OV9

No, not really small monitors, but rather the infant observation tools.

I know next to nothing about this tech at all. I thought it was all just about audio and sometimes video, but someone at work mentioned you can get movement monitoring ones and all sorts? What's hot and what's a good brand?

Little one arrives next week. This is the penultimate thing on my list to sort.

We bought an Angelcare one as it has some fancy motion pad to guard against cot death - and err, don’t - they’re sh*t. Poor battery life and average picture quality /sound.

Think Motorola may be a good bet but not sure if that’s good current advice.

We have an angelcare one with the movement pad and it’s great, you need a flat hard board underneath the mattress though for it to work. we purposely didn’t go with a video one though as we thought we’d end up just watching it too much.

We settled on a BT digital monitor which was great as the sound quality and clarity was superb. You can go way over the top with baby monitoring stuff as they speak to new parent vulnerability and worry.

We could hear our little one breathing when she wasn't squawking and that was nice enough reassurance.

At the end of the day do what you and Mrs Who feel happy with but I think video is bit much.

+1 Angelcare with the movement sensor. Good for peace of mind and also good when they start standing up and attempting to climb out.

RobYob wrote: ↑Mon Sep 23, 2019 7:43 am +1 Angelcare with the movement sensor. Good for peace of mind and also good when they start standing up and attempting to climb out.

+2, except we never bothered with the pad. The receiver is surprisingly sturdy. It still works after 6 years/3 children using it as a phone/toy/thing to bang against a hard surface.

Only damage is a slight crack on the screen cover which was due to me walking into s table with it attached to my trousers.

We definitely recommend one with a clear video. When we had just the speaker we were worrying if they were coughing, choking, struggling etc. With the video we could take a glance and see they were having a dream or just getting comfy and go straight back to sleep.

The urge to watch them all the time for no reason goes away pretty quickly.

Dave!

Yeah you can really go over the top with the anxious-new-parent expenditure. Our baby monitor is audio only and does the trick.

DeskJockey wrote: ↑Mon Sep 23, 2019 9:23 am

RobYob wrote: ↑Mon Sep 23, 2019 7:43 am +1 Angelcare with the movement sensor. Good for peace of mind and also good when they start standing up and attempting to climb out.

+2, except we never bothered with the pad. The receiver is surprisingly sturdy. It still works after 6 years/3 children using it as a phone/toy/thing to bang against a hard surface.

Only damage is a slight crack on the screen cover which was due to me walking into s table with it attached to my trousers.

Maybe ours had a faulty battery but it was hopeless. Wouldn't last longer than about 30 minutes on a full charge after a couple of months which meant you effectively had to lug the cradle around with you and plug it in continuously.

Image quality was also pretty poor compared to the Motorola my brother in law had. Think the Motorola also had the ability to connect to multiple camera units if you have several young ones.

JLv3.0 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 23, 2019 9:34 am Yeah you can really go over the top with the anxious-new-parent expenditure. Our baby monitor is audio only and does the trick.

That.

GG. wrote: ↑Mon Sep 23, 2019 9:44 am

DeskJockey wrote: ↑Mon Sep 23, 2019 9:23 am

RobYob wrote: ↑Mon Sep 23, 2019 7:43 am +1 Angelcare with the movement sensor. Good for peace of mind and also good when they start standing up and attempting to climb out.

+2, except we never bothered with the pad. The receiver is surprisingly sturdy. It still works after 6 years/3 children using it as a phone/toy/thing to bang against a hard surface.

Only damage is a slight crack on the screen cover which was due to me walking into s table with it attached to my trousers.

Maybe ours had a faulty battery but it was hopeless. Wouldn't last longer than about 30 minutes on a full charge after a couple of months which mean you effectively had to lug the cradle around with you and plug it in continuously.

Image quality was also pretty poor compared to the Motorola my brother in law had. Think the Motorola also had the ability to connect to multiple camera units if you have several young ones.

Ours isn't a video one. I've changed the pair of rechargeable AA batteries once or twice in six years. It'll still run for 24h on a charge.

