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The Best Baby Monitor Systems of 2018 – Reviews From a Dad’s Point of View

By John

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best-baby-monitor-systems

If you’re looking for the best baby monitors on the market, these reviews will help you find the one that first you best.

Gone are the days of your traditional one way baby monitor as with the improvement of technology comes better products.

Now with all that technology comes the confusing part as there are just way too many products to choose from.

Well, that is why we have put together this list.

These are all top of the line products and also very popular with today’s parents.

So if you’re old school like me, get ready for a treat as these baby monitors will blow your mind.

The Nanit Smart Baby Monitor


After many years of parenting and using different monitors, we have come to the conclusion that the Nanit Smart baby monitor is the best baby monitor system out there.

Not only because it comes with all the features that a modern monitor has but because it can do a lot more, like track your baby’s sleep pattern.

Hence the word, “system”.

The Nanit Baby Monitor comes in high definition, wifi capabilities, and you can also use it with your smartphone.

You can read more here as I have done a complete review on this product.

Infant Optics DXR-8–Best Wifi Baby Monitor


In today’s age as parents, grandparents, we definitely want a baby monitor that is going to be easy to use not cumbersome or hard to figure out.

With the DXR-8, you don’t need to worry about pulling out that user manual and spending hours just trying to figure out how to get certain settings set up.

That is not a bad thing if you do have to do that but this monitor has been created with the end user in mind and not as cumbersome or you know there is not that much of a learning curve to it.

It is always nice to be able to have direct communication with your little one while they are playing in the room or being a little fussy.

Most monitors nowadays do incorporate two-way talk but we have found that some have a lot of static or they have got that reverb going on and it is hard to hear the other user when they are talking.

With the DXR-8 the voice transfer is clear and you are not going to have to worry about any direct static or feedback with maybe an older monitor that you might have.

Another big thing about this monitor is the charging capability so charge her up and with ease.

There is nothing more frustrating than having a baby monitor that dies out on you while you are in the middle of doing something downstairs and your child is trying to take a nap right.

The cool thing about the infant optics DXR-8 is it has got great battery life with almost six hours of continuous charge with the screen being on the whole time, really six hours is a good amount of time there.

If you do want to switch it over to a power saving mode though the unit can stay charged for up to 10 hours, so this monitor is great for those who don’t want to have to charge their units all the time or after every nap.

The other cool thing is it can charge literally everywhere so it has got a USB charger that can be plugged into your laptop, obviously you know you will be able to charge it in the wall charger.

There is also a temperature reading on the camera which is nice if you want to see what temperature ranges in the room that your child is in, so hot or cold you will know your temperature.

I like the fact that it has a nice display for the monitor reading it showed it in a clear area you know it is easy to see so it might seem like a simple addition but it was extremely well done.

Now for something a little more unique to this monitor which is a world’s first for baby monitors and that is the fact that the DXR-8 actually has interchangeable lenses so what this does is it brings a whole new level to what you are able to see and do with the monitor as you can equip it with three different lens options.

You can have a wide-angle lens to kind of capture the whole room and you can have a normal range lens which is probably similar or standard to most baby monitors or you can choose to have a zoom lens which can kind of zoom in and focus a little bit more on a specific area that you are looking for.

The two lenses that are included with this unit is the standard and the zoom lens so the wide-angle lens you are going to have to purchase separately but I believe that hands-down this feature makes the cost and the additional cost for the wide-angle lens.

A lot of reviewers complained about its occasional Wi-Fi interference so you can occasionally get a Wi-Fi interfere with this monitor it can be frustrating at times.

You can move the unit around and kind of find a good spot but again this is going to all depend on your house what kind of interference you might have, some people may not have this issue at all and other people may have a more tough time with it.

So our final thoughts are for the price and the features included as a solid baby monitor, we thought the interchangeable lens feature was brilliant and it adds a lot of different uses.

It is cool that it comes with two lenses and then the wide-angle lens is an additional cost.

The one downside was the Wi-Fi interference but again that is going to vary from person to person.

Don’t hesitate to pick it up if this kind of fits your budget and what you are looking for as it will definitely give you that peace of mind and security with your little ones when they are sleeping or playing in the room.

