Baby monitors are tools that enable parents to keep an eye on their children constantly, as their name implies. While not necessarily essential for childcare, they are incredibly handy. These devices are outfitted with a video camera and microphone, allowing you to both see and hear the baby to ensure their well-being.
Through a small monitor, parents can check at any time what their child is doing. In the meantime, they will be able to continue their daily chores.
Here we had listed out the best baby monitors that are presented below.
Things to Consider Before Buying Baby Monitors
Before buying a baby monitor, you should consider several factors. Remember that they are products that guarantee the safety of the baby while he sleeps, so try to select a model in line with your needs. Below, we try to solve some of the most frequent doubts about these articles.
What Is a Baby Monitor?
Perhaps, it is not an exaggeration to define the baby monitor as a sort of ” third eye, “a device that goes well beyond the simple camera, allowing parents never to lose sight of their baby.
Wherever they are in the house, they will be able to observe it while sleeping, bustling around the bed, or exploring the surrounding environment. While the baby is alone, mom and dad will be able to calmly devote themselves to household chores, leaving anxiety and worries aside.
On the one hand, in short, it is a tool that allows adults to get away in complete safety; on the other, a valid aid, which allows the latter not to give up their privacy, keeping the situation under control.
How does It work?
The principle that governs the operation of the baby monitor is very simple and reflects, in general, that of old transceivers or walkie talkies.
Of course, the devices currently on the market are often very sophisticated, and a comparison between these and their ancient ancestors would seem truly ungenerous.
Still, it is sufficient that a first baby monitor is placed near the infant and a second in the area where those who need to take care of it are positioned.
It is almost superfluous – even if necessary – to remember that the products in question, whatever they are, should be of quality, given the important task they are called to perform. Secondly, for optimal functioning, the distance between one and the other should not be excessive (on this aspect, we will return later).
Some baby monitors cheer the newborn, reproducing family tunes suitable for his age, to reassure him if it were needed. Others are equipped with lighting, to allow the mother not to lose sight of the “special observed” even at night.
Technologically more advanced devices even have functions concerning which, only a few years ago, one would have been speechless. Think, for example, of those with cameras equipped with special sensors, capable of orienting themselves and following the child’s movements.
How to Choose a Baby Monitor?
Choosing a baby monitor to buy is not easy. By continuing to read, you will be able to identify all the features and functionalities to be evaluated at the time of purchase.
Type of Baby Monitor
The difference between baby monitors: audio, video, and audio-video. How to move towards greater security? When it comes to purchasing a baby monitor, the first question parents face is the following: with or without video?
In the second case, it would not even be correct to speak of baby monitors, but simple intercoms or transceivers. The only information gathering channel would be hearing. The degree of safety, however, would decrease conspicuously concerning the same product in a more updated version.
The intercom, then, could only allow the child to speak (and to those who listen to him exclusively to hear his voice) or, taking advantage of the bidirectionality, to also spread the voice of those who are entertaining him (and controlling …). The latter is the preferred method, as it allows loved ones to reassure him with a few simple words.
Important defects also have the device provided only with video. Although the outline of the child is visible, it is often not possible to grasp its movements.
If the baby, for example, is positioned with his shoulders towards the monitor, it will not be possible to observe his face, nor to understand if he is possibly carrying objects to his mouth.
For a whole series of reasons, at this point perfectly understandable, the best option – provided that you have a sum that allows it to be purchased – is the latest generation baby monitor, equipped with both audio and video.
Even in this case, the possibilities are manifold: on the market, there are devices with one- way or two- way video to begin with.
This means, in concrete terms, that the parent can only observe the child or be seen (which, in general, helps not to frighten him, especially when he wakes up).
As regards the audio-video mode, the discussion already made about night vision and the rotation of the camera is valid, thanks to infrared technologies and special sensors that detect movement.
Communication and Surveillance
Before buying the baby monitor, the buyer should carefully consider the characteristics of the environment in which it will be installed. In other words, it is important that you take into account the size of your home and the way the rooms are arranged (the number of floors and so on).
In the absence of obstacles – outside a building, where the signal is not hindered by doors and walls, a baby monitor could cover more or less three hundred meters, at best.
More realistically, discreet models accessible to most pockets allow reaching the already enviable measure of one hundred and fifty meters.
It is more difficult to estimate coverage in indoor environments, those for which baby monitors are usually purchased. The reason? The already mentioned presence of dividing walls, different from each other in thickness and quality of the materials that compose them.
In any case, the transmission proves to be much more stable if the signal is analog or digital. On the market, however, there are also baby monitors that work by connecting to home wifi.
For those wishing to buy them, the price would naturally be higher. In the face of a more “dirty” signal, there would be the conspicuous advantage of being able to check the newborns when going to work or elsewhere (it is less clear, however, to understand how the person concerned can intervene, in case of need).
Materials and Accessories
As a rule, a baby monitor is made using durable plastic and unbreakable materials. It could not be otherwise since children continually come into contact with these devices. If the quality is good, the product will also be non-toxic and hypoallergenic.
On the market, you can find specimens that run on batteries, others on electricity, but also with both power sources. The latter is the preferred solution since it allows you to use the tool in contexts other than at home (on vacation, for example), without particular difficulties.
