Love your smart phone? Than you’ll love this revolutionary, touch screen baby monitor! Pan, scan, and zoom baby’s room, simply by touching the large, 3.5″ color screen. This digital audio/video monitor features state-of-the-art, digital technology, plus two-way audio, so you can talk to baby on your way to the nursery. Parent’s touch screen receiver includes belt clip, built-in flip stand, and sleek magnetic docking station/charging base (rechargeable cell battery included). Wireless-optional camera sits on a dresser or may be wall mounted. You can add up to three additional cameras (sold separately) for multi-room monitoring, or plug into your TV. 400 foot transmission range. This is the first touch screen baby video monitor! Use the intuitive touch screen functionality to pan, scan, zoom, and control brightness. Small and sleek; sized like a smart phone Digital technology automatically seeks out the best channel Parent’s touch screen unit also features sound lights, volume control, and low battery indicator Use the USB A/V jack to hook to your TV and watch baby on television Camera includes both A/C adaptor and battery pack for wireless convenience and portability (takes 4 “AA” batteries, sold separately) Parent’s receiver includes docking station/recharger, A/C adaptor, and rechargeable cell battery Camera wall anchor and security clips included Baby camera monitor measures 3 1/2″L x 3 1/2″W x5″H; parent’s touch screen receiver measures 4 1/2″L x 4″W x 4 1/2″H
$ 162.94
The best option for monitoring mult. rooms.,
Ok, so I gave this monitor 4 stars rather than 5 because it does have some annoying flaws. I have researched so many monitors for multiple cameras and this one seemed the best. I had the Summer Infant Best View, which was AMAZING!! I sold it to a friend to help pay for this one, and I was kind of sad because I wasn’t sure how this one would compare. It seems, like most of the reviews, as long as you don’t get a “lemon”, it works great.
I purchased mine from BabiesRus.com and ordered the extra camera too (they have it in stock right now, and Amazon does not.) Basically, the first one I tried, the monitor was blank and showed nothing. But if I hooked it up to my TV, I could see the baby sleeping, so I knew it wasn’t the camera. I brought that one back and got another one. This one works!!! The video quality is not as good as the Best View, but is good enough. I have listed the PROS and CONS below!!
PROS
-Normal amount of interference with Wi-Fi. You will have this problem with most video monitors.
-No static…very clear sound, and we are 2300 feet from my daughter’s room.
-The battery on the monitor appears to be pretty good, lasts all day and I charge it each night, even though it is not completely drained.
-The battery pack for the camera is a neat feature, but I haven’t hooked it up. Keep in mind that if you purchase an additional camera, the battery pack is not included.
-The volume is really great and there are no problems with hearing the baby rustling around on the sheets, which is nice.
-Scanning feature!!!!! This feature is what I have been looking for. When you put it on “scan,” it scans between the cameras you have set up. When the video is on, you see and hear what is being monitored (1st camera, then 2nd…and back to 1st again.) When you are sleeping, and the video is off, the sound is still scanning between rooms. On other monitors, the sound would stop on the room you had the camera on last. What’s the point in that? Also, some have no sound and only video scanning. Like any person is just going to stay awake all night and stare at the video monitor to see if there are any issues with the babies. This one does the trick, though, with both video and audio scanning.
-The monitor is very sensitive to touch and easy to use.
-Camera is easy to swivel around to your preference…from the comfort of your bedroom, or wherever…though, I pretty much just keep it where it is. 🙂
-I love the intercom feature because sometimes I just talk to my daughter just for fun…when she is awake and I am about to go get her. She looks at the camera and says, “mama??” I love it!!
-There is a really nice “leg” on the monitor that is easy to open and close so you can stand it up, if you choose. (The dock props it up, as well, which makes quick “glances” at the monitor easy. If you choose not to use the dock, the plug goes right into the monitor if you don’t enjoy the dock. (I discuss this below in the Con section.))
CONS
-It appears that there are a lot of “lemons” out there, so if yours has problems, bring it back and get another one right away.
-The dock is really light and is magnetic, so when I try to pick it up off the dock with one hand, it usually picks up the dock and drops it on the floor. Annoying, but not a deal-breaker.
-The “talk” button is right by the power button and since you have to hold the power button to turn the monitor off and hold the talk button to talk to the child, some people have reported accidentally holding the talk button and waking the child. This has not happened to me. It would be wise for Summer Infant to make a minor change in that area.
