Sunday, January 23, 2011 Summer Infant Sleek and Secure Handheld Color Video Monitor, Grey Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The camera mounting options could be better. The camera has a flat base like a webcam, so if you have a table or shelf above the baby you can set it there, and aim it down over the edge. It also comes with a little wood-screw you could screw into a wall or furniture if you wanted to perminantly hang it someplace. It does NOT come with any kind of clamp for attaching temporarily to the edge of a crib. (Most mobiles or other crib accessories seem better designed for clamping and positioning around a crib than this camera.) It also does NOT accept a standard tripod mounting screw, the way most camcorders do. It has space for one in the middle of the base, but I guess they wanted to save a few cents on this.

We didn't want to put a perminant screw into the edge of the crib, so I have the base of the camera attached to the end of the crib with clear tape, which works well enough for now I guess. I didn't take away a star for the limited mounting options, because I don't know if other baby monitors are better on this issue. But seriously, if Summer Infant thinks we use a baby monitor like a desktop webcam or fixed position security camera, they should visit their customers more and see how often our baby gets moved around! I won't pay 80 bucks for an additional camera if there's no clamp or tripod mounting hole added to the design.The picture quality is pretty good. There's no interference anywhere in the house. The resolution is good enough for the small screen in the monitor. The framerate is a little slow, so some motions appear a bit jerky compared to broadcast TV, but this isn't a big problem. If the room is dark, it automatically goes into a night mode. The night mode is black-and-white (near infrared) and flickers and pulses a little brighter and darker over time, but is still viewable and lets you see the kid.

I like the fact that the picture is vertically-oriented (taller instead of wider), it frames the sleeping baby very nicely and fills more the monitor this way.

The first night we used it, we watched the baby asleep, then later saw her start to move around a bit, then start kicking off her blanket. My wife started heating milk for her when she saw this, and sure enough a few minutes later the baby started crying, but we were ready ahead of time. I thought "Bingo!" this is exactly why you need video in a baby monitor.The sound is clear both ways (you can hear everything in the room around the camera, and if you press talk on the monitor your voice comes out of the camera as well.) As a funny aside, when I first tested the camera I thought the sound was too soft, even with the volume turned all the way up, but it turned out that there's a little clear piece of tape covering the microphone hole, and when that was removed the sound got a lot better.

Battery life is pretty good on the monitor. If you leave it on a lot you need to recharge every night.If you turned it off between checking it, it can last several days on a charge. They earn points for the charger being standard mini-USB, and it can run without battery power when plugged in. The manual warns to use-up the battery before recharging it, though, as if the batteries suffer from memory problems. This note worried me, although our actual battery has been working fine so far.

The layout of the buttons on the monitor unit seem designed more for advertising than usability. For example, one of the four big buttons on the front is for pairing a new camera with the monitor, so it's a button you might never need to press (except if you bought an extra camera.) This seems strange when buttons you have to press all the time, like the one that toggles the monitor on and off, and the talk button to speak back to the camera, are smaller buttons on the side. I guess they felt like putting big buttons on the front so you don't notice that the display screen doesn't fill the front of the unit.

I have only used this monitor with one camera so far, even though the features for using it with multiple cameras look promising. I'm glad we chose this model.

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Product Description:
From the ManufacturerFor parents looking for the ultimate stylish color video monitor that allows them to view baby both day and night there's the sleek and secure handheld color video monitor from Summer Infant. It's small, sleek and stylish design makes parents feel like their watching their little one on their cell phone. It's today's most sought after baby monitor and gives parents the reassurance they need by allowing them to hear and see baby. Product DescriptionThe Sleek & Secure Color Digital Video Monitor is the perfect solution for parents to view multiple rooms at same time with the trust of a secure digital connection.