Coming soon: No-interference digital baby monitors

Charlie (the mysterious man responsible for MetroDad's DVD player) recently told me about a Philips product preview event staged for the press. (You'll likely be hearing about these products in the holiday issues of the various tech and gadget magazines.) On display were a bunch of gizmos intended to improve one's life -- among them, flat-screen TVs that project light onto the walls behind the screen to "enhance the viewing experience,", the Norelco Bodygroom for guys sporting unwanted body hair (a little manscaping, anyone?), and a bunch of sexy little MP3- and portable DVD players.

One product stood out for Parent Hackers: a range of digital baby monitors that guarantee clear sound and no interference from other devices (the tech is called DECT: Digital Enhanced Cordless Communications). We had problems with our 900Gh cordless phones messing with the signals on our cheapo baby monitor, so much so that we eventually abandoned the thing. Not a big deal in our relatively small house, but in a larger or noisier house, I think a working baby monitor is a must.

This one will be available late Summer/early Fall and cost in the neighborhood of $200 (ouch). More info: http://www.babycare.philips.com/

One funny aside: the press release I saw included the following line:

The range of monitors features a small, mobile and rechargeable parent unit.

Personally, I think $200 is a small price to pay for a tinier, more limber, and most importantly, rechargeable version this parent unit!

Tags: Baby, Baby gear, Baby monitors, Parenting

Comments

[Roger Weeks]

Baby monitor replacement: live in a house with wood floors. You can hear ANYTHING. Good luck on our girl sneaking out when she's a teenager...

[Chris]

We bought a video baby monitor and I have to say that I love it (ok, I admit, my name Chris and I am a geek). As first time parents, we don't always know when a noise is a grunt or is a prelude to a fully awake at 3 am baby who is ready to eat. With the video monitor we can lave the audio on, and when we aren't certain we can do a quick look at the screen and see if his eyes are open (a dead giveaway) and know if we need to get in there asap before he works himself up, or can rest assured that he is just making a little noise.

[Richard]

The Graco imonitor is a digital, rechargeable baby monitor. It is available with one or two parent units. The one parent unit model (2791DIG) lists for about $60.

[Luke]

In the UK there are BT digital baby monitors: http://www.shop.bt.com/invt/ccn100 which are VERY clear. However we just got a pair of Philips DECT cordless phones that has a babysit feature; the simplest way to describe it is as an internal call but with the mouthpiece disabled at the parent's end and set to speakerphone: link to product on Philips' site http://tinyurl.com/qf4gw the only drawback to them is that you can't travel with them.

[Shreek]

Digital baby monitors have been available in Europe for a log time - since the European DECT standard was approved. You could probably buy them on ebay etc and have them shipped to the US - the power adapters probably autoadapt as most do nowadays. Shouldn't be an issue with interference because its unlicenced (2.4GHz I think), and digital. Only I wouldn't buy anything from Philips ever again (sorry Richard :)), every Philips product I've ever bought has gone wrong (including the baby monitor).

[C Brannon]

Be aware that any 2.4 Ghz device can interfere with your wireless network if you are using 802.11b or 802.11g wi-fi (the usual standard). Even running your microwave will interfere.

Digital technology can overcome interference somewhat but if you have any 2.4Ghz devices (like cordless phones) don't be surprised if your wireless connection runs slowly, less reliably, and at reduced range.

If you use Wi-Fi I'd recommend a 900 Mhz cordless phone or one in the 5+ Ghz range.

If you live in an apartment there's even less you can do--you can't keep your next door neighbors from using 2.4 Ghz devices or even their own Wi-Fi equipment on the same channel as yours. That's the downside of using unlicensed spectrum.

[michelle]

We also have WIFI in our home and instead of getting a monitor, we upgraded our cordless phone to a 5.8 Ghz with mulitple handsets. The Uniden phone we got has a baby monitor feature that works like a charm. Note: You need to have at least three handsets - two to monitor and one to actually answer should somebody call because you can't answer either of the ones that is actively monitoring. The bright side is, we'll use them much longer than we would a regular monitor.