Customer Reviews

Philips AVENT Digital Screen Baby Monitor with DECT Technology

5 star:		(72)
4 star:		(39)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Our video monitor had finally bit the dust (the charge would last, at most, about 5 minutes from unplugging the unit), so when the opportunity came to try this one, I jumped at it. We've gone through 2 or 3 monitors, so I was curious to see how this one would compare...

It's a nice little monitor - the portion that goes into the baby's room (or small toddler in my case) is rather like a 3-dimensional triangle. It has a small nightlight built in, plays several different tunes, and has a volume control as well. It has a fairly small footprint, so fits well on top of furniture.

The parental unit is light and easy to carry, even without the included belt clip or "necklace". The display is extremely easy to read, with the temp. being the most visible. A little ear above shows if you have the sound on, and the battery life is above and to the right of the temp. Those are currently the only ones I have on.

It's fairly intuitive, though I broke out the (short) instructions anyway - this monitor is much more sophisticated than our previous one and I wanted to make sure I was doing it right for the review.

I have used it around the microwave, the cordless phone, and the old monitor with absolutely no interference. I literally had the monitor sitting right next to all three with no issues.

I know there are some that will believe it is silly to have the temperature setting on the monitor - however, we have recently been having issues with the heat in our daughter's room, so this helps us keep an eye on it. She tends to be extremely sensitive to having her room too warm, and will not be able to sleep if it is (which means mommy doesn't sleep either!). I have no way of truly testing the accuracy of the temperature function, but I can say that I have watched the temp. go up on the monitor when the heat in the house has come on, and then slowly drop back down again.

The sensitivity control on this thing rocks! We tend to have low music and a fan running in the kids' rooms pretty much all night and during naps...so, during my daughter's nap time, I did a test. I had noticed this disturbing tendency for the monitor to just go completely *silent*. I had my son run upstairs and whistle, while making sure that I would only hear the noise from the monitor. I could hear him, so I knew it worked, but found it strange that I couldn't hear any of the "white noise" from the bedroom. So, I did another test (all completely unscientific!)...At intervals of 5 minutes, I would lower the sensitivity one step...sure enough, at the middle step, all background noise completely disappeared while still being completely functional. WAY better than the last monitor we had, where there was absolutely no way to get rid of all the background noise.

The volume works great - even with all the "white noise" that goes in our daughter's room all night (and the fan that runs in ours), I had no problem hearing when she woke me up this morning at 3AM! I was also able to hear my son's whistle as he stood *outside* the closed bedroom door, with all the white noise running IN the room, during our sensitivity "test".

The only real "con" that I have is that the lights are VERY bright in a dark room! It's a small complaint, and it was easily solved by placing a small washcloth over the top to block the lights. However, now that I've solved the sensitivity issue, if there is no sound - there is no light! That should no longer be an issue at night. It would be nice if there was more to the nightlight, but we use one of those star turtles anyway, so it's not a huge concern...

Long review, short answer: I highly recommend this monitor. It does what it says, and it does it quite well. The battery life, so far, has been terrific and the adjustable sensitivity pretty much makes the whole monitor. The rest is just gravy...

I hated my old monitor (which was not a cheap one) because of the static, muffled sounds, and general inability to keep a signal from the babies room to my bedroom. Many a night as it beeped at me I wanted to throw the thing out the window.

I gave in and decided to spend some real money and hoped that my frustrations would be solved. And, they are!

I waited for the new Avent monitor after reading the mixed reviews about the old one and I am very glad I did. The big issue that people had on the old model was that the unit was not loud enough. Parents complained that at full volume they still couldn't hear if their kid was still breathing. That problem has been solved. I have no problem hearing every breath. You can control the sensitivity of the parent's unit - so it can be on all the time, or if it quiets down, you don't hear a single noise out of the unit. No static, no beeping, no hum from the cordless phone - pure brilliant silence.

My child is older now, so I have the sensitivity low enough that unless she starts crying I won't hear her. If she turns over in the bed, I hear nothing. But, when I have another baby I am sure I will crank it all the way up to hear every little breath.

