After doing a lot of research on video monitors I finally settled on this one. We have a wireless router and really wanted a video monitor that wouldn't interfere with that. It did not interfere with our router at all, which was a plus. However, my biggest complaint and the reason why we decided to return it and go with a different product (Safety 1st True Vision) was the VOX sound feature. The parent unit automatically turns sound off when no sound is detected through child unit (the camera). When it detects the child making sound it is supposed to automatically switch back on and you can hear it. If this feature actually worked properly it wouldn't be so bad. However, when we tested it my baby started crying (very loudly) I actually heard my daughter crying downstairs way before the microphone picked it up. And at times didn't pick up the sound at all. The camera was less than 3 feet away at the time. During the same test our daughter was playing happily and very few of those sounds were detected either. My husband and I decided to test it with our own voices. He went upstairs to our baby's room and talked at various volumes. Most of the time the sound did not kick back on until he was mid-sentence (I could see his mouth moving on the screen but no sound was coming from the unit). After having a sound only monitor for almost 3 years with our older daughter we were used to having continuous sound and the cutting in and out (and not picking up of sounds) was very frustrating for us. We just didn't feel like we could trust the unit to work and alert us when our baby was crying. We sleep with a fan on in our bedroom year around for white noise, and our kids rooms are at the other end of the house, so we rely on the monitors to be able to hear them. If there had been a way to turn this feature off, then we would have definitely kept it. Because we like just about everything else about it.
The video was very clear and color, although somewhat washed out was decent. The night vision worked well. I liked that it came with rechargeable (cordless phone type) batteries. The screen was a decent size. The price was good. The camera was easy to adjust. You can push a button to turn the video off and it will automatically come back on when sound is detected (that is IF sound is detected). We didn't keep it long enough to test battery length.
So I guess the bottom line is that if you are looking for a video monitor just for the video aspect and aren't as concerned about the sound quality, then this would be a good product. However, if you are like us and want a unit that has both video and sound quality then I would keep looking. We purchased a Safety 1st True View and are happy with it so far. It has a few features we would change, but I don't think there is a perfect video monitor out there on the market right now for a decent price. Hope this was helpful.
I got the camera and it works like it should as advertised but Amazon selling this product I was very disappointed, as far as I am concerned they have lost a customer merely by stating this was a brand new unused product. When I received the camera you could tell the box had been opened and upon removing the viewing portion of the system I could see that it was scratched and the system had a dead pixel, the only saving grace is there was a protective covering over the view screen which prevented the scratches from penetrating the viewing area. I did not send the unit back because it is working for what I needed. It did perform as advertised but as far as being brand new not even close.
Read more about Swann SW233-BDM ADW330 Digital Wireless FamilyCam Monitor and Camera Review...
No comments:
Post a Comment