NTM-910YLW - Sony Baby Call Nursery Monitor
by Sony
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List Price: Our Price: $29.99 You Save: $20.00 (40%) Availability: Usually ships in 6-10 business days Category: Baby Product See more product details |
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Baby Products Reviews of NTM-910YLW - Sony Baby Call Nursery Monitor
Customer Review: Best monitor on the market but can be even better!
Summary: 5 Stars
Advantages:1) Super clear compared to most nursery monitors on the market. There is little to no static or "white" noise in the background.
2) There are two "on" settings. One is the regular stay on all the time setting and there is the voice activated setting. It also has a light monitor that lights up according to the intensity of the sound (i.e., baby crying).
3) Water resistant so that you can place this receiver in damp rooms such as a bathroom or a laundry room. (Note: it's water resistant but not WATERPROOF. In other words, you shouldn't take it into the shower or bath with you.)
4) In addition to an external DC supply, it comes with a 2.4V rechargable battery supply.
5) It has up to 27 potential channels to choose from and is 900 MHz.
Disadvantages:
1) There is only ONE receiver.
2) It is bulky.
3) It is difficult to see the control settings on the side (i.e., OFF, ON, VOICE ACT) and can easily be in the off position instead of on.
Improvement suggestions for Sony:
1) A 2.4GHz monitor would be great for more range and potentially greater clarity. I think people would be willing to pay a little extra for this considering this current product is wonderful already.
2) Two receivers would be wonderful and convenient. Again, I think people would be willing to pay for the extra receiver.
3) You could slim it down a bit or change the design to something a little more ergonomic.
4) The three indicators at the bottom of the face of the receiver is not necessary since there are indicators at the very bottom of the receiver for the selection of channels. I don't think we need to see what channel selection we have made but rather, I would like to see color lights there instead to show that it is either off, on or on voice activation since it is difficult to see what setting we are on.
Conclusion: I wouldn't trade this monitor in for any other one in the market. I have tried many other nursery monitors and they were dismal failures. Sony can make a few improvements to make this monitor even better!
Customer Review: Best Monitor we found... and we tried many!
Summary: 5 Stars
First, no audio baby monitor is perfect. From time to time, they all display interference issues etc.
We love the Sony 900 MHz BabyCall for several reasons:
1) we have used multiple units together (for our two children as well as visiting kids, as many as 3 at once) with ability to find different channels for each without issue.
2) it provides very good volume control and ability to pick up sounds as soft as a breathing baby (provided it is in a good position in the room)
3) it can operate interference free PROVIDED that you do NOT have any 900 MHz devices in the vicinity (you really need to check this). Note that we had "just" 1 900 MHz phone that we used in our basement and had interference problems. These issues went away the second we disconnected that phone. Also, you may have to change the channel setting from time to time due to "rogue" interference. We suspect that a close neighboring house can even be an issue. Changing the channel settings resolved issues every single time for us.
4) The rechargeable receivers make life easy. They use a standard older cordless phone battery, and they have lasted several years for us. The wired transmitters (which you leave in the child's room) can be a drag when we are travelling (when plug points are sometimes inaccessible/hard to come by), but given that 95% of the use of these monitors is in our home the corded/cordless nature of this monitor has worked.
Downsides?
* These aren't two way, if you are looking for that.
* They are basic, volume adjustment, custom channel baby monitors, nothing more, nothing less.
* No rechargeable transmitter (as mentioned earlier)
I went through a couple of days of research and tried several other brands to convince myself that these monitors were the best compromise. Overall, we have been happy. I am also surprised because I keep expecting newer models to eclipse these. However, the baby monitors our friends with younger children have don't seem to work any better than these. Newer isn't always better, I guess.
Customer Review: Very pleased until my cell phone rang
Summary: 2 Stars
I live in a fairly large complex with tons of neighbors all around me. Everyone has wi-fi around me and I was afraid of getting a baby monitor with a video on it. Yes I am a little paranoid about this but I am also a parent.
I looked all over the place read tons of reviews on various websites and thought why not it's made by Sony it has to be good. I was super excited that it is waterproof for bathroom uses (showers)! The first night I was super impressed. I was to a point of writing a five star review on this item.
