Customer Reviews

Safety 1st Color-View Video Nursery Monitor

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

What a shame! This monitor has beautiful picture and the crib mount is a fantastic idea. That being said, DO NOT BUY IF YOU RUN WIRELESS DEVICES IN YOUR HOME! We have both wireless internet and a cordless phone. Both the router and the phone work on 2.4 GHz, but they do not interfere with each other. All three channels on this monitor, however, caused major interference with all of our wireless devices. I called the company to see if there was anything we could do. The representative said that we would need to buy a new cordless phone and router that operate at a different band. She even cautioned me that many households with satellite TV experience interference. My research discovered that the majority of wireless devices currently operate on the 2.4 GHz frequency. I don't understand why Safety 1st didn't put this otherwise fabulous monitor on the 900 MHz band, like all of their other video monitors. The bottom line... DON'T BUY THIS MONITOR IF YOU HAVE WIRELESS DEVICES OR SATELLITE TV IN YOUR HOME. It hurt me to take it back, but this monitor just isn't compatible with today's wireless home.

One other complaint I have with the monitor, is that you can only view it straight on. You loose the picture at ANY other angle. High price for a cheap LCD and limited frequency modulation.

OK...perhaps I'm being to hard on this unit...BUT...I don't think so....it's actually worse than the Safety 1st Sight and Sound 900mHz model. The Safety 1st Color View Video Monitor is just about on par with stringing 2 cups together with string and giving it a shot to see if you can see or hear anything. What is seemingly a wonderful concept just does NOT come together here with this model. Absolutely horribly reception.....I even turned OFF my wireless network and unplugged all of my 2.4gHz telephones...and yes, the same crappy performance. In fact, I've found that most of Safety 1st's products are extremely overpriced and even moreso over rated....even though they get sooooo many bad ratings here. We are steering clear of them from now on. The screen takes a long time to warm up a display true color.....the flickering is just not tolerable....I can understand a little but it's non stop. The sound is masked by the constant background noise of static.....YES, I've tried to change channels...it goes from bad to worse. This unit costs $200.....you can go to Best Buy or some other store and purchase a high quality surveillance camera for this amount and get musch better results...Actually, that is what we are doing. Just because it doesn't say baby on it...doesn't mean you cant use it you know.. ;)....this is going back to the store TODAY.....just as the last Safety 1st monitor I tried did a few weeks ago.....overpriced....poor performing product. Don't say I didn't warn ya ;) :)

I tried this monitor and the compact summers video monitor and the safety first one worked best. I have a 2.4GHZ wireless network and a 5.8GHZ wireless phone. The reception was better with the safety first 2.4GHZ monitor versus the summers. However you have to keep in mind that your neighbors wireless systems might interfere. The visibility was better however the Summers screen is more advanced and lets you see at different angles. The Summers product is also easier to carry around and the camera is easier to set up and adjust. The safety first isn't made to mount on certain cribs that have a thicker rail. However I had no clear reception with the Summers monitor. Too bad cause it was cheaper and the picture quality is supposed to be better. With these monitors it's all about the reception depending on the interference. Overall, having a video monitor is great and highly recommend it. Now that my baby is four months and can roll over, she gets stuck and can't roll back up. I worry at night because of SIDS, but with the video monitor I can hear her complain and see when she's stuck. I get up and switch her on her back. Also it's easier to judge when to get up with a video monitor because you can see if you're baby is just complaining while moving around in her sleep or if she's wide awake and crying. It helps a lot at night if you have your baby in their own room. I rate if four stars because the summers one is rated at 3.5 and I didn't get a clear reception with that one.

This monitor is very bad. It picks up interference from anything. It is noisy even at night when all electronics are off.

I am returning mine today. I wish I had read the reviews prior to buying this, but it looked nice. For the price I would expected it to perform, but it is junk.

Don't waste you money.

The reception is fairly good, however, the lcd display is one of the older types where it can only be viewed from certain angles. This makes it difficult to see when the unit is placed higher or lower than your field of view (ie. on a table top). The video camera works great in the dark, in fact it's excellent. The mounting system looks good for a crib, but it is not designed to use on a bassinet. I had to do some "custom" mounting to see my son in the bassinet. However, you can place the camera on a table or mount it to the wall if need be. Overall this is a good product, just needs a better screen.

Despite all the bad reviews, I still registered for and received this monitor as a shower gift wanting to see for myself. I completely agree with the other comments that this is a horrible monitor. It's very noisey due to all the static it produces. Definitely not something you could use at night while sleeping and forget about using any other electronics while it's on, especially the cordless phone.

We were able to exchange this monitor for the Summers Infant video monitor. This one is much better and about $30 cheaper. I should have listened to the other reviews in the first place.

I received this monitor on a Monday and I returned it on Wednesday. I was excited about getting what I thought was a better monitor for my son. It turns out that the thing gave me static the whole time it was on. The continuous clicking made me have to turn the volume down which then defeated the purpose since I would not be able to hear my son either.
Don't waste your money on this monitor, it looks great but it is terrible. After returning this monitor I purchased the Summer Infant Products Handheld Color Video Monitor W/Night Vision and that one works like a charm, no static and it's even $30 cheaper.

Safety 1st has the absolute best customer service. However the reason I know this is because I had to return the color view video monitor twice. The interference was terrible because we have several other 2.4 GH electronics. The sound had to be turned down because it continually made snapping and popping sounds. The video itself was not great, but you could see. I also have the safety 1st audio monitor that works well, but the frequency is different. After trying the video monitor twice I called safety 1st again and they refunded the entire purchase price. Again...there customer service is excellent.

This monitor has horrible reception. With my first child I bought the Sight and Sound Assurance Video Monitor. We love it. It gets awesome reception and I like the additional cordless sound monitor. Our only complaint was that the video monitor is a bit bulky. When we were expecting our second child we decided to buy this color view monitor. We liked the fact that the video monitor was compact. We tried it out and the reception is fine as long as we are no more than 10 ft away. The sound is horrible as well. It's very "crackly". I called the company and they stated there was nothing they could do. We unplugged our cordless phones to see what the difference would be...there wan't any difference. Not a great buy.

We purchased the most expensive video monitor thinking that we would "get what we paid for." I certainly hope there are better ones on the market. The sound on this monitor is not clear, there is a constant electronic-type hum. Pretty annoying when you're trying to catch some much-needed sleep! Also, while advertised as a color monitor, beware that the color is very "washed out" (reds look pale pink)and not significantly different from a black & white video monitor, even after adjusting the brightness. Additionally, the rechargeable batteries run down rather quickly (3-3.5 hours).

Having said that, it IS wonderful to be able to "peek" at the baby without waking him/her. A video monitor is the way to go, but perhaps there is a better one out there.