Motorola MBP36 Digital Video Monitor

We researched lots of monitors and eventually went for this one. We're first time parents of a 7 week old and first impressions of this video monitor are that it has been designed by people who understand what parents want, and it meets our needs very well. While I can't tell you how it compares to other options I haven't tried, I'll summarise why we like it...

Key concerns I had in choosing a video monitor over an audio one were the range and battery life which typically suffer:

RANGE - This one claims to have 300m outdoors and 50m indoors in perfect conditions, on the box (must be a newer version than the tech spec listed on Amazon). We live in a 4 bed 1950s brick built house and the range is fine. We can reach from the front bedroom upstairs to nearly the bottom of our good-sized garden, which meets our needs. The unit beeps every 5 seconds to warn you when out of range.
Interference - No problems so far. The instructions include warnings about being too near to (= 1 metre from) wireless networks (e.g. routers), bluetooth and microwave ovens. However ours doesn't seem to have a problem with our router (or vice versa) so far.

BATTERY - Battery life is never going to be as good as an audio monitor because of the power needed for the screen. However you don't need the screen on permanently when doing stuff round the house (the whole point of a baby monitor), so it will automatically turn off after 2 minutes when on battery (according to the instructions - when we timed it, it took 4 minutes?). Other reviewers have stated that it will come back on again if the baby moves or makes a noise but this doesn't seem to work for us and there's no mention of it in the instructions (maybe it stays on while there is movement/noise?). We haven't had it long enough to test battery life yet - other reviewers have said it can last anywhere from 3 to 8-10 hours (I guess it may depend on how active your baby is and how often you turn the video back on!) but since our baby isn't going to sleep more than about 3 hours at a time during the day, that's fine for us. And at night (once she's sleeping in a different room) it can be plugged in so there's no problem there either.
Also the rechargable battery pack (NiMh AAA 3x1.2V 900mah with a plug-in cable) seems generic enough not to be extortionate to buy later if the batteries deteriorate. Incidentally, first charge takes 16 hours according to the instructions. Not sure thereafter though. Note that you need a screwdriver to change the battery pack so you probably wouldn't want to be changing the batteries on a daily basis if, for example, you needed the unit to last a long time on battery.

Other features of note...

SIZE and portability - it is roughly the same as a PDA (slightly wider and deeper than my HTC desire and a similar sized screen) so fits in a good size pocket fine (it still works with the antenna folded down as far as halfway down our garden). The fold-out stand is sturdy. Other reviewers have said it also could be used as a belt clip but I don't think I'd trust it to stay clipped on but that's fine because I'd rather have it in my pocket anyway.

TEMPERATURE - I know this and other models have been scorned for being inaccurate. This wasn't a big deal for us as it's not what we're buying it for, but so far it seems fairly accurate. This one appears to have a sensor which sticks out away from the camera, which probably helps it not heat up from the heat of the camera.

PICTURE and SOUND - both are good enough for the job. There are good controls for audio volume (loud enough to hear breathing down to quiet enough for you to sleep). You can toggle the display on and off at the touch of a button. The LEDs above the screen display the volume of the baby's noises which is also good if you have the volume down low.

Tilt, pan and Zoom - Tilt and Pan are useful (more so when the baby is older and moving around the cot/room) - not sure we'll use the Zoom since it is 2x digital only, so just enlarges the middle bit of the existing picture rather than providing additional detail to the image. The pan and tilt motors are specially designed to be quiet enough not to wake the baby which is great.

MULTIPLE CAMERAS - You can apparently add more cameras (up to 4) which is nice to know for if/when we expand our family! There is no split screen, however the instructions say you can quickly switch between them by pressing the OK button repeatedly. Also in SCAN mode it switches between screens (and presumably audio) every 12 seconds. This seems to be a good solution. Note: Cameras can only be registered to one parent unit at a time (so you can't have 2 parent units for the same camera).

PRICE and Longevity - this is in my opinion a reasonably priced for a video monitor (especially at the discounted price we got it at). However price wasn't too important to us since, looking at friends of ours who are still using theirs several times a day 7 years later, you want to get a good one that doesn't annoy you every time you use it rather than having to buy a better one later.

2 WAY TALK - You have to press and hold a button to talk (so, no danger of leaving it on and waking the child) but when you let go, the baby unit briefly makes an additional "chh" (white) noise a bit like when you use a 2 way radio. So this feature is probably more useful for having a 2-way conversation with older babies and children (and for us adults) than to soothe a small baby (who probably wouldn't be soothed much anyway as the volume is quite loud and doesn't seem to be customisable). On the other hand there is a lullaby option which isn't as bad as I expected reading the other reviews but we're still not sure if we'll use it.

Plug into TV - haven't tried this yet as you need to buy a cable (£2 approx) to do it! But it will enable us to keep an eye on the baby while watching TV via picture-in-picture. My gadget-loving other half is keen to try this but I'm not sure if we'll really use it.

Alarm - it will beep for 45 seconds every 2,4 or 6 hours if you wish (to remind the parent to feed or perhaps check on the baby). Shame this isn't more customisable, though I'm not sure I'd use it even if it was. (Most mobile phones can do this anyway...)

CONS - As above, the 2-way talk isn't suitable for a small baby but I guess it's not really designed for that use. Not sure we'll use the lullabies or alarm. All are minor points and not critical to the purchase.

Features it doesn't have that other monitors do: Connectivity to the internet, ability to take photos/videos of your baby, belt clip. To me these are unnecessary extras. The picture quality whilst being good, isn't so great that I'd want to keep it - it is just good enough to see what the baby is doing (i.e. why she is making certain noises, so whether I need to go in or whether she is likely to go back to sleep on her own) which is all I need so I can go about my daily business in the house and garden. Also, there are no batteries for the BABY (camera) unit but since her cot is always near a power point that's not a problem!

Finally - it was dispatched and delivered in super-quick time, we ordered it on a Thursday evening and it arrived by courier on Saturday (yes, Saturday) afternoon, on super-saver delivery :-)

We originally bought the "Summer Infant Slim & Secure Digital Video Monitor" after returning it 2 times because of some fault (monitor cut out and stopped working and the audio started to screech) we decided to change brands. The video picture quality with the motorola is much more superior and I like the fact that I can move the camera around.

The Motorola has a better monitor, which is also bigger. I can see my daughter blinking because the screen is so clear. The option to move the camera around is brilliant. This allows me to watch her play in her room, which means I get more use out of it. There are a lot more features, but ignoring them the camera, screen and reliability are way superior!

We have no reception problems when we have the monitor in the family room on the ground floor and the camera in the baby room which is on the 2nd floor of a large house. We can't even get wireless Internet in this bedroom (this was before the baby), but the baby monitor has no problems.

Battery life doesn't last through the night, so we need to have it plugged in. Not a big issue.

There is a microphone option, but when I have tried that it only startled my baby.

You can also play music, but I don't find the tunes soothing.

We found the temperature gage to be 2 degrees above the actual temperature.

If you are looking for a video monitor that has excellent picture quality and reception - this is your baby monitor!

Motorola mbp 36 is easy to use and set. The range it covers is OK. Preset melodies are not of good quality and we do not use them. The price is a little high.