VTech DM221 Audio Baby Monitor with up to 1,000 ft of Range, Vibrating Sound-Alert, Talk Back Intercom & Night Light Loop, White/Silver

Actually, I dont use this product to monitor a baby; I use it to monitor my dogs. With all the fans running in the bedroom at night this hot, humid summer, it would be difficult to hear their warning cries if they had to make an emergency trip outside. This monitor remedies that problem. We have a second one of these monitors also--the version with two parent units--and we use that one to monitor my wifes 87-year-old mother who sleeps downstairs. If she ever needs help in the middle of the night, well know about it. All of the components work great. The volume & sensitivity are adjustable. There are a number of other features, too (that I dont use myself), including a night light in the transmitters handle that can be turned on & off manually or can operate in an automatic mode. As far as durability, I have to admit that I have knocked the parent units off the nightstand onto a hardwood floor on more than one occasion, and have let them slip from my hand and drop about four feet, and theyre still working. The parent units hold a charge reasonably well, but it takes a while to fully recharge them again. Of course, you can charge/use them simultaneously with the included A/C adapter. [FYI: The transmitter does not have a battery option and must be plugged in to use.] There is a hook on the back of each parent unit, so you can roam around the house while still monitoring your child. If there was one thing Id change about this product to make it perfect, it would be to add user-selectable channels to the components. As I mentioned, we have two units. They dont interefere with each other--which is a good thing--but what if they had both been using the same frequency? It would be nice if we could select the channel used by each transmitter & receiver. From a business perspective, this would also allow VTech to sell additional parent & transmitter units separately (e.g. to replace a broken one or add additional monitoring capabilities), and then the end-user could just match the new component with the already-existing one. Anyway, wish list aside, this is a great product that allows you to remotely monitor a baby, the elderly, pets, or whatever you else you might need to monitor. It has proven to be a reliable product. ============= Update 10-15-17 Gotta reduce my rating. Ive had far too many sleepless nights because the parent unit loses its link with the transmitter. When this happens, the parent unit starts beeping about once per second. Its like an alarm clock. Now I dont really mind that... in concept... because certainly I want to know when the connection is broken and I need to manually check on whatever Im monitoring; but what I _DO_ mind is the frequency with which the connection is lost. This is a common problem, based on online research, and the consensus is that this occurs when you reduce the sensitivity of the microphone in the transmitter unit. Really? The sensitivity of the microphone should be completely separate from the power of the transmitter. Key word is should; but apparently that is not the case. So if, for example, theres a table fan running in the room being monitored, you have to listen to the drone of the fan all night because you have to keep the sensitivity set to the max. If you turn the sensitivity down, then you have to deal with the link lost alarm. Pick your poison... either way the result is the same, i.e. you dont sleep at night. This is a problem that VTech needs to address.

Not overly happy

The baby monitor allows me to head my child for almost a block away. It has great sound quality but the second unit has to be charged everyday.

This monitor replaced an older 49mhz analog baby monitor that we have had since our three year old was born. We still like to keep a monitor in his room just in case he wakes up before us or calls out in the night, which is rare. The old monitor was picking up interference quite a bit and was beginning to have problems, so it was time for an upgrade. This unit uses encrypted digital technology on the 1.9 GHz spectrum. Theoretically this should give increased range and eliminate any possibility of casual eavesdropping. Compared to the old monitor which had a single on/volume knob, this one is much more high tech. With that, however, comes a lot more settings that you have to (or get to) fiddle with. In addition to dedicated volume and power buttons, there are also menu and select buttons with which you can navigate an on screen menu of settings. This unit has a sensitivity setting, which is what Id call a digital squelch, a term from my old ham radio days. It lets you have complete silence until the signal breaks a certain threshold. Only then do you hear it over the speaker. This is disabled at its most sensitive setting. You can set a vibrating or audio alert to go off if the squelch is triggered. There is even a way to remotely trigger the nightlight LED on the base and a button to talk back to the child. This lets the unit function as a simple 2-way intercom, which is helpful for us in certain situations. There is no doubt that this is a full-featured baby monitor, or that it gives you a lot of value for your money. Each of these features works as advertised, and once you get it set up like you want it the menu and its settings arent that much of an issue. Even with the squelch on its second highest setting my bedside table has gotten a whole lot quieter thanks to its digital technology. However, I do wish that the transmitter unit had a battery backup that would allow for operation in a power outage or for easy placement during nap time. I also wish that the monitor had a back-lit screen or LED that let you know it was on. As it stands now, I have to turn on my bedside lamp to look for the word LINKED on the screen to make sure its on. My only caution here is that it may be a little bit much for a parent looking for a basic, reliable digital unit without all these literal bells and whistles. We have another digital unit made by Graco for our younger baby, and all it has is an on switch, volume buttons, and a physical vibrate switch. Theres no screen at all to fiddle with, and it has proven to be a reliable tool. If you are a technophile and want a value-priced device with intercom features, however, this unit hits the sweet spot. In my opinion, its silence and intercom more than overcome its minor shortcomings.

