Customer Reviews

Crisp & Clear Plus Rechargeable 900MHz Monitor

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(37)

 

 

I have never owned any baby monitor other than this one, so I don't have a real basis of comparison. However, I do know that this monitor works well. It's very compact and travels easily. I also am pleasantly surprised at how sensitive it is. The monitor seems to pickup even the smallest peep from my stirring baby. The receiver has a decent range. I sometimes unplug it from the outlet and use the unit's batteries to garden outside or roam about the house while the little one sleeps inside. Finally, because the product operates on 900 MHz, I have never ever had any interference from another monitor or other electric appliance (Evidently other monitors sometimes experience this).

The only complaint I have is that the receiver occasionally lets out a little static (as mentioned in the Amazon review). This happens infrequently enough that I don't consider it a huge issue, however.

There are other monitors out there: video, two-way, etc., but for a solid 'traditional' monitor, this one works great.

I registered for this monitor because of a positive report written up in a baby products' book. The first few nights I used it, I nearly jumped out of my skin when my child cried, because it picked up his sounds and movement so well just on the 4 (out of 10) setting. Since then, I keep it on setting one and can hear wonderfully. It's great to be able to hear him breathing.

The only problem I've run into is when I have my cordless phone in use next to the carrier unit. It causes static to come from the unit.

All in all, it's a wonderful monitor.

We tried this monitor because it was ranked highest by the Baby Bargains people and we had otherise agreed with them on many items. But this one was terrible. Our house is compact, but even in the next room (10-15 feet), it would go out of range and get such severe static that the baby was inaudible. Then it developed this bizarre habit of period static that got longer and more frequent as time went on, until it was nearly driving us mad. We thought it was just our house or was because we have cordless phones and live close to our neighbors. But then we tried the Fisher Price Sound N Lights monitor and our problems were 100% solved - plus, it's cheaper. I would not recommend this First Years monitor - or their other electronic products - to other parents (we also have their crib white noise machine and it gobbles batteries like no tomorrow).

The honest truth about buying a baby monitor is this: you have to try it out in your own house. We have tried four different monitors in the past year and a half (since our first child was born). We kept two of them (my wife just went with something different when we had our second child). Static, interference, etc. will depend on so many things - what other devices you have in the room, how big your house is, what else is on at the time. You're just going to have to buy it, try it out, and see if it works or not.

For us, the Crisp & Clear has worked out well. Having rechargeable batteries on the remote monitor makes using it cost effective and very flexible, since you can take it outside, in various rooms, or even on the road. It is also very clean in the sounds it picks up. In fact, it is so sensitive, that even at the lowest volume level (1), it still emits even slight sounds. I'm a heavy sleeper but my wife (a notoriously light sleeper) would prefer at the lowest setting to just have the lights indicate sound (we'll hear our son crying from down the hall if he's really upset anyway). But besides that, it has been reliable and easy to use. I hope it works as well for you. If not, for what it's worth, our other monitor set is the Safety First Super Clear, which we're also happy with.

I've had 5 different monitors. This one has by far the least background static. It is the only one I can sleep with because I am a picky sleeper.

We did have the occasional loud bursts of static that other reviewers have mentioned but we luckily discovered it was coming from our 900mhz digital cordless phone talking to its cradle. We had to unplug the cradle and remove the battery from the phone every nite before bed which was a hassle but worth it for the quiet sleep. We've now replaced the home phone for a different reason and the current one does not interfere with the monitor at all. I think this unit is very sensitive around various phones and if you cannot get clear reception it may be too close to a neighbor's phone even.

If you can get it to work in your environment, it is by far the best option for a monitor. Buy it from a place that gives refunds and give it a try.

My only complaint is I dont see why both units are not rechargable. My baby doesnt sleep in the same place all the time and it would be nice to be able to move the base unit around as well. I dont really understand why they wouldnt both take the same type batteries. It gets confusing. At least the power cords are interchangeable. It would be nice to go visit Grandma for the afternoon and not bring the cord with me.

Also our first unit had to be exchanged because the battery connections were poor resulting in "out of range" and powering off, but the replacement has worked wonderfully for several years.

This is the first baby monitor I have owned, so I have no other monitor with which to compare. It picks up nursery sounds well--with the volume turned up I can hear our baby breathing (something that is personally comforting to me). It does miss some sounds here and there. My main problem, however, is the booming bursts of static. If I keep the receiving unit stationary (i.e. on bedside table) the static is minimal. But just move it one inch in any direction and the bursts of static are unreal. If I travel from one room to the next, I have to turn it off until I am stationary again. Now, it is picking up a very loud buzzing/bell-like sound at night occuring at regular intervals that makes it impossible to leave the unit on. We haven't been able to determine the origin of the sound. After having to spend the night on the nursery floor because the interfering noise was impossible to sleep through or even hear the baby over, I'm shopping for a new one today!

We received a different monitor for a shower gift and it was awful. Nothing but static. So, I returned it to the store & talked with the sales person about why this other monitor was so awful. After figuring out that our power lines behind our house interfered w/lower freq monitors, she recommended this 900mhz monitor. We love it. My daughter is 2 1/2 and we have a baby due any day. We registered for this monitor again-it works perfect for us. No static, no problems. Only problem I have ever had is the rechargable battery. We don't have a battery charger & if you leave it plugged in, the batteries tend to die quicker. I love it though, and would recommend it to anyone.

We got the "Crisp and Clear Plus" monitor soon after my baby was born and have used it continuously for the past 16 months.

In the beginning I thought the monitor was just OK. The monitor was sensitive enough to pick up my daughter's breathing if I wanted it to, but on the other hand it generated alot of annoying buzzing especially in the evenings. We were about to return the darn thing when our cordless phone just happened to break. After we replaced our cordless phone with one that worked in the GHz range, the mysterious buzzing on our baby monitor went away. It turns out that our original phone worked in the 900 MHz range and was interfering with the baby monitor.

Now, I love this baby monitor. Without the interference from our old cordless phone, this monitor's as clear as a bell, has great range, and the lightbar is very handy when I'm vacuuming or outside mowing the lawn.

We typically leave both the transmitter and receiver ends of the monitor plugged into wall sockets but when we've used the batteries, we've never had a problem with them running out of power. (Note: we tend to use the monitor in 2-4 hour stretches.)

So, in summary, this is a great monitor: clear sound, great range, handy rechargeable batteries and even handier lightbar across the top. The only thing that would make it better is if the signal it used was spread-spectrum or encrypted somehow to reduce intereference from other 900 MHz devices in your home.

After one week of using this monitor my husband finally got fed up and insisted we go back to using our Fisher Price Sounds and Lights monitor. The first 2 nights we used this it sounded great. We didn't even hear the ever so slight humming sound we heard with our other monitor. Starting with night three, the monitor started to act up. If you walked by it, it would start to blast static. In the middle of the night for no reason it would let out a high pitched sound and emit a great deal of static. As new parents, sleep is a precious commodity and we don't want to be disturbed unless our daughter needs us, not because the monitor wants attention. By the 7th night, the monitor let out nothing but static. I'm not sure why but this monitor is only worthless at night (when we would rely on it the most). I have been using the parent unit downstairs for about 2 months now, and I have yet to have a problem with it during the day. I just wish it performed as well at night.

I bought this monitor because of the good review that it got in the Baby Bargains book but am now in the market for a new monitor. Some nice features of this monitor are the rechargable batteries and compact size but it has a very short range. In the house at night it works great but as soon as I step outside the house all I get is loud static. Even on my deck with the doors open I can't get any reception with this monitor. If you want to be able to go outside at all this is not the monitor for you.