Baby Monitors Reviews

The most extensive and comparative reviews of baby monitors can be found at Consumer Reports magazine and in the book Baby Bargains. Both sources test and rate baby monitors on range and reception. Baby Bargains also reports on overall brand reliability. Both reviews are up to date, and both include digital baby monitors in evaluations. Digital baby monitors promise better reception and less interference than older analog monitors. We also found excellent testing on the websites of two foreign review magazines, Australia's Choice and the UK's Which? magazines. While tests are detailed and well done, the tested baby monitors aren't available in the United States. These two websites make a great first stop for European and Australian shoppers, however.

Current reviews of baby monitors can also be found on sites that allow parents to write comments. Amazon.com has the most reviews, especially of new digital baby monitors. Epinions has a large number of parent-written reviews, but many are for older baby monitors. Target's website allows parents to leave feedback. Though we found more reviews at Amazon.com, Target contributors were thoughtful and detailed in their reviews. Since many parents have tried more than one baby monitor before finding one that works, these reviews are often comparative and highly critical. We also found user ratings of baby monitors at Sears.com, Walmart.com and on the Babies 'R' Us website.

Fisher-Price baby monitor: No longer the best

The Fisher-Price Sounds 'n Lights baby monitor (*est. $20 with one receiver; $30 with two receivers) has been around a long time and it's one of the least expensive baby monitors on the market. In years past, the Sound 'n Lights was a top pick in reviews mainly because of its simplicity and low price. User ratings of this baby monitor at sites like Amazon.com are highly critical and list many issues from interference to poor construction. The Sound 'n Lights monitor is cheap, but parents suggest that it's too cheap. Instead, we found better reviews for the analog Graco Ultra Clear II baby monitor (*est. $30), which costs only slightly more.

Our Consensus Report shows how many times products are top-ranked by reviewers included in our
All The Reviews Reviewed chart.

The Philips DECT baby monitors get the best reviews for almost eliminating interference and static, but they are very expensive. The Graco iMonitor digital baby monitor is a mid-range choice that eliminates the chance of unintentional eavesdropping, and reviews say it's better at avoiding other interference, as well. Among inexpensive basic baby monitors, the Graco Ultra Clear II gets better reviews than most, and it's less expensive than the Fisher Price Private Connection monitor. We found a couple of good reviews for the Sony BabyCall NTM-910, and this 900MHz analog monitor might be a good option if the Graco iMonitor or Graco Ultra Clear II don't work for you.