Best Video Baby Monitors of 2017 - Reviewed


#8. Summer Infant Wide-view Panorama Video Baby Monitor. Summer Infant has been making high quality, reliable baby monitors for many years. One problem with the Summer Infant monitors is that it's difficult to figure out which one has the features and quality you want, given the very wide range of options. Some are much better than others, and this is definitely one of the better ones we've tested. This color baby monitor has a high quality 5" high resolution LCD display, which is a similar quality to the Project Nursery monitor in terms of color, contrast, and brightness. When we first got our hands on this in early 2017, we were excited that maybe it was a nice wide angle panorama camera. But it turns out what they meant by "panorama" is that you can remotely tilt, pan, and zoom. The panning does go nice and wide, allowing you to swing the camera side to side about 180-degrees. But the camera angle itself is no different than the other monitors on this list. That being said, this is a great baby monitor with some great features. In addition to being able to remotely pan, tilt, and zoom the camera, some of the best features were: 1) a subtle night light that you can turn on/off remotely, and can choose it to glow with a soft blue or red color, 2) a sensor that tells you the temperature of your baby's room at all times, 3) a sound-activated light bar on the top of the receiver that tells you when there's noise in the room (even when volume is off). We thought the big hand-held unit was great, with a convenient kick-stand to put it anywhere in the house, great battery life, and good range. We were able to walk around in the backyard with this unit and still get a good, stable image. Note that you can add an extra camera to this, and it will cycle through the two cameras automatically (it does not do split-screen to see both at once). Downfalls? Well, the night vision isn't quite as good as with higher-ranked monitors on this list, and even the lowest volume level seemed really loud for sleeping parents. Also, even though the screen is nice and big, the video quality is sub-par relative to other options on this list. Overall, this is a great addition to ou best baby monitor list, as it has great features and falls the middle of the price range. For about the same price, we'd go with the Infant Optics option, unless you value the larger screen size. 
nest cam
#9. Nest Cam Indoor Security and Baby Monitor Camera. This is a powerful solution for the relatively computer savvy parents who want flexibility, accessibility, and convenience. This is not just a baby monitor, this is a wireless video camera that can be placed anywhere and will communicate with computers and smart phones. Install the Dropcam App and view your baby through your cell phone no matter where you are. Want to check in on the babysitter while you're out on date night to make sure your baby is napping on time? Want to move the camera to monitor the dog or your home while you're away? Easy, and with the 130-degree wide angle lens, you can place it in even small rooms and maintain a good field of view. If you're away from home, you can also set it up to alert you to any movement: it will send an alert to your phone (or an email) along with a photo of what's going on. Like many baby-oriented video monitors, it also supports two-way communication with a built-in microphone and speaker, has 8x digital zoom, and has great night vision. It also has 1080p quality video, day and night. But it's also a bit expensive for a camera-only system, coming in at about $180. This is a powerful and flexible system that has a very high quality color and night vision camera, a wide field of view, access to cloud computing, and tons of convenient bells and whistles. This is not your mom's baby monitor. However, there are some requirements here: you need wireless internet in your home, and it needs to be rather high speed to support streaming high quality video and audio feeds. You also will need to load software onto your phones or computer devices in order to access the device. If you ask us, this is one of the best and most flexible solutions for baby monitoring. It's near the bottom of our list because because it's not technically a baby monitor. It's an all-purpose camera that you can place anywhere and use as a baby monitor when needed..  
safebabytechmonitor
#10. Safe Baby Tech Baby Video Monitor. Searching for a big-screen video baby monitor that will stay put in one place, like on your bedside table, in the kitchen, or living room? And won't break the bank? Then this is the one for you. It has a sleek and truly large 7" display, that looks like a digital picture frame, and is about the size of an iPad Mini. We found the video to have a great quality signal, the monitor to be high resolution for good visibility, and the night vision to work reasonably well (it's grayscale, not greens). It was also really easy to setup, simply plug in the camera, and plug in the video monitor, and you're all set. It comes with great features: it has an integrated two-way intercom system, a sleep mode that dims the screen but leaves on the audio, adjustable volume, and adjustable wireless channels to ensure signal clarity even with interference from other devices. In our test, we found everything really easy to learn and use, and really enjoyed the "talk" feature that allowed us to talk to our baby in the other room. There were three primary drawbacks, however: first, it is a stationary system, meaning that the display does not have a battery. This is the biggest drawback relative to the above systems. You can move it from room to room, however, as long as you bring the (albeit short) power cord. Second, unlike most others on this list, it does not allow you to remotely control the camera tilt or zoom. Finally, the overall quality isn't up to par with the others on the list. The sound quality wasn't so great, the image sometimes choppy, and the night vision somewhat poor quality relative to others. Overall, it has some great features, and if you're looking to save a bunch of money for a decent video monitor that isn't super versatile, this gives you pretty great bang for the buck!  
gynoiivideocamera#11. Gynoii WiFi Wireless Tilt/Pan Baby Monitor. This is an awesome and versatile option for anyone looking for a baby video monitor that uses your existing device (Android, iPhone, iPad) as the screen. Simply plug it in, install the app on your phone, and you're off to the races! And it has tons of great features. You can stream high definition (720p) daytime or nighttime (night vision) video and audio, or use audio only. It can send sound and motion alerts right to your device. It has two-way (intercom style) talk, so you can listen to your baby and your baby can listen to you. Unique on this list, it also has time lapse video so you can review what your little one was up to during the night - watch them roll around and hug their blankies and lovies! When we tested this unit, this time lapse review was my favorite feature! It also has remote pan and tilt, so if it's not in the perfect position (or your baby isn't!) you can remotely move the camera to get a better view. It also has some unique access features. For example, it uses highly secure encrypted data transmission, and allows more than one app user to watch simultaneously (so mom can watch from work while grandma puts baby down for a nap!). That's a lot of awesome features, and it only runs about $100 online. That's cheaper than most others on this list - but remember, it does not come with a screen, so you need to use your own device. We tested it on a Samsung Galaxy S5, iPhone 5, iPad, and an LG G4 phone. It worked really well on all of them, so we were impressed. So why isn't this higher on our list? Only because it's not an all-in-one package and you need to install the app and use your own device to watch the video. Also, the software is a bit cumbersome to set up. For instance, if your wifi name has any spaces or special characters in it, it won't recognize it at all, you will need to rename your wireless network. Fortunately that's rare, but did affect our testing. We saw some good connectivity performance, with it rarely dropping off our wifi. Overall, we like it!

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