Keep an eye on your little ones with these superb baby monitors and smart cams.
Becoming a parent is a wonderful, exciting experience. It’s also an anxious time. Anything at all that can help relieve you of the anxiety that something might happen to your baby when they aren’t right by your side is welcomed and the baby cam is the ultimate device for this.
Not only does a decent baby cam give you peace of mind, it also helps you understand your baby’s habits and gives you that little bit of freedom – so you can be away from your baby but also know they are within eye- and earshot.
For years, however, the baby cam category was a tired one – filled with cameras that offered grainy footage of your baby that’s postage stamp size and, well, just not very good.
Things have vastly improved, though. Thanks to the relatively new introduction of smart cams in the home, the choice of baby monitors has vastly expanded. While these aren’t dedicated baby cams, and you should always consider using them alongside – rather than instead of – a traditional baby monitor, they offer a viable solution rather than a substandard one.
This buying guide is a mix of traditional baby cameras and smart camera solutions. Each camera in this guide has been tested on one of TR’s honorary babies both in the day and the night, at long and short distance in a house.
Here’s our pick of cameras to keep a watchful eye of your bundle of joy.
A capable, easy to use smart baby cam
Philips has a long history of supplying monitors and the uGrow smart monitor is top of the quality pile. Both in the dark and in the day the picture was crisp and detailed. Unlike other monitors, though, the picture comes through a dedicated app on your smartphone.
This was simple to install and does make sense considering that you are more likely to have a phone or tablet on you than remembering to take a separate monitor with you wherever you are in the house, The app also comes with some choice medical advice to help you with your baby.
We didn’t find the medical information that enticing but it’s good to have it in one place. We did have the occasional issue of monitor dropout which was frustrating but certainly not limited to this device. Reconnecting didn’t take too long, however, and it was only a few times we experienced it – mainly when it thought our Wi-Fi signal wasn’t strong enough.
It’s worth also noting that if the screen of your device goes off then you will have to log back into the app. It doesn’t take long but is an inconvenience. If you don’t have particularly strong Wi-Fi then don’t panic as the device will scale up or down the images to your broadband speed.
Image quality was on the whole excellent as was sound – both were HD and some of the best we experienced on test. It is pricey, though, but you are getting a lot for your money – including things like temperature and humidity notifications, talkback functionality and medical advice.
Plug-and-play baby cam that offers peace of mind with simplicity
The BT Video Baby Monitor 6000 was the quickest to set up in our tests. Out of the box it’s simply a case of ‘plug and play’ which meant we had our device up and running in a matter of minutes. This is a baby cam with a dedicated monitor – the screen is a large five inches – which is a little too chunky for our liking but does a decent job in the picture and sound stakes.
We did find the footage a little grainy compared to others on test but it’s only really noticeable when you get close up. Battery life lasted around 10 hours in our tests after a full charge and the ability to tilt and zoom the camera from the monitor is a welcomed one.
There are a few gimmicks on board that we would avoid. It does come programmed with lullabies but they’re not that soothing, coming across more like a phone ringtone than a sleep mechanism.
There’s also a temperature gauge and talkback functionality, all of which worked fine in our tests. It’s not the best-looking device on test – dare we say it, it all looks a little baby like, but it’s price is good, especially for the tech you get.
A basic, solid baby monitor that won’t let you down
The Motorola MBP18 is by far the oldest model on test, and one of the more basic, but it’s the one that’s had the most use by us as it was the monitor we used when our child was very young.
It’s a functional device that has no frills but does exactly what you want it to do: monitor your baby without any dropouts or too many gimmicks. The screen is small at 1.8 inches but that does mean the image is crisp, even at night when the infrared kicks in.
There’s talkback functionality on board and you can also zoom in if you feel the need to. The monitor has about eight hours of charge and rarely drops out and set up is really easy – plug both the camera and the monitor in and they will pair in seconds.
The camera is light and has a good base so can be placed pretty much anywhere and it’s small too so won’t stick out like a sore thumb in the baby room.
The monitor itself has decent audio functions – any sounds from our baby came through loud and clear and even things such as turning over was picked up by the camera’s mic. The audio levels are represented by a small strip of LEDs.
If the monitor isn’t plugged in then you’ll get around eight hours’ use out of it before it starts beeping at you which means it needs a charge.
When it comes to other controls, things are kept extremely simple. There is volume control, a 2x zoom and an off button. Speaking of turning things off, the screen will go off after a few minutes of non use (when the monitor isn’t plugged into the mains) but the audio still remains – a simple press of the on/off button is needed to get the screen back up.
If you are looking for a solid, dependable baby monitoring option, then you need look no further than the Motorola MBP18.
Movement monitor that’s as sensitive as your baby’s skin
The Tommee Tippee Digital Sound and Movement Monitor was something we paired with the Motorola MBP18 when our baby was very young. The reason for this is that there’s no camera with this model. That’s something you may want to consider before purchasing this one. But if you are happy without the visuals, then this is a fantastic device that monitors movement and sounds an alarm when no motion is detected.
Because it is a motion sensor, it’s a little tricky to install. There can’t be any hanging wires as they have to be taut for the sensor to work properly. The device comes with plastic wire tracks that you can use to guide and tighten the wires. These go under any mattress you may have, alongside the rectangle pressure pad. We put this under a Sleepy Head in a side cot and it worked fine. Once everything is installed – it took a while on the first go but we were a dab hand by the end – the device does offer the ultimate in peace of mind.
There are a few caveats, though. The monitor clicks, seemingly in time to the heartbeat of the baby – and it’s quite loud. This can be turned off but as it’s kind of the point of having this monitor, we recommend you don’t do that. You do get used to the sound but it is quite audible. And when the clicks stop, which happens every so often, we did find ourselves anxiously waiting for them to start again.
Then there’s the false alarm issue. Occasionally the alarm sounded, even though everything was absolutely fine. This was usually because one of the wires had come loose, so it may have been shoddy installation on our part but it is worth bearing in mind. When the alarm does sound, then it is simple to reset the device.
A movement monitor isn’t for everybody, but they are very useful for first-time parents who are worried about leaving their baby alone in a room and want something more than visual reassurance.
The Tommee Tippee Digital Sound and Movement Monitor also comes with a temperature gauge and the audio – which was crisp in our tests – is two way so you can communicate with your baby if you need to.
A super-intelligent security camera with baby smarts
The Nest Cam IQ is a sophisticated and well-made security camera that has built-in facial recognition technology. It’s not a dedicated baby cam but as it is one of the most advanced IP cameras we have ever seen, it can certainly be used as such.
