Summer Infant Day & Night Handheld Color Video Monitor 1.8" Screen Review

After much research and debate, we finally chose the Summer Infant Day & Night Handheld Color Video Monitor with 1.8" Screen because of the following features: color monitor with "night vision" capability; on/off button that allowed us to turn off the video screen and sound, but still have LED lights to alert us; and the ability to add a second camera (2-channel system).   While using this equipment, we were satisfied with the additional features such as a rechargable battery, belt clip and kickstand, which let me move the monitor around the house as needed.

Overall, we found the sound quality to be good.  The microphone was sensitive enough that we could hear our son's every breath.  However, we had some occasional interuptions from static, which we determined were interference with our 900 mHz telephone system.  Moving the receiver around usually helped this issue, at least for a while.

The daytime video quality was not as "crystal clear" as we anticipated from earlier reviews.  However, the amount of detail we could see during the nightime impressed me, considering the room was pitch-black.  Having the monitor during that time gave me some added security, especially during those early months as a first-time parent!

After only a few months of use, we were upset when the screen's on/off button on top of the hand-held monitor suddenly failed to function.  When the monitor is not plugged in to the A/C power adaptor (running off the rechargable battery), the screen has a power-saver feature that turns the video off after a short-time.  So, when the screen on/off button on top broke, we found ourselves having to turn the entire monitor off and back on again to regain the video image.  This also meant readjusting the sound volume each time.  It doesn't seem like a horrible thing to overcome, but when you are sleep-deprived at 2 AM, this can be a real nuisance!

Another negative experience we had was that one night I woke up to a child crying.  When I looked at the monitor I was at first stunned to see that the child in the picture was certainly not my own.  It turns out that I could see our neighbor's child.  Upon discussing this with our neighbor, I learned that they had often seen our son and heard our conversations... so much for privacy!  We agreed that they would use one channel and we would use the other so this would not become a common occurance.

Overall, we were very excited about the features and quality promised by this product; but, we were disappointed with our actual experience.