Archive for 'Safety'

Go with the older model, 02640
So far so good but I wanted to share a bit of insight I gathered during the grueling process of monitor shopping. On the whole, this one is decent--battery life is at least 8 hours if video is not constantly on and the picture is workable, though not every crystal clear.

That said, the first Best View that I bought from [...] had a really grainy, pixelated image and wasn't all that hot. After reading other raving reviews I wondered if I hadn't gotten a dud. So I bought a second Best View from Target. It turned out that the first monitor was a 02644, the most recent model of this monitor, and the second was a 02640, the older version. Wondering if it was just my imagination that the older model seemed better I called Summer Infant customer service. The person I spoke to--who happened to be very helpful and pleasant--said that for some reason the newer model isn't working quite as well as the older one.

Long story short, it's a decent monitor all around but go with the older model if you have the choice.

Good monitor for us
This was the second video monitor we tried. The first (Summer Infant Day and Night) we returned because of the lack of privacy- you could see other baby's crib! So on to this Summer Infant Best View Handheld Color Video Monitor with 2.5" Screen.

The picture is not as good at night as the Summer Infant Day & Night Handheld Color Video Monitor with 1.8" Screen - Silver. The picture on the Summer Infant Best View is definitely grainy. We probably have it on the higher end of what the instructions recommend for the length the camera should be mounted away from the target. Sometimes I have a hard time figuring out if my son is in his bed or if it is his stuffed animals and blankets...but eventually I can figure it out. And it is good enough for what we use it for. Just not as crisp as the Night and Day monitor.

What I like about this monitor and why I will probably keep this monitor is the pan function. My son is 2 yrs old and in a twin bed. He likes to get up and move around/play in his room. So the pan is VERY useful.

Turning the volume up/down is not a problem. It is like one extra button to push to get to it in the "menu" screen to change the volume. I know a lot of people comment on that.

Also- I have not noticed any flashing lights at all, as others have commented on.

There is NO interference (we have cordless phones, wifi, etc). With my Day and Night monitor by Summer Infant, there was a LOT of static and interference around my home. There has been NONE with the Best View monitor.

Range seems good too. We have a 3 story townhome and I can go 2 stories below where the camera is and it is perfectly fine. I have been outside too, with the Best View monitor, and again, no problems (except it is hard to see the video in daylight).

Overall, we are happy with this monitor and will most likely be keeping it, unless anything happens in the next month or so.

A great buy
This is a great video monitor. I love the zoom, pan and tilt options. yes, you need to adjust the volume in the menu, but you only hit the menu button once and that's the first thing that appears, so not that big of a deal.

The motor in the unit is silent, so it does not disturb baby.

I have an older Summer model in the house that gets a lot of interference, but this one comes through crystal clear, no matter where I am in my two-level house.

My only peeve is the auto-shut off of the video every few minutes. I have to keep hitting the button on top to wake up the video feed. This does not happen if the unit is plugged in. I know this is to conserve batteries but the choice should be left up to the user!

Worth the money
Great product. Mounts easily to wall. We placed it near the ceiling so when our son is a toddler we could monitor his play in the room. Good clarity at night with the "night vision" feature. Other reviews have noted the difficulty of adjusting the volume. It is not a problem. You literally press one button and then move the joy stick to adjust the volume. Furthermore, I find that I leave the volume on "3 bars" all the time anyway. The only thing that I needed to modify was the lights on it. When there is sound in the baby's room the light stip along the bottom of the picture light up from green to red to indicate level of noise. However if you are running an air conditioner in the baby's room then the monitor lights are always in the red. I put a piece of duct tape over it so at night when I'm trying to sleep there isn't a bright red light flashing! Otherwise this is a terrific monitor!

Great Buy!
We love this monitor. I researched a lot before I purchased this monitor and I am glad I did. This one definitely was a great price. Many were selling for 2 or 3 hundred dollars and had bad reviews. This one was only 150. I love that I can look at the monitor when I wake up in the middle of the night worrying about him. This way I don't go into the room like I was before and disturbing him. He doesn't notice it at all. We have wireless internet and all that fun stuff and I have never had interference. I believe this has been the best purchase we have made since our little has joined our family.

Not worth the price
This monitor has many of the features that I was looking for. Rechargeable, dual hand sets and many channels. The rechargeable handsets are great! I'm saving so much money on batteries. The dual hand set is fantastic because I don;t have to constantly carry it from bedroom to living room, although the snazzy belt clip works great!

The problem is the reception. It doesn't matter if you have this many channels if it's still fuzzy. It gets fuzzy just from me walking around the room. I'll roll over in bed at night and it gets fuzzy and the range alarm will go off. The A/C comes on it gets fuzzy. It has the same reception as the monitor I used to have. When I upgraded to a version I was expecting better than this. It remind me a lot of when I was a kid and we had rabbit ears on the TV. Mom & Dad would make us stand in weird positions holding them so they could see. My monitor is exactly like that.

In the end I wish I had paid the extra to get the kind that seamlessly changes channels so you never have any interference. All the bells and whistles aren't worth it if I can't hear my baby. That is the whole point after all.

Great monitor
After a lot of research, I chose this one because of the dual receivers and the rechargeable batteries. I love that the monitor and receivers plug in so I don't have to have a ton of batteries on hand.
I keep one receiver down stairs and 1 in my bedroom. The sound quality is crystal clear and I haven't had any interference problems with my iPhone. I can even hear my son breathing most times, which is great for an anxious mom! I don't have a very large house, so I haven't had any problems with the range. I even took it out on the deck in my backyard and it still worked. I have been using this monitor for abour 2 months now and I am very happy with it.

