Customer Reviews

Safety 1st High-Def Digital Monitor

5 star:		(60)
4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

After a week of fuzz from the Graco Digital Deluxe iMonitor Baby Monitor. We returned it and bought this product on impulse at Target. This monitor is very simple to use and crystal clear. (As I am writing this review I can hear the clock ticking in the nursery.)

Pros:
+One button operation. (Turn on the baby-unit, turn on the parent-unit...done. There is no channel button to worry about.)
+Crystal clear. No static even at max volume.
+Loudest setting is loud enough.
+Lights show level of noise baby is making.
+Neat design. (This may sound weird, but baby monitors are for parents...not for babies. So why do so many of them look like toys?)
+Uses 3 AAA NiMH rechargeable batteries. (So they can be easily replaced if needed. Or if you don't plug it in, you can just use regular AAA's.)
+Only one parent unit (If you think you need two parent units, you should try either getting a smaller house or trusting your spouse.)
+Range sufficiently covers our house and yard.

Cons:
-I have my doubts about the belt clip. No problems yet, though.
-There is no charging cradle for the parent unit. So you have to plug in the cord every time. (Not a huge deal, but it would be nice.)

We haven't had it long enough to speak to its durability and battery life, but for now we are very happy with this product.

Bottom-line: We feel like we can trust this baby monitor.

UPDATE: Almost a year later, this monitor is still working great! We have no issues with interference or degrading quality. The batteries still hold their charge. Only complaint is the belt clip because it comes off easily. But this thing has fallen many times onto the hard tile floor and it still works fine.

We like this monitor a lot for a number of reasons. First, there is absolutely zero interference from phones, etc (why every new monitor on the market is not digital, I have no idea!). Next, it is sensitive enough to pick up nearly every sound, but the adjustable volume effectively allows you to choose just how much you hear. Finally, it looks reasonably cool - not a huge deal, but certainly helps.

Our one big gripe is that there is no audible warning sound when the battery on the parent unit dies. This is not a problem as long as you keep it plugged in. But on a few occasions now (when we were sleep deprived) we forgot to plug it back in during the middle of the night and awoke to a dead monitor, thus inspiring a mad dash down the hall to check on baby. The manufacturer could easily have built an audible warning beep that signaled that the battery was on its last leg. They did manage to do this with a visual warning signal (the light changes color) - but that is not terribly useful when you're sleeping!

Other than this flaw, this really is a very good monitor. Just remember to plug in your parent unit if you use it while you're sleeping.

I've only had the monitor for a month or so, so I can't attest to its longevity. However, Safety First doesn't exaggerate when they say there is NO interference! This monitor is crystal clear and has absolutely NO buzzing noise -- what a relief after our last monitor. Range seems pretty good, too. The one drawback I would like to mention is that the unit in the baby's room flashes when the parent unit is not turned on. What were they thinking??? I don't sleep with the parent unit on, and use it only when I am far enough away that I can't hear my daughter cry -- just an hour or two a night. The flashing isn't exactly a disco, but it's annoying enough that I had to hide the unit under my daughter's bed, even though the maker says to put it a yard away from the child for best results. In the day, I unplug the child unit so it's not flashing in her room all day. The problem is remembering to plug it back in at night. What a pain. But other than this design flaw, the monitor seems to really be quite good, which is why I am still giving it 4 stars. I hope the makers read this and rethink the design.

I kept debating buying the Philips, but had a horrible time justifying the price, especially when I really only needed a monitor for our bedroom to the kids' bedrooms which are far away from each other in our house. Occasionally I will walk around with the receiver, usually if I am working outside during naptime. And we don't need a second receiver. The others in this price range had very mixed reviews. So I waited. Then this one popped up.

We had to have digital since we have an apartment complex behind our house. We were ALWAYS picking up phone calls and other monitors with our 900 MHz monitors. If we can hear them we have to assume they can hear us...

The monitor is quiet. No static and we can hear as much as we want. We can turn the volume way down and eliminate the "little noises" that people complain about with other monitors.

I love the small size. I am figuring out the lights. I do have to keep the monitor receiver turned and facing away from our bed, otherwise the lights are too bright at night.

I am so glad I didn't succumb and finally spend over twice the price of this one on the Philips, which I am sure is a really great model, but more than we need with a toddler and preschooler.

PROS: Very good range, no antenna sticking out, very clear sound, good quality feel to the product with attractive styling, charge seems to last a decent amount of time. (We had the Sony BabyCall before which we liked but the Safety 1st one has better range and sound quality)
CONS: Volume control is by pressing buttons, rather than a dial. The lowest audible volume is still pretty loud.
WARNING: When you purchase it, open up battery compartment and remove the TINY TINY plastic pieces blocking where the battery touches the metal, otherwise the batteries will not fully charge. Company said they are working on fixing this.

