From: tomfox@cs.utexas.edu (Thomas Y.C. Woo)
Newsgroups: misc.kids,misc.consumers
Subject: Summary - Nursery Monitors
Date: 27 Jan 1993 11:56:42 -0600
Organization: CS Dept, University of Texas at Austin
NNTP-Posting-Host: needmore.cs.utexas.edu
Keywords: nursery, monitors



Sometime back, I posted a message soliciting recommendations for
nursery monitors. I have received almost unanimous recommendations
for the Fisher Price Deluxe Monitor. I bought one around Xmas and
have been fairly happy with it. I can attest to the usefulness
of the LEDs.

I have enclosed a compilation of all the responses I got. Thanks
for everyone who has responded.

Thomas Woo

=====================================================================

From: amym@oakhill.UUCP (Amy Moseley Rupp)

We have the Fisher-Price monitor and have been very happy with
it so far (Elizabeth is a little over a month old).

From: rrg@fibercom.com (Rhonda Gaines)

We've got the Fisher Price monitor and love it.  It's so sensitive
you can even hear the baby's breathing!

From: "kevin.jessup" <kevin.jessup@mixcom.mixcom.com>

My wife bought the PlaySkool.  Works fine.  I can pick it up on
my Uniden scanner 2 blocks away!  As can anyone else with a scanner.

Be warned that these things broadcast anything that can be heard in
your home up to a block or two.  Anyone with a scanner and a good
antenna can pick up the audio.  Same applies to cordless phones.
They operate on nearly the same frequency.  Just a little warning:
don't leave the transmitter on 24 hours a day if you value your
privacy!

From: wang@optigfx.com (Alice Wang)

Here's the summary I saved regarding baby monitors.  Hope
this helps.


----------------------- Baby Monitor Summary (4/92) --------------------------

Go with Fisher.  It works great.  We first bought a Gerry
with two way intercom and various other "features".
The thing was abysmal.  The microphone pickup and transmission
quality was so bad that yelling around the house was
more effective.

The Fisher has fewer features but they work as advertised.
1) The baby unit is larger than the monitor unit so it can have bigger
   batteries.  Since it is the transmitter the batteries will
   last longer.  (We usually leave it plugged in).
2) There is a visual display on the monitor which you can see
   even if the volume is turned all the way down.
3) The monitor plays loud static if it happens to be out of range.
   Alleviates any uncertainty that the system is working.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

We have a Fisher Price one that works great.  It has a a row of LEDs on
it so you can "see" as well has hear if there is any noise.  If you turn
it up high enough, you can hear every little breath!

One slight problem is that it seems to be on the same channel (you can
choose between two channels) as cordless phones, so sometimes we get
interference.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

We have an old Fisher Price model.  We love it.  I wouldn't dream of trying
to have kids without it.  GET ONE!

We used to use it when the baby was sleeping so we could go out in the yard,
accross the street to chat with a neighbor, etc.  It let you know when you
were out of range because you'd hear a lot of static.  It represented some
real freedom.  I also used it at night and it helped me sleep better hearing
the baby breath (you can turn them up really loud).

We now use it when Erin, age 22 mos, takes a bath alone.  We can hear her 
splash and now she's okay.  She babbles incessantly while in the tub.  If she
should ever stop babbline (to date this has not happened) we would immediately
go check.  Likewise, she can let us know when she wants out.  We started letting
her bathe by herself when she could get into the tub and turn the water on 
herself.  About 2 mos. ago.

I imagine when the kids are teen-agers I'll be tempted to plant the monitor in
their rooms and eavesdrop ;-).  Or put it by the door to hear when the come in.
Or just use it to hear the phone when outside.  They are really, REALLY handy.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

We have a Gerry monitor, which has worked fine.  However, if we were
to get another one, we would definitely get one with an LED-type
display, so that you could "see" as well as hear the level of
distress.  The reason this would be neat for us would be that at
night, if we hear Dylan cry out, whoever is "on duty" that night
immediately turns down the monitor so the other spouse doesn't wake
up unnecessarily.  Then, we wait 5 minutes to see if Dylan calms
himself back down.  If he does, then no problem and the monitor
volume is turned back to the normal setting.  With the display, the
on duty parent could just turn the volume down and watch the display
from the comfort of bed.  The ads also state that the display comes
in handy when you're in a noisy room (during a party, I guess) and
can't hear the monitor.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Well you didn't really say what kind of problems you were having
with your baby monitor; We have a Fisher-Price which is excellent.
Most monitors have two channels on each piece, usually designated
as A and B. If you have intereference on one channel, for example,
you can switch both units to the other one. Often, neighboring
units can interfere, which is why you need to have two channels.
There are many baby monitor brands...some are very good, like the
Sony and Fisher-Price, others are not so good. A decent monitor should
work well between any two points in the house. Hope this was helpful...
without knowing exactly what the problem is.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