The unit allows me to talk to the babies room - which I thought was a bit silly. But, I don't use the function to talk to the kid (she is still confused as to why she hears her dad's voice from the bookshelf) - I use it to talk to my wife. "Do you know where the clean socks are?" - "yes- in the bottom drawer" - and I never left the master bedroom to help!

It has a music feature (which you can't control from the parent's unit). A night light feature (which isn't really bright enough to be of use). And it has a page function if you lose the parent's unit.

Long story short, great unit - worth the $. If you want to actually enjoy the baby monitor experience - this is the one for you. I can finally sleep in peace.

QUICK TAKE: This Philips Avent monitor has a lot of nice features, design and functionality (as discussed toward the end of this review). But at two to three times the cost of other audio monitors, the added features don't add enough value to earn a recommendation. And even setting aside price, the very low volume on the parent unit limits the usability and versatility of this product for general use.

The biggest issue is that the volume on the parent unit, even when set to the maximum (and with the baby unit sensitivity at maximum), isn't loud enough for everyday situations. For example, with the parent unit five feet away while feeding a not-very-noisy two year old. And so forget about the flexibility (which other monitors have) to turn it up loud enough to hear a child crying while you're in the shower, or during even a quiet-ish get-together. To be really useful, a monitor should go from very quiet to very loud, with lots of steps in between. But unless you keep it next to you and are in a quiet room, the Philips Avent is just not loud enough.

If you only want a night-time monitor, or otherwise always keep it close to you in a quiet situation, this works well. Also, if you have a toddler, who needs less frequent monitoring and can make herself heard when needed, this may work. (Though at the right price the Philips Avent Basic Baby Monitor w/ DECT Technology, without the temperature feature, may be the way to go.) But as a real-life, wide-range-of-situations monitor - this Philips Avent doesn't make the grade.

Another issue is the thermometer, which is not very useful for two reasons: First, it always reads 5-7 degrees high, which is at a minimum annoying, and also hard to explain to a babysitter, and can run into the pre-set limits to the temperature range alarm feature. Second, the temperature reading unit is on the back of the monitor. That of course assumes you want to measure the temperature in the same place the monitor is - but depending on the your setup, that is often not the case. The temperature on a high shelf five feet from the baby (where you want to put a monitor) might be very different from the temperature where the baby is. If they really want to offer this feature, it should be accurate and ideally use a separate unit for reading the temperature (and humidity, as on their top-end monitor). (We use the Oregon Scientific BAR638HGA Weather Forecaster with Temperature & Humidity, it works well.)

That being said, there are lots of things to like about this monitor:

+ It uses DECT technology to transmit, which is a secure, static free digital technology with great sound quality, not robotic like some digital audio. (The best new cordless phones use this, too.) It operates at 1.9Ghz, so it won't conflict with anything in your house. It connects well and stays connected (though we don't use it over long distances).

+ The ability to adjust, from the parent unit, the sensitivity of what sound gets picked up in the baby's room is a very nice feature.

+ The parent and baby units are smaller (and more attractive) than you'd guess from the photo. The parent unit is 2+" wide by 4" high by 1+" deep.

+ The battery life on the parent unit seems very long.

+ The nightlight is appropriately dim for a baby's room, maybe the first time I've seen one that wasn't too bright.

+ The music on the baby unit is the first I've heard that I like, though the fact that you can't turn it on and off from the parent unit limits its usefulness.

+ The ability to talk from the parent unit to the baby unit is a nice feature, both to talk among parents and to let a toddler know you're on the way.

There are also some negatives. In addition to the major issues with the volume and the temperature, and not being able to control the music from the parent unit: The power LED on the front of the baby unit is too bright. (I'm getting a lot of use out of that roll of white electrical tape.) It's lame that the power adapters can't handle 230 volts (as well as the US 115V), it limits this monitor's usefulness as a travel monitor. And the menu system is a little cumbersome.

I can definitely understand the issues people have with the screen. It's really hard to read. Luckily we just don't use it much, since the temperature readout isn't useful, so it hasn't been an issue for us except when using the menu system for the controls.

It is important to fully charge and discharge the NiMH (nickel metal-hydride) batteries the first couple times you use it.

