Graco Digital Deluxe iMonitor Baby Monitor
by Graco Baby
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List Price: Category: Baby Product See more product details |
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Baby Products Reviews of Graco Digital Deluxe iMonitor Baby Monitor
Customer Review: Look Elsewhere...
Summary: 1 Stars
I have never written a review, but in this case, I feel compelled to do so. I purchased the iMonitor last week as an upgrade to a Safety 1st dual monitor, for no other reason than I was tired of the interference. I was excited to learn of the digital technology, and once I got it home, I was anxious to try it. After a few nights trying it out, I was equally as anxious to return it and get my money back...let me explain:
To begin with, before you buy, please be aware that the lights and sound are awfully bright and loud, which was troublesome since I am a light sleeper. I would have been able to deal with it, but there are other problems as well...there are 'clicks' and 'crackles' that are intermittent, and, like I said before, not good for a light sleeper.
The final straw was on the fourth night the parent receivers lost contact with the base -- I spent a half hour resetting it, reconfiguring the layout, powering on/off -- all to no avail. It kept beeping 'Out of Range' -- I was only 10 feet from the monitor at the time. Absolutely unacceptable.
In all fairness, we do have a lot of gadgets that are wireless and may have been competing with the monitor, but that isn't an excuse..it says 'Crystal Clear Clarity' and '2000 foot range', but this is not, I repeat, NOT the case.
So, I packed it back up and went into Babies R Us to return it...here's the kicker: The salesperson at the store said that she agreed they had a lot of problems and she has seen more of the iMonitors returned than any other monitor. She rec'd the Sony, but it doesn't come with two parent units, so I have resigned myself to living with the Safety 1st..even with all of its interference, it is still superior, and 1/4 of the price as the iMonitor.
I have no doubt that Digital is the next step in baby monitors...but so far Graco does not have it figured out...Save your money and give it some time so they can work out the obvious flaws in the system.
Customer Review: Not As Advertised. Could Be So Much Better
Summary: 3 Stars
We registered for a more traditional monitor and got this one because of a mistake with Target. We decided to keep it because we thought it was a great upgrade. This is our first monitor and first child, so we didn't really know anything to compare it to.
Things that are good about this monitor:
The design is good, it is really streamlined and cordless and that's great. We have a wireless network, cell phones, wireless speakers and we've never had any problems with that.
Things that are bad about this monitor:
Some people have said things about the battery life. We keep one charging base in our bedroom, so the battery isn't an issue in there. The other unit we keep in the living room and is the one that we carry around when checking the mail, going in the yard for a moment etc. When one dies, I trade the dead monitor for the one that has been on the charger on our room.
My husband is a hard sleeper, I'm a light sleeper and vigilant while the baby sleeps in his room. The unit ON THE CHARGER looses the base signal in the middle of the night for no reason and beeps incessantly until it finds the home signal. I get up and turn the monitor off and on again momentarily so I don't have to wait for it to beep beep beep. Seriously this thing will beep for 10 minutes. If it can't find the signal, it is totally pointless for listening to baby. Our son is a good sleeper and rarely wakes up, when he turns in bed or breathes loudly I can hear him on the monitor. It is really sensitive. When it rains, the raindrops hitting his window sound is in our room because of the monitor.
This is supposed to be the best there is, so I'm just going to hang in there with it.
Customer Review: Good But A Couple Of Issues
Summary: 3 Stars
I've been using these monitors for a couple of months now and have been reasonably impressed with them.
THE GOOD
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The sound quality is excellent, from a distance of 6 feet away, the base unit can pickup the sound of my baby breathing and I can hear it easily with the sound turned up on the monitor unit.
When baby cries or makes a louder noise the indicator lights flash immediately and if the vibrate is turned on, you know about it right away.
The range seems good, with the baby upstairs and across the house, the connection is maintained when I am outside in my yard.
THE BAD
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One of the monitor units will not charge in it's base. It has to be directly plugged in to the cord to charge. I'm sure I could return it and get a new one, but it hasn't been worth it with the second monitor unit working as designed.
Battery life is far from exceptional. You might make it through the night without needing the monitor in it's base to charge but its a 50/50 shot.
Although it has only happened once, apparently the monitor decided it was out of range in the middle of the night and started beeping loudly. According to the manual this is not an uncommon occurrence. Far from ideal to occasionally be woken in the middle of the night for no good reason.
Overall I'm not unhappy with my purchase, the monitors do what they are supposed to and the vibrate feature, the handy clip and lights are nice features while I have been very impressed with the clarity of the sound it captures.
Customer Review: Grossly over-rated
Summary: 1 Stars
This is the first baby monitor I have ever owned, so I do not claim to be an expert. I bought this because another Graco model was highly rated and they are supposed to be a quality brand name. From the way this model is marketed I thought it wouldn't have as many problems with interference and so would get better reception. I've only been using this monitor for a week, but I'd have to say so far it's *worthless*. I don't mean that as an exaggeration either. It's range is absolutely abysmal. I can't take it downstairs or outside on our deck without it losing all reception from the base station. The only places in the home where I get reliable reception are within earshot of where the base station and baby are! What's the point of even having a monitor?! My home is by no means large and when I am on the deck I am probably 75 feet from the bedroom where the baby is sleeping and at most 100 feet when I am downstairs. This was given to us as a gift (although we registered for it) so it wasn't *my* money wasted. But it angers me that something that costs so much performs so poorly. Our next door neighbor will sometimes pop in to visit while her toddler is asleep, with her baby monitor in-hand. It has some static but she gets a reception! And that's going through the walls of her home, crossing some open ground, and then coming through our walls. Her baby monitor is an older off-brand, but at least it works.
I definitely *would not* buy this product again.
Customer Review: GREAT monitor! Very satisfied mom.
Summary: 5 Stars
While I can't compare it to other monitors out there, as I lucked-into choosing it for my first child, I have used it constantly for almost 2 years now and am about to use it for our 2nd child, so I do know this monitor. When he was a newborn, I liked how I could easily hear every breath the baby was taking with no background noise - it brought peace of mind. As he grew bigger, I moved the base further away from him, so now I only hear if he cries or calls out. We have all the typical wireless internet and devices, but only once (just last month) have I EVER had a problem with static or interference noises. We had just moved, so I assumed something happened to the monitor in the move. I had finally decided to replace it (with the same monitor) when I got on here to look at others' reviews. I had NEVER before needed to use the channel button, so I forgot it even had one! But I pushed it once, and all my problems were instantly solved! No more popping or static. I also know the range on these monitors is FANTASTIC! Our last home was on 4 acres, and we had a pool about halfway back the property from the house, and the monitor picked up just fine at the pool.
The only con I can think of is that our rechargeable batteries didn't last very long (probably because we kept them on the chargers too long). But ours stay plugged in all the time, anyway, so it hasn't been a big inconvenience for us. We could order replacement batteries if it mattered.