Graco Angelcare Movement Sensor with Nursery Monitor
by Graco
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List Price: Our Price: $89.95 You Save: $10.04 (10%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Baby Product See more product details |
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Baby Products Reviews of Graco Angelcare Movement Sensor with Nursery Monitor
Customer Review: Provides PEACE of MIND ... ALARM SOUNDS if baby stops breathing/moving.
Summary: 4 Stars
I LOVE the MOVEMENT SENSOR aspect of this monitor. I have used 2 of these (one in the crib for nighttime sleeping and one in the playpen for daytime naps) and they work GREAT at detecting when there is no movement/breathing. I used these with both my kids, up until they were both 2 years old and moved to big boy beds.
I only have two complaints. One is that I wish they would improve the monitors so that there is less interference/static, and more channels. With these monitors, you get lots of feedback and can even pick-up neighbors' babies (if they are using similar monitors). This means that the neighbors can also hear you and your baby. In fact, I always used Channel B because I kept picking up neighbors' babies on Channel A. My second complaint is I wish they would make the sensor that goes under the mattress bigger so that it covers more of the sleep area to prevent false alarms.
My workaround solution is that I also own 2 other monitors ... one with video and one with a greater frequency and less static (that I used in conjunction with this one) and carry around the house.
This monitor allowed me to get much needed rest and things done around the house without having to check the baby every 2 minutes to make sure he was still breathing. I wish more manufacturers would add the movement detection feature to their monitors.
Despite some of this monitor's shortcomings, I still HIGHLY recommend it. Worth EVERY penny for that piece of mind. If you buy more than one set, the monitors are interchangeable and work together nicely. In addition, it is small and easy to carry along with you when you travel. So, you can use it on vacations or when you are away from home, to monitor your baby for added peace of mind.
**PLEASE NOTE: You will need MASONITE BOARD, or some other hard board to place under the crib mattress for the movement sensor to sit on. With the playpen (because it had a hard bottom), I didn't need to use anything. I could just place the movement sensor directly under the pad.**
Customer Review: We sleep well knowing this product is turned on
Summary: 4 Stars
My wife used to wake up every 15 minutes or so and check to make sure the baby was still breathing. She was so very worried about SIDS, and at first she insisted the baby sleep in the same room as us so that she could keep an eye on her.
We've both been sleeping more soundly now, knowing that the Angelcare Monitor will tell us if there's a problem.
This product should also work well for monitoring seniors, but since it monitors for any movement in the bed, a second person in the bed would throw it off.
This falls short of a perfect 5 star rating for two reasons:
+ It has a sensitivity adjustment knob but at best, sometimes the baby rolls too far away from the sensor and it goes off, and on the same setting we've noted that sometimes when the baby is no longer in the crib (we're standing next to the crib rocking her back to sleep in our arms) it picks up our footsteps as breathing. That means a large dog in the room might also throw it off. Still, it's usually accurate.
+ The audible baby monitor functions are not very good. Perhaps in the silicon valley there are more of us with wireless gateways, wireless security systems, wireless phones, etc. that create interference. I bought a second baby monitor with 10 frequencies that we set next to the Angelcare monitor in the baby's room (Angelcare only has two). If the Angelcare alarm goes off, the other baby monitor picks up the sound and broadcasts it on a frequency free from static.
Suggestion: If you're going to get a second monitor, get a video monitor. Sometimes you hear an odd sound in there and it's helpful to see what's going on without walking in there (are they throwing up or pulling the sheets off the mattress? The sounds are surprisingly similar!).
Customer Review: Peace of Mind but not Perfect
Summary: 4 Stars
So I sent my husband out to buy this the day we found out our infant had RSV. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to sleep unless I had some way of knowing my son was breathing.
Without doing a ton of research, we bought this one by Graco.
Here's the pros:
-affordable
-works well--even without the masonrite board they suggest you buy, which Graco doesn't sell anymore, though the instruction guide said it did
-instructions are easy to use and explain it well
--IT WORKS!
Here's the cons:
--the parent unit operates with a unit charger and when it's unplugged, it goes to batteries. If you ever plan to leave the room where it's plugged in, you will need to rely on the battery charge. We've had to change batteries at least once a week. This adds up!
--The monitor itself has 3 settings, sound only, sound and movement and one where it also picks up any sound in the room and ticks when it picks it up. Yes, it ticks. Annoying, so clearly we choose the sound and movement and not the ticking part. There is a button that you slide in one of 3 positions to indicate how you would like to use the monitor. If you decide to mute the ticking noise, it's very difficult to move the button for that feature. It can be done but sometimes it takes a few tries.
So the product works and I have peace of mind but it isn't without fault. I think in retrospect, I'd buy the one with the rechargeable parent unit. The batteries are adding up fast.
Customer Review: Peace of mind, some build quality issues
Summary: 4 Stars
We got one of these with our first child and another for our second child. It provides remarkable peace of mind, especially for first time parents. We haven't had many issues with false alarms, though they can occur (sensitivity adjustment is helpful). Now that our older child is 2.5 years old and in a toddler bed, we still use the monitor, as the motion sensor is now useful to tell us when she is out of bed (alarm goes off when no motion detected in bed).
One issue has been the quality of the power supplies (typical "wall wart" transformers). Of the four supplies we've had (for 2 towers and 2 base stations), two have developed large cracks in the transformer housing and one of those also developed worn insulation on the wires. We typically plug and unplug the tower units from the wall once or twice a day (put kid in bed, bring tower downstairs to work, then bring tower upstairs to our bedroom when we go to bed). I would imagine this is pretty typical use, so the cracking of the housing is surprising (and yes, we unplug by gripping the housing, not by tugging on the wire).
As some have noted, static can be an issue. We've found that it can be made a lot better by making sure that the tower is the only thing plugged into a typical two-outlet power outlet. Static becomes worse if, say, the tower is plugged into the same panel as a clock radio.
Customer Review: Best baby monitor, period.
Summary: 5 Stars
If I could only buy one baby item, it would be this one. It is that wonderful. No baby should be without this monitor. This monitor can save lives, not just tell you when baby is waking up or fussing. We have used this monitor every single day since our baby arrived home - we love it and couldn't sleep without it. We have had a few false alarms when she strays to the edge of the crib mattress but no big deal. SIDS happens and there is no better monitor to protect your baby from being a SIDS victim than this one. We use it every time our baby is in her crib and we've used it in her bassinet as well. It has nice features of being able to adjust the volume on the extra sound piece and being able to turn the ticking sound on/off. The way it works is very simple -- you put the movement sensor underneath the mattress on a hard surface (thin piece of wood works - it even works with just the crib springs underneath) and it detects the baby's movement caused by breathing. The main monitor piece that stays in the nursery has a flashing green light that flashes as movement is detected. If the movement stops for several seconds, you hear a single beep and a red light flickers on both the nursery unit and the mobile unit. After a few more seconds, an alarm will sound.