Product Review: Baby Monitors

I mentioned a few weeks ago that our baby monitor was starting to crap out on us.

We registered for The First Years 49MHz Baby Monitor with 2 Receivers at Target as it seemed to be the best value - we don't need a video monitor or anything fancy, just something simple and basic that serves its purpose.

The monitor worked pretty well for a while, the battery operation that makes it wireless worked just fine and the sound, while a little bit of static from time to time and occasionally we would hear a nearby baby coming over the frequency, it was tolerable.

Right around when Jay turned 7 months is when it started crapping out.

We turned it on one night and the static was pretty bad not to mention the monitor kept cutting in and out. It was very annoying! Just to make sure it wasn't the receiver in the bedroom going bad, we switched it out with the one we use on batteries and it was doing the same thing - horrible static and the constant cutting in and out. We checked the child unit and did everything we could think to try to correct the problem but with no such luck. Nothing had changed from how we had previously been using it.

We pitched it in the trash and the next day I went out and bought us the Sony 900MHZ BabyCall Nursery Monitor.

It has multiple channels to use (the First Years one only had 2), and the receiver charges when it's plugged in so you can use it wirelessly for a bit (no batteries, woot!). A lot of the reviews said it had no static, which I guess is true if you don't use a sound machine or humidifier in your child's room, but we do so it does pick up a lot of extra noise, but it does amplify Jay's cries and movements so we hear them over the background noise in his room.

Granted, this one only has 1 receiver, but honestly, the only time we use the baby monitor is when I'm either asleep at night in our room or if Jay's in bed and we're downstairs for an extended period of time. The rest of the time, if I'm in the family room or kitchen I can hear him just fine. The charging feature is really nice though  - I really like that!

I am liking it so far, but we'll see how long this monitor lasts - hopefully longer than 7 months! I did purchase the extended warranty on it too for an additional $5. I forget how long it covers it additionally, but if it stops working properly within the extended time frame, Babies/Toys R Us will replace it for us.