Baby monitors?
- Thread starter samjtomes
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ericameeran
New member
@samjtomes I had a friend who was recently doing a ton of research on all of the available monitors and looking at spending big big $. He too was interested in the temperature sensor, different alarms, AI tracking of the body position and all of the data it provides. They purchased a high-end system and had their kid, and after about 2 weeks they've turned almost everything off and are simply using the audio and video feed.
So now that it's my turn to purchase something for when our kid arrives - I went to the best source of data I could find about baby monitors - my mother. She showed me what she used on my brother and I in the 90's and it was a "walky talky" looking device. All it did was transmit sound. And she said to me "I used this and you guys turned out ok"
So that's what we are going to do, keep it as basic as possible. Other friends are gifting us their 7 year old system which they used for both of their kids, it has an audio and video feed (and I also believe the breathing mat sensor).
No stressing about wifi and about how to understand the data.
Just my 2c
So now that it's my turn to purchase something for when our kid arrives - I went to the best source of data I could find about baby monitors - my mother. She showed me what she used on my brother and I in the 90's and it was a "walky talky" looking device. All it did was transmit sound. And she said to me "I used this and you guys turned out ok"
So that's what we are going to do, keep it as basic as possible. Other friends are gifting us their 7 year old system which they used for both of their kids, it has an audio and video feed (and I also believe the breathing mat sensor).
No stressing about wifi and about how to understand the data.
Just my 2c
@ericameeran I'm with you that the overabundance of information can be a detriment/stress adder than a help, depending on who you are.
As long as a monitor lets me 1) hear them, and 2) see them, that feels like it's all I need.
As long as a monitor lets me 1) hear them, and 2) see them, that feels like it's all I need.
@ericameeran Soon to be dad here, this is kind of the reason why we’re going audio only too. In one I’m someone who will look at video, data points, predictions, etc. I know it’s going to stress me out.
We went with the Motorola PIP11 and it does audio, and even temperature of the room, fancy.
We went with the Motorola PIP11 and it does audio, and even temperature of the room, fancy.
@samjtomes We have the Eufy Space view. Also have a second hand DX8 (not sure but probably not pro) with 2 cameras that we use for travel (got it free from friends). Eufy image quality and handset is much better, but I don't know if it's because the infant optics is an older model or because we don't have the wide angle lens (which was included for Eufy).
Daughter is over 1 year now.
Really, either is fine.
I wouldn't get anything with extra features. And a non wifi camera works great for us.
Daughter is over 1 year now.
Really, either is fine.
I wouldn't get anything with extra features. And a non wifi camera works great for us.
@murphreej We have the Eufy Spaceview and it's great too. I am keeping it for my second baby coming in a few months.
cheekyogre
New member
@samjtomes as with most things parent related, this kind of comes down to your anxiety level. More information does not mean more peace of mind. In fact, it can actually drive you to be more anxious.
I have a DXR8Pro and love it. Take it with me everywhere and we travel a lot. It's built to take abuse and i love that I can keep the monitor up on a separate screen from my phone. My friends with the nanit are CONSTANTLY on their phone because of it. Yes, you want to see your baby but guess what happens when you open your phone to take a peek? You then look at your messages, then go to reddit, then go to instagram and before you know it an hours passed. I'm trying my best not to be addicted to social media by curbing my consumption so YMMV.
One other thing to investigate is the ownership cost of subscriptions - nanit has one, not sure about cubo. No subscription for DXR8.
If you travel, think about portability. The DXR is literally turn it on and it works. For me, this was huge since we travel a lot. My friends with the Nanit had a much harder time since they have to connect to a new Wifi point, and that's assuming theres a strong connection. If there's not, then they need to move the camera and the pack n play to somewhere there's good wifi.
Also, white noise cancellation. If you're planning on using white noise, would highly suggest making sure your choice has ANC or some other noise cancellation. DXR8Pro has it and it's wonderful for us since we have constant white noise going to block out street noise (we're in NYC)
I have a DXR8Pro and love it. Take it with me everywhere and we travel a lot. It's built to take abuse and i love that I can keep the monitor up on a separate screen from my phone. My friends with the nanit are CONSTANTLY on their phone because of it. Yes, you want to see your baby but guess what happens when you open your phone to take a peek? You then look at your messages, then go to reddit, then go to instagram and before you know it an hours passed. I'm trying my best not to be addicted to social media by curbing my consumption so YMMV.
