31/03/2015

Best BT Video Baby Monitor

Few baby items in our household are more important than our baby monitor. Of course the pushchair and car seat are high on the importance list too, but in my opinion, there isn’t anything that you should really spend time researching as much as a baby monitor. With cot death statistics always in the media and so much emphasis on safety in the nursery, making sure your baby monitor is reliable is essential. There are so many products on the market nowadays ranging from sensor mats to wearable baby monitors measuring heart rate! The safety of your baby is obviously paramount but perhaps all this technology is breading anxiety?

I think of myself as someone who researches products thoroughly before making my choices, so it may surprise you to find out how terrible our current baby monitor is! In theory it’s an all singing all dancing monitor that allows you to watch your baby from anywhere in the world with internet connection. It sounded brilliant! And it is… when it works! And that’s the problem! Who wants an unreliable baby monitor? Never before has ‘which baby monitor?’ been such an important question! Pure stubbornness and pride has made me stick with the useless piece of c**p for the last 8 months! Anyway, we breathed a sigh of relief when we were sent the BT 7500 Lightshow Video Baby Monitor to review. It was a ray of sunlight in an otherwise dismal situation. We literally couldn’t wait to test it out.

I got the Monitor, eagerly, out the box and set it up pretty quickly and easily. I had to charge the display for 5 hours before set up, which did delay me using the monitor for another night but once it was all charged up I turned on both parts and sat back to watch the magic happen. It said, “Linking up…” and before I knew it had done just that! All perfectly linked up and working like a well-oiled machine. This was a dream come true compared to the usual ‘searching for wifi’ messages I was used to. (And just to clarify, my wifi works perfectly well for all other devices! Pfft!)

We’re big fans of monitors that allow you to see your baby on a screen. Our house is small so if you only had sound, it really wouldn’t be worth it. We’d hear him anyway! The screen for the BT Video Baby Monitor is clear and easy to see. It’s quite bright but I have managed to find the adjustment settings to make it dimmer. Without this it could be quite obtrusive at night time.

The 3.5” colour touch screen is very easy to navigate. Even the wife managed it and she’s as technical as a pile of play dough! The home screen obviously has the camera display but also tells you the temperature of the room; a really good feature to keep an eye on. The recommended room temperature for a sleeping baby is between 16 – 20 degrees C. This is cooler than you think, so the temperature can creep up without you realising. We can therefore really see why this feature is worth while! Now we know in the night whether we need to add an extra layer or take one off which gives great peace of mind.

This Monitor comes with the lightshow option, projecting stars and moons on the ceiling for those occasions where you need to calm your baby. For many it may settle them and help them drift off peacefully, however we’re of the mind-set that a dark room is going to be the best thing for the boy. There are also 19 lullaby’s ready to be called into action along with nature sounds, white noise and womb sounds. Finding a white noise baby monitor is a result! We have searched high and low leaving no stone unturned to find a good white noise machine and now we’ve found one combined with a video baby monitor! Good work BT!

Perhaps my favourite thing about this Monitor though, is the motor inside the camera unit allowing you to move it left or right, up or down. The silent motor kicks in and you feel like something between Big Brother and a spy! Being able to pan and tilt is a really cool aspect and means the camera has a much larger range of vision. The boy’s nursery is only small but from being positioned on his shelf I could see most of the room with the aid of the motor. Being remotely operated is a huge benefit and I had a lot of fun testing the range! It did work downstairs so it has a sensible range on the signal. The 3X zoom helps too!

The camera unit also has a night light, which we don’t use because the boy is ok in the dark. To be honest, the ‘power’ LED gives more light than I’d like anyway. You’re also able to talk clearly to the baby in the nursery if you wish. There are good volume controls to hear your baby wherever you are as well. Getting a good, clear sound has been the downfall of some other monitors we’ve seen, so again, full marks to BT on this point.

Other features include:

Crying alert
Mute
Low battery alert
Out of range alert
Tripod and wall mountable
Multiple camera function on split screen. (So I can spy on the wife…creepy!)

The extra features are great additions. My question is whether all the other bits and bobs are nice, but slightly unnecessary and therefore just push the price up? £149.99 is quite steep! Some people might want an all singing all dancing monitor, but I am already very happy with just being able to see and hear my baby clearly. The white noise and light show are a luxurious bonus that might not suit everyones budget.

This monitor is simple to set up and simple to use. Its primary function is to see and hear your baby when in a different room and it does this seamlessly. It’s a great option, if your budget allows. We are so glad to be using it.

The BT 7500 Lightshow Video Baby Monitor receives an official Dad Network Star rating of: 4.5 and we highly recommend it.