Customer Reviews

Philips Avent Digital Two-Parent Baby Monitor with Zero-Interference DECT Technology

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Update: We've now owned this monitor for two years, use it every day (except when packed up to bring on a trip or during power outages, it hasn't been turned off in those two years). Bottom line is it's one of the very best baby monitors available, but could easily be twice as good.

Pros:
- No interference/static/noise
- Sensitivity adjustable at each parent unit
- Long range
- 2-way capable


Cons:
- Max volume on parent units is too low.
- Parent unit battery life.
- Baby unit doesn't charge rechargeable batteries.

We LOVE the monitor for its strong points (first two make it absolutely fantastic) and are glad we bought it. To emphasize this, lest the negatives that follow be taken too heavily, I would buy the same today and can't recommend any other monitor we've come across (at friends/relatives houses, etc). However, there is a lot of unrealized potential because of the cons, which I think could have fairly easily been avoided. Here are some details on them...

Volume:
I find the volume does not go loud enough for being outside (i.e. to do light yard work) or for when our house gets noisy (company over). The background noise of the environment makes it hard to hear our baby before she gets really upset.

Parent-Unit Battery:
It helps that there are two units (with them in charging stands different rooms I can hear baby in most of the house so less need to take out of base). However, it's really annoying that the low-battery indicator starts beeping after 10 minutes out of the base and dies shortly after that.

Baby Unit & Rechargeable:
It's fine that the baby unit doesn't come with batteries - I just bought some rechargeable, charged them, and put them in (left baby unit plugged in so they'd stay charged). Figured that would (1) prevent baby unit from turning off in power failure and (2) make it real convenient to take the monitor with me (just grab the baby unit and a parent - no cords). Problem is the baby unit doesn't charge batteries in it when plugged in, so when I took the unit with me the batteries were dead. It's not very convenient to swap batteries in/out of the baby unit...so you can keep them fresh in an external charger.

This baby monitor is easy to set up and use. The two monitors allow you to monitor the child from multiple locations without having to pull the monitors out of their handy charging cradles. The monitors also allow you to check the room temperature and/or talk to the child. The base station can also act as a very soft night light (amber color).

The parent monitors incorporate a light bar and variable volumes to indicate a child that is crying. Thus, you can monitor your child with settings ranging from mute (good on conference calls) to extra loud. The base station should be installed within 3 feet of the cradle/crib/bed for optimum audio performance.

The DECT technology that underlies the monitor system works flawlessly and on a relatively unused portion of the frequency spectrum (1.9GHz). Thus, it will not interfere with wireless networks and older cordless phones. Even better, DECT-based phones and the baby monitor also seem to co-exist nicely. The range of the monitors is about 100 feet indoors and about 150' outdoors.

The base station runs off 4 AA batteries and the monitors run off 2AAA batteries each. The batteries for the monitors are included, but not for the base station. Do not use regular batteries in the base station or monitors (which work as a backup for power outages or while out and about), use NiMH-based AAA batteries instead. Otherwise, the charging cradles may attempt to recharge the batteries inside (with messy results). I subsequently replaced the OEM AAA batteries with higher-capacity after-market models to increase runtime.

All in all, a great system, the only downside is cost. However, if you live in a urban environment with a lot of baby monitors/phones/etc. interfering with each other, this is the system to get IMO. IIRC, the only difference of this system to the -950 is that the 590 has two parent units and cannot play lullabies to the kid.

Up-front summary: This attractive product has nice features and Philips has great customer support. This product also has some manufacturing variability and reliability issues. It's still worth taking a chance on this product. The product has a 2 year warranty and if your SCD590 set works as expected I believe it will continue working fine.



Pros: This product is sleek and a pleasure to use. The 2 parent units can adjust the sensitivity of the baby monitor remotely so you don't have to go into the baby's room to change the sensitivity. The parent units come with rechargeable 1.2V AAA batteries. For quiet situations you can turn off the volume on the parent units and watch the lights instead.



Cons: The recharge time for the parent units is at least 16 hours according to the manual (longer if the parent unit is left on). The parent unit can be used while it is on the charger base but that basically makes it a corded not cordless product. 16 hours is a long time. Also, some components were basically dead (or faulty) on arrival but Philips' support took care of it.



There is a note inside the battery compartment of the parent unit that says only to use rechargeable batteries. It seems to me you might want the option of using regular batteries if you forget to take the charging base with you on a trip. Just don't put the unit on the charger base if it contains regular batteries or bad things could happen.



I had problems with one of the charger bases. The 1st charge/discharge cycle seemed fine but, during subsequent cycles, whichever parent unit was charged on the 1st charger base lasted only about 1/2 hour before the battery was low. I swapped the parent units between charger bases but had the same poor results for whichever unit was on the 1st charger base. There was no outward indication that the parent unit was not charging - the light was lit, the unit seemed to be placed properly in the base, and everything seemed the same as the working charger base.



I called customer support at Philips to ask for a replacement charger base. Philips' support was great. They sent me a pre-paid return shipping label for my set and shipped another complete SCD590 set even though I only asked for a charger base.