Then my cell phone rang. When my cell phone rings and is even five feet away from this monitor the monitor has a very high pitch screeching death to my ears sound that is constant until I shut off the monitor then I answer my cell phone. I can't even be by this monitor when I am talking on my cell phone either. This is okay if you never ever call anyone or want to talk to anyone when your child is taking a nap which is the only time a parent can actually even talk on the phone is during nap time. So it's an okay monitor.
The other downside to this monitor is that it BEEPS to let you know when it needs to be charged and there is no indicator to let a parent know when it's getting low on its battery charge until it's 3 AM and everyone is asleep and a parent hears BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP until you plug it in. It's bad enough that a monitor wakes you up to get it charged and not a child.
The plus side to this monitor is that my child wakes up and talks to himself for twenty minutes or so. I can hear him talk to himself with no static on the monitor as long as my phone doesn't ring. This was the point of getting the monitor as he does not cry when he first wakes up. I can tell when he needs to get picked up as he starts to huff on the monitor and I can get him before he wakes the world up with his cry.
Overall it works --- and it does not work for us --- Overall, I think I would try a different waterproof monitor, if there is one out there let me know THANKS!
Customer Review: Good product
Summary: 3 Stars
The great features:
*Voice activation - totally quiet until sound activates and turns on the monitor. No extraneous sound.
-- Its cousin. You can set it to "on" to hear the room noise, if you are unsure whether you're out of range, see that it's still working, or you "just want to check." Hearing the room noise is reassuring, but I'm glad I don't hear it all the time, like w/our last monitor!
*No interference. With our Fisher Price monitor, I heard the neighbor's nursery. No chance of that with this one.
*The lights across the top. These are a great visual indicator of how loud or continuously our son is making noise. If your volume is turned low, or you're groggy during the night, you can look to the lights for a great cue. Love this feature.
Not so great features:
*Fairly heavy receiver, not so easy to carry about.
*I wish there were two rather than one receivers - one to leave in our bedroom, the other to carry.
*The reception seems arbitrary or iffy at times. I've walked across the street with it without issue, but gone out to the back yard and had the out-of-range alarm go off.
*Sometimes I hear our son before the monitor turns on, either when I have it with me and I'm near the nursery or if I'm fully awake. This makes me wonder just how much sound it takes to turn on.
The neutral:
*I've also recently heard the beeping other reviewers have mentioned. It's short and stops as soon as I shift positions or walk a few feet. I'm guessing it's a placement thing that can be worked out. Not a big deal for me
*Water resistant is good, but not necessary
All in all I like it. The voice activation, the sound-indicator lights, and lack of interference make it well worth it. If I had it to do again, though, I think I'd buy a video monitor. But if I had to buy an audio monitor again, I'm pretty sure I'd buy this one. I don't think you can get less static interference or more quiet. I do think I could have more reassurance/knowledge, however.
Customer Review: Second monitor tried - A keeper!
Summary: 5 Stars
We received The First Years Peace-of-mind baby monitor as a shower gift. Upon testing it out (we haven't had the baby yet...) we noticed you couldn't move the receiver without getting lots of static. It was very annoying! We decided to return it since the reviews for that monitor on this site largely confirm the problem. We purchased the Sony 900mhz 27 channel model because I have always been happy with Sony products (I got a 7 year old Sony TV and 9 year old Sony VCR and they still look/work like new and the Sony 900mhz phone would still be here if I didn't run it over with my truck.) Anyway this monitor is excellent! It is super clear, and with 27 channels you should surely find one that works good. We put it at "red, red and red" (essentially channel 1) and didn't even try any others because it was crystal clear. I really like the "Sound Activated" mode on the receiver. It shuts off the speaker if the transmitter isn't receiving anything. It doesn't take much noise to make it kick back on - we shouldn't miss any baby sounds. For example, with the transmitter in the back bedroom, if I clap my hands in the living room on the other side of the house, it will cause the speaker to turn back on. As another plus, the receiver uses a rechargeable battery, much like a cordless phone. We will definetely save money on batteries! We wish it came with two receivers but we are sticking with this one beacuse it does job #1 excellently.
PS - When testing baby monitors, remember that these are just a microphone (transmitter) and speaker (receiver). If you move a speaker close to a microphone you WILL get loud feedback. The volume on the receiver must be turned way down (or off) to get close to the transmitter. This is especially a problem with baby monitors because of the extremely sensitive microphones used. Remember to leave the room with the transmitter before you turn on the receiver. The higher the speaker volume (even with no sound coming from it!) the further away you have to be from the transmitter to prevent feedback.