Product Spotlight: Baby Monitors

m6agua · December 2019

Each week we'll spotlight a new category of product. Feel free to comment on threads like these throughout your time at the board, not just when they're in their week in the spotlight, if you discover something new OR are new to the board. This week it's.... Baby Monitors!

FTMs are encouraged to ask questions & STM/+s encouraged to share their knowledge based on experience. You can use any or all the prompts relevant to you below to share info in an easy-to-read format. Pictures/screen grabs, if put in spoilers, are welcome!

For FTMs...
Any monitors you're interested in?

STMs....
What monitor do you have?
Do you have an audio or video monitor?
Any features you really like?

To view the upcoming PSS schedule, see here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XX4aUSPsDbdyEEK5HIzMzwH2ztOVOnNCehSgMAc5w6U/edit?usp=sharing
Next up: Baby Apparel

m6agua · December 2019

I have both an audio and video monitor. I actually won the video monitor off of The Bump! They used to do these threads every so often on the Trimester boards for registry stuff/questions. TB admin would put out topics and questions and you could reply and talk with others in real time on the thread. Then at the end of it they picked someone for the prize.

This is the video one I have. I think it works great! You can change the brightness, the volume, the camera angle, zoom, have music play in the nursery from the camera. It also has a 2-way capability, so I can talk to DD through the monitor if I need. It is one of these, I don't remember which one.
https://www.motorola.com/us/products/motorola-mbp36s-digital-video-baby-monitor
https://www.motorola.com/us/products/motorola-mbp33xl-3-5
The biggest negative is battery life, but honestly from my research that seemed to be an issue across the board. I think it wears the battery if you constantly have the screen on. You can have the monitor on, but the screen off when you aren't looking at it, or you can set the screen to turn off after so long being on. That is how I've always used it but DH likes the screen always on, so I think our battery life wore pretty fast because of him. Honestly though, most of the times I am using the monitor I can have it plugged in if needed, so the battery issue is really no big deal.

For getting the camera in a nice spot in the nursery we bought this mount off of Amazon and it works great!
https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Compatible-Monitors-Management-Installation/dp/B00MEIXZF8/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=baby+monitor+mount&qid=1575921026&sr=8-9

For audio only monitors I had bought this VTech one at a garage sale for $7. It worked alright for a while, except one parent unit always had to be on the charger, so it wasn't portable, but it had 2 parent units.
https://www.vtechphones.com/store/pd/1705/DM221-2-Baby-Monitor-Digital-Audio-Baby-Monitor-with-Two-Parent-Units

We ended up buying a new audio monitor from Walmart, we use it at my parents lakehouse where we are outside more. So I wanted one with a large range. So far no complaints. We also use this one for travel too.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/VTech-DM1111-Enhanced-Range-Digital-Audio-Baby-Monitor-1-Parent-Unit-White/156756684

rox7777 · December 2019

We only used an audio monitor because we room share and really only need it for nap time. I have this one and will be using it again. It’s loud enough and plugs into the wall which I like because I have a habit of forgetting to buy batteries. It’s also something that’s easy to travel with was a big thing when DS2 was born due to MH still being active duty.

Motorola Digital Audio Baby Travel Monitor https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009OZMQYU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_-6Q7DbC8HK961

thepretzelchick · December 2019

I have the same video monitor as @m6agua. I love it. The only downside is the battery life, but I didn't unplug the screen that often. It still works 6 years later, so I plan to keep using it.

shamrocandroll · December 2019

I have this one, and I love it! I think it's as high quality as the much more expensive monitors, for way less. Also, I've never had a battery issue with it. I keep it on vox mode so the screen comes on when it hears a noise, and it can go 8 hours on a battery in that mode. I generally keep it plugged in overnight, but sometimes I forget. The image is clear, it can zoom, has microphone (which has freaked DS out any time I've tired it, haha), and I've had it for 3+ years and still use it daily. They have ones with bigger screens too.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CZUD4R8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

rachelg777 · December 2019

We use an Arlo Baby Monitor (you can buy security camera's etc and make it a whole system but we just use the baby monitor). I really like that I can view it from anywhere. That doesn't matter too often since most of the time if I'm out of the house DS is at daycare anyway... but if I go somewhere on a weekend and he's home napping I can peek in on him, etc. We used to bedshare so I used to have issues that in order to have the monitor up I basically couldn't use my phone at night in order to see him. Now that he's in his crib all the time it's wonderful - I can keep the app up in the background so I can still hear him but can do other things on my phone and pull him up if I want to see him. I can also record him if I want to (he is funny in there sometimes).

MH is pretty techy and really knowledgeable about internet security blah blah blah (I am not tech savvy)- so I don’t worry about people hacking the camera because he’s got that side covered.

A couple downsides - it doesn't pan the room if you are interested in that and if you change the wifi or something we've had issues getting it set up again.

Overnight I just use a basic audio monitor and that works well for me.

Product Spotlight: Baby Monitors

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