VM5255-2 Digital Video Pan Scan Baby Monitor with Adaptive Night Light [ Pros ] + Works for monitoring big babies too (aka elderly that require 24/7 care) + No internet required + Good/strong wifi range (medium sized house) + Little to no wifi signal interferance + Easy to learn/use (Instructions not overwhelming) + Dual cam / Split screen option + Sound trigger (Multiple level options) + Briefly auto-unmute (if muted) after using talk/mic + Infrared night mode + Music/Lullabies (plus timer options) + Nightlight (plus color and timer options) + Temparature readings (plus alerts) [ Cons ] – No time trigger to automatically check every so often – No motion trigger – Hard to find sweet spot for sound trigger (probably perfect for monitoring babies as intended) – Does not auto-unmute upon sound trigger – Communicating with speaker is like walkie-talkies (again, probably perfect for monitoring babies) – Recharge daily / inconsistent battery reading – Camera panning not smooth/consistent – Camera doesn’t move up/down unless zoomed in – Limited timer options (No custom input) – Menu options not arranged ideally [ Review ] I tested this baby monitor to monitor the big elderly babies that we care for 24/7.
Not exactly designed for that end of the age spectrum, but the concept is roughly the same, right? RIGHT??? In general, it does the job. Not perfectly, but better than attempting to remember to get up off my lazy butt every several minutes to check on TWO elderly family members in different rooms (and floor) of the house.
For context, we used one camera to monitor a stubborn person with Parkinson’s (stage 4) and the other camera to monitor someone with dementia that cannot walk. The first thing I like about this is monitor is that it doesn’t require internet.
Our router/modem lose connection quite a bit so the internet is not reliable. We also don’t need remote access nor the ability to broadcast to other relatives. (So if that’s what you want, stop reading and close the browser tab.
) The wifi range was strong everywhere inside out house–no need to release the antenna. When I used the big vacuum to clean the house, though, that did cause interference. Microwave and wifi internet did not affect the signal.
The next thing I like is how the instructions are not overwhelming. Jumping right into using the parent unit was easy to figure out. (Mostly. Did have to refer to manual for some options. ) I want to say that this is very easy to use / learn to use, but it will probably be hard for someone that has a hard time learning how to use new devices.
(If you’re technologically challenge, that would include you. ) Not important, but the default order of the menu options is less than ideal. You would think frequently used features would be listed first.
(Is screen brightness really something you have to adjust a gazillion times? I set it to the lowest and it’s already blindingly bright enough no matter which room I walk into. ) This model comes with two cams, so it makes sense for the parent unit to be able to view both cameras at the same time.
It can also alternate between the two cams every few seconds, or just focus on one camera. Moving the camera (via parent unit’s control) felt either jerky or too fast, and it doesn’t move up/down (unless zoomed in).
Zooming in only zoomed in slightly. The cameras have infrared vision for night mode and a handy temperature reading/alert. I don’t use the temp alerts, but being able to see the rooms’ temps is handy.
Keeping the monitor on all the time feeling like wasting the battery when nothing is happening (. sleeping. ) so there is an option to let the screen turn back on via sound trigger. (It does not unmute the parent unit if set on mute though.
) I found it incredibly hard at deciding what sound level to set the trigger at because both cameras are right next to the TVs. (Actual babies won’t have TV in their room, right? But if you’re gonna have some sort of varied background noise nearby instead of complete silence, you’ll get what I mean.
) The family member with Parkinson’s sometimes can call for us loudly, but other times his voice is very weak. I wish there was a motion trigger (with different levels) as well. Because in one instance he fell down, and I didn’t even know it until someone else walking into the room and saw him on the floor.
(so much for me monitoring him. Obviously the sound trigger didn’t help here. ) I also wish there’s an option to have the screen turn on every few minutes. Remembering to manually check when my attention is preoccupied is hard! (Keeping screen on isn’t helpful since my eyes will eventually ignore it unless it flickers or something.
I could set unit to alternate cams but that ended up being too distracting. ) With the way I currently use the parent unit, I have to recharge it daily. The battery doesn’t completely drain, but I rather have it working then dying on me.
Also noticed that the battery reading is kind of inconsistent. At night I turn parent unit off thinking I don’t have to recharge it, then the next morning it will drop 1 or 2 bars. The only instance it didn’t drop was when the unit was fully charge (to the point of being still plugged in) before turning it off.
Like speaking into another room? There’s a talk feature! How handy! Though not as handy as I initially hoped for. (Stubborn Parkinson’s person will just tell us to go downstairs to him. -__- ) But at least we–the able-bodied family members–can speak to each other about what’s going on without yelling up/down the stairs.
(Walkie-talkie style. Can’t listen while speaking. ) By default I keep the parent unit on mute (reminder, camera right next to the TVs), so I like that the volume will automatically unmute after hitting the Talk button.
What I don’t like is that you can’t set what the volume to unmutes to. (Defaults to medium. ) If volume isn’t adjusted and no further speaking via talk button happens, the parent unit will automatically go mute after a few seconds.
(Again, only if it was muted previously. ) One of the fun features for the cameras is the nightlight. There’s an array of colors to pick from (red is the default right out of the box) but that’s boring.
Rainbow is the way to go! (Not literally a rainbow. One color fades to the next color. ) The strength of the nightlight can also be adjusted to correspond with the room’s ambient lighting (stronger when darker) and can automatically turn off with the timer options.
To go with the nightlight, there’s also music! Several lullabies are available to choose from or simply cycle through them all. The lullabies are played on a xylophone or something similar sounding and quite boring.
(Won’t put adults to sleep though. ) The sound detection will treat the music as sound, so keep that in mind. As with the nightlight, there are timer options available. For the timer on both of these features, custom input is not an option.
Choose from on/off, 15 min, 30 min, or 60 min. The night light also has an option where it’ll turn off after 15 min of no sound detection. When trying these features out, I found them entertaining (the “just for fun” aspect) but mostly useless for our purposes.
(Again, cameras are right next to the TVs that runs from breakfast time till we put them to bed. ) But for the intended babies these were designed for, I imagine they’ll be features worth using. TL;DR: Dual cam baby monitor with split screen monitor serves pretty well for monitoring elderly family members.
While not ideal in our case, it should serve very well for monitoring actual babies.