As far as alternatives, I've used and reviewed several other audio and video monitors, only one of which I'd recommend - the Summer Infant Best View Color Video Monitor. There are two others that seem to get good reviews, and may be next on my list to try: For an audio-only monitor, the Safety 1st High-Def Digital Monitor. Or, if you're going to pay $100 plus (or give a gift), a better option might be to jump to a video monitor, like the Summer Infant model above or the Safety 1st High-Def Digital Video Monitor. Video monitors turn out to be more useful than most people would think.

UPDATE (September 2009): Having used this more has confirmed my sense that it is not a monitor I'd really recommend.

SCREEN: The screen really is very poorly designed and hard to read.

BEEPING NOISES: I just don't understand why they thought it was a good idea to make it beep when you adjust the volume. (Maybe because the screen is so hard to read?) When you hear a child at night and want to turn the volume down to minimize the number of people who are disturbed, it beeps! That's ridiculous.

INFLEXIBLE ADAPTERS: This is a product that really ought to have a power adapter that can handle international voltages.

FEATURES NOT USEFUL: We've never used any of the sounds, lights, alarms, etc. The controls and features don't make them very useful. As noted, the temperature feature could be very useful, if it actually worked properly.

UPDATE: After about a year of use the receiver unit started dying with no notice. I could no longer trust the unit and it was out of warranty so I had to pitch it. I am back to using my old Fisher Price set which I had before these.

I received this through the Vine program. We have two special needs children and a large two story house. Good monitors are indispensable. We have gone through several sets of monitors and I am always ready to find something new and better.

First, the set was easy to remove from the box and easy to set up. I like that. No wires or plastic ties to undo just to get it out. As someone with arthritis I appreciate that.

The parent unit is very handy. It is small and has a pocket clip and a lanyard that can hang around the neck. That is a great improvement over the clip only one on most of the monitors I have owned. The baby unit has lots of buttons and a night light feature that you can turn on and off. It has several customizable settings and a talk button. The customizable settings including temperature, volume level, a sensitivity setting and songs. It also has several alert settings. One of the best features is that it sounds an alarm if it loses the link to the monitor. I really love that.

A great new feature is that monitor has a room temperature alarm. The temperature setting has alarm limits so that you can be alerted if the temp in the room gets to warm or cold. I suppose that means that this would also alert you if there was a fire near the room. We have a new home but if we were in an older home I can see why anyone would want to know what the temp was in your child's room.

I love the adjustable sound level sensitivity setting. It allows you to tune out the background noise in the room and only hear noises above the set level. I have ours set pretty low and yet the monitor only let's me hear what I need to. I always had to put our other monitors in our master bathroom so that I could not hear all the background noise. I can keep this one next to the bed. I think that we are more likely to awaken for these sounds as I am not filtering out the non essential sounds in my sleep. When a louder noise occurs, such as coughing or crying, the monitor immediately comes to life and is easy to hear. I was apprehensive that his would not work and would miss something, but my apprehension was unfounded. I usually have the monitor on the floor in the hallway between my children's rooms and when the dog or cats walk by the monitor, I can hear it. After a few seconds the monitor again becomes quiet until the next time.

Another great feature is the talk button on the parent unit. When I am upstairs and someone's alarm goes off, I can assure my children that "Mommy's coming". They know that help is on the way. The base unit also has a page button so if you can't find the parent unit, and it's on, you can push a button and the parent unit lets out a beep so you can find it.

The next great feature I love is the long life rechargeable battery in the parent unit. That, plus the ability to put batteries in the baby unit make this very versatile. We live in the country and our children are handicapped. There are times that they want to sit outside for a while and I need to run inside for something. I can leave this monitor with them and can hear them from inside that house. I sometimes have to run into the store for a package and can hear them in the car for the minute or two I am in the store. I have never had a monitor that does this and I love it.

We recently had a power outage that lasted several days. We do have a generator that runs part of the house. The monitor worked for hours on battery plus the temperature feature insured that the temperature was constant in the children's rooms.
I think that this is the best monitor that I have ever owned and would definitely recommend it to anyone. .

Let me preface this review as this is my first review ever on Amazon and I have been purchasing 2-3+ items a week from Amazon for several years. Also, we bought the SCD-520 recently when our SCD-589 died. The SCD-589 was a great product and in the 2 years we had it, we never had a problem with it.