We love this baby monitor! It works great. The sound is clear. The battery life is excellent, and we love the intercom feature. We do think that the warning that (loudly) comes on when turning the parent unit on is annoying, however, we finally found a way around that. This would make a great baby shower gift, too.

We have been very impressed with this monitor set. We replaced a hand me down Sony unit that was just triggering falsely too many times in the middle of the night. PROS - Small - Parent device has a battery - battery lasts for days (seriously...like 3 or 4 before we finally plugged it back in. it may have 5 or 6...just never pushed it) - good voice quality - two-way voice feature (can have a non-yelling discussion with spouse while upstairs in nursery) - belt clip on parent device - good range (I can walk around the outside of the entire house without losing connection) - visual noise/voice indicator - vibrate noise/voice indicator CONS - the volume just isnt quite loud enough on 5 (our old Sony was just as loud if not louder than the baby was when crying) - loses connectivity every once in a while for no reason The volume is loud enough to easily hear at night when the parent unit is in the same room as you. But if you walk out of the room and leave it behind, you may not hear it. Think about getting up in the morning to make breakfast...if the Microwave is on, you wont hear it. We ended up leaving our older Sony unit in the kitchen for that reason. We dont have to carry around a monitor constantly. Every once in a while, the parent unit will lose the connection to the child unit. Our master and nursery are on opposite ends of the house on different floors so we figured it may be just too much material for the signal to go through sometimes. However even when it drops link, I took the parent unit back into the nursery and it kept beeping at me for another 60 seconds. It doesnt appear to be a range issue, but more than likely just one of the units freaking out for a short-period. It doesnt do it enough to return the device, just enough to annoy me enough to note it in the review.

Good

Gift

**Update 1/5/2016** Since my below review we have used this many more times and Im happy to report that this is still a very solid performer. The range is great, baby noise comes through clear, and my previous complaint about the talk button being easy to press hasnt been a big deal. Four stars remain well deserved. **Original Review 4/18/2015** We have a nice Angelcare monitor that we use at home but wanted something simple we could take with us when traveling to our parents and friends houses. The VTech fit the bill budget wise and after one 5 day trip we have been really happy. Other reviews have done a great job saying what this unit does well so I wont waste time here reiterating those opinions as I agree with them. Couple of cons that I wanted to mention just to keep in mind before you buy, but note I would still buy this product again knowing this so I do like the product a lot. - Battery life on the wireless unit is not great. You will have to charge during awake time at least once during the day if not more. - No battery on the unit that is in the nursery. Minor concern for me since we are used to power outages which would render this useless. How many times is that going to happen though? Not a huge deal. - Biggest complaint is the talk button on the side of the parent unit is extremely easy to press when grabbing the unit. If you wear this on your belt or pocket then when you grab it you will almost certainly press the talk button which will send whatever noise is going on around you straight to the unit by your sleeping baby. Not ideal. Again, Im rating this as 4 stars so obviously I am happy with the unit. For the price, I think youd be hard pressed to find a better option and considering our needs it is near perfect. It is really compact and fits in a pair of shoes easily for simple packing.

My mom had cancer surgery and was in bed for several days. I stayed over at my folks house to help with her recovery. I decided to purchase these as the unit for the baby is wireless, which means she could keep it next to her in bed instead of the nightstand, which she could not reach due to surgery pain. It also has a nice nighlight on the baby unit made her feel comfortable after waking up in the middle of the night, a bit disoriented. The unit allowed us to keep her bedroom door closed so that she would not be woken and could rest and recover. If she needed anything, she would just have to speak and we could hear her over the parent unit.