Hubble Connected Nursery Pal Deluxe Baby Monitor Review
Selecting a video baby monitor is no easy feat. With so many options—and even more to consider—I was happy to review the Hubble Connected Nursery Pal Deluxe smart baby monitor and learn that the delivery is worth the hype.
Setting Up
This product comes with a few parts: the portable wireless baby camera, a parent unit monitor and a mounting grip. The grip gives you flexibility to mount the camera anywhere in your home and on any surface. The remaining parts are almost ready to use; all that’s required is a quick battery charge and connection to Wi-Fi. Once connected, your camera, monitor and phone will sync up under the guidance of the HubbleClub app and complete the pairing process.
I’m using this system to monitor my fourth baby who’s still camping out in my bedroom. My husband and I initially thought we would make a temporary nursery space in our walk-in closet, but instead my son primarily sleeps next to our bed at night and occasionally fluctuates between closet-and bedside-sleep for naps. I mention this to emphasize that I have moved this thing around a lot, often a few times within the same day. It’s always recovered quickly and gotten back into monitoring mode without any issues.
Once we move our little guy to his own room, I’ll get to test out the crib mount and anticipate the same ease of use.
Notable Features
Like with any piece of baby gear, it’s all about the bells and whistles! Here are a few worth mentioning.
Built-in battery
The portable camera continues to provide HD live-streaming without the use of wires, offering 15 hours of battery life and up to 1,000 feet of streaming range. This is useful when moving the unit from room to room or for when a power outage strikes.
Touchscreen smart monitor with remote pan/tilt and zoom functionality
Use the parent monitor or your smartphone to adjust the camera angle any direction, keeping baby directly in view at all times. This feature is so helpful for me in moving the monitor to different places without the use of the mount. I’ve always been able to see my baby well enough (whether it’s in color screen mode or the infrared night vision), even if the camera is on a shelf or nightstand or some other piece of furniture.
Real-time stats and notifications:
I’m a mom who is constantly questioning and worrying over the room temperature and how it affects the well-being of my kids. The temperature display—while technically fueling my obsession—gives me peace of mind to know if it gets too hot or too cold. Not only can I manually check it myself, but a notification is sent to my phone if high or low readings are detected.
I also receive notifications if my babe cries or shows signs of motion. The notifications are date-and-time stamped with video footage to go with it. I specifically like this feature for when I am not at home or close-by and get a motion detection notice, as my older kids love to check on their little brother when no one is looking.
Private, secure Wi-Fi connection
This one is a non-negotiable when using a smart HD baby monitor. We’ve all heard those horror stories of home monitors being hacked, exposing baby to predators; thankfully, the Hubble Connected Nursery Pal Deluxe monitor uses highly encrypted security during Wi-Fi connections, and the camera comes with a built-in privacy shield, so you can block the camera’s lens when not in use. (Being that my monitor is sometimes in my closet, I definitely make use of the shield!)
Interactive viewer
The monitor doubles as an entertainment tablet for kiddos and comes with curated content including educational games, stories (featuring the adventures of Hubble the Bear) and animated videos. I haven’t personally used this feature yet, but I like that they added a bonus option to the monitor.
Other features to note include two-way talk for communicating with your child, built-in nature sounds, a night-light, protective screen bumper, and function compatibility with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. What’s more, the company offers a warranty on its consumer products, which isn’t exactly a feature, but appreciated nonetheless.
What I Liked About This Product
I find myself routinely pleased with the ability to adjust the camera angle from my phone, specifically, while my little one naps. I work from home and my desk is also in my bedroom. Depending on the day’s schedule, my baby’s sleeping space is shuffled around to accommodate my work needs (and vice versa). So, when I get plugged into a meeting and realize I forgot to situate the camera beforehand, it’s no biggie.
When my baby starts to fuss and I’m tied up tending to one of my other children, the two-way audio feature allows me to try and soothe him from afar until I can get upstairs. Hearing my voice usually takes the crying hysteria down a notch or two, which can make a big difference in the moment with four kids in the house.
Other than that, the system is just easy to use. It does what it’s supposed to, and I’ve never had any technical issues with it. And because additional cameras can be added, I could easily expand the system and use it for keeping a watchful eye in other rooms, like the playroom or reading nook.
Areas for Improvement
I can’t speak for the touted 15-hour battery life of the camera because I’ve always had mine plugged-in, but the parent unit monitor’s battery drains quicker than I expected. Even if I use it for an hour or so and then turn it off, it usually has to be charged again for the next use. Since my phone is a backup for monitoring purposes, it doesn’t bother me, but I do notice that it doesn’t keep a longstanding charge.
Another thing about the monitor is that is doesn’t seem to differentiate between my baby’s cries and white noise. When my baby wakes from a nap and starts to fuss, I’ll watch the monitor and realize it’s not alerting me to a new sound notification, though I can visibly see that he is upset. It’s been to the point where I can sometimes hear my son screaming over his white noise machine with my own ears, while the monitor doesn’t register the crying as elevated sound. It may work better if you place the sound machine away from the monitor, but that’s not a realistic setup for lots of nurseries.
Lastly, the camera comes with small adhesive pads on the bottom, I’m assuming, to help maintain grip and avoid scratching. Unfortunately, they melt! My camera must have gotten too warm one day, and the pads created a gooey, gum-like mess on my nightstand. Thankfully I was able to wipe it up with a little elbow grease, but it’s something to know before placing on expensive furniture.
Who Would Enjoy this Product
I think most parents would enjoy this product, from the ease of set up, to the monitoring tools, to the app features, to the added bonus of the entertainment tablet. It offers a well-rounded experience while providing the main service of helping keep your baby safer.
Per the white noise issue above, the only exception would be a larger home where you can’t hear a child cry as easily with your own ears. I would be hesitant to use this system if I relied on white noise and needed a monitor to continuously alert me to my child’s needs.
Hubble Connected Nursery Pal Deluxe, $200
