If you are in need of a baby monitor and you search for one on Amazon or Target, you are immediately inundated with options and the options quickly become overwhelming.
I was chatting with a group of my girlfriends about baby monitors and after we began comparing them one girlfriend said, “This needs to be a blog post!” She was right, and I’m so glad they were willing to help. They have graciously offered their reviews on what features they like, don’t like, and the longevity of their monitors. Thanks, ladies!
1. Infant Optics Video Baby Monitor: This monitor was actually used by two of my friends and me!
Here’s what Whitney had to say:
We’ve had great luck with the infant optics monitor, haven’t had any issues in the 11 months! Easy to use!
I like having the monitor separate from my phone.
You can turn, tilt and zoom the camera from the monitor. Stays charged for a long time.
I think the lighting and volume is good on it.
I haven’t used the talk feature yet.
Taking it traveling, packs easy and is easy to set up.
At night I just tap once and the screen goes dark and just tap again to see the screen. I don’t use the volume at night unless I can’t sleep I turn it up a little to use it as a sound machine for me, ha! Bonus!
Here’s what Lindsey had to say:
PROS:
-Very reliable. I’ve never had any internet connection problems.
-comes with 2 different camera lenses with a great zoom feature and very clear picture.
-comparable in price to other monitors that are similar.
-can tilt and zoom from the handheld monitor.
-can have the sound off and screen off and the lights on the side will still detect sound.
-option to purchase up to 3 additional cameras for around $100 each.
-temperature displayed on monitor
-long battery life
CONS:
-lost clarity in the camera after about 6 months. Not sure if it’s because it fell off the wall a couple of times or what. But the clarity does come back if I have my owlet hooked up next to it. (After googling the issue it has something to to with the infrared light, so I can buy an infrared enhancer for $30, but that would just be yet another thing to have to hang and plug in)
-the charger cord became loose when the plugged into the monitor and ended up needing to get a new one.
Kelsey, here. With over 44,000 reviews on Amazon at 4.5 stars, I agree that it’s a great option for an infant monitor! As far as longevity is concerned, it still works great for us after purchasing three years ago, but does require to be plugged in at all times or it won’t turn on. Overall, we’d both definitely recommend!
2. Wyze Cam Pan: Kelsey, again. When baby number two arrived, we decided he would use our infant monitor and that our older daughter didn’t necessarily need an infant monitor anymore. We decided on this camera, and I cannot recommend it enough! To begin, it only costs roughly $37. Yes, please! The camera can pan, tilt, and zoom, has two-way audio, and night vision. Set up is easily done over wifi, and the device can be shared to other phones via email invite. This makes it a dream to share the device to grandmas or babysitters and then they just turn off their notifications when they leave. When I mentioned sharing my favorite monitors, our babysitter said, “You should tell people about the Wyze app!! It’s so underrated! You’re the only family I watch who has that and it’s soooo nice 😂.”
Another great feature is you can set the sensitivity of notifications. For example, we turn the motion detections down but turn up the sound detections. This allows for you to customize your notifications and not be alerted for every little movement or sound. Speaking of notifications, this is what it looks like on your phone:
Another great feature is the ability to take a photo or video that saves to your phone camera roll. You know, so you can show the nap time shenanigans your kid was up to to your husband.
In the summer of 2018 we took our Wyze cam to a hotel but weren’t successful in connecting it to the wifi. I believe this was because we weren’t able to enter a password for the wifi. When Grace was born, I noticed Wyze had now given the option of no password for setup, so I am assuming Wyze fixed this glitch. If traveling, you might consider an alternate option in case this isn’t resolved.
Overall, I can’t recommend this camera enough!
Lindsey says:
PROS:
-works off the same app as the owlet sock if a parent is looking to purchase both. (I personally only used the sock a couple of times when D has RSV.)
-temperature displayed in the app
-the recent update in October 2020 now always push notifications and you can adjust the sensitivity. (This wasn’t an option when I first got mine)
-Amazing picture quality, probably better than the infant optics.
-can access from pretty much everywhere. This is handy when hubby is in charge and I can quick get on the app and check in on kiddo.
CONS:
-runs off a phone or tablet that would need to be plugged in all the time.
-can zoom in with finger pinch and expand but no option to tilt and see other areas of the room.
-every time it is unplugged you have to go through the whole process of reconnecting and need to be in front of the camera to accomplish this
4. VTech Digital Video Monitor with Remote Access and Two Cameras
Here’s my friend Kara’s take on this monitor duo:
Baby Monitor Review
VTech Digital Video Monitor PTZ with 2 Cameras
VM5262-2 (Purchased from Target)
Pros:
⁃ 2 cameras to place in separate rooms, great if you have two (or more littles) you want to keep an eye on ⁃ Ability to pan, tilt, and zoom cameras from monitor so for our oldest when he moved to his big boy bed and would get out, we could move the camera around the room to see what he was doing and not have to go in there ⁃ Can view one camera, split screen, or set to toggle back and forth and alert when there’s movement or noise on one of the cameras ⁃ Cameras can play soothing sounds and lullabies (we never used these as we already had other sound machines but great feature if you use these) ⁃ Two-way talk back intercom, very useful when our soon just moved to his big boy bed to tell him to “lay down or get back in bed” without having to go into his room ⁃ Large monitor screen, 5” (some are very small and hard to actually see baby), also in- color and infrared night vision for night, high-resolution screen (some are very blurry, this one you can see the prints clearly on kiddos jammies and sheets) ⁃ Temperature of room displayed on screen, great feature we just started liking after placing a space heater in the nursery with the cold temps to ensure it wasn’t getting too hot or cold for baby to sleep)
Cons:
⁃ Expensive, $180; this was our second baby monitor purchase that we purchased after expecting baby #2; advice if planning on more than one kid is to register/buy dual or multiple camera option right away and storing cameras until needing them ⁃ The infrared night vision on one of our cameras stopped working so we essentially have one useless camera unless we use it during daylight (which no longer need with our oldest no longer napping but I’d still really like to check in on him at night time especially since he tends to wake during the night 🙁 ) We never did look further into this or contact the seller/vendor so it may been remedied if we had, there is a 1 year limited warranty with it, we may have been in that timeframe when it stopped working but with a toddler and new baby at home, we never got around to it so have used it the past year + as a one camera monitor) ⁃ Monitor needs charging after about two hours or so sometimes we need to either plug it in or turn it off and on to check on baby so that can be annoying
Kelsey, again! Thank you so much to Whitney, Lindsey, and Kara for taking the time to write an honest review. There’s a lot of information to digest here, but I hope this helps if you’re in the market for a monitor.
twss,
Kelsey