Review: Summer Infant Baby Touch® Wifi Video Monitor – A whole new meaning to “peace of mind”

05/03/2015

Summer Infant’s Baby Touch® WiFi Video Monitor & Internet Viewing System (Item #28640A)

Summer Infant’s Multi-platform system enables in-home, continuous and overnight monitoring on the 3.5” color touchscreen monitor and in-home and away from home viewing on smartphones, tablets and computers with the free Summer Link WiFi APP for Apple and Android devices from U.S. iTunes and Google Play APP stores.  Great for working parents, out of town grandparents and even “date-night peace of mind

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This review was written by a Mommy guest blogger for Mommy Connections. The opinions in this article reflect the writer’s experience, not my own , even though I think this product IS pretty awesome…….

So here we are.  Baby #2. Hand-me down clothes, books, and toys, rusty experience & knowledge from the first born that we’re told comes back in an instant, and a couple new outfits in hopes that they feel special when they come home from the hospital. That’s how prepared we were for our newest addition. The nursery was set up as we moved the toddler into her ‘big girl’ room complete with a ‘big girl’ bed. All that we needed was the baby to arrive. And did he ever!!

I volunteered to try the Summer Infant Baby Touch WiFi monitor and I don’t think the timing could have been any better. Baby #2 arrived about a month early so while we were prepared for a new baby, it was fantastic to have something new to use in his ‘new to him’ bedroom. Our baby had spent the first couple of weeks in the NICU so this monitor provided a sense of relief to an anxious second time mom., who was perfectly calm with her first.

We are ‘old school’ parents and went the ‘sound only’ route for monitors when our firstborn arrived on the scene. Friends had video monitors but the images were never clear and the sound always had feedback or static. My husband and I agreed that we would just keep things simple with our first baby, and use the same monitor with our second. However, in the back of my mind I’ve always wanted to try a video based monitor just to see what I’m missing out on…let me tell you I was missing out on a lot!

This monitor takes things to the next level. The camera was easily mounted to the wall, along with clips to hold the wires in place and safe from the prying fingers of the baby and the new big sister, who at 2.5 has the stickiest of fingers. The handheld receiver is a tad smaller than the phone I carry around, so that made things easy to be able to keep tabs on things in that room when I wasn’t near by. However, the best part is that there is an app for your phone (Google play store or iTunes) that allows you to monitor the baby when you’re not home! It really is genius! Pairing the app with the monitor camera was a breeze. I’m not as tech savvy as my husband but I managed to get everything working before he had time to open the manual! If you’d want to provide access to friends and family you can, they can download the app and watch the baby sleep whenever you want. And as the parent you can restrict the access whenever you’d like – maybe your mother/mother-in-law is a little TOO involved you can exert a little control.

I don’t think I could go back to our old system after trying this one. The picture quality on the hand held receiver is amazing and the sound quality is perfect. The handheld monitor has a rechargeable battery, which makes things so much easier and takes away the stress of making sure you have the ‘right’ battery.

Now about the features of the handheld monitor and the app – you can zoom in, you can adjust the video camera angle, zoom in and zoom out. There is a feature that allows you to video record what you see – which I’m sure as Baby #2 gets older will be used often, and there is the ability to take photos of your sleeping little angel. There is another handy feature that my husband and I use often – the two-way communication. I’m sure as our baby ages it will be easier to calm him in the night or communicate when you’re not home. I went out a few nights ago and was able to check in on things at home via the app – such a great tool. I wanted to show my friends how great and convenient the monitor and app were and encouraged them to look into a change when their 2^nd babies arrive this year. The other day I was sharing it with my mother and tapped into it to watch my dog walk into Baby#2’s room and sleep next to the empty crib.

It’s taken a weight off my shoulders and has relieved the anxiety I may have had during the first few weeks of having Baby #2 come home. When we first set up the new monitor system my husband said something that definitely rings true today – I have a feeling that we’re going to fall in love with this system… He was right.

The Baby Touch monitor retails for $249.99 on Summer Infant’s website.