In general, I think this is a very good quality monitor: the image and sound are at least as good as other video baby monitors, battery life of the parent unit is good, the range is quite good... We actually bought this and the Summer Best View and tried them both out and in most ways I found them to be similar in performance.
The three hang-ups I have with the Avent monitor (and why we returned it):
1) The designed of the base makes it very difficult to view anything that is essentially below it. For instance, if you want to have a bird's eye view of your baby's crib, it will be tough to manage. Since the camera cannot be wall-mounted it has to go onto a shelf and the camera angle cannot be directed low enough to make this work. For other types of applications this may not matter but for us it made a big difference (being able to see directly into the crib versus looking through the bars of the crib).
2) The battery life on the amera (if not plugged in it runs on 4 AAAs) is not very god. We set it up in our baby's room to try it out and the batteries did not last through the night (we set it up around 8pm and when I checked at 4am it was dead). I checked to make sure it was fresh batteries, same story. If you are going to plug it in this won't matter but our child likes to grab and shake anything that looks like a cord, so having the camera near his crib with a cord is not a great thing. This wasn't necessarily a huge issue for us (it can be worked around) but since there was nothing else that separated it from the Summer monitor and the Summer was wall mountable, there was no reason to spend an extra $20 on this one.
3) This system is not expandable. Many monitors have the ability to link more than one camera to the same parent unit, this one does not currently have that capability.
My wife and I love this monitor. We have replaced a Summer Infant Day & Night Baby Video Monitor with 5" Screen White with Philips Avent. The sound and picture are great, and there is no interference like we had with Summer. Both day and night video feeds are very clear, and the design is clean and modern.
There are some nice features like night lights on the baby unit, and the ability to have baby unit start playing lullabies by pressing a button on the parent unit. The parent unit can be set to turn the screen off automatically to save battery unless the baby starts making sounds. The camera is not fixed to the camera stand, but held by a magnet, so it can be easily adjusted in any direction, and it can be used without the AC adapter with AAA batteries. Philips manual tells you not to use rechargeable batteries because the baby unit does not have a charging function, but I do not see why one could not use low self-discharge AAAs like Eneloops.
This baby monitor is covered by Philips's Full 2-year Warranty, which I found pleasantly surprising because a couple of the Philips DVD players I own have only 90 days warranty and I expected the warranty on the Avent monitor to be no longer than a year.
I noticed just two minor issues that may not even be a problem for others.
1. For my setup, positioning the camera was a little difficult. We like to see the whole crib from above, so the camera needed to be setup on the shelf above and to the left of the crib. The way the Philips camera and stand are designed, I had to put a wedge under the back of the camera stand so that the camera points where I need it to point. I could not simply rotate the camera down far enough because then the lens would be covered by the stand (see pictures). I did not have this problem with the Summer's camera design.
2. The night vision infrared lights on the baby unit glow red. They are low intensity, but still visible and distracting. The Summer baby monitor also had night vision, but the night vision LEDs did not emit any visible spectrum light.
While reading reviews for other baby monitors, I noticed low ratings because of interference. The performance of the monitor will depend on how "polluted" the frequency band on which it operates at your location. For example, we have absolutely no problems with the interference with this Philips Avent Baby Monitor even though my wireless (b/g) router is located in the same room as the parent unit. However, we did have some interference issues with the Summer baby monitor although baby and parent units were located in the same spots where Philips is now. At the same time, Summer baby monitor worked without any interference when we took the parent unit to the kitchen. The point is that you won't know unless you try.
If you are looking for a baby monitor, I recommend that you consider Philips Avent Baby Monitor.
Buy Philips AVENT Digital Video Baby Monitor Now
My wife and I already own a Philips Avent Basic Baby Monitor w/ DECT Technology, but wanted to try this product out too and I was able to do a direct comparison. We did not originally get a video monitor as we felt uncomfortable with the Big Brother factor of watching our baby via video. However, we have grown to like it and it saves us unnecessary trips to the nursery to see if our baby is babbling and playing safely or is in need or help.
Here's what we like and dislike about this digital video monitor after a couple months of use:
POSITIVES:
1. No interference with WiFi networks and cell phones: We have a large WiFi network with 4 wireless routers, and we live in a dense neighborhood where there are several WiFi networks within range. We had no problems with reception on either monitor even when it was close to our iPhones, computer, WiFi routers, and so forth.