We bought the Gerry Two-way portable monitor because it was rated
highly in Consumer Reports (you could set it up so that you can
talk from the "parent" unit back to the "baby" unit), but the 
radio frequency it was assigned interfered with the cordless phone 
we got (the phone was so my wife didn't have to get up to answer 
the phone while nursing, etc.).

With that in mind, I would have preferred one of those monitors
where you can change the radio frequency, which might have resolved
our cordless phone problem. We don't really use the two-way feature.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

One small bit of advice.  If you plan to use baby monitors you better
plan on *not* using any type of cordless phone.  The radio frequency
of the baby monitor will interfer with any connection made with the
cordless phone especially when paths are crossed perpendicularly to
each other.

When my wife and I looked at baby monitors, we decided on the
Fischer-Price ones.  We did get the Gerry brand with the LED lights
since we thought that if we were to far away from the monitor (being
outdoors) that we could see the lights.  WRONG!  The LED lights are
not strong enough to be seen in sunny outdoor places and the Gerry
monitor was not nearly as sensitive as the Fisher-Price.  We
eventually returned the Gerry and all other brands received as gifts
and got two sets of the Fischer-Price which work *very* well even on
battery power.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Fisher Price Monitor light indicators works great.  It picks up the
lightest sounds and motions, is very portabl;e and both ends can be
used with batteries.

It was a gift at my baby shower but I think they run about $45.00.
Other friends have returned Gerry monitors because they pick up
external signals.  Beware of Gerry then.  Sony also has good monitor
but it costs about $60.00.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

We had a Gerry (don't remember what model) which worked intermittently.  (The
receiver would stop receiving, without any indication.  Defeated the whole
purpose of the monitor!)  We replaced it with a Fisher Price (I think they
only make one model) and it has worked fine since (13 months).  We were also
pleased to find that it had much better range.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I have bought a few fisher-price monitors as gifts for people
and have bought one myself already (we are expecting our first).
The people I bought them for loved them, raved about them, and
returned other monitors when they got 2 as gifts.  Why did I first
start getting fisher-price?  Word of mouth recommendations, and
my mom telling me she read about them being superior to other
brands somewhere (consumer reports maybe, I forget).  Now, I have
no experience myself with them yet, just word of mouth from
other parents.  

-------------------------- End of Summary -----------------------------


From: wxc5397@tesla.njit.edu (Wan-Ling)

     I bought a babymonitor by playskool on sale for $24.95.
The regular price is around $35.00. But I end up with returning
them and get the one by Fisher Price.

     Not that the one by playskool doesn't work, but when
the place you are in is noisy, you simply can't really hear
it. The one by Fisher Price has light indicator for the
noise, so even you can't hear it, you can see the light
flashing. It's very convinent when the rest of the family
is B-B-Qing in the backyard, the monitor can be just placed
against the kitchen window for occasional viewing. Don't
try to take it too far away from the base (for any brand),
cause none of them giving you warning about being out or
range.

    The one by fisher price can be bought for $44.95 in
any of the consumer, service merchandise or best catalog.
It comes with a $5.00 rebate also.


From: compass-da.com!chandra@uunet.UU.NET (Mandalagiri Chandrasekhar)

We have a Fisher-Price.  It has lasted 2 babies (~ 4 to 5 years.)
It is of good quality.  The transmitter picks up the baby's sound 
from several feet away.
The receiver also has a visual display.  An LED bar lights up
when the transmitter pocks up a soumd, i.e., when the baby cries.
The length of the bar varies in proportion to the amplitude
of the sound.  We have found this feature to be very useful
when there have been reasons to mute the sound, but still want to
monitor the baby.  Overall we are very pleased with it.

From: rtanson@nyx.cs.du.edu (richard tanson)

I've had great success with the Sony Babycall monitor. Usual Sony quality.
and I swear it can pick up sounds in the next county.. or so it seams. I'm
not thrilled with the quality of anything Playskool makes, or Fisher Price
for that matter.