Disqus
Continuing on the Baby Moby category (something I started to discuss how the use of mobile can both impact and enhance life looking after a little ‘un), I wanted to bring you a mini-review of the Safety 1st Video Monitor – something I recently purchased to watch over our baby.
Most of you will know through my previous posts that I was not very happy with the quality of the audio monitor we had – it is a VERY popular brand, but frankly, the tech in it was 10 yrs old! It’s single biggest failure, for a portable product, was the battery life – less than 1 hour!
So when the Safety 1st video monitor came along touting impressive specs (see below) I was skeptical:
- 100% private, no static, no interference
- Remote digital zoom and pan
- DataLock technology means no dropped picture or sound
- Indoor/outdoor range: 650+ ft.
- Auto-night vision
- Auto channel selector
- Secure sound lights
- Low battery/out of range indicators
- Rechargeable parent unit with belt clip
- Baby unit is battery operated or can be plugged in
- WiFi-Friendly Digital 2.4Ghz Frequency
- 1.8″ High-Def Color Screen
- H.264 video encoding
- Remote Digital Zoom & Pan
- Battery Conservation Mode
- Background Noise Elimination
Rather good list, isn’t it!
Overall I’ve been very impressed by the unit – fantastic battery life, even when left for days – the video is good too, and with zero light in the room it can still put together a very reasonable picture. The zoom, although just digital, is very good also.
Minor gripes: well firstly, when it’s in use, there’s a green flashing light around the power button on the baby unit, which means it looks like a beacon in the room – easily remedied with some tape though. Other than that, just the fact that I am having a hard time getting a second camera unit on it’s own to monitor our second baby is a bit of a pain to say the least! If anyone from Safety 1st happens to be reading this, mail me, help me out here with a UK distributor!
In summary – great bit of kit – the secure, WiFi friendly signal is spot-on, not giving my networks any problems at all – I’d say it could be a 9/10 for this unit – a glowing recommendation indeed!
You can pick one up in the UK from Kiddicare or Boots, for example.
If you want to check out the Safety 1st site, check here.
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
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Bill Pyles