I tried out the new set. The 2nd parent unit didn't beep when its battery became low (unlike all the other parent units). After another test or two, that unit hardly worked at all. It wouldn't charge or stay on. I hadn't yet returned my old set, so I planned to swap that unit for one of the old parent units. But then I had the same charger base problem as I did on the 1st set! In addition, the old parent unit won't link with the new baby transmitter. Apparently the parent units and baby transmitter function only as a set. You can't mix and match parent units and baby transmitters. However, you *can* mix and match charger bases. So that's what I did - I kept the old set and swapped out the faulty charger base.



Manufacturing reliability is pretty poor with this product. Out of two sets, each had one faulty charger base and one had a faulty parent unit.



I noticed that the parent units are very light (this is a good thing) and may not rest securely against the contacts in the charger base. A small piece of felt placed in the back of the charger base will hold the parent unit snugly against the contacts for better charging. However, that solution did not fix a charger base that simply won't charge the parent unit.



In summary, see 1st paragraph.

Overall one of the best, however the 'cutoff' feature is bitter-sweet (bitter in that it cuts 'in' and 'out' and it's kind of irritating; sweet in that you probably don't want to hear every little whisper sound). DECT is super nice - secure and clear (we replaced our prior set as we were getting interference from our neighbors - yikes!). Having 2 monitors is awesome (1 for master bedroom; 1 for kitchen/living room). Intercom feature is nice (but not used much for us with our 3.5 yr old), and the 'link' light is nice to know that it's established a link. Neck lanyard is also nice for handsfree movement. I would recommend this to others overall! ...if it wasn't so 'choppy' cutting in and out (or perhaps if you could calibrate/set this function), I'd give it 5 stars.

This product works as advertised--no interference!! With the sensitivity set at 3 bars and the volume (even at 3) you can hear when your baby is crying. I leave the charging base bedside and turn the sensitivity and volume up all the way when it's time for us to turn in, just in case. And that way, the battery life doesn't get drained.

However, I thought I ordered the model with the temperature and lullabies but apparently the two-parent unit package does not have those features. I ended up ordering the SD590 instead of the SD589. So, pay attention and be sure you order the one you want. I like that my husband has his own parent unit.

I can't believe we put up with hearing static for so long!!! Now everyone in the house is getting some rest :)

We have used the First Years Crisp and Clear 900 Mhz monitor for 3.5 years (and still are) for our son and have always loved it - very little to no static and clear sound. The lowest volume setting is not very low, but I've always dealt with that at nite by lying it face down (that way it's loud enough for the parent it's next to to hear, but not so loud that it wakes the other parent up). They no longer make that monitor and we've tried the Graco iMonitor (hated it - kept scanning for signal and beeping all the time), other First Years models (didn't charge well or weren't cordless), and a Graco one. We've been using the Graco one since my daughter was born, but one of the parents units has already died and the sound quality is so-so. Also, it's not cordless so it doesn't work so well for our household since I'm usually moving around and getting things done while my daughter is sleeping. The Philips monitor is great in that it gets great signal in our home (which is large and 3 levels) and has good sound quality. My issue with it is that I have to move the sensitivity level to maximum since it seems to only catch my daughter making vocal sounds and not when she's just sitting up and moving around in her crib if it's on any lower sensitivity level (so the other morning she was up for 45 minutes before the monitor told me she was - we have a camera in her room so I reviewed later). That kind of negates the selling point of this cancelling out background noise (we run a fan on low in her room and I wouldn't mind not having to listen to the whooshing sound all nite). Also, the highest volume setting is still very low, so when it's anything other than dead silent in the house, you can barely hear when she's up and making noises.

I have used other baby Monitors, but nothing comes close to this. This one is literally noise and static free all you hear is the baby, if the baby is sleeping you hear nothing. If only they had a cordless phone as good as this.

I replaced a traditional baby monitor with the Philips and we're very happy with its performance. Transmission is clear and static free and, even better, there are none of those random noises that the old monitor would frequently produce.

I sometimes have to check that the receiver is really on, that's how quiet it is most of the time. :-)

A huge improvement over any other monitor we have owned. We live in a 4000sq ft house and it reaches from one end to the other with no problems whatsoever.

This is our second monitor, we originally purchased an Angelcare with heatbeat monitor pad, however the static from that unit's monitors was unacceptable. We bought this to use in conjunction with the heartbeat monitor pad of the Anglecare and use the Philips for sound monitoring, should the heartbeat pad go off, this unit would relay the sound. It works as advertised, no static. Since it is not alway broadcasting you will not always hear sounds from your babies room unless you set the sensitivity to a 4 or 5 setting, however settings below that will work, it picks up normal conversation just fine at level 3. The handsets have rechargable batteries and the range is good, very easy to check if you are in range: the greem "link" display will glow solid green or flash red if you are not w/in range, the handsets will also chirp if they lose the base stations signal. Going forward it would be great if they integrated a heartbeat monitor pad with this unit for all in one protection, especially since this unit runs toward the higher end of all baby monitors.