Among the rapidly growing selection of baby video monitors on the market, the Summer Infant BestView Handheld Color Video Monitor is the best overall video monitor for your money. With a range of flexible functions and design features, it delivers clear, secure transmission with little to no static or interference.
Our TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award winning product, the Levana BABYVIEW20, offers many of the same functionalities but at a higher cost while our third-ranked product, the Summer Infant Day&Night baby video monitors, are much more affordable though analog.
Summer BestView baby video monitors boast several features designed to enhance usability and monitoring capabilities. For starters, it has multi-camera expandability so you can add an additional camera to the system. This is particularly useful for growing families or if you want to monitor multiple areas, such as the nursery and the playroom, either simultaneously or without relocating a single camera. It also has a maximum connection range of 350 feet; however, users should be aware that the optimal range is much less if the line of sight between the two units is obstructed (i.e. placed in different rooms). In fact, the product user guide states that optimal distance for use in a home is between 15 and 60 feet.
The camera unit has a motorized mount, which allows you to remotely control the camera - pan, scan and zoom - so you can focus in on your little one without actually entering the room. The camera pan does make some (soft) noise when it moves but it should not be enough to disturb or wake your baby. Furthermore, while the camera pan is continuous and offers a wide range of motion, there are only two zoom levels but they are sufficient enough to provide a clear, close-up view.
The monitor also has five sound lights, which light up depending on the noise level of the baby. For example, several lights will illuminate if the baby is crying versus just one or two if the baby is only cooing. This feature is particularly useful if you want to closely monitor your baby while in loud rooms or performing noisy activities such as vacuuming.
Ideal for nighttime use, the video sleep mode is designed to conserve battery power and can help avoid a screen glow that could potentially disturb sleep. Both the audio and sound lights will continue to function normally while in this mode.
We were surprised to find these baby video monitors do not have VOX capabilities; even during sleep mode, the video is not sound-activated and you must press the video on/off button to resume viewing. This may, however, be beneficial for parents who do not want the video to illuminate in the dead of night at every little, insignificant sound.
Two design features of Summer baby video monitors that really stand out are the screen size and battery life; the receiver unit flaunts a 2.5-inch LCD screen (one of the largest of any monitor we reviewed) and a battery life upwards of 10 hours if the video is not continuously in use.
The video monitor also has many standard functions one would expect on most baby video monitors including brightness controls, an out-of-range indicator and a low-power indicator that lets you know when the batteries need to be recharged. For added convenience, the camera can be wall-mounted (hardware is included) and a belt clip for the receiver unit that also functions as a kickstand (for upright placement on a tabletop) is also included.
One small annoyance is that the camera unit on these baby video monitors has a bright green power LED indicator that is illuminated whenever the camera is on. This makes the camera highly visible at night and may be distracting or disturbing to some babies.
While we love the design features of Summer baby video monitors, the build is a different story; for a system made exclusively as a baby monitor, its design is a bit clunky and passé and definitely more utilitarian than apt for a nursery.
For security reasons, the camera and receiver unit are paired at the factory during production but if for any reason they are not when you receive them, you can easily pair them using the Menu on the receiver unit and selecting the "ADD/DEL CAM" option.
Summer Infant BestView baby video monitors use a digital 2.4GHz frequency, which should provide a sharp and secure transmission. However, the monitor can pick up mild interference from other nearby wireless devices using the same frequency, such as cordless phones or wireless routers. Simply moving the receiver unit further away from such devices can eliminate noisy, annoying static.
While audio can seem like an afterthought on some baby video monitors, we were quite impressed with this one's sound quality. Overall the monitor has crisp, pronounced audio that transmits in real-time. There's also a wide range of audio settings varying from high to low; you can set it to loud so you can hear every little breath or quiet so it only picks up louder noises such as crying.
As with the sound quality, it also scores high marks when it comes to picture quality. While no infant video monitor is on par with high-def televisions, when compared with other baby video monitors, this one has surprisingly sharp video with high clarity. The screen does not wash out very easily when the room is brightly lit and screen brightness can be adjusted with no trouble using five different levels.
Once the baby's room starts to darken, the camera unit will automatically switch to night vision using built-in infrared LEDs. The black-and-white night vision will be a bit grainier than the color picture, which is to be expected given the general limitations of night vision. While the optimal range for effective night vision on the monitor is just four to six feet (the range being the distance between the baby and the camera), you can still get an adequate picture that's clear enough to detect movement if the distance is more. Subsequently, the night vision will work just fine in most average-sized rooms.
If you have any problems or issues with these baby video monitors, Summer Infant has a customer care department that offers support via toll-free telephone or email during regular business hours (EST). We'd recommend consulting the instruction manual or their website before contacting customer service; the website is full of helpful resources, including product instructions, general FAQs and product registration information (necessary if you want to be kept informed of safety alerts or updates regarding this specific monitor).
If you experience more serious problems, like a flawed unit, the company offers a one-year limited warranty; if it is defective in workmanship or materials, they will either repair or replace the monitor (their choice).
Despite a few minor design issues, there's no question that the Summer Infant BestView Handheld Color Video Monitor gives you the most bang for your buck. A robust feature set enables these cost-effective, top-rated baby video monitors to perform their most important function - helping keep your baby safe - superbly. If you need more gear for baby, be sure to check out our baby stores and toy stores reviews.
