I'm definitely a cautious person, but when these camera-baby-monitors first started showing up on shelves several years back I honestly thought they were only for hover-moms and worry warts. Now I see just how handy this invention is! Surprisingly, too, we've found it even more helpful in my 3-year-olds room as opposed to our 8 month old!I feel like this product is the future in parenting. Of course, I take care to spend a lot of time with my kids as a stay-at-home-mom. But as all parents know, you can't be right there with them every second. While I used to think these things were for parents who were so obsessed that they wanted to watch their babies sleep, now I know that naptime is not the only time this monitor is useful.
For example, I can work on dinner in the kitchen while my girls play with toys in their playroom and I can still keep an eye on them! My three-year-old has started to show a little aggression toward her sister now that the baby is old enough to crawl and play with her sister's toys. I can still watch my older daughter for shoving and grabbing even when I'm out of the room. Before I had this video monitor I could only guess why the baby started crying while I was out of the room.
The intercom is a brilliant feature! At first I thought, "Yeah, right like I could soothe my baby over intercom. When she's crying she wants to be held!" Though that is still true, I've again found this feature handy with my older daughter. When I put her down for a nap she often likes to sneak out of bed and play with her toys. With the intercom I can give orders, such as "Get back into bed, it's naptime not playtime," from across the house. And I no longer have to risk waking her up by checking in on her to see if she's even sleeping. Brilliant!
The temperature feature is just another lovely bonus to this monitor. We live in an older house that can heat unevenly, and Colorado in the wintertime, it can grow quite cold. I love being able to see how warm my daughter's room is at night. This is also a very nice feature with babies and overheating as some have theorized that SIDS is possibly caused by overheating, plus we all want our babies to sleep comfortably.
This video monitor is extremely easy to use. Once it arrived, we opened and began using it within just a couple minutes. The screen is bright enough, and not fantastic image (like a modern TV, for example) but definitely what I would expect for something this small and at this price point, so I'm satisfied.
So far the only setback we've had is that the monitor seemed to interfere a little bit with my laptop & wifi, suddenly my internet connection was slow and fussy. But my husband was able to "switch channels" on the computer and as long as the monitor is not powered on right next to my computer then it works just fine.
The night vision feature is SO great, they really thought of everything when designing this monitor, it seems. What a great thing to be able to see if your toddler has fallen out of bed or if your baby is awake when you hear a noise. Like I said, this product is part of the future of parenting, it's brilliant and takes safety to another level.
I will be adding another camera to this system soon, so that we will have an "eye" on both of my girls when we're not in the room. I swear I'm not a hover-mom! But I love having a view of my children no matter what room I'm in. Any stay-at-home mom knows that leaving your baby in a room for a minute even to just go to the bathroom can have it's risks. And being able to check in on your child when you hear something at night, but without having to risk waking them up, it's just wonderful.
I would definitely recommend this product to anyone who is expecting or has a baby or even small children. It's a small price to pay for all the extra "eyes and ears" to help you keep your child safe and know what's going on at all times. I've very, very fond of this video monitor!
The customer service representative I talked to acknowledged they have had problems and offered me a downgrade to the TW301 which apparently has a different camera. Then they offered me an upgrade to the TW502 which I took, but it has the same camera and has already failed after TWO WEEKS. Each time the camera goes out I have had to send it back to the manufacturer at my own expense, then wait 1-3 weeks for a new one. If you want to get it in 1 week you have to pay for a new one to ship right away and then get a credit when they receive your old one and test it. They have had my old one for two weeks and still no credit.
I wish they would fix this camera problem because it would be a great product otherwise. Unfortunately, this has not happened yet. This is the only review I have written on any product I purchased for my 8 month old daughter, but I feel strongly that it is important to warn other consumers about this product and company. BUYER BEWARE! This is the 2nd Levana monitor that I've had and, just like with my first one, it has several annoying issues.
Number one: the picture freezes ALL THE TIME. Not just the standard way when there's no movement. NO. Like when I hold and kiss the baby, put her in her crib, rub her tummy a minute, walk into my room, look at the monitor and the picture is a fractured image of me holding her from 5 minutes ago! Restarting the unit doesn't always fix this issue. And it happens ALL THE TIME. My other Levana model did the same thing.
Number two: The rotation of the camera is horrible. It takes so many readjustments and weird placements to finally get a good angle for a picture. The other Levana camera that I have is able to rotate in every direction, so you simply hang it once and point the camera. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Why on earth they changed their GOOD product to the horribly limited one they have now, i have no idea.
Number three: the parent-end unit BEEPS loudly whenever you turn it on. Super annoying. Even more annoying when you pair it with the next thing on my list...
Number four: THERE IS NO MUTE! Let's face it, sometimes your kid just makes noise and there's no reason to mess with them, especially when you can SEE that they're fine. And it's 2am and you want to go back to sleep. But there's no mute on your monitor... if you turn the monitor off, then the next time you want to check on the baby IT WILL BEEP AND WAKE YOUR PARTNER UP. So you can't turn it off. But you can't sleep with that noisy baby chatter. So you bury it under the blankets and TRY to sleep. Does this sound the like kind of regular procedure you should have to perform with a device that costs as much as this one? NO!!
DEAR LEVANA: for goodness sakes, PLEASE figure out how to make a product with more efficient video quality and PUT A FRICKING MUTE FEATURE on your products!!
As for the "good" parts about this product the music playing and talking to baby features are great. I love being able to see the actual temperature of the baby's room at all times. And the parent hand-unit is pretty self-explanatory, which is nice. It even has a stand on the back, which was a big complaint of mine on my previous Levana monitor.
In spite of the things i hate about this monitor, i still use it. So i guess it's not all that bad. But it's FAR from perfect. This is our 4th baby monitor... We've had Graco digital, Philips Advent, and earlier Levanva video and now this one. This by far is the best digital video baby monitor that I've used. currently we only have one camera, but the system is expandable to multiple cameras.... It's on my christmas list as we move our 2yr old to his big boy room and bring in the newborn to get another camera.
Pro's...
excellent picture day and night.. nightvision really works and is automatically managed by the camera.
two-way communications... "Lie down now and go to sleep, buddy"
remote controlled night light can turn it on and off without going into the room..
remote temperature
remote music can turn it on and off after you see your kid is asleep
power saving... remote monitor can be setup to be sound sensitive to only show screen when sound is heard (adjustable)
Can be battery operated in camera (havent used it)
Con's...
Would like a mode that turns off music after a period of time.This is our third monitor but our first video monitor.
Pros
-Clear picture
-Temperature readout
-Talk feature
-Reliable
-Multiple cameras with feature to rotate between both cameras automatically without having I manually switch between cameras.
Cons
-I don't like the menu. It could be much more user friendly.
-There is a little green light on the camera that indicates it is on but it is too bright in a dark room! This problem was easily solved by putting a piece of black tape over the light.
Other info...
-Some people said they couldn't add a second camera. It was a little tricky but after I watched a YouTube video on how to do it, it was super easy.
-I've never had an issue with the cameras dropping signal after being unplugged. I'm not sure why another reviewer was having this issue.
-Battery life is decent. About 3 hours. I have mine plugged in 90% of the time so its not an issue for me.
-It has a very good range. My sons room is upstairs in the front of our 5 bedroom house and it reaches just fine when I am outside in the backyard. And it doesn't get choppy like the audio monitors we used to have.
All in all, this is a great monitor! I would definitely recommend it and would buy it again without hesitation!
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