The Infant Optics DXR-8 cost $108.99.

Summer Infant Baby Touch – Long Lasting and Durable Monitor


As parents we know that kids can be fast movers and one baby monitor is not going to be enough so you are going to want to probably add to your original baby monitor if you have got multiple kids in different rooms.

With the summer infant baby touch, you are going to be able to add multiple cameras up to three additional cameras so that you can have kind of eyes in every room and ears in every room wherever your kids may be sleeping or playing or doing their thing.

Linking the camera is not hard at all and the inner interface to switch between the different monitors was really simple easy to do.

Sometimes you just need a little bit of peace and quiet around the home, leaving the baby monitor volume up kind of defeats the purpose of that if you are like sitting in your room trying to read a book.

So the cool thing is that the baby touch actually includes a visual sound indicating LED light which makes it easy for you to see if there are increased levels of volume going on in the room.

You are going to be able to see if your baby starts crying without necessarily having to hear it.

One of the big problems with this baby monitor is that the night vision is really bad like you know they are reaching the limits of the internals of the camera so you are getting really grainy pixelated looking night vision.

It is kind of hard to see what is going on but with the baby touch the night vision will be actually nice and clear.

We know how kids are you know they might get a hold of their monitor and drop it on the ground but some drops flops and tumbles are not going to hurt this thing.

I did actually read some reviews as well and saw that it survived some water, don’t test this but if it happens you might be okay and not all is lost.

Again one of the only things and really the only thing with the baby touch was that I wish the viewing angle was a little bit wider so it was a little bit too zoomed and it may be nice for a single crib but you are going to have to have the monitor back a little bit but anything other than that it is going to be difficult fit kind of in the whole frame.

So I may be kind of being a little bit nitpicky but that is one of the downsides.

The reason I picked the summer infant baby touch as a top contender is that it literally knocks the socks off of almost anything out there, not everything but almost anything.

It has got durability, great night vision you know a little bit of limited viewing angle but that is again we are probably nitpicking for that for the average user, it has got great expandability and it has the option to add three additional cameras for tons of viewing solutions at $283.01 on Amazon.

Motorola MBP36S-A “Jack of all Trades Baby Video Monitor


This is kind of your do-everything baby monitor or so you know if someone is looking for a baby video monitor that just needs to do everything, well it doesn’t specialize and maybe you know having interchangeable lenses like the DXR-8 or having great durability they want, something that does kind of everything well then maybe the Motorola MVP 36S is more up your alley.

One of the cool things is that security is tighter than a bank’s vault.

So you have been seeing the stuff on TV about you know people hacking into baby monitors and why all of that is scare tactics it can happen if you are specifically targeted for whatever reason but you can know that with the Motorola MVP36S, you are going to have great security.

Another thing we like to believe is that it is an audio Legend audio, even though it is a video baby monitor audio is key to listening in on what is going on and hearing certain things so from jumbled voices to volume levels that seem all out of whack after a few months of use this thing is going to stay on track.

You are not going to have to worry about sounds getting muffled or you know as we said with the other monitors a lot of reverb it has got Motorola’s 2.4 gigahertz FHSS technology built in so you are going to have a consistent and reliable source of two-way communication at all times and with fewer drop signals which is key.

The other nice thing is it has got range because that is going to be very important especially if you have got a big home and a lot of walls in between, you want a camera that can definitely have a lot of range.

It has got a range of approximately 650 feet, it is on the higher end of the scale so you know you may be able to be in the backyard and your kids would be playing in a living room and you will have no problems seeing what is going on, so range is key and the MBP36S has got it.

Motorola adding 5 polyphonic lullabies to this unit is pretty interesting addition, it may be a little bit niche and kind of a little just thrown in there a bit of it but I feel it was kind of well done, it is not going to be practical at all times but it is a nice addition.

The one downside with this is the battery life on this monitor wasn’t the best as it has only got a three and a half hour radiant battery life and that is hardly enough time for the unit to be off the charger especially one day.

So you are going to be having to have more recharges on it and you are going to have to kind of you know plan if you are going somewhere with the monitor or you have got stuff going on during the day that you are going to be using it quite a bit.

