What are baby safety monitors?
Basically they are intercom-like devices that allow parents to hear their baby from another room. The sounds are transmitted through a transmitter to the parents receiver, anywhere in the house. If something sound abnormal, the parents can then come and check on their little one.
Baby safety monitor systems are a reassuring device for parents to own. By allowing them to remotely monitor their baby and to be alerted when the baby is crying or making abnormal noises, those monitors can relieve the parents of many worries. Those intercoms allow the parents to keep a close eye on their kids without having to disturb them. The beauty of the device comes in the fact that they can be used from the very first day of the baby in his or her room. Baby safety monitors consist of 2 parts : the transmitter, that is used to record baby's sound, and the receiver, that is used to receive the sound in the parents' room.
Models and prices
Baby safety monitors can vary a lot in price, and this will depend on the type of transmission technology used. Some devices will transmit and receive the sounds from the baby room only. More sophisticated devices offer an infrared video camera, which allow the parents to see what their little one is doing. Similarly, the size of the device will impact on its price. The smaller the device is, the more expensive it also is. Some newer devices offer interesting features that may be useful. For example, some devices can warn by vibrating mode the parents' mobile phones. Furthermore, some models have a silent mode which consist in lights which luminosity varies depending on the intensity of the sound coming from the kid's room.
Length of reach range
Before the purchase, it is important to identify what are the special needs for your house and family as well as the minimal length of reach the device needed in order to have a concise transmission. The range can be smaller (a few feet or meters) in in the case of a small apartment or much larger in the case of a big house (few hundreds feet or meters). If the device uses radio waves, look at the number of channels available. The more channels the intercom has, the less frequent it will have interference from the surroundings. Less expensive models usually have one or two frequencies and high-end models offer up to 64 different frequencies. Other models offer 8, 10 or 12 frequencies.
Autonomy
The autonomy of the device is another important feature to look at. There can be 3 different ways of powering the intercom: batteries, rechargeable batteries or AC power. Models that run on batteries are, in general, a lot less expensive, but have a more limited autonomy and can even be, on the long run, quite expensive! The great advantage of battery powered baby safety monitors is (similarly to the rechargeable battery models) to being movable, therefore easy for parents to bring with them from one room to another. Models that are powered with a rechargeable battery are generally a little more expensive, but because there is not need to buy new batteries regularly, can cost a lot less to maintain. AC models have to be be connected to a source of power at all time. Because they are not easily movable, they are mostly used during nighttime, because they don't need to be carried around.
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