With more than one kid, you need the best video baby monitors for multiple rooms. With Foscam cameras you get dual coverage and security for under $120.
Let’s say you’ve got a toddler who’s starting to sleep in a big bed in his or her own room and a brand new baby sleeping in a crib in a nursery. With more than one child, you need the best video baby monitors for multiple rooms so you can keep your eyes and ears peeled in case one of those precious children needs you. We’ve got a great solution for you to get dual coverage, security and peace of mind for under $120 – and better yet, it works with your iPhone and other mobile devices!
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As the techie one in the family, when the need for the best video baby monitors arose Carrie left it for me to figure out. The goal was simple, a cost effective way to keep an eye/ear on our young sons, C1 and C2, who occupy rooms on the other side of our ranch style home. Of course I saw this as an opportunity to dabble in some of the newer IP camera technology which works on your existing home wireless network.
The Best Video Baby Monitors for Multiple Rooms
After doing quite a bit of research and some trial and error, I ended up settling on the Foscam FI8910W.
Foscam makes a lot of different varieties, so if there is a particular feature or color you’re looking for, just search on Amazon and you’ll likely find it.
We purchased two of these Foscam baby video monitors for our home. We have one mounted high on the wall in the nursery to give us a birds-eye video of C2 in his crib. From a safety perspective, you’ll just want to make sure you keep the camera’s cord out of reach from the crib.
The other video baby monitor is perched on top of a bookshelf across the room from C1’s big boy bed. Shortly after we had our second child, C1 gave up his afternoon naps and now just has reading and rest time in his room. The Foscam video baby monitors allow us to turn them remotely to get different views and coverage of the room to keep tabs on what’s going on without having to enter the room. You know – for all those times it gets a little “too quiet” in there and you wonder whether he’s made a huge mess or fallen asleep and don’t want to risk waking him if by some miracle it’s the latter of the two possibilities.
So why the Foscam? In short, it was the right balance of features and price. While not specifically branded as a baby monitor it has worked flawlessly for us the past couple of years. Interestingly enough this has become a hot market for camera makers with many of them now branding specifically as baby monitors including Foscam, who provides cameras in blue and pink for about $80 each. If I were shopping again, I’d be tempted to spend a bit more for one of the newer high-resolution solutions just to get the latest tech.
One very important note is that these IP cameras generally do not come with a built in monitor. Thankfully there are plenty of iPhone/iOS and Android apps that will connect to your cameras. In our case we opted for an iOS app called FoscamPro, but there are tons to choose from, so look around for one with the features you want. This will typically cost under $10 and there are free ones available if you don’t mind a few ads.
A second important note is that these IP Cameras require an active WiFi network in you’re house. You’ll need to get them connected and secured on your home network. If you don’t want to utilize your home network and want a dedicated display, you can pay a bit more for the Foscam FBM 3502 which transmits video to the monitor with its own over the air signal. Personally, I preferred using my existing wireless network and display devices to keep the cost down. Plus we always have our mobile devices near by.
The one items that we didn’t love about the solution was that it requires you to leave your tablet or phone on at night to hear audio from your child’s room. To solve that, we chose the Sony NTM910YLW-WHT baby monitor with voice activation mode. We had received one of these audio only monitors as a baby shower gift and really loved the voice activation mode. It remains essentially silent during the night (no white noise), until one of the kids starts to stir. We liked it so much we purchased a second monitor for C2’s room so that during the night we first hear if one of the kids are in distress and then pull up the video baby monitors to see what the issue is before plodding across a dark house.
The Sony NTM910YLW-WHT also works well for us as we frequently take the audio monitors when we travel. Because they work on their own frequency and don’t require WiFi network, they’re convenient when staying away from home. The separate frequencies also allow us to keep the receivers side by side in our master bedroom without conflicts or interference between the two monitors.
For us this was the best of both worlds, unobtrusive audio monitoring with the option to view video when we need it. Of course during the day when we have our iPhones, iPad tablets or mobile device going we’ll usually just pull up the video from the Foscam (which also includes audio).
So I hope that’s helpful for all the new parents out there looking for the best video baby monitors for multiple rooms in their home. There have been a lot of new companies coming into this space, so do some searches on Amazon to find the best video baby monitors for your needs.
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Thanks for your suggestions, there are many indoor cameras on the market now, and such narrowed down list is always good when choosing one…
Thanks, Nena!