Please help! Baby monitors...

[Courtneyp723]

So I'm sure you guys don't get a lot of this here, but I've really never been able to get a good answer from Mom websites/forums. I live deep in the country where there are two houses maybe 40-50 yards away from each other. When my sister comes to visit we plan on putting her younger baby in the main house and my older 1 1/2 year old in the other. However I'd like to he able to go up to the main house to visit etc. when my daughter is napping.

There are a lot of different monitors, digital, WiFi audio only visual only etc. I just want reliability because the walls in the houses are kind of thick and there are a few trees that might block signal between the two.

So if anyone wants to help me that has a clearer idea how all this stuff works let me say:

Sprint has service out there. No one else does but that means at least 2 people can use their phones to see the baby. That's good enough for us.

We can set up a personal hot spot at the other house that doesn't have WiFi. We have no problem doing that. However we wouldn't always be connected to the WiFi at the main house (it's spotty satellite) so either there needs to be a direct signal between monitor/receiver and a range/integrity able to handle a tree or two and thick walls.. or we just need the ability to access the monitor directly through our phones and Sprint service.

The main house is a log cabin style lol. This might be making things more difficult.

A video omitor would be preferred but only if it really works! And we are not so much worried about price either although anything much over 175 would be questionable! Thank you so much!

 

[Ham n' Eggs]

Forget the video monitor, especially IP based ones because they are an open window for anyone and everyone to look into your house as they are totally insecure. Also, forget a video monitor because they're unnecessary.

I'd suggest the Philips Avent series. We have one that is discontinued but it was rated by consumer reports to have the longest range... I've used it from almost 80 yards from the house (house has thick cinderblock style walls).

One suggestion is to get one with a tempearture sensor built in. It is very helpful to see the temperature in the room (especially in hot summer weather &/or cold winter weather. There have been a couple of times I've turned on the AC or Heater to make the room more suitable based on that reading.

The other suggestion is to have some white noise of any kind playing (especially important when you step out of the house) because the white noise will play constantly over the speaker/receiver. Also, there are some blue led lights on the device whenever sound is coming through the speaker. This is great for when you are in the shower (lights) and the white noise is important because you can and will accidentally shut off the device that is around your neck and with the white noise you notice when you accidentally shut it off. With a silent baby room you will not know if you accidentally shut it off (or if you forgot to turn it on in the 1st place). You will come to expect that white noise and when it is missing you will instinctively react to check the receiver.

Lastly, the white noise bit is no trouble. It can be a bit annoying when watching a show but even when you turn down the receiver you can still hear the baby when the baby cries over the noise. It is not a problem at all, and we have a very substantial white noise generator (a portable AC unit).


hope this helps.
The specific unit I bought has been discontinued and replaced with a newer model. Consider checking consumer reports reviews of these, they had good reviews when we were shopping for a monitor.

 

[Ham n' Eggs]

As to the importance of white noise. One day while out working in the yard with the monitor hanging around my neck a neighbor came up to me to give me some parenting tips.:whiste: They wanted to tell me some story about how it is dangerous to leave the house when wearing the baby monitor because someone somewhere did this and the house caught on fire and the mom was in a house next door and didn't hear the fire alarm through the monitor because the receiver was accidentally turned off (and when you are used to a quiet receiver you wouldn't notice).

I on the other hand was able to point to the receiver hanging around my neck while I was doing yard work and say that that wouldn't happen to me because of the noisy AC unit that creates a constant positive signal (audible and flashing blue led lights) showing me that everything is working. Batteries should run down quicker with this setup but we never have any issues with hours/days of normal use. Then just recharge on the charging station or keep it on the station all the time. Replaceable recharging batteries have only been replaced once with multiple years of use.

Lastly, sorry if I was too mean about the unnecessary part about the video monitor. You'll just become obsessed with looking at it all the time and every monitor tested was wide open to being snooped on over the internet because like many companies making internet-connected devices, security was an afterthought. In the case of these devices security was probably never thought of in the 1st place. And... it's unnecessary. Although you being able to look at your cute baby all the time from anywhere would probably be fun and nice.

 

[notposting]

If you have full access to both properties, you might consider putting in some PVC pipe between the two. Preferably trenched, but hell, if you're out in the country, you can take this in phases.

Get some Cat-5e between the two and it would broaden your options considerably.