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Best Video Baby Monitors of 2017

The video baby monitor is one of the most common purchases by new parents (for our review of sound-only baby monitors, click here). They are super comforting when you want to keep an eye on your baby while he or she falls asleep, if they fuss during the night, or just for peace of mind when you don't want to open the door and risk waking your sleeping angel. Traditional baby monitors were audio only, allowing parents to listen in on activity.

Nowadays nearly all parents splurge for the wireless video baby monitor, since it is only slightly more expensive than the audio-only ones, and allows you to see what's going on in the nursery. All the major brands, and all the ones we recommend here, are equipped with night vision technology so you can watch your baby even when the room is completely dark. Our focus groups with moms revealed the following features that moms found critical for achieving the best baby monitor reputation:

Clarity of Daytime and Night Vision: When wireless baby video monitors were first introduced onto the market they used somewhat outdated display technology that made for a grainy, distorted, and often unreliable picture. Newer versions use a liquid crystal display similar to the ones used in your smart phone, so they tend to have very nice color contrast and high resolution, and are also substantially more reliable. All of the ones we list below have high quality displays, and we do not recommend some of the relatively old fashioned ones that can still be found on the market. Of course, night vision doesn't use color - so the display will be either grayscale or show a slightly green hue. That's important to keep in mind before you try it out for the first time; not even military special operations have color night vision, so don't expect anything amazing from a baby monitor!

Portable Base Unit with Good Range: Babies go to bed earlier than parents, and they also nap during the day. Unless you want to spend your time sitting next to the base unit watching the video stream, you're going to want a unit that has far range and good battery life. This will let you take the unit and, say, take out the trash or let the dog out, while still being able to see your baby.

Adjustable Camera Pan/Tilt/Zoom: One of the most annoying things that can happen when you're using a video baby monitor is closing the door and then turning on the video monitor only to realize that your camera isn't aimed at the baby at all, and you can't see a thing. Most of the systems would require you to go back into your baby's room and manually adjust the camera. Some of the systems we review below have remotely adjustable camera angles, so you can pan side-to-side, tilt the camera angle upward/downward, and zoom in or out, without having to go back into your baby's room. Super convenient.

Interchangeable Camera Lenses: Some of the new systems have interchangeable lenses to best suit your baby's room. If you have the camera positioned close to the baby, like on the edge of the crib or on a nearby dresser, you might prefer the wide angle camera. If you have the camera positioned relatively far from the baby, like on a bookshelf on the other side of the room, you might prefer the regular narrow angle camera. Flexibility is nice, particularly if you end up rearranging the room or have to move things out of the reach of a growing menace.

Intuitive and User Friendly Menu and Features: What good are 25 fancy features if you can't figure out how to navigate the menu and customize settings or change options? All of the wireless video baby monitors reviewed below have great utility, with high video quality and a nice feature set, but some of them have relatively high usability, which comes in handy when you don't want to spend too much time shuffling through menus to change one silly setting.

Integrated Intercom System: Some of the new systems have a two-way intercom feature built in, allowing you to talk to your baby (sing a lullaby?), or allow the parents to talk to each other ("can you bring more wipes please!?") without yelling down the stairs or hallway.

Encrypted Wireless Communications: Here's something creepy and strange - there are reports of people tapping into baby monitors and getting some bizarre pleasure from watching your baby sleep, or watching you feed the baby in the middle of the night. A few of the manufacturers have included wireless encryption on their systems to make this much less likely.

Reliability. This is a tough one, as it requires long-term knowledge of system reliability, through thick and thin. There are many baby monitors on the market that start out excellent but tend to glitch out or completely fail within the first several months of ownership. This is especially the case for many unrecognized brand names that are saturating the market. All of the best video monitors that make it onto our list have withstood the test of time, lasting at least 6 months, and in some cases several years at this point (like the Infant Optics option!) .