DeskJockey wrote: ↑Mon Sep 23, 2019 9:51 am

GG. wrote: ↑Mon Sep 23, 2019 9:44 am

DeskJockey wrote: ↑Mon Sep 23, 2019 9:23 am

+2, except we never bothered with the pad. The receiver is surprisingly sturdy. It still works after 6 years/3 children using it as a phone/toy/thing to bang against a hard surface.

Only damage is a slight crack on the screen cover which was due to me walking into s table with it attached to my trousers.

Maybe ours had a faulty battery but it was hopeless. Wouldn't last longer than about 30 minutes on a full charge after a couple of months which mean you effectively had to lug the cradle around with you and plug it in continuously.

Image quality was also pretty poor compared to the Motorola my brother in law had. Think the Motorola also had the ability to connect to multiple camera units if you have several young ones.

Ours isn't a video one. I've changed the pair of rechargeable AA batteries once or twice in six years. It'll still run for 24h on a charge.

Ah I see - I think this may explain it. I incorrectly presumed when you said 'screen' you meant video screen rather than display. The extra drain of the video would make a significant difference.

Yeah, we had an audio only one. Much more relaxed with 2nd child though.

(Although, until my daughter was 8 years old, I would still listen at her door every night to check her breathing on my way to bed.. )

IanF wrote: ↑Mon Sep 23, 2019 8:12 pm Yeah, we had an audio only one. Much more relaxed with 2nd child though.

(Although, until my daughter was 8 years old, I would still listen at her door every night to check her breathing on my way to bed.. )

I check on mine too. I don't feel comfortable in bed until I have.

Edit: first version was clumsily written. Blame beer.

The breathing check is a must!

We still have a sniff after Maxwell was laying on his side and vomited and then covered it up with his quilt. In the morning it looked like a horror film despite him being perfectly happy.

Very happy to be past those days, now it’s just hearing the door open as they go for a wee in the night.

Dave!

Another vote for the BT Digital one which is audio only. You need to do whatever you need to do to feel happy about things, but I can't begin to imagine having anything other than audio - I think I'd end up sleeping even less than I did.

If you have a second child though, they're pretty much left to get on with it themselves from day one, so don't spend too much money.

Also very happy with our BT audio-only one after nearly 5 years and 2 kids. Stuck some better rechargeable AAs in the parent unit and it lasts a day now.

Cheap wifi camera if you want video too, wouldn't rely on it for an only monitor but handy just to check what that noise was or what they're doing from your phone. Been very impressed with the Neos cameras, they're about £20 and do very clear nighttime video - much better than the baby-specific video monitors.

Friends who had all the movement pad stuff got so many false alarms with it they stopped using it. For second/third kids didn't even bother getting it out.

simon_g wrote: ↑Tue Sep 24, 2019 9:55 am Cheap wifi camera if you want video too, wouldn't rely on it for an only monitor but handy just to check what that noise was or what they're doing from your phone. Been very impressed with the Neos cameras, they're about £20 and do very clear nighttime video - much better than the baby-specific video monitors.

I was actually just going to mention this - a former colleague of mine had one of these. Also has the novelty value that you can open up the app and check in on them at home whilst you're at work. Clearly not needed but a fun novelty nonetheless.

simon_g wrote: ↑Tue Sep 24, 2019 9:55 am
Friends who had all the movement pad stuff got so many false alarms with it they stopped using it. For second/third kids didn't even bother getting it out.

ive heard similar experiences - but as mentioned, you need a solid base in the cot for the movement pad to work effectively, which I wonder if they did? I have a sheet of 5mm ply cut to size and it works perfectly with his cot or travel cot.

I like the movement one because there’s a little metronome graphic on the monitor that constantly moves (so you can be confident it’s on) and an alarm if no movement occurs for x seconds. We’ve had a few false alarms when he decides to sleep right in a corner or something but not many.

We were/are pretty strict with not going in between 7pm and 7am at all so it’s nice to have something other than the audio if all is quiet!

You make your own choices though!