Graco Angelcare Deluxe Movement Sensor With Sound Monitor
Friday, March 12th, 2010 at
3:28 am
- Includes an under the mattress sensor pad, a nursery unit transmitter, 2 parent’s units receivers, 2 charging bases,etc
- The nursery unit has a soft nightlight and room thermometer
- Includes out of range indicator and parent’s unit locator
- Optional voice activation and a color LCD on each parents unit
- Monitor has 8 channels
Product Description
tions Rechargeable Charging Bases included 8 Channels… More >>
Graco Angelcare Deluxe Movement Sensor With Sound Monitor
Sphere: Related ContentTagged with: Angelcare • Deluxe • Graco • Monitor • Movement • Sensor • Sound
Filed under: Mother And Baby
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I have used one of these since they were first made. I have four grown children now having babies, and the first thing we do when we find out they are expecting their first child is to go out and buy one of these. Having lost a child to SIDS, there was no way I was going to let my grandchildren come home from the hospital without one of these in their crib. Worth every penny!
Rating: 5 / 5
There are a lot of reviews of this product, so let me impart the “Gravy” if you will.
1. The motion sensor works and has not had any false alarms ONCE we adjusted the sensitivity. At its least sensitive setting, the unit would alarm. Since adjusting to the “mid level” we have not had a single false alarm… However, if you pick up your kiddo in the middle of the night to change a full diaper, turn the unit off first or you’ll wake up your sleeping spouse with the ALARM!
2. The sensing unit works fine in a crib without the masonite board. In the basonette, we used two towels on either side to “level” things out. The sensor still worked fine and the thin mattress pad was level.
3. The alarm is loud and will wake you up. Good.
4. The monitor microphone is sensitive and you can hear every little grunt, so we turn the volume down a little at night. A cry will be loud, grunts are not.
5. Our Uniden 5.4gHz phones do NOT interfere with the unit and it does not affect my wireless network.
Overall, we love the monitor.
Rating: 5 / 5
I love this monitor! I am a NICU mom who’s first baby came home on a medical grade apnea monitor for apnea of prematurity. This product is the next best thing.
This monitor is surprisingly sensitive to the slightest movement. I have it under a mattress, mattress pad, fitted mattress sheet, waterproof mattress cover, AND an inclined sleep positioner! The directions were very clear and the device was very easy to set up. The range on the receivers (parent devices) is excellent even in the ‘dead zones’ of our house where our cordless phones don’t work. The receivers not only give very clear sound but also show the temperature of the room. The receivers also have a sturdy little clip on the back so you can clip it to your shirt and walk around hands free. Oh and the receivers give you a warning when the batteries start to go, it beeps once every 15 seconds or so. I also love the little night light feature on the transmitter. It’s bright enough that you can see several feet pretty clearly but not so bright to light the whole room. The wires that connect the pad (that goes under the baby mattress) to the transmitter are a decent length so you don’t have to worry if you want to set the transmitter on a high bureau near the crib. The receivers hold their charge for a long time and use rechargable batteries (included with the product). The settings are adjustable and its easy enough to turn features on or off but I left the factory settings which work very well.
It is a very expensive monitor but SIDS scares me silly. Having experienced my first son almost dieing but for the apnea monitor (he was discharged from the NICU with an apnea monitor) telling us that he stopped breathing, I needed the next best thing for my second (my 2nd is a full term baby). I highly recommend this fantastic product (for full term babies, of course use a medical grade apnea monitor for wee ones who need them) despite the excessive cost. In my humble opinion, if you have concerns about SIDS then this monitor is worth every penny.
Rating: 5 / 5
We love this product, and see it as a must-have. Our baby is now 5mo; we used it since he was born and intend to continue using it.
We bought it primarily for motion detection as a measure against SIDS. Honestly, I simply do not understand people who manage to sleep well at night without such a monitoring device, after being educated about SIDS.
At 5mo, even after the SIDS risk is decreased, we still feel safe leaving the baby at a different floor in the house, and checking if the little motion indicator shows movement. It’s simply… relaxing. And we need that peace of mind.
