re: PC Discussion - Gaming, Performance and Enthusiasts

Get one with video, no question about it. Not necessary to overspend on color video, though, because when it's dark it switches to infrared and is in black and white anyway, and 99% of your need for the monitor will be while your daughter sleeps.

Your general wireless choices are 900Mhz and 2.4GHz band. The drawback of 2.4 Ghz is the wifi interference, and the 900mhz band is like a radio. If there's physical interference (like you're standing at just the right angle between the camera and the monitor, you'll see and hear static.

My parents bought us an expensive setup:


$300 for that set. I liked that it was dual channel and allowed for a second camera. Except that by the time our son was born, Summer Infant stopped making this one and finding a compatible camera proved to be impossible. The color is useless as I said, and not nearly as vibrant looking as the picture shows of course. The essential features for me were:

1. The larger screen on the main monitor allowed us both to mount it somewhere practical and still see it from anywhere in the room.

2. Brightness adjustment on the fly. On its highest setting it will illuminate an entire room, so I was glad to be able to turn it down.

3. The battery-powered portable unit had a decent enough range that I could carry it outside with me to get the mail.

4. The ability to turn off the sound and just use video -- it has red light indicators to detect sound. If I'm up and working on something, I can keep the sound off and the video on, with the monitor on my desk. That way I don't get distracted by every little sound the baby makes while they sleep (and they make a lot of noise in their sleep). Other video monitors, while they allow you turn off the sound, will still vibrate loudly when it detects noise. That's even more distracting than the baby sound itself. This is the case with the secondary monitor we bought to put in our daughter's room:



However, that particular monitor is awesome for a toddler, because it has two-way communication... suddenly she hears the voice of god in her room: "It's not time to play with your baby doll. It's night-night time." It also supports additional cameras, has a temperature sensor on the camera, and some other useless shite I'm sure.

I liked that the summer infant monitor was 60Hz and had essentially zero delay. The Vtech is only 22 FPS and has about a half second delay. The Vtech (2.4ghz band) should have an even longer range than the 900mhz Summer Infant unit.