 Does what it is supposed to do and does it well. |
| Review Date: April 29, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Bryan G., Charlotte NC |
I always figured my first review for Amazon would be for a CD that only I was cool enough to appreciate or for a movie that no one else had heard of. Instead my first review is for a baby monitor. Oh, the times, they are a changin'.
First off, this monitor has a horrible name, so if you're like me and you did a bunch of research on these things, you probably got confused between reviews from various online retailers. This is the "Summer Best View DIGITAL Video Baby Monitor"...There are other similarly named products that do not perform near as well as this one, just to be clear.
This is our first kid and therefore our first video monitor. And it performs great. The video in night-vision or full-light is good enough for what you need it to do: show you your baby and how he/she is. You won't get TV quality out of this for the price. But as a baby monitor it's great. Audio quality is good, you can hear tiny noises. Again, no it won't sound like a professional boom mic, but the quality is such that you can hear your baby clearly. That's the point.
It has pan/zoom which work fine, but for us with a newborn, this is just a bonus. I'm not looking for Scorcese type stuff here, since the kid isn't mobile. The volume is within a menu, not a separate button, but this really is not that big a deal. Try it, it really is not as bad as you would think.
I've had no issue with the pulsing red lights, and it does not cause my night vision to pulse as others have said. Maybe that's cuz I keep the brightness adjusted down so my kid doesn't look like Casper the ghost in night-vision. As for the green power LED on the front, well that was a mistake on somebody's part. But it is easily fixable with electrical tape. Everything else about this product works so well, that I don't see the point in dinging the product for something easily fixable with tape. OH, and I have had no interference with my wireless devices at all. I'm running 802.11g and I've had no signal loss. This is across 2 laptops, a NAS, a wireless printer, a PS3, a Wii and an XBOX 360...Everything continued to send/receive perfectly. My portable phone is 5.8 GHz, so I have no interference there either.
For the money, you can't find a better video monitor. Go in with reasonable expectations, and I think you will find this system is pretty close to perfect. |
Love this monitor!
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| Review Date: February 1, 2009 |
| Reviewer: JMS, Lake Worth, Florida United States |
This is my second Summer Infant video monitor...my first was the basic 900 MHz Day and Night Handheld monitor that's been around for a few years. Overall, I have been happy with my old video monitor but the audio was terrible and I wanted the security of digital technology.
I bought two different monitors and figured that I would give them both a try before deciding which to keep. The two I chose were the Summer Infant Best View and a Safety First High Definition monitor. I liked the features the Safety First monitor had to offer but was very disappointed at the so called High Definition video quality and size of the screen on the handheld parent unit. I would compare the video quality to be the same as my old Summer Infant unit. I found the zoom and pan feature to be annoying as it moves in a frame by frame fashion. The video is supposed to be in color during daytime viewing but it looked mostly grey and blurry. The constant beeping when using the menu and flashing of the video unit is enough to drive you nuts. Needless to say that I sent it right back for a return.
Now about the Sumer Infant Best View Handheld video monitor. I was pleasantly surprised at how large the screen is on the handheld parent unit. The picture is about as clear as you are going to get on one of these video baby monitors and there is actually color during daytime viewing. The pan and zoom feature is easy to use with the joystick type of knob and is smooth and quick to use. The audio is crystal clear with zero interference. I have a wireless network in my house that runs on a 2.4 GHz frequency (the same frequency as this monitor). The instructions warned me that there may be interference but so far I have not had a single problem (it's been about a month). The range is fantastic. My house is on an acre of land and I still had perfect reception on the monitor when I tested to see how far I can go without losing a signal. I have not tested the upper limits on the battery yet since I leave it plugged in most of the time anyway. The only drawback on the unit is that you can't add a second camera if you want to monitor two rooms. Not a problem for me but it may be for some.
I was very happy with the price I paid at Babies R Us because I used two coupons and saved almost $75 off retail. The video monitors are a little pricey but this one is definitely worth every penny!!! |
Must read review....Set it straight!Best View Best Monitor
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| Review Date: July 17, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Ari Cal 02, Ft Myers,Florida |
I did what so many others do and read tons of reviews. I found that there were some conflicting info about this monitor.Hopefully this clears some things up.
First of all it DOES take more than one camera, in fact you can use up to 4. (go into the menu on the handset and you see where you can add or delete up to 4 cameras) It also says it on the box (up to 3 additional cameras...that means 4 total)You can also verify this with the manufaturer
Second of all I have absolutely NO interference. In fact I have a Playstation 3,Xbobx 360,cordless phones,cell phones,wireless router and am using my old summer infant video monitor in the room next to the one this one is in and the picture is CRYSTAL CLEAR.
As to the red lights on the front of the camera. They are not TOO much.They are not a distraction at all and definately not to bright either.
You do have to go into the menu to adjust the volume but this is very easily done.
The camera rotates and zooms as promised in fact it turns side to sideand up and down much farther than expected and does so very quietly.
All in all the "Best" video monitor is the best out there for the money and a great buy at that. I will definately be buying more cameras to expand the unit even farther.It will be nice to have 1 unit for 4 rooms.Well done Summer Infant. And this will be the monitor I recommend to any parent. |
A great product with only one downside
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| Review Date: February 15, 2009 |
| Reviewer: ICT_815, wichita, ks |
| We had the older 900 Mhz Summer Infant monitors. They were good, but prone to static in the audio and had a short range. This new digital monitor is static free and has decent digital image. I works great, and has a good range. It only has one drawback - it doesn't have channels A and B. The camera and display are linked electronically, so you cannot view two different cameras on one handheld monitor. Oh well, you can't have it all. Maybe the next model will? FYI - we have 2.4 GHz phones and wireless router without problems. We even use two sets of camera and monitors(for two rooms) at the same time...only draw back there is that you can't set the two monitors close together - they will interfere with one another. But, if you set them about 3 feet appart, they are fine. Great product! Hope this helps! |
Fantastic baby video monitor!
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| Review Date: February 17, 2009 |
| Reviewer: E. Barnes, Solana Beach, CA |
This is our second video monitor for our baby daughter. The first one was fine, but it had reception issues at times and the audio was frequently scratchy. This one, on the other hand, is amazing. It's all digital and both the audio and video are fantastic. I read on another site where some people had an issue with interference since it operates on 2.4 GHz. Well, our 2.4GHz D-Link MiMo router is directly between our baby's room and the monitor and we have no problems at all.
Now for the best part (well, the reception is the best part, so I guess this is the coolest part), you have full control over pan and tilt from the remote. With this, we can watch our daughter anywhere she is in the room. And the mechanism is so quiet, our baby doesn't hear it at all.
Finally, we got ours at Target for $169 on sale. Target says the list is $199 which is much less than what Amazon lists it for, but my guess is you'll see it come down on price soon.
Bottom line, this is a fantastic video and audio monitor. The only feature it doesn't have is the motion sensor which we had on a non-video monitor we used when our daughter was born, but other than that, this one is a winner! |
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