We caught it on sale at Toys R' Us for $179.00 though.
The basic function here is that you place the rectangular sensor pad under the crib mattress, then, sleep your baby on the mattress in the same location as the sensor pad. The sensor pad detects movement from a baby's breathing. If no movement is detected for 20 seconds an alarm sounds from the unit in the baby's room and the parent unit until movement is detected again.
The parent unit is very good in my opinion. The display is clear, even during night view. It also has a variety of useful functions on it. Like the temperature in the baby's room, battery life, signal, the brightness of the nightlight from crib unit (adjustable from parent unit), volume of sound, a small green light that flashes in sync with detected movement, etc.
There's also a large amount of customization from the parent unit:
- Screen Brightness level
- Optional tick tone (that will sound ticks in sync with movement detected)
- Volume Sensitivity (Because there isn't constant sound feedback from baby's room, instead you can set the sensitivity on a scale of 1-5 and only hear when the baby makes a noise. A very high sensitivity would let you hear so much as a grunt, or a low sensitivity for only if the baby is crying.)
- Vibration (handy vibration mode, for when you don't want to hear all those little grunts or whimpers and the unit will just vibrate when baby cries)
- Nightlight (nightlight on crib unit is adjustable from parent unit)
- Camera Zoom (you can zoom the camera from the crib unit and move it by small increments)
- Mic (for talking to baby)
The camera crib unit is also very functional. The camera does have a generous amount of up and down tilt to get the best view, the sensory pad setting is just a sliding switch on the back with three sensitivity settings, as well as the on/off switch for the sensor pad.
I would like to dispute some of the things from Amazon reviews now.
I did not find the setup difficult at all. The sensor pad has a cord that runs to the crib/camera unit. The crib/camera unit has a power cord. So, you've got those two cords.
There is some annoying software connections that take some manipulating, but you can operate the camera without using the sensor pad if you wish. You just have to disconnect the sensor pad cord from the crib/camera unit and make sure you have the sensor pad switch turned to the off position.
It is true, that if you are using the sensor pad you do have to turn the parent unit off before turning the crib unit off or picking up the baby. Because, it's streaming the movement detection to the parent monitor, so if you don't turn it off when you pick up the baby, or turn it off before the crib unit, then the parent unit alarms because it isn't detecting movement (which to be fair, is just doing its job). However, another quick way around that is to just click out the sensor pad cord before picking up the baby (it's really not hard). But, yes, if you do not click out the cord you do have to turn the parent unit off, then the crib/camera unit, then get the bundle of joy. Which, even so, isn't hard work. I mean, you're flicking switches...
As you can see here, the cords are just right under the unit and very easily accessible.
This picture, brings me to another point. The crib/camera until is difficult to place. It seemingly needs to sit on a shelf of some sort. But, with a little creative thought I worked it out ;) Like most camera products this device has a tripod screw in the bottom of it.
I purchased this small flexible tripod for $13 (at the time, now price varies based on color), and it clings securely to the corner of the crib.
As for the alarms? We did get a lot of false alarms in the first few months. I found it was really important to make sure the baby's lung area is placed right over the sensor pad. However, I also found that as our baby gained weight, we started getting fewer and fewer alarms. I'm sure it wildly depends on the size of you baby and thickness of your crib mattress.
I personally, will take the false alarms over the alternative. Our baby did display some clear signs of sleep apnea in the beginning anyway. So, truth is, it might not have even been a false alarm. Our baby really might not've taken a breath for 20 seconds and the alarm could've startled them awake enough to pick it back up.
It's the only alarm we've used, and it has room for improvement. But, here we are, 8 months later sill using it.
A great item to go along with a sensor pad is the Safe T Sleepwrap (get it here for $99.00).
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