-Video quality can definitely be improved. The night vision is better than the color, but really, it is always dark when I am monitoring her, so this is not a problem. And, again, not a deal-breaker for me.
CONCLUSION
Basically, it boils down to how many rooms/kids you are monitoring. The scanning feature is just too important and outweighs all of the cons, in my opinion!! Please ask questions, if you have them. I had millions and just went for it!!
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|The Minutiae of 2 Monitors: Motorola MBP36 & Summer Infant Touch,
The Minutiae of 2 Monitors: Motorola MBP36 & Summer Infant Touch
Motorola Digital Video Baby Monitor with 3.5 Inch Color LCD Screen
Summer Infant Baby Touch Digital Color Video Monitor
This review discusses the minutiae, good and bad, of both monitors. (Same review under both products).
Summary: Motorola: 4 stars, SI: 4.5 stars. Both monitors are great and fit the bill for a pan/tilt monitor. It’s the little details and personal preference that will determine the best monitor for you. FYI, we come from a history of owning the Summer Infant BestView-pre2011. We would have just added a 2nd camera to our unit if it were still available. Where applicable, we noted where SI has improved some things from the BestView to the Touch.
Both monitors have a 3.5″ screen. The pictures in both daytime and night vision are very good. The sound and talk back on both units is good. The pan/tilt is quiet overall on both cameras. The biggest difference is how to access the features you feel are most important to you. Below are some notable differences between the two units.
Overall layout (see labeled pictures):
Video On/Off: external button on both
Volume: in menu on Motorola, dedicated top toggle on SI
Pan/Tilt: external (Left) buttons on Motorola, in a menu with touch arrows on SI
Zoom: in a menu on both
Scan: external button on Motorola, in a menu on SI
Buttons: SI wins this hands down. Unless you are awake every time you use the monitor, you cannot easily find and press the correct button, one-handed, in a dark room/semi-sleep state. For us, this design difference is what sealed the deal for SI over Motorola. We can easily find the Video On/Off and volume with tactile sense. We would have resorted to making a raised surface on the 3rd button if we chose to keep the Motorola.
SI touch screen: Many people commented that you can brush up against the screen anywhere and turn the menu on/select items. This doesn’t seem to be totally the case. You not only have to have the video ON, but you also have to press on the very right or bottom strip of the picture/screen to bring up the menu. A random touch anywhere on the screen will not bring the menu up. Also of note, accessing the main functions (Video On/Off and Volume) does not require the touch menu since these buttons are located on the OUTSIDE of the unit. We are fine with going into a menu for less-common functions such as pan/zoom/scan because we will not be doing this nearly as often as turning the video on/off and adjusting volume. (And the SI volume toggle does NOT activate the touch screen so the monitor can stay dark while you adjust volume.)
Interference: we had problems with our old SI (BestView) and wireless interference. The Motorola had much less interference than the SI Touch, the SI Touch seemed to have the same interference as the SI BestView. We opted to upgrade/change routers to solve this problem instead of compromising on any monitors. A router is a cheaper electronic piece to swap out than a monitor system (esp with multiple cameras).
Camera range: we placed each camera on the same peg over the bed. The SI showed ¾ of the bed, the Motorola showed a little less than ½. For us that meant HAVING TO pan the Motorola each time to see where baby rolled. We have the camera at the max height on the wall. The camera could easily be placed at a different angle relative to the bed to avoid panning. This is just to compare how the video outputs differ relative to each other. (The specs are undoubtedly written in the manuals somewhere describing the camera lens type.)
Night vision LEDs: both the Motorola and SI Touch have ‘invisible’ LED lights to provide night vision. On the monitors, this looks like a spotlight with darker edges that look like they’re `in the shade.’ This is subtle and not really noticeable except at the lowest screen brightness setting. For reference, the old SI BestView had a circle of red LED lights around the lens that resulted in a more evenly-lit monitor picture.
