As one of the most full-featured baby monitors in the industry at a price that won’t break your budget, the Summer Infant Best View baby monitor surprised us with its versatility in modern monitoring solutions reminiscent of mobile technology. Handheld-based zooming and panning functions give parents peace of mind in knowing that they can watch baby wherever he roams, and the ability to add on extra cameras to create a broad monitoring system certainly isn’t to be neglected when those walking legs are grown! With a legacy that hails from the mid-eighties, the Summer Infant company may not be the oldest brand on the block, but they’ve certainly proven themselves with products that have won such coveted commendations as the Best Product of 2008 from Parenting Media and the Babytalk Editor’s Choice Award. Now, we turn to see what this Summer infant monitor for babies has to offer the discerning mom and dad.
Key Features and Benefits of the Summer Infant Best View Baby Monitor
This best baby monitor has a private digital monitoring system with a more than ample 350′ range, but what’s really impressive is what you can do with the monitoring system’s fine details. Although most parents won’t need or even want to use every single option, there are plenty of practical safety-first inclusions, like a setting for night-viewing, to sit alongside the fluffier comfort and convenience settings that make using this monitoring system intuitive.
Scanning, Panning and Zooming for Total Monitoring Control
You’re in control of the camera’s magnification and viewing angle with scanning, panning and zooming options to tweak things till you see baby just right. We couldn’t possibly hate the level of fine camera control these features provide, especially since they can all be operated remotely with the help of the motorized mount.
Full Color in the Day
The Summer infant baby monitor shows off its secure digital transmission in full color with default daylight settings, easily appreciated on the 2.5″ lightweight LCD screen. But for bedtime, parents have another option….
Conveniently Automated Night Vision Mode
During nighttime or when illumination is otherwise lacking, the Summer Best View monitor kicks into Black and White viewing mode for perfect clarity even when the crib is cradled in shade. This will likely turn out to be a love it or hate it feature for control freaks, since you can’t control when it turns on or shuts off, but the environmental lighting switches it relies on are reasonably sensible.
Fully-Featured Sound with Sound Indicator Lighting
The Summer Best View transmits full audio from baby to you, but in scenarios where you don’t want a young one screaming in your ear, an LED-based sound indication display is also available for all the information and none of the eardrum agony. Older models have had issues with the LED lights functioning suboptimally at low volume levels, but this is fixed in recent models, so be careful if you’re buying a used product! If you’re buying a model where this feature actually works right, it’s a veritable godsend.
Easily Expandable Monitoring System: From One to Four Cameras
Big spenders may have a use for the multi-camera options this monitor posseses. With one camera included in the basic package, you’ll have to buy extras if you want to enjoy this feature to its fullest, but doing so will allow you to operate multiple cameras all at once. Naturally, this turns angle problems or multi-child monitoring issues into complete non-issues, since you can switch from camera to camera with ease.
Plugs or Batteries – the Choice is Yours
Buying a Summer Infant Best View baby monitor doesn’t mean shackling yourself to a power outlet, although you can go the corded route if you prefer. Personally, we liked the option for using standard AA batteries, since rechargeables are included and offer a decent ten hour lifespan – enough for a good night’s sleep and breakfast to boot. The automatic timing out feature even makes sure that you don’t waste battery power needlessly.
A Clip for Mobility or a Stand for Sitting Around
Although the provided belt clip for the monitor isn’t strictly necessary, it’s far from useless, and allows users to take advantage of a free hand to keep on moving about the household while still keeping an eye on their children. The easy flip-out stand is a bit more mandatory for a baby monitor of this type, but it works perfectly well at its intended function, and lets you make your monitor right at home on your nightstand.
Additional Features and Specifications
A few other facts of note:
- Completely private and secure 2.4Ghz transmission through digital technology – no accidental eavesdroppers or eavesdropping.
- Lightweight and portable receiver takes full advantage of the belt clip and offers clear screen-viewing without taking up excessive space.
- One touch on, one touch off interface for easy operation during those bleak gray hours of dawn.
- Excellent video quality in both color mode and B&W mode, with minimal choppiness and no delay.
- Matching good audio feed quality, with neither delay nor static evident.
What Others Are Saying
“All in all the “Best” video monitor is the best out there for the money and a great buy at that. I will definately be buying more cameras to expand the unit even farther.It will be nice to have 1 unit for 4 rooms.Well done Summer Infant. And this will be the monitor I recommend to any parent.”
“This is a wonderful monitor!! The flashing people had been complaining about in the past must be fixed now because I have not seen a single flash while I have been n her room, nor on the monitor. The zoom,pan and scan options are awesome to say the least. I have it angled at her bed but can scan over to see her at the door trying to get out or zoom in on her during the night. The sound quality is by far the best of the monitors we have had. Almost no delay and I can hear her breathing at night even through her sound machine and heart beat music. We had 2 other video monitors before this and returned each one. This is the best and I would recommend it to all of my friends.”
Where You Can Buy the Summer Infant Best View Baby Monitor
Although this model may not be perfect for parents who want to jam their monitors into a jeans pocket or operate with pure touchscreen interfaces, it’s still an inimitably solid choice for those who want features and quality without a high price tag. At under two hundred dollars and with vast amounts of positive reviews overwhelming the negative ones, we’d go so far as to say you’d find it hard to find a model that delivers more in monitoring features and raw audio-visual feed quality in the same price range.
This model can be easily found in many stores across the web, but we’ve found some of the best prices and quality reviews at Amazon.com. With a current offer of a ten percent discount plus optional free shipping, Amazon’s definitely leading the pack by offering the Summer Best View baby monitor at the best prices we’ve seen online.