One other thing to investigate is the ownership cost of subscriptions - nanit has one, not sure about cubo. No subscription for DXR8.
If you travel, think about portability. The DXR is literally turn it on and it works. For me, this was huge since we travel a lot. My friends with the Nanit had a much harder time since they have to connect to a new Wifi point, and that's assuming theres a strong connection. If there's not, then they need to move the camera and the pack n play to somewhere there's good wifi.
Also, white noise cancellation. If you're planning on using white noise, would highly suggest making sure your choice has ANC or some other noise cancellation. DXR8Pro has it and it's wonderful for us since we have constant white noise going to block out street noise (we're in NYC)
jamesprayer
New member
@samjtomes I went with the DXR-8 (non-pro, as it wasn't out yet). I've been quite happy with it overall, and just added an extra camera when we had our second. I'm a techie in a tech field, but I also know enough about IOT security to know that basically everything in the field is about as good at keeping people out as a screen door is at keeping out a tsunami (unless you homebrew, which I'm not dealing with) so we went with a non-IOT enabled setup. (Something to keep in mind with IOT: Pretty much all of it is based around a flexible, easy to implement and use architecture that was never designed to be secure, so if something says it's secure it's probably a bad bolt-on that somebody decided was needed at the last second of development.)
Some things to note about it:
Some things to note about it:
- Your cameras can only pair to a single receiver. Great for security, annoying if you want to just leave monitors in different rooms. We have a pure audio monitor that can have multiple receivers paired that we use for the youngest and leave one monitor in the kitchen, one in our bedroom. Would love to do that with the DXR-8, but alas, it must get moved every morning and night.
- You probably will have a battery die over the life of the hand unit. They're cheap (
difficultpath
New member
@samjtomes We have both the nanit and a non-wifi monitor that I can't remember the brand name of. The nanit does take a second to connect but has the benefit of working on our phones which are always charged and always on hand while the non-wifi monitor requires us to remember to charge it and take it with us wherever we go. The nanit also has a "background audio" feature that lets you hear the audio feed even when the app is in the background which somewhat mitigates the slow startup time.
Honestly I don't think the startup time with the nanit has ever really bothered me that much. The biggest drawback with the nanit is that occasionally the servers go down for maintenance and the app will go down. We've also had issues with the camera not connecting but a quick reboot tends to fix it.
Honestly I don't think the startup time with the nanit has ever really bothered me that much. The biggest drawback with the nanit is that occasionally the servers go down for maintenance and the app will go down. We've also had issues with the camera not connecting but a quick reboot tends to fix it.
@samjtomes I got an Infant Optics DXR-8 (not the pro version). Our baby is just over one month and we use it when she sleeps in her room before my wife and I go to bed with her. It's no-frills and works well. The video is good quality and the night vision works well. The only complain I have is that the BT connection can be a bit spotty when a fair distance. We usually like to watch TV in our basement while the baby sleeps and it will cut out a bit but otherwise works flawlessly.
Side Note: I also found 2 spare cameras for it at Goodwill for about $5 a piece so that influenced my decision further.
Side Note: I also found 2 spare cameras for it at Goodwill for about $5 a piece so that influenced my decision further.
@samjtomes We’ve been happy with the Infant Optics! Had the same concerns with wifi, as well as the whole hacking thing apparently. So we just didn’t go that route, but the camera is great. Picks up good audio, the video quality is good (we don’t have the pro, just the DXR8), not the best but good enough for keeping an eye on littles. The audio is also really good honestly. You can use multiple (maybe only 2?) cameras on one monitor as well.
Personally I think all the other sensors just cause more anxiety. IME the breathing monitors rarely work and cause so many false alarms, and the activity ones are fine, but at the end of the day does your child wiggling in their sleep really matter that much? The anxiety from constantly having all this going in and one minor sensory issues triggering a major alert just wasn’t worth it. YMMV.
Personally I think all the other sensors just cause more anxiety. IME the breathing monitors rarely work and cause so many false alarms, and the activity ones are fine, but at the end of the day does your child wiggling in their sleep really matter that much? The anxiety from constantly having all this going in and one minor sensory issues triggering a major alert just wasn’t worth it. YMMV.
@samjtomes We are 7 months in and just now caved and bought a monitor that vibrates.
When we moved baby to their own room, we found even the lowest sound setting woke both of us up and we got to a point where we desperately needed to be able to somehow have at least one of us getting solid chunks of sleep at a time.
So, vibration. All the other stuff we don’t use lol even the sound!