Speaker: located in the back of the unit on the Motorola. The SI speaker is redesigned but still on the front of the monitor. Both units have an 8-level sound bar and each level between the 2 brands seems about equal. Several have been concerned that the volume does NOT go to zero on the Motorola. However, the speaker is on the back of the unit and makes the lowest setting almost equivalent to a mute setting. In testing it, we found that the rear speaker placement helped block the background rustling/movement that we didn’t want to hear, but did not…
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|Hopefully this will save you some headaches,
So I will start with the fact that I have purchased 4 different monitors :
1) 2.4GHz DIGITAL WIRELESS BABY VIDEO MONITOR SYSTEM WITH NIGHT VISION — 2.4″ Color LCD Screen (Two-way Radio communication) by Smart AV ,
2) MOBICAM DXR DIGITAL MONITORING SYSTEM,
3) SAMSUNG WIRELESS VIDEO SECURITY MONITORING SYSTEM w/ 3.5″ LCD,
4) SUMMER INFANT BABY TOUCH COLOR VIDEO MONITOR by Summer infant.
I have a 3yr. old and I was still using my Sony baby call monitor which I still love, but now I need to see when she gets out of her bed and I wanted the two way feature “talk to the baby feature” so I could talk to her and tell her to get back in her bed. I should also say that I want to see as much of her room around her bed as I could her room is 11 ft. by 12ft I put the camera in the corner on a shelf eight feet off the ground about 10 and ½ ft away from her bed, so if she got out of her bed I could see where she was. I could also see her during the day playing in her room. Well, let me say that they at least at this moment they don’t make a monitor with a 100{fa0f407a56ebf26e8755ec9e145523374db89e13015bb27dc750b111d8cc035c} “clear” picture for day and night vision.
First up, I bought the 2.4 GHz MONITOR by SMART AV: It was good I could see her ok during the day, and at night with the night vision and I could hear her and she could hear me when I talked on it.
CONS: Not the best picture but it was good enough. The camera did not adjust down far enough I had to put a coaster under the back half to get it to angle down some more and no sound bar (the lights that light up according to how noisy it is in the room). The big problem was it did not have the rechargeable batteries the other reviewers said it had. (Amazon told me it was probably because they bought it from a different seller not DBroth.) You can put regular batteries in it but if you want to plug it in you have to remove the batteries first. I tried to purchase the rechargeable batteries from them it has been a week and a half they still have not answered my emails. I returned it. Update: I never received a response.
Next up, the MOBICAM DXR DIGITAL MONITORING SYSTEM: it had a ok picture during the day a little grainy but you could see. Night vision was grainy but ok.
CONS: No sound bar, grainy day and night vision, when you touch the talk button to speak to the child it did not always work I would have to let it go and press it again to get it to work. I had it replaced with a new one thinking it might have been that one and the new one did the same thing. I called Amazon and they said they are not selling these directly anymore because of that happening to the batch of these they had maybe a bad batch they are investigating it, but you can still buy it from third party sellers on Amazon. UPDATE: Amazon is now selling them again.
Next up, was the SAMSUNG WIRELESS VIDEO SECURITY MONITORING SYSTEM w/ 3.5″ LCD: this one had the best picture of them all but only for during the day (although it had a yellow glow at the top of the screen from the light in the room but the light was not in the cameras view I adjusted the camera down even further and it still remained. It has a nice night light and music that you can turn on and off from the monitor. I really, really wanted to like it.
CONS: The camera did not adjust down far enough for me on my shelf, so I put a coaster under the back half to angle it down some more, There were also some “delays” (like when walking or just moving fast the screen would “miss some frames/some of the movement” in the picture.) The temperature gauge was not correct, the alarm for detection of sound in the room was a pain to adjust, I did not like that when It went in to sleep mode (the screen goes black to power save) the volume would shut off, till it heard a sound, I wanted it on unless I turned it down, (which is how the baby touch monitor operates in sleep mode the sound does not shut off but you can turn it down if you wish), the zoom function was a BIG pain you have to go into the menu out of the “picture screen” and put it on zoom then go back to the “picture screen”, the volume was not very loud at all my husband was like it doesn`t turn up louder than that? The “talk to the baby” function was “choppy”(not as clear as the summer infant baby touch) and my absolute deal breaker was, I would think the MAIN REASON you would purchase a monitor like this the night vision: at night with and without a night light on in the room I could barely see anything much less my daughter in her bed you would really have to stare and look good to make any thing out, the infrared led’s must not be strong at all. (If you want it for close up it might work I don’t know never tested close up tested all of them in the same place about 10 and 1/2 feet away from her bed up on a shelf I need to see at least part of the room around her bed.)
I was so aggravated by this search, I printed out a twenty percent off coupon from the…
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