Product provided for review and inclusion. All opinions are my own.
From baby #1 to baby #3, a lot changes – you become more confident, and although all kids are different despite having similar DNA, you have a general idea of what to expect in the early days of bringing home baby. You also have an idea of what you must have for baby and what you really don’t need. One of my top baby must haves is and has always been a good baby monitor. After trying out a few over the years, I know what features I would like to see in a baby monitor and have seen baby monitors come a long way.
Now baby monitors have microSD cards where you can save pictures and videos from the unit, like the VTech VM981. We just got our hands on this new unit and have tried it out for a few days. I love the large clear screen and the ability to connect multiple cameras to the parent unit- perfect for children in multiple rooms. The touch screen is easy to connect and maneuver, and I love that I can even connect my phone and see my baby through the free app. The video quality is the best I’ve seen yet.
While all these features are great starting points for a baby monitor, I feel the camera at its $199 price point falls short in many ways. For starters- you need to get a perfect angle with the camera because it doesn’t pan. You can not control the camera position from the parent unit. Considering the camera isn’t mountable, I can’t see how this fixed position camera would work well in any setting. Currently, as I’m watching my baby sleep, all I see are his covers because he’s moved out of the range of the camera eye. I’ve tried multiple positions on his dresser, but there isn’t one that gives me that perfect view from any angle of his bed.
Since the camera doesn’t work without WiFi access, it’s pretty useless if you want to use it on its own. I also don’t have an option to talk back to my baby, which my old camera allowed me to do. Now, depending on your needs the VTech VM981 may be all you need, but if you want more bells and whistles you might want to opt for the next step- the VTech VM991.