First of all, ONE THOUSAND THANKS to the person who mentioned the tiny pieces of plastic over the metal! My son is 10 weeks old, and we have spent that entire time frustrated over the fact we had to keep the parent unit plugged in. After reading that review, the thing works great! I couldn't believe that a product rated so highly by parents and Consumer Reports for ease of use and range would be tethered to the wall outlet! You must be sure to remove from each slot for the battery a very small piece of opaque plastic covering the electrode.

PROS:
I also agree that the design is slim and chic. Very lightweight. Very discreet.

I have read reviews that the lights on the power buttons on each unit are too bright. But I disagree. I must not be that sensitive. I don't have to hide the unit in my son's room, nor do i have to cover the one next to my bed. I was worried about it, as I am a light sleeper, but a piece of electrical tape over the button is adequate to diminish the light, if it winds up being a problem.

The sound is clear with good volume control. I sleep with a sound machine next to my bed (my baby's shuts off after 20 min), and I can clearly hear him over that.

I also like that the fact that if the baby unit fails or the power goes out, the parent unit immediately makes a horrendous beep.

CONS:
I don't like that there is no battery backup for the baby unit.
Finally, I think that the ease of use could be better (hence 4 stars). I don't like press and hold---when he starts fussing I like to get up and shut the thing off so my husband isn't too disturbed. By the time I hold for 5 sec, the baby is much more upset and harder to calm. Plus that battery thing was unnecessarily obscure.

Overall, though, i am very satisfied and would purchase again.

Finally a monitor that works. We have a house that is definitely not monitor friendly. We have so many issues with interference and monitors losing signal. This one is great. I read some other reviews that complained that the monitor was too quiet (that the volume didn't go up high enough to hear the baby properly). Honestly I am not sure what they are talking about unless they were trying to hear the baby's every breath over the vacuum. This thing picks up every little sound and relays it to the parent unit with perfect clarity. My beef with it is that it is too loud. I don't want to hear my sweety's every little grunt and gurgle all night, I just want to know when he is awake. But I have the parent unit set to the lowest volume and it is too loud. I have to stick it under my bedside table at night. But that seems to work, so I am happy. No more crazy alarms in the middle of the night because my digital monitor lost signal and no more infernal FUZZ from the analog. Hooray!

I thought this monitor was great when I first got it, and it was pretty good as long as my son was in his crib. It isn't staticy like most, however, after owning this for 9 months I found the cons far outway any pros.

It's range for picking up sound is very small. It's range for picking up any noise is very, very small. It says 4 feet, but that's 4 feet directly in front of it and if you have a toddler who moves around or likes to crawl out of bed and wander the room or sit next to the door instead of lay in bed and cry, this monitor won't pick him/her up. It may pick up my son faintly if he's gotten out of bed, but usually he can get out of his room without me hearing it through the monitor.

The monitor is VERY bright, it flashes while it charges and if you like to sleep in the dark this monitor will light up the room. It doesn't make any sounds, like beeping, to alert you the battery is low it just starts flashing so if you happen to not be near it or see it flashing it will just die. I found that to be most annoying, there's no page button so if it has died you have to go on a manhunt for it if you've accidently misplaced it.

There's only one monitor so you have to take the cord with you to keep it charged up. With every charge it seems to hold less and less and last shorter periods of time on battery. I've owned the monitor for maybe 9 months now and it completely died, while it was charging. Of course it won't work just plugged in, so it's now useless.

I would much rather have a monitor that has a little static than this one. Don't waste your money.

Overall, we do like this monitor. Our house is 3 stories and the bedrooms are on the top floor. We can go down to the basement level with the parent unit and still be within range. We can still hear everything with no problem. There is background noise, a slight hum, all the time, but we don't find it to be an issue. Sometimes we can even hear baby breathe.
The one problem we have encountered is that when we put baby down to sleep in his room and then turn on the parent unit, sometimes the units don't immediately sync together. In other words, we always leave the baby unit plugged in, in baby's room; we only turn the parent unit on and off. When we turn the parent unit on, sometimes it doesn't always make the connection with the baby unit right away, and we can't hear baby on the monitor until it will suddenly make the connection. Suddenly, the hum will start and it is obvious that the monitor is now working. At times, I have waited a minute or so for it to make the connection and start working, but no luck, so I have had to literally go to baby's room and wave the monitor in the doorway and they will finally sync and start working. VERY frustrating. Careful, though, because when the parent unit is working and you put it anywhere close to the baby unit, you will get a high pitched sound and could wake up baby.
We are satisfied with the monitor, with the exception of the connection problem we have. Probably wouldn't buy this monitor again, but it works for us for now.

I'm telling you, after 4 other monitors that just did not work, this one is fantastic. No reception problems anywhere in the house or yard. The only reason I did not give 5 stars is that when the power goes out, the parent unit starts beeping. Plus, you have to manually turn unit back on when power is restored. But that being said, this is by far the best monitor we have ever had. You won't have to better one for the money, plus it is rechargable that lasts all night. We've had ours for a year now with no problems. It works in large condo buildings at the beach really well also.