In this day and age of digital smartphones, the ability to see & hear your baby when you are out of the house seems to be something you won’t want to miss out.
For some of us, we’ll return back to work after the first few months of your newborn’s arrival to the family. When they say moms suffer from “separation anxiety”, they are not joking. It is true.
I remember returning back to work after my first child and the feeling of leaving my sweet darling at home with the nanny is so hard to bear. Having a wireless video baby monitor connected to my mobile phone certainly helps me to ease this anxiety knowing that I have the ability to “watch” my baby anytime I want over my phone.
The first generation of baby monitors are audio ones which allow for you to be able to only hear your baby’s sound from afar. Some of your first baby monitors or hand-me-down baby monitors may very well be an audio baby monitor. We’ve devoted another complete article on this topic – Audio Baby Monitor Guide, just in case you are interested to read about it.
| In this Guide: 1. Types of Video Baby Monitors 2. Important Features 3. Major Brands 4. Recommendation | Types of Video Baby Monitors The biggest difference that distinguishes among the different types of video baby monitors is the way the monitors are “linked” to each other. In other words, whether they are connected to the internet or not. |
Classic Video Baby Monitor
Classic video baby monitors are those that do not rely on the internet to transmit signals from the baby unit to the parent unit and vice versa. This signal transmission could be through either analogue or digital wavelength.
It consists of 2 pieces of gadgets – the baby unit that comes with the camera which you place near your baby and the parent unit that comes with the screen where you can view & hear your baby.
Best Selling Video Baby Monitor (Click here to read reviews & check price)
Wireless Video Baby Monitor
Wireless baby monitors, as its name suggest, is connected via the internet wirelessly to transmit sound & video feeds from the baby unit to the parent unit.
Unlike the classic baby monitor, it usually consists of only the baby unit, i.e. the camera. Since the baby unit is connected to the internet, any screen that has the capability to project videos from the internet will be able to be “hooked” up to this baby unit. Hence, you can imagine that the number of “parent unit” wireless video baby monitors can be connected to, is almost unlimited.
Having said that, there are also some classic video baby monitors with enhanced wifi connection system that will link the video feed to any receiving screen via a downloadable application. This type of monitors consist of both the baby and parent unit so that you can use them independently if you do not want to wire it up to the internet connection.
In this guide, we will focus on Classic Video Baby Monitors.
Click here to read more about Wireless Video Baby Monitors
Drop Nest Cam (Click here to read reviews and check price)
Important Features
When you research on buying a video baby monitor, there are some important features that you’d need to take note of before you take your cash out.
Obviously for a video baby monitor, the quality of the video feed is extremely important, otherwise you might as well opt for an audio monitor. Quality of the video feed may include the resolution of the screen, the size of the screen and how responsive it is to the sound of your baby.
On the same note as the video feed, the night vision function is also another feature that you want to check off your list if you want to get some good night sleep throughout the night.
Lastly, as with all baby monitors, the range of the monitor is of a huge concern to you. What good is a baby monitor if you can only use within very close proximity to the baby or nursery room? You want to be able to use your monitor effectively in the family room, in the kitchen or even out in the garden.
In short, there is a whole lot of features & functions of these wonderful gadgets that one should know before deciding on purchasing a unit. We have summarized the 4 primary capabilities & 5 features that you should know before buying any baby monitors. To continue reading about more detailed notes on how to buy a baby monitor, click here to read this informative article.
Major Brands
There are a few major manufacturers of video baby monitors in the U.S. and almost all of them sell their products on Amazon.com which is also our personal favorite shopping destination. You get the items delivered right to your doorsteps AND get to exchange them (or get a refund) for free if anything is dissatisfying for up to 90 days. That’s almost like a 90 days FREE trial! How much more do you want?
| You may be interested to read about: 3 Tips to buy a baby monitor |
For Classic Video Baby Monitors, here are the major brands:
1. Infant Optics
2. Summer Infant
3. Hello Baby
4. Motorola
For WIreless Video Baby Monitors, here are the major brands:
1. Snug Baby
2. Samsung
3. iBaby
4. Gynoii
5. Drop Nest
In this guide, we will focus on Classic Video Baby Monitors.
Click here to read more about Wireless Video Baby Monitors
Infant Optics
An established manufacturer for baby monitors, Infant Optics has been designing & developing baby monitors since 2011. They offer 3 different models of video baby monitors with the latest, most advanced model being the Infant Optics DXR-8.
The Infant Optic DXR-8 is also the best selling baby monitor on Amazon. It boast of a large 3.5 inch full colored screen, enhanced 2.4 GHz FHSS secured transmission and the ability to pan, tilt and zoom remotely from the parent unit.
In addition, it is the first ever baby monitor with interchangeable optical lens for better angle view & zoom.
