Philips AVENT Basic Baby Monitor with DECT Technology
Taking care of a baby can be tiring. Even when you put them down to sleep, you can’t rest in peace. You still worry if they are okay. More so if they are in a different room than you. Having a baby monitor can give you some peace of mind.
There are many baby monitors in the market. If you are looking for a basic audio monitor, the Philips AVENT Basic Baby Monitor with DECT Technology
FEATURES
DECT technology for clear reception.- Automatic channel selection. There are 120 channels available.
- 330m operating range.
- Auto out of range warning
- 2 way communication.
- Data encryption to give you a secure and private connection.
- LED lights to indicate noise level.
- Soft glowing night light
- Roam around cordless with the parent unit. Will last up to 24 hours before it needs to be recharged again.
- Volume control
- Sensitivity control
- Has a belt clip.
WHAT’S GOOD ABOUT IT
- A big concern among parents when buying a baby monitor is that the reception is terrible because there is interference from cordless phones, cell phones, wireless routers and other baby monitors. With DECT technology, you get crystal clear reception because the baby monitor is free from all those interference. Just in case you are wondering what DECT is, DECT stands for Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication. It uses radio signals in the 1880-1930 Mhz frequency range. So you don’t have to worry about gadgets using 2.4Ghz or 900Mhz.
- If the child unit is accidentally turned off, the parent unit will beep to alert you.
- If the parent unit has lost connection with the baby unit, you’ll be alerted by a blinking red light and beeping sounds.
- The parent unit will also alert you if the rechargeable batteries are running low. You’ll hear beeping and the battery light will flash red.
- 330m operating range allows you to be anywhere in the house and still get reception.
- You can adjust the ‘sensitivity’ setting on the parent unit. This means you can decide if you want to hear everything or just when the baby cries. It lets you determine the background noise level. The parent unit will be alerted only when the noise level in the baby’s room exceeds the background noise level. One parent shared that when she set the sensitivity level on high, and put the child unit on the ledge of the crib which was approximately 1-2 feet away from the baby, she could hear the baby breathing.
- If the speakers are turned off, you can still know if baby is calling for your attention as there are LED lights to provide a visual indicator of the noise level in the baby’s room. The sound level lights are also beneficial if you are doing something that makes it difficult to hear the parent unit such as when you are vacuuming, drying your hair, listening to the radio or watching television.
- Gives you a peace of mind knowing that other people cannot intercept the transmission. Others will not be able to eavesdrop as the transmissions are digitally encrypted. Not all baby monitors have this feature. Many baby monitors out there do not have this security feature. Neighbors might hear your baby and conversations in the baby room through their baby monitor. If safety and security is a concern for you, you must choose baby monitors that use digital technology and not public airwaves.
- It has a belt clip which makes it convenient for you to take it wherever you go.
- You can talk to your children through the baby monitor. Many parents like this feature especially when they are monitoring toddlers. You can reassure your children or tell them to go to bed without having to take trip to their room.
Click here to securely monitor your child with DECT technology
WHAT ARE SOME COMPLAINS ABOUT IT
- The volume on the parent unit is quite low, even when it is turned up to the maximum. Some say they couldn’t hear their children crying. Others say the sound is comparatively softer but it is not a problem. There seems to be mixed reviews on this issue. Here are some comments made by parents:
“You can’t hear a thing unless you glue the monitor to your ear. The house has to be absolutely quite, not even whispering, then you might hear the baby.”
Amazon customer
“The volume on this monitor is way too low. I was used to a monitor that amplifies sound at the highest volume. This one even at the highest volume is hard to hear unless your child is screaming and even then it is a muted version of the child screaming.”
Amazon customer
Relatively low volume of parent. With volume turned all the way up on parent it is difficult to hear cry over TV. (No I don’t have the TV THAT loud.) But the bright LEDs are helpful here.
Amazon customer
“The volume, although it is lower than I’d like, is perfectly fine. If your child is calling out or crying you WILL hear them.”
Amazon customer
“Rest assured that if your baby does let out a cry during the wee hours of the morn that this product will wake you up and you will hear the cries immediately.”
Amazon customer
- The baby unit uses AA batteries as a back-up during power failure. However, the batteries drain very quickly. So if there really is a blackout in the middle of the night, the baby unit’s backup will not work.
- The noise indicator lights can be very bright during the night. You could put a masking tape over it to dim it down if it really annoys you.
- It turned off by itself. It went into “silent mode” and didn’t register any sound after that. This is a defect and you should get Philips to replace the unit.
SOMETHING YOU SHOULD KNOW
One parent talked to a Philips representative about the “silent mode” feature. It seems all the Philips audio baby monitor has this feature but it is not mentioned on the packaging or manual. After a certain time of picking up only ambient noise, the mic turns off. It is triggered back on when there’s a sound loud enough to light up 4 out of 5 sound level lights. However, you will not hear that initial trigger. Meaning, you will not hear the first few seconds of your child screaming.
TIPS
Many users are using this baby monitor not only to monitor children but also elderly people who are ailed or physically disabled. So if you need to take care of such a person, this baby monitor is helpful. The 2 way communication feature makes it work like a walkie talkie.
MORE REVIEWS
Here are a few more comments about the product.
“This one has zero interference. It works great at night, however, it would be nice if the parent unit had a higher volume for daytime use or for the hard of hearing. Also if the child and room is too quiet, the parent unit shuts off and there is a three second delay after a sound is detected before the unit turns back on. This is fixed by adding a little ambient noise to the baby’s room. Overall works great for us, but is not for everyone.”
Walmart customer
“This product has great range and crystal clear sound quality. This monitor’s receiver is sensitive enough to pick up our child’s breathing from across the room but without any static. We have used other monitors but this one blows them away. Great product.”
Walmart customer
“We’ve had the monitor for about a month now. The connection is fantastic — no more annoying beeps and static we had with our previous monitor. The drawback is that the monitor isn’t as loud as we’d like. With a TV and/or air conditioner running, it can be difficult to hear. ”
Amazon customer
“The DECT technology causes the monitor to scan constantly for a free channel, so there is no interference from other devices. We have 5.8GHz cordless phones, wireless internet, and a microwave regularly in use with no interference. There’s a home daycare a few houses away and we’ve never had problems with competing monitors on the same channel. ”
Amazon customer
As the caregiver for an elder who’s recovering from stroke, I need to monitor her condition constantly — a difficult task when you’re also taking care of additional household responsibilities. When I found this monitor offered DECT technology, I jumped on it because I’ve been very pleased with the quality of sound from my DECT wireless phones.
Amazon customer
VERDICT
At the time of this review, 70% of Amazon customers give it a rating of 4 stars and higher. Over at Walmart it has a rating of 4.3 stars from 12 reviews. Epinions website rates it at 3 stars from 4 consumer reviews.
The way I see it, The Philips AVENT Basic Baby Monitor with DECT Technology is a very good product if it works as it should. It has many wonderful features. However, it boils down to one thing… the volume factor. Amazon customers who gave it a 3 star or less didn’t like how quiet the unit was. However, seeing that there are plenty of happy customers, I can only conclude that there seems to be some inconsistency with the volume setting. Some said they could hear their baby crying through the walls and still not hear anything on the parent unit. Others admit is is fairly soft but still audible. If it wasn’t for the volume problem, this would be the best audio baby monitor because of the DECT technology. No interference, crystal clear sound and security from encrypted transmission are definitely plus points.
Even with complains about the soft volume, this SCD510 model deserves serious consideration. It is one of the best sellers at Amazon. There are other Philips baby monitor models that come with temperature
