When I had Pearce, we were gifted a baby monitor from my husbands Uncles. It was the Levana Ovia monitor, they purchased this monitor for us as it could have additional cameras added.
Installation of Kodak Cherish C525 camera
With that in mind when we became pregnant with our second child, (2.5 years later) we discovered that this model had been discontinued. It was so frustrating since we had loved our monitor, minus the down fall that it did not have a good range, we live on a corner lot and our house is very long, when I would go down to our family room the monitor wouldn't work. It had worked great in our first home, but in this home, we found that it just wasn't working as great as we needed. So, we decided that instead of hunting down an additional camera (which I did look for) that we would go about looking for a new baby monitor.
This time I was going to be picky, I wanted to make an investment into something that would give me piece of mind. I loved the Levana brand as many of my friends had it, but it didn't have anything that worked for me at this point in time - being that Brooks was moving into his own room I needed to find something and couldn't wait for the company to launch a new model.
Kodak Cherish C120 Camera installed [/caption]
But what was I looking for in a new monitor, I sat down and made a list of what was truly important for me in the new monitor:
1. Ability to have more than 1 camera.
2. A family monitor that had good range, so I could be outside in the garden, or on the back deck watching Pearce in the pool and I could see Brooks (I can't hear his bedroom from this spot)
3. Clear picture - too often I read about people complaining that their monitor had the worst picture and they couldn’t tell if their child was awake or asleep.
4. This one may seem funny, but I wanted one that could drown out the sound of the sound machine on the parent monitor, both my boys have sound machines and they are loud - I didn't want to here this noise on my monitor.
5. I wanted something that was easy to install and easy to set up.
So, I set out looking for a monitor, something I always do when I buy anything is read the negative reviews. People who leave negative reviews are honest - brutally honest. So, I read them a lot. I also do read the good reviews for the same reason.
Some of the Cameras I investigated getting before purchasing were:
Summer Infant Side by Side 2.0
I investigated this camera and it was my top contender until I found the one, I bought. Ultimately I had heard excellent reviews about its range, it can have multiple cameras, the picture was clear enough to see what was going on, I am not 100% if it drowns out white noise, but I had friends who told me it was incredibly easy to install. What actually ended up being the reason I went with the one I did was because this monitor only records sound from 1 room at a time, the monitor I went with records sound from both rooms and alternates the sound to the parent monitor for 1 minute, however if during that 1 minute the other child begins to cry it immediately switches the sound to the other room. For me therefore I did not pick this monitor.
Motorola MBP50-G2 Portable 5-inch baby monitor with 2 cameras
I investigated this monitor for about 5 minutes, because that was all it took for me to decide it wasn't for me. I read reviews of people complaining that their baby monitor stopped working after 3.5 months but the replacement warranty is only good for 3 months - this to me didn't sit well if a company can't give warranty for at least a year its not a great company to purchase from. Most standard warranties are 1 year. Other reasons were because I heard the range was very poor, and the truth is that I knew I wasn't willing to risk having a monitor with poor range.
There were more monitors I investigated, but they didn't really hold ground for me, I knew what I was looking for and wouldn't settle. So, one night while checking prices on the Summer infant and different retailers I stumbled across the Kodak Cherish C525 Baby Monitor and decided to look at it. A lot of things I had learned about monitors connected to WIFI had made me a little skeptical, i.e. things on the news parents saying their baby monitor has been hacked.
Kodak Cherish C525 and C120 Cameras (this is a night vision, split screen view) [/caption]
So before purchasing I called my internet provider to find out the likelihood of this happening to me. They said this has been proven to only happen to people who have no special WIFI password, so if you keep the same password that comes on your modem, you are more likely to be hacked. They also advised me to create a more difficult password something with a minimum of 3 or more words. I know it sounded like a lot but in truth it is easy. They also said that all monitors with a WIFI setting have the ability for you to view your monitor when you are connected to your cell phone setting or someone else’s WIFI, but that they all can turn this off. After talking to my provider, I felt much better about the idea of a WIFI monitor.
Kodak Cherish C525 Video Monitor with Free Bonus Camera (C120)
Ultimately, I chose this monitor because the picture seemed great and the range sounded like it would really work for us. It came with two cameras one that could move remotely and one that was more of a stand still camera. The picture is so clear, I will not that the C525 Camera does need to be a lot closer than the C120 camera they give you for free to get a good picture but since moving it closer to my son the picture on both cameras is great. This camera can drown out the white noise and only play sound if baby cries which again was a huge win! I found this camera incredibly easy to install. It also comes with a 2-year replacement warranty. I had one issue where the family monitor kept turning off and they sent me a replacement monitor no questions asked. If you have more than one camera you have the option of having a split screen or a scan where it shows one camera for 1 minute and then flips to the other. It will record sound from both with the split screen but if the baby starts to cry on the other one it will quickly flip the sound to that monitor.
C525 daytime view
You can talk to your baby or child on the monitor, which my eldest son really likes. It also comes with an app so if you don't want to purchase the parents monitor you don't have to! I however like having the parents monitor. I do use the app when I forget the monitor in my room and want to quickly check on the kids. One of the things I really like about the monitor is that if the power goes out each camera and monitor has a battery in it so it will still work. You can take it camping or unplug it and move it if you need to as they each have batteries. This monitor can hold up to 4 cameras, I currently only have two but if you have three or four children this might be something you need.
C120 Daytime View
I am super happy with the monitor and happy with my choice, yes, I understand that every monitor has its good and bad, but this monitor works awesome for us. They were also super to install and we wall mounted them above each boys bed using 3M Command Wall Hanging strips. Whatever Camera you decide my advice is that you write out a list of the most important things you want from a baby monitor to the least important so you can decide what works best for you!
XoX Chelsea
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