Saturday, December 03, 2011

What You Need To Know Before You Buy A Baby Monitor

By Maria Andersen


When you were a kid, you may have secretly used a baby monitor to listen in on your neighbor's telephone conversations. But today, baby monitors have become far more advanced than to simply pick up and transmit sounds. Video monitoring is possible with higher priced models. Therefore, when you are picking out a monitoring system for you and your family, you may actually end up finding it to be very difficult to choose and might even find it to be rather confusing, because there are so many options available. With the technology advances we enjoy these days, you don't have to worry about a monitor which will keep you awake all night, with feedback squeals and static sounds. Now while it may seem like an information overload right now, here are some things you should definitely consider when you are choosing your next baby monitoring system.

Now for a lot of families, the price is naturally going to be an issue in making your decision. It should not, however, be the only criteria that you use when you go shopping. Consider that the price should only be a factor when considering how many features you are actually going to be getting for the cost of the monitoring system itself. Also, if you just choose a baby monitor based on how low the price is, you may find that you will end up having to return it anyways, because it will malfunction, and you don't want to be taking that risk when it comes to your baby. Thus, what you need to do is simply make sure that the features add up, and more importantly, that the monitor will actually do what you need it to do.

Be mindful about the frequency of operation, a lot of cheaper monitors work at a frequency of 49 Mhz. This particular frequency will contain the greatest amount of interference - must be why they're so cheap to buy. One unusual aspect of these cheaper monitors is they pick up unwanted radio frequency signals such as cell phones and even neighboring baby monitors. Higher frequencies drop out all of the extra noise and are easier to operate. However, you can side-step these problems by getting a monitor operating at 2.4 Ghz.

What this means, is that there will be a receiver or screen which will alert you when the receiver picks up any noise, alongside having the monitor play back any sounds from the room your baby is in. This is a good security measure if you also have other children, or if you frequently have visitors over, because this will ensure that you do not miss the signal if there are other sounds in the room, and it's also useful if either of the parents are hearing impaired.

The size, strength and extensiveness of the system are all factors that need to be taken into consideration. If you are planning on having more children, and even if you are not, you should also consider the lifetime expectancy and warranty of your monitor, as well as the price and weigh out all of your options. The best monitor, in the end, is one which will work for your entire household so that everyone can get the best out of it, especially you and your baby!




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