Angelcare AC417 Baby Video, Sound and Movement Monitor

I consider myself to be a pretty relaxed parent. But I’m not going to lie, there have been days that my child is taking a long nap, and for a moment I think, I sure hope they are still breathing. I’m sure I’m not alone in having this thought. As parents, no matter how relaxed we think we may be, we all have moments of being a little high strung. Angelcare knows this and developed the Angelcare AC417 Baby Movement Monitor with 4.3″ Touchscreen Display and Wireless Sensor Pad to give parents that peace of mind we all desperately want (and need).

My husband and I were never thrilled with the monitor that we had for our first daughter, so we were very excited to see what the Angelcare monitor could do. The monitor and camera are a clean, sleek white in appearance with a wide and modern viewing screen. Included with the monitor is parent unit, one camera, a wireless movement sensor pad (and battery), tabletop stand, mounting hardware, equipment for charging and a quick start guide. The battery for the sensor pad is not rechargeable, so we will have to purchase a new one when it needs to be replaced. I’m not sure how long it will last, but this doesn’t seem to be a very big inconvenience.

The instruction manual was very clear in explaining all setup and use. The illustrations clearly showed where all icons and buttons were located and what they were for. We were able to complete the entire setup easily from the manual provided. We received our new monitor the week our second child was born. As many parents know—and soon-to-be parents can try to imagine (don’t worry you’ll know the feeling soon)—the new addition caused us to be fairly sleep-deprived. Even in our delirious and sleepy state, setting up the device was a breeze.

The camera came with the option to use a wall mount or sit with a stand on a flat surface. We simply attached the stand to the camera and set it on a dresser across the room. The parent unit has a clean, modern look with a wide-viewing touchscreen. After placing the sensor pad under the mattress, we were ready to go. We  had the monitor linked to just one camera, but it has the ability to link to four cameras—which is a great feature!

The sensor pad is made to monitor your baby’s smallest movements. If it doesn’t detect any movement after 20 seconds an alarm will sound. Another feature the monitor has is what they call “activity analytics.” This tracks and records baby’s bigger movements and shows them in a chart. On the same report you can see the temperature in the room. This reporting allows you to better adapt to your baby’s needs based on the findings. To be honest, we haven’t needed to use this feature much.

The video and sound quality of this monitor seemed far superior than our previous monitor. However, I did find the touchscreen response time to be slightly slow at times. One of our biggest complaints about our former monitor is that it always lost its signal. We have never had a problem with Angelcare losing a signal, and for me, this is a huge pro. From the home screen on the monitor you can pause the sensor pad, adjust screen brightness, zoom, activate the microphone, access the settings and reporting and see time and temperature. It took me about a week to be comfortable accessing and changing the settings on the monitor. But again, I was very sleep-deprived, so it may have just been my tired, non-tech-savvy self.

We found the temperature reader to be slightly inaccurate, which may have been caused by the camera being placed near a window. This, of course, could easily be solved by moving the camera to another location. Another feature that takes some getting used to is remembering to pause or turn off the sensor pad before taking the baby out of bed. If you forget to do so, an alarm will sound from both the camera and the monitor.

For us, this monitor definitely seems to have more features than necessary. We probably won’t continue using the sensor pad for long (with our second child, we’re finding our nerves are settling more quickly) and we probably won’t look at the report findings often. However, the video and sound quality are so superior we are planning on getting a second camera for our older daughter’s room.

Are there more basic and less expensive monitors out there? Absolutely. However, if you are looking for that extra reassurance your precious bundle is OK, then this is a great option.

Price: $230
To buy: amazon.com