So while it is a good baby monitor my final thoughts is there are a lot of different areas that could be improved along but you also have to remember that this is a kind of do it all baby monitor, it is nice in a lot of different areas but it doesn’t necessarily sell at any one area or all the areas at once.

It has a nice range and the included lullabies and whole high quality audio was nice but if you are out there looking for a monitor that does everything well then definitely check out the Motorola MBP36S at $165.99.

Samsung SEW–3043W Brightview


The Samsung SEW-3043 has a video that will leave your jaw dropping, one thing I cannot stand with a baby monitor is any type of video not even just night vision but overall video not being as clear and as crisp as it can.

So what Samsung they did is actually they put 720p video in here and yes that is 720p, it is HD quality video so you are going to be able to see everything you are looking at nice and crisp detail especially on a nice monitor that size 720p is going to look good.

Another nice thing about this monitor is it has got the range up to 900 feet which is absolutely amazing. Most monitors that are definitely on the upper scale are in the 500 to 600 feet, anything lower than that is kind of lower and anything higher than 700 you are looking at a nice range it has amazing range on it.

Again range is one of the key features when you are looking for a video baby monitor, this one has a true night vision so like I said having good a video is key and having a great quality video at night is also key so you are going to be able to clearly see your baby sleeping soundly through the night and have this peace of mind which you know is going to in turn help you sleep and feel more invigorated for the next day.

Again it has got a giant display that you will fall in love with, it is a nice three and a half inch display which is a good size.

It is a big clear touchscreen capable, usually the standard is three and a half inch but this one actually has a five inch display which is going to just knock the socks off of most every monitor out there.

Icons and menus on the screen are easy to navigate and you are not going to feel overwhelmed and frustrated.

So the next thing we are talking about is it is as quiet as a mouse, I don’t know if you have ever mess with a baby monitor’s pill or tilt pan functions but a lot of them when you go to move them through the actual on-screen display.

With the Samsung SEW-3043W you are not going to have to worry about the noise because it is super quiet so your kids can be sleeping and you may want to zoom in or kind of pan to the right a little bit and you are not going to have to worry about them waking up from its loud noise.

One of the downsides is even though it is one of our favorite monitors for the year, again battery life is huge for me as it only lasts for four hours but you are kind of trading that off because you do have a 5-inch screen which is drawing a lot more power and you know kind of draining that battery a little bit more.

The other thing was the sensitivity on the touch screen was not nearly as quick as our cell phones.

Again you are talking about different technologies so we might be being a little bit nitpicky here but you know when you are used to a cell phone responding pretty quick it can get a little bit frustrating at first when you are using a baby monitor and it is kind of like a delayed reaction but our final thoughts on the Samsung baby monitor the SEW-3043 is that it is a great monitor at just $199.

Click here to see a full review of the Samsung Bright View.

Levana Ayden – A Quality Baby Video Monitor


The Levana Ayden is a quality baby video monitor as it kind of blends in with some of the other ones but it is a nicer one to have.

One nice thing about this baby monitor is that the battery can last up to 48 hours which is absolutely insane on a power saving mode so that is not going to be obvious if you are running it at full you know filled full tilt all the time but it is a lot nicer than the 4 hours of battery life that that most cameras of baby monitors are rocking nowadays. It has a clear confident viewing so you are going to have a nice clear view of what you are looking at obviously.

It is not going to be as high-quality as something like the Samsung but you are going to be able to see what you are looking at and feel confident.

One nice thing about this baby monitor is that it is built like a tank so the Levana Ayden has definite ruggedness to it but still has a sleek look.

It is not going to look like a tank but it is going to feel like a tank and you are not going to have to worry about it getting accidentally tossed across the room.

It also has above average signal range so it is got strength as it has got a range up to 750 feet which is very nice and you are not going to have to worry about you know drop signal or not being able to be 20 feet away and not see what is going on.

One problem with the Levana Ayden is that the night-vision quality was not very good you know it is average but it is nothing spectacular.

So my ending thought for the Levana Ayden is that the monitor is a good choice for the money if your budget is a little bit more capped.