2. No cross-talk between DECT monitors: Even side-by side and set up in the same room, the two Phillips AVENT monitors caused no interference with each other. There is no cross-talk with the neighbor's baby monitor either.
3. Good range: I've walked about 50 feet from baby's room with the video monitor, and the signal is still good through several walls. The range may be farther still -I haven't tested the full range yet.
4. Decent battery life: On standby mode, the rechargeable battery lasts at least 5-6 hours. I have achieved about 3 hours of battery life with the monitor continuously on. However, in both cases I haven't tested the full battery life of the unit and the performance may be even better.
5. Simple setup: Plug it in and turn it on. You don't have to be a rocket scientist.
6. Night vision: Doesn't light up the room and is surprisingly good. It has a bit of that security camera, black and white look to the video, but it's perfectly good to see baby in low-light conditions.
NEED FOR IMPROVEMENT:
1. No 2-way communication: My wife and I like the 2-way communication feature on the Philips Avent Basic Baby Monitor w/ DECT Technology, but this AVENT Video monitor has no such 2-way feature. It is a handy feature for my wife and I to alert each other from baby's room rather than yelling through the house.
2. Size: In the age of iPhones and the like, the parent video monitor seems like an oddly large unit. It's too big to fit in a pocket, and too awkward to hang from a belt loop. Don't plan on carrying this around the house too much.
Read Best Reviews of Philips AVENT Digital Video Baby Monitor Here
I must preface this review by saying that I have two of the Avent audio monitors and they have been the best audio monitors EVER. So when Avent came out with their video monitor I could not wait to get it! However, after seeing the pulsing, glowing red lights on the camera in my babies room, and watching my baby sit and watch the lights go on and off...and seeing the GIANT green bright led the lit up my baby's bed like a landing strip...I was so very disappointed. Then when I put the monitor by my bed and was woken up repeatedly by the audio signal indicating the monitor was out of range...when it was fine 2 seconds ago. All of this, I was trying so desperately to overlook until the day I heard my baby crying and yet, didn't hear anything from the monitor. I could see her crying when I looked at it, but the audio was not activating. This I could not forgive, and this is why it went back.
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My perspective: the most important aspect of a baby monitor's performance is audio. You're not going to be looking at the video screen in the middle of the night when the baby needs you so the audio better work well. If you don't agree with this statement you might have a very different impression of this monitor than I did.
I have been surprised at the poor design of many popular video monitors: analog, only a few channels. Really, in the year 2010? I have had a Philips SCD520 audio montior for a while and love it (fantastic clarity and range) so I decided to give the SCD600 a try for my second child.
The fatal flaw: the instructions say that there are two video modes: one where the video screen is on all the time, and one where the screen only comes on when sound is detected to save battery power. Seems reasonable. The problem is that there is no similar selection for audio modes, and the way the unit works is that it doesn't send any audio signal unless a sound is heard. And it has to be a very loud sound to trigger the unit -you won't hear anything from the monitor until your baby is screaming. I find this totally unacceptable. Since the manual doesn't say anything about this I suspect a firmware bug that will hopefully be corrected (and if you read my review of the SCD525 audio monitor you might think that a firmware bug isn't out of the question). Because of this issue and design deficiencies in other video monitor's I've seen I think the best baby monitors around (of the ones I've used or researched anyway) are the audio-only Philips SCD520 and SCD530 (but not the SCD525!).
General comments: Video quality seems good, but it's best if the monitor is relatively close to the crib (I expect this is true of all video monitors). The range of this unit is not as good as Philips' audio monitors, but that's consistent with the manufacturer claims and it's certainly adequate. It would work anywhere in a normal sized house and yard, just not halfway down the street like their audio-only monitors. My only design gripe (and this is common with video monitors) is that there is no charging cradle. Since the battery of a video monitor's parent unit doesn't usually last as long as the audio-only monitors it seems to me that a charging cradle is almost a necessity (rather than having to fumble with a power cord all the time). I read in some reviews that there is no wall mounting bracket. This is true but Philips has kindly provided a metal 1/4-20 threaded socket on the bottom -this is the standard camera tripod thread, which means that there are a variety of ways you could mount this unit to a wall. It's actually very versatile. Security camera mounts, easily-made DIY mounts, etc.
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