Infant Optics DXR8 (Click here to read reviews & check price)
Comparing Infant Optics Baby Monitors
Below is a comprehensive comparison table that can help you get around understand the differences between these 3 different Infant Optics models & deciding those features that is essential to you.
| Infant Optics DXR – 5 – Click here to check price | Infant Optics DXR – 5+ – Click here to check price | Infant Optics DXR 8 – Click here to check price |
Summer Infant
Summer Infant, the name of the original Bouncy Seat named after William Lockett III’s daughter, Summer was born in 1985 when William conceived the idea for this innovative product to protect & nurture his young daughter. Subsequently, he founded Summer Infant, the company which will eventually design & produce many product lines for the safety & protection of babies & toddlers.
One of the many excellent products from Summer Infant is its range of baby monitors. Among which, there are 5 notable models of video baby monitors which we would like to review in this article.
The Summer Infant Video Monitors are:
| Summer Infant Sure Sight (Click here) | Summer Infant Clear Sight (Click here) | Summer Infant In View (Click here) |
| Summer Infant Wide View (Click here) | Summer Infant Baby Secure (Click here) |
Considering the narrow price range among these 5 models, the cheapest model cost about US$80 while the most expensive one is about US$108, it is not surprising to find that there isn’t too many differences between the models.
Video Screen Size
One of the striking differences is the screen size. The newer models like Summer Infant In View & Summer Infant Wide View have 5 inch wide video screen while the older models are less than 2 inches wide.
2 Way Talk Back
There are 2 models without this 2 way communication feature – Summer Infant Sure Sight & Summer Infant In View. Having a 2 way talk back feature is like getting hold of a smartphone. Once you start using it, you just can’t turn back.
2 way communication allows for you to talk to your baby when he/she cries so that you can soothe them back to sleep or while you are walking on the way to the nursery room. Sometimes, I even hymn my favorite lullaby over the monitor to amuse my little one!
Remote Zoom
All the models allow you to remotely zoom into your baby from the parent unit except for Summer Infant Sure Sight.
Remote Pan & Tilt
This feature is different from remote zoom as you want to be able to remotely move the baby unit camera around especially when your baby starts to learn how to roll around the bed. You can find this feature from Summer Infant Baby Secure (not available for sale at this point of writing).
Hello Baby
The reason why we included this little known brand of Hello Baby Video Baby Monitor in our guide is because it is one of the top 5 baby monitors selling on Amazon!
For those of you who are not familiar with Amazon’s product rankings, Amazon Best Seller Ranks display the best selling products in the entire Amazon.com in that particular category. And we all know that there are many baby monitors listed for sale on Amazon. To be ranked at the #5 Best Selling Baby Monitor, it definitely means that Hello Baby has been doing something right!
Turns out, we’re right too! Priced at less than US$90, Hello Baby Video Baby Monitor has a number of features that all mommies out there desire:
– Sound activated LED lights
– Sound activated mode (VOX)
– 2 way Talk back
– Temperature monitor
– Screen off, audio on (power saving mode)
– Night vision….
The only downside is that the screen is a tat too small compared to the 5 inch monitors that we have been pampered with by the Summer Infant brands.
Hello Baby Video Baby Monitor (Click here to read reviews & check price)
Motorola
Motorola, the big household name better known for its range of mobile phones also sell a whole range of video & surveillance products. Among which, baby monitors are one of them.
You may get confused by the wide range of baby monitors offered by Motorola and in this article, we will be focusing on its top 4 key models of video baby monitors.
| Motorola MBP25-2 (Click here) | Motorola MBP33S (Click here) | Motorola MBP36S (Click here) |
| Motorola MBP854 (Click here) |
You’ll notice that model Motorola MBP25-2 comes with 2 baby cameras. We’ve decided to include this produce because it comes well-recommended to us by our mommy friends and also, it is ranking in the top 30 baby monitors on Amazon.com.
Overall, we must say that we are very impressed with the number of features presented by most of Motorola’s video baby monitors.
2 Way Talk & Remote Zoom
Both these 2 features are included in all the 4 models of baby monitors.
Remote Pan & Tilt
When you’re looking into your baby from afar, you want to be able to move the camera once in a while to get a better angle of your baby. From our research, we realized that this is a feature that is very precious to parents but not easily available in many models of baby monitors. We’re glad to find it in both Motorola MBP36S and Motorola MBP854.
Internet Connectivity
Although this article focuses on purely classic video baby monitors, we are very excited to review the Motorola MBP854 model which not only provides a parent monitor screen but also includes the ability to connect to the internet & allow multiple viewing on smart devices or computers via their Hubble application. We love that Motorola is giving parents the option to choose how best to use their baby monitors. When we’re home, we use the parent unit and when we’re outside, we use our mobile phones! Excellent!
Recommendations
It is always difficult to compare across brands and models to make the best judgement on which is the best video baby monitor.
After evaluating the features & price, this is our happy mommy’s recommendation on the best video baby monitors:
If price is not a problem:
Infant Optics DXR8 OR Motorola MBP36S
If you have a strict budget:
Hello Baby Video Monitor