Range alarm is so annoying
This monitor works fine enough, but the range monitor is the most annoying "feature". I wish I could turn it off, and then I would be happy with the monitor. If you go outside with it and walk around it will constantly go off even if you are standing right outside the room the baby is in. In addition, even when it's parked on the kitchen counter, if you are moving around it, you'll get in the way and set it off all the time (this also happens when it's on the night stand and you move the wrong way in bed - I'd be fine waking up to my baby crying, but to wake up to this most annoying range monitor makes me want to throw it out the window). I would not recommend this monitor to anyone.

No more worries
A friend of ours gave us a baby monitor, but it was unreliable. It didn't always work. I always imagined that I was hearing the baby cry when he was fine. I sleep much better now that we have this monitor. The voice activated setting is my favorite because there is no background buzz. It's quiet if he is quiet. Having two receivers is really helpful so that we can have one upstairs and one downstairs.

Works for us!
After owning a defective more expensive monitor, I was skeptical about this one. The reviews were a bit mixed and had me worried about interference and the range alarm going off. We have had this for 2 months now and use it mutiple times every day. It works great! I especially like the convenience of having 2 receivers, with a multi-level home, this is a must! And the long range is amazing! We were even able to hear our baby whimper in her crib from our neighbor's, 3 houses away! I have often walked right outside her door while holding a receiver and the alarm has never gone off. And I have had no interference with this either; it is often sitting right next to my cell phone and right below our microwave with no problems. Great monitor, don't hesitate on buying this one!

We're Happy
We've had this monitor for nearly 7 months and we love it so far. We rarely get interference. All features work great and we find it to be very convenient. We love the fact that we can see our baby, without having to go in her room and risk disturbing her, to check if she's really in need of something or if she's just being noisy in her sleep. The microphone is so sensitive that we can hear her breathing.

Our only complaint is a design flaw - the green light on the front of the camera. It is VERY bright in the dark and shines right in the baby's face, as that is where the camera is pointed. When she wakes up all she can see is this bright green dot relentlessly glaring in her face. We really don't need that light to tell us the camera is on because we can check by turning on the monitor. But if it MUST be there, it could be positioned in the back of the camera and be a little less conspicuous.

Video monitor is a must have and this one is awesome
A number of people told me that having a video monitor was unnecessary and kinda made me feel silly for wanting one for my first baby, but I am SO glad we have it and that we picked this one. My baby has had some health issues, including acid reflux, and being able to see his behavior when sleeping has been very helpful in gauging how he's feeling and if his medications should be adjusted and whatnot. Even when he slept in his bassinet in our room, I used this monitor so I wouldn't have to get out of bed to check on him (I'm blind without my glasses.) I could just roll over and look at the monitor even though it was dark in our room. I also love being able to see how cute my baby is when he's sleeping. He sleeps on him tummy now with his butt in the air, and it's just so adorable. It's also very nice when we're watching TV, we can have the volume completely down and still be able to monitor him visually. I also use it when I shower so I can keep an eye on my baby and not worry that I can't hear him.
My only complaints are the somewhat poor range on the monitor. You can get static (both audible and visual) in certain parts of our 2,000 sq ft home. But, if I just turn it one way or the other, it usually goes away. Also, my baby sleeps with a fan in his room and I wish the microphone had a gate on it that would allow you determine how sensitive the microphone is. But it doesn't have one, so at night we have to hear the whir of the fan through the monitor. It doesn't sound horrible and I sleep with a fan too, so the sounds just blend together.
One thing to keep in mind is how easy it is to adjust the volume on this brand. I noticed that some of the other styles have menus you have to go into to adjust the volume and I think that would be very annoying.
This monitor is awesome and well worth the money.

couldn't ask for better service or product quality
Great price, product as advertised, arrived promptly and in perfect condition.
It seems that the life-span is no longer than 14 months on this product.
I can't help but wonder whether exposing a child to Infra Red radiation (which is how these cameras work)for prodlonged periods is safe.

Great sound, good picture, no feedback from other wireless devices
I had a nice set of monitors a friend gave me. When I tried to use them the first time there was so much white noise I was afraid I wouldn't be able to hear the baby plus there was no way I could sleep with that noise right next to my head. This is our first child so I'm a little over protective. He had been sleeping in our room in his bassinet but he was making so much noise at night he would keep waking my husband so I moved to the nursery with him. I was ready to move back to my own bed so I couldn't wait to get these monitors. The sound is so clear I can hear him breathing! There is even a 900Mhz cordless phone set up in that room (same frequency as the monitor)and there is no feedback. We have two cordless phones and wireless internet and none seem to bother this monitor. The video works great for us. I can see if his eyes are open or not so I can tell if he's just making noises in his sleep or if I really need to get out of my warm bed and go get him. There is a nightlight in the room, for us to see not for him, so that might help the night vision camera. Overall, well worth the money spent, got me sleeping back in my bed with a little extra piece of mind.

Peace of mind
Got this because a friend recommended a video monitor over an audio-only monitor. I love being able to see my little one whenever I hear him stir, without going to his room and trying to be super-quiet, especially at night when you can't see him without a light of some sort when you go into his room. Whenever we have company while he's napping, they all get a kick out of being able to see him sleeping. The only drawback I've found is the level of interference. If either the microwave, cell phone or portable telephone is in use, the audio becomes static-y and the video gets snowy. I even am able to see someone else's child if I switch from my chosen Channel A to Channel B! I must confess, however, that I live between two major metro areas with multiple governmental agencies and airports, so I'm sure that doesn't help. Regardless, I highly recommend that parents have a video monitor.