Another word about the motion sensor: when the sensor does not detect movement (possible SIDS) the unit will sound an alarm both on mobile units and on the nursery unit. Of course you’ll leap to the crib once you hear the beep (I never thought I could react so fast!); but the beep on the nursery unit is loud enough to wake the baby up as well, which can get the baby out of the SIDS situation by itself.
I had to buy a Masonite board for this product. Until I did, we got many false alarms (at least once every night) which could not be avoided with any setting of the sensitivity dial. This was expected – per the manual – since my crib has a grid-like wired bottom. I ordered the board according to the dimensions mentioned in the manual at the local hardware store and paid approx. $15 – really no need to order online and possibly pay more. Once I installed the board, I never had a single false alarm (and I do test the unit from time to time).
So, beyond the motion sensor (the primary objective, as I mentioned) we also get:
- Audio monitor – very useful. I would get it anyways if it was not bundled in. Also the usual features of visual sound indicator, volume and sensitivity. It’s only one-way (monitor) – you cannot talk back to the baby.
- Temperature monitor with alarm – theoretically useful, but I am not sure I can trust the reading, as it does not agree with my other thermometer. (Strangely, I never see -any- two thermometers completely agree…) But at least you get a ballpark number which is good.
Some thoughts about what I like less (room for improvement):
- Once you lift the baby from the crib, or rather 20 sec. after – the alarm will sound if you forgot to turn the unit off. Hence you have to remember to turn it off, and then remember to turn it on again after putting the baby back. This is rather cumbersome, and created a lot of nuisance until we got used to the on/off action even while half-asleep. See, once you took the baby out and started giving her needed care, the last thing you want is a startling alarm in the room. This is really really annoying, both for the parents and the baby.
I would suggest to Graco, if this is possible, to add some weight sensor (with adjustable sensitivity). It should be quite easy to detect an empty crib, and switch the unit into some special ‘standby mode’ that will hold the alarm.
- Switching between the different modes (audio-only, audio+movement, etc.) is cumbersome through the menu system. It is working, sure, but it’s multiple button presses and you have to remember to ‘confirm’ your selection otherwise it will be canceled with no warning (bad idea!). While sophisticated and functioning, sophistication is the last thing parents need with constant sleep deprivation.
Suggested improvement: keep the menu system for the less common functions, and add dedicated buttons to turn on/off the main features: one button for motion detection, one button for audio monitoring.
- There is another issue – but I’m not sure my memory serves me right; as far as I can recall, you cannot set the system NOT to detect movements, and only monitor audio. This can be useful if you take the baby out of the crib and put her on the carpet to play – you may want to keep the audio monitor on but of course disable the motion sensor as the crib is empty. In the cases when I needed this I simply disconnected the motion sensor’s wire from the unit, which effectively disables the alarm; yet, a dedicated mode for audio without motion would solve this in a more elegant way. And of course – my other two suggestions above would solve this even better.
- I would appreciate some additions to make this into a super-monitor: (Idea for a Super-Deluxe-Extra-Premium model?… Features could be enabled via attachable, optional add-ons)
* Day/Night video cam. (when you hear those grunts, don’t you want to see how alert the baby is by checking if she moves and kicks?)
* Hygrometer (humidity). Makes sense almost as a thermometer makes sense, esp. when the air is too dry due to heating.
* Two-way audio. I know a lot of parents like this; I personally prefer NOT to have it as it may tempt me to try to “remote relax” the baby. Nope, I prefer to be forced to get up and give the physical attention.
I would gladly pay the combined price of this unit plus a separate video cam to get a super monitor model in one product.
I have a feeling many parents would too, hence something like that at a price of about $250 will both make a great product and a good profit to the mfg.
Closing thoughts:
A must have product; the pros are huge (with no competition for the price & features combination). Cons are minor and can be worked-around.
I would definitely buy this unit again, and would put this in the top 5 for must-haves, together with a crib and car seat.
Rating: 5 / 5
This is the best baby monitor you can buy. The audio quality is excellent, but the real deal is the movement sensor. I am able to sleep soundly knowing that my baby is breathing/moving through the night. The parents’ units have a movement indicator. If you forget to turn off the monitor when you remove your child from the crib (or if the child stops breathing/moving), a loud alarm sounds. It definitely works and our whole family is impressed. I would have paid untold sums of money for the peace of mind this monitor gives. It’s a bargain!
Rating: 5 / 5