will be purchasing a second camera for the new baby

SU1989 · December 2015

I have been looking into the Motorola, Samsung and Summer brands and I'm having a really hard time finding a good video monitor. Everything I look up has bad reviews. I'm not sure if it's because people are getting bad apples and most of the time only negative experiences get reviews but I'm nervous to spend this amount of money on something that's going to crap out on me!

Have any of you tried the snuza?

Soon2bStaff · December 2015

Similar to PP, I have a Motorola Digital Video Monitor. I couldn't do the wifi one because it would freak me out knowing someone "could" hijack our system. The Motorola has worked great for 18 months, even though our dog attacked the screen about a year ago and put a couple cracks in it. Ehh we would have just bought an additional camera for baby #2 but went ahead and spent the extra $40 for a new screen with the additional camera (so we can use DD's camera still). The battery life isn't the best but we only use it at night while plugged in and sometimes during naps so it fits our needs.

lilqt3929 · December 2015

We just purchased a Foscam camera for our DD (2), she's now in a twin bed and I wanted to be able to take a peak at her if needed without disturbing her by opening the door. Its worked out great so far, so we purchased a 2nd camera with a little better resolution for this new LO and have it hooked up and ready to go. Previously we just had a $5 garage sale special with only sound that worked well in our tiny home for DD but we moved to a bigger, 2 story house and wanted the camera feature this time around. Each camera was about $60 and its hooked up to our phone app so we can just use those instead of carrying around another device.

4N6s · December 2015

We just got the nest cam.

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