If you are expecting or already have a child you have undoubtedly contemplated a baby monitor. Here is my family's take on this monitor.
The Decision
The selection of a baby monitor is not as easy as it sounds. My wife and I picked one out before hand and my brother bought it for us as a baby shower gift from Amazon.com. My wife and I battled back and forth between having video or just sound. I didn’t think video was necessary, and my wife thought there was no way she could live without it. So I did some investigative research and review and discovered a sweet little gadget called the Summer Infant Day & Night Handheld Color Video Monitor.
Price, Install, and Features
There is very little assembly involved, it is basically ready to use right out of the box after an overnight charge. Mounting the camera was also extremely easy; a simple nail or screw in the drywall did the trick. You do need to be relatively close to an outlet, but the chord was more than long enough. We have had the monitor for a year and a half now and it is still operating at a high level. The picture has remained clear, both during the day and at night (night vision is surprisingly good), and the charge continues to last through the night as long as you do not continually use the video button. The 1.8 inch monitor is definitely not big, but is more than adequate for the devises purpose. There are two channels, adjustable night vision, adjustable volume, and even an output plug so you could run the video to your TV.
To Video or not to Video
The video button is on top of the monitor and a slight tap easily turns the video screen on and off. The screen turns off by itself after a minute if it’s not in use to conserve battery life. In my experience the majority of the time you will have the video screen off. The sound or the lights on the front of the monitor that shift from green to red will indicate your child is making noise. I typically have the video and sound off and position the monitor where I can see the lights, if I see red I know my son is making noise, and then I can check the video. The concept is pretty ingenious and allows for a variety of levels of supervision, whatever you’re most comfortable with. My wife loves to turn the video on to watch our son snore, throw his pacifiers, and kick the side of his crib.
Possible Downsides
I was skeptical about this monitor at first because of a few of the negative reviews (which were heavily outnumbered by the positive). A few people discussed a lack of privacy due to the monitor only having two channels. One person that reviewed the monitor stated they opened up the box turned it on and saw another child’s crib. That’s kind of scary, but I had no such experience. There were however a few minor glitches…one was if I had the monitor near my computer or router it would mimic our son making noise (the lights flickered from green to red every once in a while). I figured out that all I had to do is move it away from electronics and there were no problems. The other minor flaw in my opinion is the fact that the monitor only has two channels. I did have a little interference for some reason with channel A so I had to move to channel B which fortunately worked perfectly. If B hadn’t worked however I would not be writing such a positive review.
Summary
I have owned this monitor for a year and a half, have dropped at least a half dozen times, and it has yet to fail me. It makes it through the night without a charge, provides clear picture/sound at night and during the day, and is extremely user friendly. If you are looking for a durable and reliable baby monitor with all the bells and whistles you could possibly need I would strongly recommend the Summer Infant Day & Night Handheld Color Video Monitor Booya!