Tried and True: Baby Monitors

*”Tried and True” will be an on going thread where I will be reviewing the products we have tried out in our lives as parents!*

Ah, the baby monitor. The new parent doesn’t let it out of sight, yet never gets far enough away from baby that they wouldn’t hear them anyways. The more experienced parent knows EXACTLY how far that monitor’s range is, and then how far they can go beyond that and still hear the monitor. [I talk big, but I am still right outside the bedroom door as I type this!] Do you go with just audio? Video? Night vision? Black and white? Color? Web-streaming? With so many option out there, what is a person to choose?

We personally went with video. It’s nice to look in on your little blessing while they sleep peacefully. It is also REALLY nice to be able to watch them when they make weird noises and know whether you need to go in (a sure fire bet that Liam will wake up!) or if you can hang in the living room (a good change he’ll fall back asleep). We don’t do “Cry-It-Out”, but sometimes he’s just fidgeting to get comfy, or it wasn’t a choke, just a cough.

For in our home we went with a home security camera we can mount in the room (cut us some slack, we waited 3 years for this little guy!). This allows us remote panning, audio, great night vision, etc. We can then watch Liam from any web-enabled device. This means O can see him while at work, and I can watch him on my tablet while working on the patio. But for travelling we needed something that didn’t require internet. My sister and her husband had gone through a few and suggested a Samsung. We checked out the Samsung 3037w on Amazon and it definitely seemed the best. So, right before our Colorado trip, we ordered one. And loved it!

Some features we liked:

• Decent night vision – just 
• Great picture during the day – I can see him AND see if his eyes are open or closed.
• Didn’t interfere at all with my sister’s (we were in the same house)
• Good range! I could put him to bed and go play games in the dining room (up a floor and on the other side of the house)
• Great battery life – charge via included cord
• Remote panning (he’s begun shifting all over his bed)
• Two-way audio. If it’s going to take me a minute to get to him, I can let him know I am on the way! It was also great for waking Oliver if he was still in bed! haha!

Some things that irritate me:

• You have to make sure there is nothing between the baby and it (crib rails, etc) or it will refocus constantly in night vision mode
• Because of the above, you have to stack things near the crib to be able to get it high enough to shoot down into the bed. This almost got dangerous one night when Liam was slamming his legs in his sleep. It cause the port-a-crib to move, bump the stack, and almost sent it tumbling into his bed. BUT, because I had the monitor I saw what was happening and raced down to the room in time! I probably would have left him slamming his legs, not knowing what was about to occur!
• When you turn on the monitor, it sings a little ditty. Very, very, loudly. So, you wait to turn it on until you are out of the room. BUT, if the camera got moved, you then have to sneak back in again. Ug!
• It has it’s own charge cord – which means yet ANOTHER cord to pack. (personal pet peeve).
• TECHNICALLY it can be hacked into and someone can watch your baby sleep. This wasn’t a concern for us, as we live in a house, and could be a bit more of one for those living in a condo/apartment. The range on the monitor is limited and, since it’s not over wifi, the hacker would have to be in my front yard. Some people are concerned, but I’m not …

Overall Rating: ✰✰✰✰ 4/5

❤ Tara