You can buy the Angelcare AC1100 monitor from Amazon, John Lewis or Toys R Us.
This monitoring system (and it really is a system, not just a monitor) has so many features that setting it up and understanding how it works can be a little overwhelming.
The key to the system is the twin parent and nursery units. The pyramid shaped nursery unit (the one in your baby’s room) includes a HD video camera with zoom and rotate functions, temperature monitor, nightlight and digital 2.4GHz crystal clear sound transmission microphone.
The parent unit (the one you look at), with colour digital touch screen, is a bit like an iPhone and is the control centre from which you operate the nursery unit - you can zoom and rotate the nursery unit’s camera, use the talk-back function to speak to your baby, monitor the temperature in your baby’s room and adjust the sound levels of the microphone.
A sensor pad completes the system. This flat, square pad sits under the mattress in your baby’s cot and monitors your little one’s movements. If no movement has been detected for 20 seconds, an alarm will sound.
The system can be mains or battery operated and has a 200m range. The parent unit is portable and rechargeable with a battery life of around eight hours.
What we love
Having a newborn baby in your house is a nerve-racking experience, especially in the first few months. But being able to see, hear and monitor your baby’s movements goes some way to reassure you that all is well.
We didn’t use a monitor with our first baby, Minnie. We live in a shoebox and she had a fine set of fully (over) functioning lungs on her. However, with Poppy, now 5 months, we have been more cautious.
Setting up the monitor requires the patience of a saint. The instructions are clear but there’s a lot to read and I found myself wondering if this was really all necessary. However, the appeal of this unit is that once set up, it is so easy to use.
The touch-screen parent unit is bang on the money for the iPhone parenting generation and using it is second nature to anyone who is mildly techno-savvy.
I love the halo nightlight on the nursery unit – a great function that saves you scrabbling around in the dark for nappies and wipes and helps identify which end to change!
What impresses me most, though, is the quality of the sound and picture functions. The camera is so good I find myself watching, fascinated, as Poppy shuffles around the cot rather than going to sort her out!
The sensor pad can be used in a Moses basket.
What to watch out for
Whilst the basic sound and vision monitoring system is pretty much faultless, the sensor pad requires a little more patience and fine-tuning to get it functioning correctly.
For a start, the sensor pad is super sensitive (not a bad thing), which means that you need to experiment with the settings to get it right. If the sensitivity is set too low it won’t pick up small movements and you may get a few heart-stopping false alarms.
You also have to make sure the pad is on a flat base – my cot has a base that folds in half, so the pad could only be positioned at one end of the cot and not over the split in the middle. There are obvious disadvantages to this.
To some extent I also wonder whether you really need all this kit, or whether it is playing on parental worry and paranoia. For example, this monitor has an ‘auto tic sound function’ to confirm that it is working, whereas we go into the room and whisper into our usual model to check!
Who is the Angelcare AC1100 Video, Movement and Sound Monitor Platinum Edition best for?
Gadget-lovers and overly anxious new parents who can afford to blow the budget for total reassurance.
This is a super-sophisticated, award-winning baby monitor that works well, but it has a huge number of features and some that may not be necessary.
With a sleek design and top-of-the-range specification, the Angelcare AC1100 Video, Movement and Sound Monitor Platinum Edition is a market leader but it comes with a high-end price tag.
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