You’ve got your nursery set up, but you want to be assured that when you place your baby in her crib you’ll be able to hear her when she needs you. Thankfully, the 21st century has ushered in some advanced technology and cool gadgets that have made the search for the perfect baby monitor easier. Parents today also have the benefit of the Internet, which allows you to read consolidated reviews of top-rated monitors, such as these ranked among the best by Consumer Search.
Philips Avent DECT Monitor
One of the biggest nuisances of living in a densely populated urban area and trying to find the perfect baby monitor is cross-interference. There’s nothing quite so annoying as trying to find a channel so you can hear your baby and only hearing static, or worse yet, someone else’s baby who lives next door. Welcome the Philips Avent DECT Monitor, with 1.9 GHz frequency and continuous channel scanning, you are virtually assured cross-interference will never be an issue. Add in awesome features like remote-activated nightlight and music, a room temperature reader and being able to talk to your child over the receiver — it all adds up to a top-notch monitor.
Summer Infant Day & Night Handheld Color Video Monitor
If you want to not only hear but also to see what your baby is doing, you’ll love the Summer Infant Day & Night Handheld Color Video Monitor. This lightweight video and sound monitor offers day as well as night vision, so you can see your baby even when it’s dark, and a video screen with auto shutoff after three minutes to conserve battery power. Other great features are LED lights that increase in intensity to complement the sound feature and help you gauge the loudness of baby’s cry, and the ability to add an extra camera in another room for additional kids or monitoring in another room — while still using only one receiver.
Fisher Price Private Connections Monitor
While bells and whistles may appeal to some people, if you want good value along with great function, you’ll appreciate the Fisher Price Private Connections Monitor. While it might not have the advanced channel surfing capability or groovy gadgets like some of the more tech-rich monitors on the market, it does have 900 MHz technology. It’s best feature, though, is the option of turning the sound off while still being alerted not only when noise is coming from your baby’s nursery, but how much noise by large, bright lights — perfect if you are vacuuming or doing some other activity that makes relying on a sound-only monitor virtually impossible.
Sony Baby Call Nursery Monitor
If your baby likes to hear music while she is lulled to sleep, or if you use a white-noise machine to help keep outside noise from waking her, you can imagine how that sound transfers through on a baby monitor receiver. The good news is that Sony has created the Baby Call Nursery Monitor with a voice activation mode that cuts out extraneous background noise — allowing you to hear your baby’s voice or cry, while not subjecting yourself to listening to lullabies all night long. Other cool features include 900 MHz and 27 channels; almost guaranteeing you’ll find little interference, an out or range indicator, sound-sensor LED lights, and a water-resistant receiver.