So what is wrong with this product?

1. It has a "silent" mode to tune out ambient noise (a good idea), but it turns off while my daughter is making noise, i.e, talking or coughing, even on the highest sensitivity. This is a huge design flaw and is unacceptable.
2. It doesn't link to the base consistently in the exact same location as the SCD-589 was located
3. The lights are EXTREMELY bright, bluish-white, which lights up the entire bedroom when we are trying to sleep.

First, the safety issue. I understand the reasoning behind the device going into silent mode and tuning out ambient noise. Fans, sleep sound devices, air humidifiers, etc. can cause background noise which is annoying and can lead to you turning the volume down on the parent unit. However, my daughter making ANY noise isn't ambient noise, and I have listened to the device turn on silent mode at the exact time my daughter has been making noise. Sometimes, she talks a little in the morning, but hasn't really "gotten out of bed" yet. Sometimes she'll lay there and talk and play, other times she'll just fall back asleep if it is still early. I have personally listened to the baby monitor turn off the sound at the exact same time she is talking/making noise. This is unacceptable and a huge safety issue because I have also gotten up when this happens and heard my daughter continuing to make noise, including coughing. The monitor does not consistently reactivate so I can hear her. This happens when I have it set on the highest sensitivity. Again, unacceptable, and a terrible design. If the device worked as designed and actually activated any time my daughter made noise, it would be a good feature. As it is, it is dangerous.

Second, the product is advertised as having a range of 330 meters or 1,000 feet. The baby monitor is within approximately 100 feet in our house and has trouble linking with the base. We had the SCD-589 in the EXACT same location without ever experiencing any problems in over two years. The SCD-520 parent unit makes a loud beep when it loses contact with the monitoring unit (a nice feature so you are aware that there is an issue). However, this loud beeping is extremely annoying when it happens several times during the middle of the night for no apparent reason. Nothing moves, nothing changes, yet the parent unit consistently loses contact with the monitoring unit several times at night and makes a loud beeping sound. The problem was so bad that I returned the unit thinking it was defective. The problem has continued with the new monitor, so it appears to be a defective design and not an issue with one "bad" device. I understand that going through building materials, being on another side of the house, and other electronics will cause the device to lose some of its range; however, this loss seems excessive considering the distance and the fact that the older model NEVER had this problem in 2+ years.

Third, the bright lights. The SCD-589 was certainly ugly compared to this new version, but it had soft white/yellowish lights on it. These lights were very visible, but not intrusive at all. On the SCD-520, the lights are VERY bright. My wife keeps the baby monitor on the bedside table and they literally light up the room to the point that you can tell there is a light on when you close your eyes. This is a situation where Philips/Avent have ignored usefulness in their attempt to make the device "look" better. The lights aren't bright enough to wake you up from a deep sleep, but they are bright enough to make it difficult to get to sleep. There is no functional purpose for having the lights as bright as they are on a device that is going to be in the bedroom when you are trying to sleep.

Overall, this is an extremely disappointing step back. Unfortunately, we have electronics which interfere with other baby monitors so the DECT is almost a necessity. I was extremely excited when I got the SCD-589 because it didn't have any interference and it worked PERFECTLY. When it died, I was excited to see what improvements had been made on the newest model - it certainly looks nicer. However, it is an extremely disappointing product that I wouldn't recommend for anyone, especially considering that you are paying a premium for this device over other baby monitor products. When it works, like the SCD-589, it is well worth paying the premium. When it doesn't, like the SCD-520, it is like throwing money away because I can't depend on this monitor with my daughter's (and future baby's) life/health. It is an unsafe and unreliable product.

First I would like to say that times have certainly changed. When my oldest was a baby (1995) the best monitors were ridden with static and not very sensitive. This model however, provides incredible sound quality with ZERO static or interference. I have a two story house with a full basement and this monitor provided crystal clear sound even across three floors of the house. I also have two different cordless phone systems and a wireless-B network, and none of that interfered with this monitor at all.

For me, 99% of the value of an item like this lies in its clarity and performance (which as I mentioned are excellent). The added features like built-in music, intercom feature, etc are simply icing on the cake.