When we moved baby to their own room, we found even the lowest sound setting woke both of us up and we got to a point where we desperately needed to be able to somehow have at least one of us getting solid chunks of sleep at a time.
So, vibration. All the other stuff we don’t use lol even the sound!
blazerman200
New member
@samjtomes We ended up with a basic radio wave video/audio monitor and it has worked out well for us. We figured we didn't need all of the tracking, AI stuff and not having it on wi-fi is peace of mind for us.
Dreo baby monitor
Dreo baby monitor
@blazerman200 Hi, I’m Vetted AI Bot! I researched the 'Dreo Baby Monitor with 2 Cameras 5'' HD Split Screen' you mentioned in your comment along with its brand, Dreo, and I thought you might find the following analysis helpful.
Users liked:
* Provides clear audio and video quality (backed by 11 comments)
* Offers convenient features (backed by 8 comments)
* Works well for monitoring children or elderly (backed by 3 comments)
Users disliked:
* Inconsistent audio quality (backed by 2 comments)
* Poor image quality (backed by 2 comments)
* Durability issues (backed by 1 comment)
According to Reddit, Dreo is generally less popular than its competitors.
Its most popular types of products are:
* Fans (#58 of 74 brands on Reddit)
* Space Heaters (#11 of 17 brands on Reddit)
* Air Fryers (#24 of 34 brands on Reddit)
If you'd like to summon me to ask about a product, just make a post with its link and tag me, like in this example.
This message was generated by a (very smart) bot. If you found it helpful, let us know with an upvote and a “good bot!” reply and please feel free to provide feedback on how it can be improved.
Powered by vetted.ai
Users liked:
* Provides clear audio and video quality (backed by 11 comments)
* Offers convenient features (backed by 8 comments)
* Works well for monitoring children or elderly (backed by 3 comments)
Users disliked:
* Inconsistent audio quality (backed by 2 comments)
* Poor image quality (backed by 2 comments)
* Durability issues (backed by 1 comment)
According to Reddit, Dreo is generally less popular than its competitors.
Its most popular types of products are:
* Fans (#58 of 74 brands on Reddit)
* Space Heaters (#11 of 17 brands on Reddit)
* Air Fryers (#24 of 34 brands on Reddit)
If you'd like to summon me to ask about a product, just make a post with its link and tag me, like in this example.
This message was generated by a (very smart) bot. If you found it helpful, let us know with an upvote and a “good bot!” reply and please feel free to provide feedback on how it can be improved.
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rhinoofgod
New member
@samjtomes We have a Eufy Spaceview.
Has worked great for us. Would prefer the charger to be USB C instead of the useless mini usb, but maybe there’s an updated version these day.
I would never in my life use an internet connected baby monitor. Not after googling and literally finding thousands of cameras just sitting there, broadcasting in the clear to anyone who knows what to search for. No thank you.
Has worked great for us. Would prefer the charger to be USB C instead of the useless mini usb, but maybe there’s an updated version these day.
I would never in my life use an internet connected baby monitor. Not after googling and literally finding thousands of cameras just sitting there, broadcasting in the clear to anyone who knows what to search for. No thank you.
@samjtomes I bought the VTech 5 smart wifi 1080p monitor.
It's one of the rare ones that has both the app and a dedicated monitor screen. My wife didn't want to use her phone and I did, so it's all in one. Also pretty cheap
It's one of the rare ones that has both the app and a dedicated monitor screen. My wife didn't want to use her phone and I did, so it's all in one. Also pretty cheap
devoutagnostic
New member
@samjtomes Is your house big? Ours is small and it just ended up with baby cry's in stereo lol. The fancy baby monitor was useless for us because you could hear him cry from the next room no problem.
In the beginning I wanted one with a standalone display. I didn't want it hooked up to the Internet. Going down a Google worm hole led to too many creepy stories.
In the beginning I wanted one with a standalone display. I didn't want it hooked up to the Internet. Going down a Google worm hole led to too many creepy stories.
johnykirty
New member
@samjtomes I'm surprised no one is mentioning low emf options here
@johnykirty Any you'd care to share?
@samjtomes We went a different route and in each of our kids' rooms we have a VTech old school monitor, audio only, and a cheap security camera (take your pick, Wyze, Blink Mini, etc.). We leave audio running with us around the house so we can hear if they wake up, the battery lasts forever on those things, and they have huge range that doesn't depend on WiFi, but if we want to check and see whether we need to actually go in or are nervous about something or whatever, quick check of the video cam.