Again it does everything but it doesn’t really do anything amazing, it is an average monitor but it gets the job done, so if you are looking for something that gets the job done for you then definitely check out the Levana Ayden baby monitor at $89.99.

Hello Baby–Best Budget Wireless Baby Monitor


This is one of the better budget wireless baby monitors, so maybe you are just looking for something that is a little bit less expensive maybe you need it just for traveling and not something that you want to keep at home then the Hello Baby might be for you.

It is nice because you are going to set it and forget it so when you open the package and first you know fire up the Hello Baby, it is plug and play and doesn’t require any setups and allows you spend time or less time worrying about all the extra features and functions.

Also, it has got a nice wall mount that makes things easy to set up and it really is a set and forget type of baby monitor in every way.

The other thing is you are not going to get any gimmicky features like I mentioned maybe with the lullabies and different stuff like that but it is again a budget baby video monitor so even though it is budget it still got signal range so up to nine hundred and sixty feet which is crazy for being a budget baby monitor but that is because of its 2.4 gigahertz band which also helps to prevent signal loss.

The battery life is actually really good you know some of the top end monitors that I included in this list here didn’t even have a battery life range of seven to eight hours with the screen on so that is really nice for a budget monitor and you are not going to have to be worrying about charging.

The other thing is it had a good sound quality to it so you are going to have a nice clear sound you know for a budget monitor and it will automatically turn the sound off if.

It doesn’t pick up any type of sound within 30 seconds so you are not going to be getting that static kind of hum of maybe a fan that is in the background or anything like that.

One thing about the monitor is that the image quality could have been better but again it is a budget baby video monitor so you can’t expect to have amazing image quality.

Next was that the screen is a little bit small and this might sometimes be difficult to see under certain circumstances.

My final thoughts are if you have got a tight budget and you don’t want something that is going to break the bank like I said maybe you are going to be using this just strategically for traveling then definitely check it out because it is a great budget monitor for anyone out there as it costs just $69.

Infant Optics DXR-5 Portable Video Baby Monitor


So again Infant Optics makes the list here with its infant optics DXR-5 which I think is a great portable video baby monitor.

So you might need something specifically for travel this is a great monitor to take with you and it has got over 7,000 reviews on Amazon so if you want to hop over there and check that out you will see that it is a great monitor, it has got a lot of reviews and it has got great history.

So if you are looking for the smoothest video monitor on the market then the Infant Optics DXR-5 is going to be your new best friend.

It can get video at 30 frames per second which is pretty decent and you are not going to have to worry about any lag, so if the kids are playing in the room and jumping on the bed or whatever they are doing you are not going to have to worry about any delay or lag in the video.

It has a great video and it is the little brother to the DXR-8 that I did a review on earlier.

Again this has ironclad protection on it so you are not going to have to worry about hacking.

It has got a great standard 2.4 gigahertz digital wireless communication link you know you are not going to have to worry about people from the outside listening in because it also includes data encryption feature FHSS which is automatic frequency hopping system.

It looks good and it is built to last.

The one thing that I like about the DXR-5 is the unique design and quality that it puts off, for some people maybe large buttons is a little bit clunky but it actually helped simplify the unit of this camera.

It has got an easy to see power on button with great navigational music menus and it is really pretty straightforward to use.

So the Infant Optics DXR-5 has a really easy camera to understand and kind of roll with. It is made of a plastic but it does feel solid and you are not going to have to worry about it feeling like glass and like it is going to break.

One thing I did wish the Infant Optics is that the monitor was a little bit bigger, I feel like the standards usually is like three and a half inches and this one is only 2.4.

So it was actually kind of small but again this is kind of like I believe a travel monitor so maybe it is something that is going to be like in a hotel room where you don’t really need a really big screen and you are not going to need a huge screen.

I consider this more of like a travel monitor that you take with you and not necessarily going to take your nicer one that maybe you keep at home.

So my final thought is that the Infant Optics is a simple and reliable baby monitor for all.

I think that anybody who wants to be able to pick up a relatively inexpensive baby monitor should definitely give the Infant Optics DXR-5 a try at $104.77.

I hope you found this to be informative and this helps you along your journey of finding the perfect baby monitors out there.

 

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