SVAT GX5201 Wireless Portable Video Monitor with 2.5-Inch LCD & Night Vision Security Camera (Color)

by SVAT Electronics

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7 x 3 x 1 inches ; 2.8 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000M8UTZG
• Item model number: GX5201
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #28 in Electronics > Security & Surveillance > Surveillance Video Equipment > Security Monitors & Displays
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001

Product Description

SVAT GX5201 Wireless Portable Video Monitor with 2.5-Inch LCD & Night Vision Security Camera (Color)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars poorly designed but functional, November 28, 2007

By 

S. Coales "moneypitminer" (NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: SVAT GX5201 Wireless Portable Video Monitor with 2.5-Inch LCD & Night Vision Security Camera (Color) (Electronics)

This unit will pick up interference from any number of household electrical items. In my case, this was seen by a rolling line on the screen - maybe once a second or so. Annoying when using the night vision mode, and also when you want to use the sound from the camera too - with each roll of the line, you get a clicking sound.

I was able to, largely, get rid of this interference by slapping on a ferrite core noise suppressor to both the camera power line and the monitor power line. FERRITE CORE 1/4" CORD NOISE SUPPRESSOR well worth the couple of dollars.... Though why on earth the manufacturer didn't work this little gem out and do it already is beyond me.

I have a set of wireless speakers in the housePodz Wireless Rechargeable Speakers, I use a 2.4GHz wireless router (same frequency as this camera) and was able to prevent interference by using ONLY channels 1 and 2. Using channel 3 blocked my router completely. Cordless telephones were unaffected.

The power adapter input for the monitor IS inside the battery compartment which is a royal pain if you plan on going truly wireless with rechargeable batteries. You have to pull out the batteries and leave the battery compartment cover off to use.

The metal kickstand is alright, it works, it doesn't fold over and droop as I expected.

The 'scan' function works surprisingly well - this allows you to set the monitor to come on whenever sound is detected (baby crying, or door opening etc). You can even set the level at which the thing activates, which is actually quite sensitive.

In 'auto' mode the monitor will track between however many cameras are connected - flicking between views every 10 - 20 seconds or so, which again is rather handy. I will be putting one camera at each end of our basement so I can see what the kids are up to.

The camera mount will move if you even so much as think about looking at it, so place or mount it carefully unless you want to be for ever re-adjusting the thing.

The IR LED night vision... other reviewers put the useful range at about 6 foot - that's generous, but it really depends what you need to see. Still, it's good enough to see what our infant is doing in his crib at night. I dare say you could improve this by using another IR source in the room though (to see what I mean, play around with your TV remote, you will see the flashes...).

The selection switches for camera input are wicked small DIP switches (3 pin) that are secreted away at the bottom of the monitor unit. Still, I suppose that once they are set you don't need to be changing them all too often. I am shocked that the manufacturer did not hide them behind the power adapter input or somewhere even more inaccessible.

Oh! And you can plug this into your TV if you really need to. The picture quality is alright, you can even plug in the sound too.

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good product but could be much much better, August 28, 2007

By 

GenZen "GeneralZen" (New Milford, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: SVAT GX5201 Wireless Portable Video Monitor with 2.5-Inch LCD & Night Vision Security Camera (Color) (Electronics)

I was hesitant to purchase this after reading the last review. But my experience has been delightful.

I have no issues with power interference or power filter problem. Power supplies for camera and receiver are perfectly fine. I can connect the units to any outlets around my house and they work fine.

I originally had some WiFi interference with my wireless router because the receiver was right next to the router in my office when I was testing it. But, once I moved it away from the router, it worked perfectly fine with no interference.

**UPDATE** There is some interference but not drastic enough to distort the image. It depends where the receiver is around the house.

Positives:
* Color picture quality is excellent compared to the black and white Summer Infant monitor product (which had terrible interference problem).

* Also, I like the auto enable feature. Basically, the unit stays on standby (the receiver screen in shutoff until a sound from the camera activates it automatically). The input audio level can be adjusted on each individual camera.

* The unit supports up to three cameras

* The receiver color screen brightness is adjustable (so late at night, you can make it a bit darker)

* Lens has a nice wide-angle view. From 6 feet away, it can almost cover the length of a twin mattress

Negatives:
* The receiver uses four AAA batteries. I would have preferred a slightly thicker unit if it accommodated AA batteries. I have plenty of high capacity rechargeable AA batteries that I use for all our digital toys, but no AAAs. AA batteries are generally cheaper too.

* The power plug connects inside the battery compartment. The batteries have to be removed in order to use the power adapter. BAD DESIGN. This is incompetent design.

* Night vision is weak past 2 feet away. I can barely see anything past 4 feet.

* Camera lens does not zoom in or out. A manual zoom lens 2x or 3x would be a great feature to add in the future.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Works!, January 24, 2008

By 

WM "Working Mom" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: SVAT GX5201 Wireless Portable Video Monitor with 2.5-Inch LCD & Night Vision Security Camera (Color) (Electronics)

My standards may not be as stringent as some other reviewers, but this product works in our home, and I give it 5 stars for that. We live in a zero lot line subdivision so we have lots of neighbors in close proximity and we received TONS of interference with other video monitors (we tried 3 different brands before this one). One popular brand even showed our neighbors baby when turned to channel A -- um, creepy, and no. The others received so much interference that literally all we got was static and hiss. This monitor worked really well. It knocked out our wireless router on channel 1, but when switched to channel 2, that issue went away entirely. The microwave disrupts it when its running, and sometimes you have to adjust the monitors position on the table if it starts to flicker a little, but overall, this unit works and works really well. Sound is great and if we turn it up loud we can hear the baby breathing -- even over ths white noise of the humidifier running. Its not a high definition picture, but its clear enough to see whats going on , and its in color. Overall, extatic with this purchase for the simple fact that this monitor works where so many others didn't.