Safety 1st Crystal Clear Baby Monitor, White
by Dorel Juvenile Group
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Our Price: $26.16 Availability: Usually ships in 2-3 business days Category: Baby Product See more product details |
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Baby Products Reviews of Safety 1st Crystal Clear Baby Monitor, White
Customer Review: Don't be fooled by the price!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Every baby monitor on the market seems to start at $50 and most cost around $100+. I thought the more I spent the better quality. I was wrong! I purchased a fisher price baby monitor from amazon before this one and the unit died on me after 2 months of use! It turned out all the reviewers had problems with the hand unit frying after being plugged in to the socket for too long. Both of ours died after less than a month of use. We borrowed a friends who had only used theirs for a month and that one died too! Not wanting to spend another $100+ on a monitor that was only going to die after 1 month we opted for this baby monitor. Wow what a difference! We shouldn't have been fooled by the price in the first place! This monitor has been used for 4 months and it's still kicking. Here's some PROs/CONs:
PROs:
1. After 4 months of constant use this monitor shows no sign of dying.
2. This is the first monitor we've had that doesn't pick up cell phone static!
3. There is VERY little static associated with this monitor.
4. We hear our baby clearly and the base unit is 5ft away from the crib and next to our white noise machine.
5. Even though you are limited to 2 channels we have never picked up any conversations or other baby monitors.
CONs:
1. They recommended that the unit be plugged in at all times for optimal use. This means you can't walk around with the monitor. Although I remember the directions saying you can use it when it's not plugged in. We just don't use it that way because we keep the monitor in one place in the house.
2. You only have one hand unit. Not a problem for us but it might be for others.
3. You can only use 2 channels. I put this under both pro's and con's because while it's not an issue for us, it may be for other consumers.
Bottom line is, I would buy this monitor again in a heart beat and wish I had purchased it in the first place. Sure it would be nice to see what my child is doing in her crib when she's talking to herself, but as far as hearing if your baby is awake, crying, babbling, singing, talking, etc. this monitor does the job!
Customer Review: Unacceptable loud humming / interference noises
Summary: 1 Stars
We bought several of these, and we've used them exclusively for the past year and two months. No matter what arrangement we use, we get terrible humming interference. Every time I turn on the receiver, I twist it this way and that way, trying to find a position that will make the interference less. It is bad enough that it annoys us with anything we do (TV watching... sleeping... a constant annoyance.)
Unfortunately, to be sure I hear my son's cries (and that they wake me up) I typically have to turn the volume way up, which means I've had to get used to sleeping with fairly loud humming noises.
I was more or less resigned to this, and thought little of it, until my brother, who is an electrical engineer, visited the house the other day and said that this level of humming was unacceptable -- that engineers know very well how to make devices that won't pick up extra signals like this, and that the product is simply a poorly engineered piece. He did a few tests to ensure that there isn't some strange background noise in my house -- there isn't. It's the monitor that is badly made.
One feature of the monitors, by the way, is that you can unplug them and walk around with them using battery power. (The hum gets a bit louder when I do this...) Thus, I can go for trips to the basement, etc., without worry, using this monitor, and then I plug it back into its power source as soon as I'm back, to save the batteries.
Now that I know the humming need not be there, I'm going out to buy a competitor's model!
So, go elsewhere for your monitor.
Customer Review: Bad Quality Control
Summary: 1 Stars
We've been through three of these. Two were total junk out of the box. One worked very well.
The first one we got didn't work at all. It was totally useless. The static was so loud we could barely make out noises from the babies room. But, we sent it back and exchanged it for a new one. The new worked great. So, we ordered another one for the other kid's room. This 3rd one was total junk. So, 2 out of 3 were junk. But, the one that did work, we really like. For me, this explains the mixed reviews on this product. Poor quality control.
As far as the one that did work, here are some more details about why I liked it.
We've tried a few monitors. This one had the least static. For us, static is the most important issue. We hate it. We use the baby monitors primarily at night, so that we can hear if the kids wake up in the middle of the night. If the monitors have a lot of static it keeps US from getting to sleep.
The next most important issue is unnecessary beeping. Some of the other monitors we've used periodically loose the signal from the baby's room, and then automatically reconnects after a few seconds. Each time they loose the signal they beep loudly to let us know. This always wakes us up. This can happen a dozen or more times each night. No good. THIS monitor does NOT beep when it looses the signal, or maybe it just never looses the signal... either way we're sleeping much better now.
Customer Review: Touchy, constant static.
Summary: 2 Stars
I do in-home health care for a disabled elderly woman for a living, and we use this monitor at night while she is sleeping in her room. Unfortunately, I wasn't in charge of purchasing a monitor, or we'd have a better one-- this model has SO many problems. The battery drains don't factor in, as we plug it in, but otherwise the unit is very sketchy. If it's not turned up all the way, we can barely hear when our patient wakes up-- and she rattles around the lamp on her nightstand quite loudly. If it is turned up all the way, there's almost always a constant static buzz, and it doesn't matter where we move the monitor/receiver, or which channel it is on. Also, if anything else is plugged in to the same outlet, or even an outlet on the same circuit breaker, the receiver starts to hiss and spit static so loud that I couldn't hear the poor woman if she screamed. The only pro about this system and the reason it gets two stars is that I've never overheard a cordless phone conversation, or had a problem when the wireless router in the adjoining duplex is on. However, if either residence happens to be using a microwave oven, there's a buzzing and clicking sound on the receiver. This also happens if I so much as touch the power supply cord.
If you only plan on using this item while you're asleep with no other electronics in use, it's great. Otherwise, go for a different brand.
Customer Review: Not reliable and noisy
Summary: 2 Stars
I got it because of it's price and good reviews, but it's not good at all.
Cons:
1) Very noisy. Last thing I want to do when I put my baby to sleep is listen to it buzz - no matter where I put it. I didn't think it will be a big deal, but after being a mother for a year and a half, I know it is! After chasing my son around I just want silence!
2) I once forgot to turn it on in the baby's room, and only remembered to turn on the microphone - my baby was crying for hours, and I didn't hear him! There is no built-in mechanism to notify you of that mistake! Maybe a light that would flash warning you that the other part of the monitor is not on.
3) There are 2 channels that you can use. If ch.1 is chosen on a microphone, same channel should be selected in the receiver. The issue is that there is no clear indication which channel you select. Due to where the switch is located, your hand might slide to far to the side, accidentally activating ch.2 instead of 1, or the other way around. If you do that mistake, again - you'll miss your baby crying.
Pros:
1) Like the belt clip
Would not buy it again. Next time, I'd pay a lot more for a silent monitor that would last 2-3 years.
Gave it 2 starts because the technology works, but it's very noisy and not reliable by design. Ironically it's called Safety 1st.