Hey new parents! How tough was it finding a monitor for your new baby? One that you would love to use? I struggled with finding a monitor, reading review after review, debating the merits of each monitor and just how many settings we really required…
In that search, I came across Baby Delight’s 7″ Video Baby Monitor, quite by accident. I went on their website to purchase their Sleep Nest Harmony Infant Sleeper when my son was just a month old, and Baby Delight offered to send me their video monitor for review. With our then-sleeping arrangement, we did not end up using this monitor for many months… I was a nervous first-time mom, and when we first moved my son into his crib, I went with a movement video monitor instead (we used this one, which did not last long but more on that later).
So what did I think of Baby Delight’s Video Monitor?
First, a little about this device, directly from Baby Delight:
The Baby Delight 7” HD Tablet & WiFi Video Monitor (Model BD4060) is the first complete baby monitoring system that allows you to see your baby on your Monitor inside or outside your home. The system comes with an HD camera and fully functional 7” HD Android Tablet with a stunning best-of-class IPS display for crystal clear viewing. The Tablet comes pre-loaded with the Baby Delight App and setup is fast, easy and secure. See your baby directly on the Tablet inside or outside the your home anywhere WiFI is available. The Baby Delight App can also be downloaded and viewed on your iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android devices as well . You can take snapshots, share photos and video with friends and family and add additional cameras to the system.
The pros:
- The quality of the video is the BEST I’ve ever seen on any baby monitor. It is clear enough that you can even see your baby breathing by the movement of their stomach, in certain positions. (See photos below.)
- The sound is good (a tad delayed).
- The 7″ tablet screen is quite large and very convenient.
- With it being a WiFi camera, you are able to check on baby remotely, eg if he’s sleeping at home with babysitters and you’re out of the home.
- The iPhone app is very convenient for checking on baby remotely or from your home, if you don’t have the tablet with you.
- Again, incredible picture on both the app and the included tablet.
Now on to the reason that I struggled to write this review for the last few months…
The not-so-great things about this video monitor:
- Although the quality of its video is amazing, it cuts out. Often. The signal seems to drop on the included tablet regularly, with it searching on a blank screen to get your video back. This is extremely unacceptable on a baby monitor!
- The iPhone app may not lost connection, but it does time out every 3-5 minutes, and if you don’t shut down the app (swipe it up to close it completely), you lose the zoom functionality on the iPhone.
- Speaking of zooming, you cannot zoom with the included android tablet, only on the iPhone app.
- Timing out on the iPhone app makes it very difficult to use remotely, when you are away from your home and would like to check in on baby.
- The tablet is unfortunately, just terrible. It takes a long time to start up/load. Sometimes, it just will not work, and you don’t know why… you reboot several times until you receive a notice that all updates were installed. I never knew when it may need updating as it does not give you an alert before needing to update, so you never know when it may fail to work.
- The tablet screen cannot be shut off with the baby monitor sound running so that baby can be monitored without the screen glare at night. This is a big gap in the technology.
- Apparently there are additional features included in the “Alerts” tab in the app that all require an “account upgrade.” You will receive a pop-up alerting you that “you must have a paid account to receive notifications and enable motion detection video recordings.” I still have no idea how to upgrade or why any baby monitor company would think parents would like a monthly subscription. (Screenshot below.)
- And if you change your internet modem, good luck. We’ve been unable to get it working again on the new home network (since it no longer recognizes it), and despite a “send a message” tool within the “help” tab of the app, I have yet to hear back from them.
I wanted to love this monitor, I really did. The video quality is so impressive, and despite not wanting a WiFi monitor at the onset, we grew to love the remote capabilities. However, the flaws (mostly with the included tablet) caused me so much anxiety that I lost sleep over it potentially cutting out overnight. We eventually changed monitors and chose another, although we have yet to find another monitor with comparable video quality.
Here is a promotional video from Baby Delight for this monitor:
The Baby Delight’s 7″ Video Baby Monitor is available directly on Baby Delight’s site, retailing for $120 USD.
Have you tried this monitor? What is your favourite baby monitor?
~xo
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(Product was provided for consideration and review. All opinions are my own.)