This is a pricey item but the performance justifies the hype and the cost.

I really wanted this monitor to work! -- The Philips Avent Digital Screen Baby Monitor w/ DECT Technology. I care-give my mom, and I loved that the parent unit allowed me to talk to her while I was in another room... plus, she was able to hear me loud and clear. Unfortunately though, the other reviewers were correct about the parent unit. At the highest volume, it barely picked up my mom's weak 88 year old voice. Even when I asked her to yell, I had to strain to hear her. What a shame because other than that, I just loved this monitor.

I ended up returning it, and buying a Fisher Price Long Distance Baby Monitor. It has so many different volume levels that I can even hear my mom's tiny voice while I'm watching TV. Granted, there's a bit of white noise, but not so much that it's distracting, and at least now I am confident that I won't miss my mom's call for help.

After previously having the Sony Baby Call monitor - BABY CALL,900Mhz,27CHNLS which I thought was pretty good, I like the Philips Avent monitor much better. The one thing that stands out most is the audio clarity of this monitor, it is outstanding. Compared to the analog technology of the Sony Baby Call which always seemed to have a little bit of background noise no matter what, the digital signal on the Avent is crystal clear. Though the Avent will occassionally present some sort of clicking interference at times which does not last for long, and usually goes away if the parent unit is moved somewhere else. Although the volume on the parent unit is very acceptable, I just wish it went a tad louder than it does, just for a little more headroom on the high end.

The parent unit on the Avent is great, it fits nicely in your hand, has a belt clip, and also a neck strap. No matter how you wish to transport it, Philips makes it easy for you. The range is excellent too, I am able to pick up the signal anywhere in the house, and outside in the yard too. There is a link light on the front which turns green which the link is active (initially the display also indicates it is linked as well), and turns red and blinks when the link is not active (someone turns off the baby unit) or you are out of range of the baby unit. When you are out of range the unit alerts you with 3 beeps about every 10 seconds ( and the display indicates "Not Linked") until the link is re-established.

The large LCD screen has a blue "Indiglo" type backlight which I find very hard to read when it is on at any angle. My first thought is is click on the menu button and change the contrast for the screen, however there is none. Luckily the light goes off after a few seconds and you can read it with available room light without an issue. The 5 brilliant blue LED's across the top act as a sound level meter when they light up - a very nice feature and the blue color is a real attention getter from anywhere within an eye's glance. Once the unit is operational the temperature in the room where the baby unit is shows up on the LCD screen. I guess this feature is handy if the house temperature fluctuates or the baby is sensitive to the temperature. I found that it generally read about 4-5 degrees above the thermostat in the same room. The volume is controlled by the "+" and "-" buttons on the parent unit. You also use these buttons to adjust the sensitivity from the unit's menu, where you can also set the unit to alert you when the baby makes noise if wish to turn the volume all the way down. The menu also enables you to set a temperature range where you can program a minimum and maximum setting and the unit alerts you when it falls out of these parameters. This is not something I would use much, but some people might. The parent unit also allows for two way communication to the baby unit. There is a push to talk button on the left side of the parent unit, so you can communicate to the baby or anyone else in the room where the baby is. I find this handy when the baby is getting changed and I wish not to be in the room.

The baby unit is a pleasant looking triangular design with five buttons near the top to adjust the loudspeaker on the unit for the two -way communication and the lullaby function, as well a button to page the parent unit if it lost. The play/stop button turns the lullaby on the baby unit on or off and plays continuously until you turn it off. When a lullaby is played, the parent unit shows a music note symbol on it as well as the lullaby number that is currently playing (1-5). The problem is you also hear the music in the parent unit, which gets annoyingly repetitive. Once the baby is asleep you really want to turn the lullaby function off. This is something that the parent unit lacks, a way to remotely turn off the music. You have to walk back to the baby unit and hit the stop button - risking awakening the baby. I find this as a major design flaw in the unit. I would much rather have had a way to shut off the lullaby function than to display what number lullaby was playing - I mean I can "hear" which one is on, I would rather switch it off. The baby unit also have a warm soothing little night light on it which only turns on and off from the base, yet there is an indicator on the LCD screen to let you know it is turned on.

