A good baby monitor can be a lifesaver,
because the better you can hear and see
what's going on in your child's room,
the less you have to worry.
Now, it's essential for me because I have a toddler who
is like a tiny Houdini.
And he constantly tries to climb out
of his cot, which is so much fun.
Yay!
But there are so many models to choose from.
So to help you pick, we paired with testers,
who tried 17 different baby monitors against eight
key criteria over the course of three sleepless months.
And we found our winner.
After lots of testing, we awarded
the BT Smart Baby Monitor, Mumsnet's best Wi-Fi baby
monitor for 2020.
OK, you ready to have a nap?
You're going to go night-nights?
[CHILD LAUGHING]
[LAUGH]
Come on, then, right.
Where's your blankie?
There you go.
All right, night-night.
See you later.
What we love about this monitor is
that you can use it to check in on your baby
remotely using the free app wherever you have Wi-Fi.
Now, we'll talk more about that later,
but it is really impressive.
You can also use the monitor using the standard parent unit.
It has a large high-res display, an intuitive menu
with large buttons, and a pretty decent range.
This one has a reach of up to 250 metres outdoors
and up to 50 metres indoors.
Once fully charged, it should last for around 8 hours
using video and around 16 hours using audio only.
The baby unit will need to be plugged in at all times.
You can just pop it up onto a chest of drawers, like I have,
or it can be mounted to the wall.
So what does it actually do?
Well, it has some standard features,
such as two-way talk back, which allows you to talk to your baby
and sooth them if they wake up.
Shh, time to go to sleep now.
Night-night time.
We found the audio to be clear and interference-free,
although it did lag a little.
Other useful features include five different lullabies--
although, we found them a little creepy,
but we'll let you be the judge of that.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
A temperature sensor and adjustable volume levels.
If you have the volume turned down low,
the monitor will light up when it detects sound.
[CHILD CRYING]
Red is a tantrum.
So for those of you with smart home devices,
this monitor also works with Amazon Alexa
or Google Assistant.
How cool is that?
Hey, Google, ask Smart Monitor to tell the temperature.
The temperature is 20 degrees Celsius.
When it comes to the video, the baby unit
has a huge 135-degree pan, which means
you can see pretty much any part of the room, which is great.
The camera has both a tilt and a zoom function,
which, as a minor quibble, we wish
had a slightly better range.
This monitor has a night vision camera,
which turns on automatically in darkness.
It is amazing and probably better
than it looks in the daytime, which, considering this
is the mode you're going to use it in most of the time,
it's pretty invaluable.
Design-wise, the BT Smart Baby Monitor
is similar to other video baby monitors
that we've tested previously, like the Summer Infant Panorama
2, which was our best baby monitor in 2018.
Downsides, it is a bit pricey.
But if you're not bothered by the Wi-Fi features,
then a budget audio-only monitor, such as the VTECH DM,
will work just as well.
It just depends on what you're looking for.
Also, we felt the resolution on the parent monitor
could have been a little bit better.
Admittedly, we're not going to be watching Netflix on it,
but it does look a little blocky in daylight,
and you may struggle to see the smaller details.
The reason we love this monitor so much
is because of how good it looks on your phone.
The video, including night vision, looks amazing.
The image quality and video stream
will depend on the strength of your Wi-Fi.
But the app is generally very reliable and easy to use, even
for those who aren't that tech savvy.
And it won't use up all of your phone battery, too.
You can pan from side to side really easily.
Although, weirdly, you can't tilt up and down like you
can on the parent unit.
What we really love, though, is the ability
to record videos and take snapshots if we want to.
The last thing we should mention is around safety,
as I'm sure you're wondering if a Wi-Fi monitor is completely
safe.
First off, you'll need to be connected
to the internet at all times whilst using the Smart Controls
app, otherwise, you'll be automatically logged out.
Also, when you stop using the app,
you will automatically be logged out
as well, which is reassuring in case
you ever misplace your phone.
BT's video stream is also encrypted.
So that's it.
Our favourite baby monitor for 2020,
one which boasts a clear audio and video quality,
a long-lasting battery, and great functionality on the app.
At around 150 pounds, the price tag
may be a little off-putting at first.
But if you're looking for a baby monitor that
allows you to check in on your baby remotely,
then the BT Smart Baby Monitor may be a great choice.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Thanks so much for watching.
[MUSIC PLAYING]