Overall I am very happy with this unit, the design is slick, and the performance is excellent. It runs circles around the Sony I had as far as clarity and range and the Avent has virtually no interference, unlike the Sony. I guess that is the nature of analog and digital technology though, and you get what you pay for, so this unit should be interference free. If you are looking for a good unit, consider picking this one up.

SUMMARY
This is a stylish monitor with useful functions (such as intercom, temperature sensor, clear reception, night light and lullaby). It has several drawbacks which prevent this from being the perfect monitor.

GOOD FEATURES
This baby monitor has a lot of great features. At the top of my list are the crystal clear reception and the temperature sensor. I've read studies in which high room temperatures can lead to SIDS, so having a sensor built in which displays the room temperature on your Parent Unit is great. It's also pretty accurate.

Unlike my previous Graco baby monitor, the connection from the Baby Unit to the Parent Unit doesn't cut off for some unknown reason in the middle of the night. I have a 5.8 ghz set of telephones, a Graco baby monitor, an Apple Airport Wi-Fi hub, as well as some neighbors' wireless systems to compete with and the Philips Avent baby monitor receives signals flawlessly. The Parent Unit and Baby Unit configured themselves to each other right out of the box.

The other good features are the intercom, which lets you talk from the Parent Unit to the Baby Unit, and the 5 built-in lullabies. The music definitely sounds better than some mobiles that I've heard.

DRAWBACKS
I would have rated this system 5 stars except for the following:

The VOLUME doesn't seem very high. You can set the sensitivity to detect more sound from the baby's room. But what you actually hear from the Parent Unit still doesn't sound very loud. I did a comparison test with my Graco Deluxe iMonitor bought in 2006, and the Graco's volume was louder. This is the reason why my wife wants to keep leave the Graco one in the baby's room as a back-up.

The INTERCOM, when heard in the baby's room, sounds harsh. I was speaking into the Parent unit 12" away (as recommended by the manual). But I still sounded a bit like a robot. [UPDATE: if the Parent Unit is in a different room than the Baby Unit, the robot voice of the intercom goes away] My old Graco baby monitor didn't have this feature, so I can't complain too much. What puzzles me though is that I can play lullabies when I push a button on the Baby Unit. However, I can't remotely play the lullabies from the Parent Unit. Instead, the Parent Unit's LCD screen strangely indicates when a lullaby is playing but I can't turn it on and off from there.

The LCD SCREEN as you might have seen in other reviews is very flawed. It has a very bright blue light which washes out all of the information displayed on it. In a dimly lit room, it's hard to read. In a dark room, it's even harder to read.

The Parent Unit has a lanyard and belt clip which allows you to keep it with you. I wish there was an option to but another Parent Unit to keep somewhere else in the house. If you misplace the Parent Unit, you can always page it from the Baby Unit. But to have one at your desk and another in your bedroom would have been ideal.

>> CONCLUSION <<
Some minor drawbacks (LCD screen) and some larger drawbacks (low volume) prevent this baby monitor from being great. It's more than adequate for most people. But if you're a heavy sleeper, I wouldn't recommend this one since you might not hear your kid crying... which is the primary purpose of a baby monitor.

SIDE NOTE
If you buy one, please note that the manual recommends charging the Parent Unit for 10 hours before first using it.

[UPDATE 12/13/08: if the Parent Unit is in a different room than the Baby Unit, the robot voice of the intercom goes away]

I had ordered a Philips monitor earlier in the year for my two year old and loved it (it was the orange one with two parent units). I could not find that model available for my newborn so I bought this one. My newborn is now 5 months old and has been sleeping through the night in his nursery for over a month but this monitor is now keeping me up at night. Our house is not that large but our master is on the main and the baby's room is at the top of the stairs. Several times during the night this stupid thing beeps incessantly after losing the signal. I have had to move it closer and closer to the stairs and just hope I wake up if the baby needs me. I cannot wait until the new monitor I ordered arrives so I can take this thing outside and smash it with a bat. Sorry to be so harsh but it is 1:00 am and it just woke me out of a sound sleep on Christmas night.

Oh, yeah - the temperature always reads 7 degrees too high as well.