Review: Summer Baby Pixel Zoom HD Video Monitor

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Since having the girls, we’ve been long term fans of the Summer range, using all different products from swaddles and baby baths, to playpens, booster seats and baby monitors, they have such handy innovative products they are often my go-to brand when we are looking for our next baby purchase. When Violet was little, we used the Summer Panorama Video monitor, which I absolutely loved and it served us well but when we moved into our new house and Pearl was born, the distance between her room and ours was just a bit far for it to stretch and we kept losing signal. It had a really good range in our old house (Violet’s room was on another floor!) but this house seems to have ridiculously thick walls as although it’s not massive, our WiFi doesn’t travel far either!

As Pearl recently moved into her new room we felt it was time to upgrade our baby monitor too, to ensure we wouldn’t have signal problems in the night and we could keep an eye on her at all times. We decided to go for the Summer Baby Pixel Zoom HD this time. The Baby Pixel is an innovative video baby monitor that allows you to see and hear your baby at any time, remotely steering the camera around the room and viewing baby on the beautifully clear 5″ HD screen.

INSTALLATION

With all it’s features, I felt like the Baby Pixel would be tricky to set up, but it was as simple as plug in and turn on. There was no need to pair the camera to the device, it picked it up immediately. Before long I was looking around Pearl’s room in perfect detail. The BEST feature has got to be remote steering the camera – this is so handy for a wriggly baby on the move like Pearl as you can follow them about, from the comfort of your bed/chair without having to move and readjust the camera. As the camera is fully controlled by the remote steering access, it also doesn’t matter if you place the camera slightly out of view of your baby, as long as it’s within the steering range, you can correct your view remotely by moving the camera left to right or up and down to get the perfect angle.

I was so surprised by how amazingly clear the picture quality is – in the day time the screen is colour and in the evening/night the screen turns to black and white which is perfectly clear, but they’ve added ‘MoonLite’ technology, which is an enhanced colour night vision boost to see baby in high definition, even at night time by softly illuminating the nursery.

KEY FEATURES

• 5” HD 720p colour screen
• HD Moonlite™ enhanced colour night vision boost to see baby in high definition, even at night time by softly illuminating the nursery.
• Remote camera steering to see baby anywhere in the nursery.
• Unique Sleepzone™ virtual boundary alerts parents when baby moves outside of the pre-set virtual border.
• 6 level remote zoom to see the smallest movements & details with incredible picture quality.
• Voice activated (VOX) technology ensures the video screen automatically wake ups when baby stirs.
• 3x remote digital zoom with remote pan and scan.

• Two way talk back.
• Onscreen nursery temperature display and clock.
• Sound activated LED lights.
• Lullabies & white noise.
• Power Save button to preserve battery life.
• Low battery and out of range indicators.
• 240m range.
• Add up to 3 extra cameras to monitor multiple rooms and children.
• Includes 2x European adaptors, 6 cable clips and a quick start guide for easy set up.

DURING THE DAY

As Pearl still has naps during the day it was essential the display would be easy to take around the house and stay connected at all times. After a good charge over night the display is ready to go and stays charged for the rest of the day. The signal is strong, especially with the ariel lifted which gives an extra few meters. I can take the display right out to the garden and still get a picture into the house, meaning I can turn the monitor up loud and play with Violet in the garden without worrying about leaving Pearl indoors sleeping. One of the functions I use at nap time is the VOX control, this allows a two-way connection so you can speak to your baby. She will sometimes stir from certain noises, but a few calm words through the monitor will often soothe her, whereas if I went into her room in person she’d think it was time to get up! The monitor also comes built in with some lullabies but she prefers white noise so we don’t often use those.

When the display is taken off the power supply it goes into ‘Power Saving Mode’ and the screen goes blank. This activates the voice activation, which turns the screen on as soon as it detects baby is making a noise. For a quick check there is a button to turn on the screen too.

DURING THE NIGHT

At bedtime I plug the display into the mains on my bedside table to ensure the power won’t run out in the night (as the device will beep, I’ve done this a few times and always kicked myself when it wakes me up!) At night time, the view is just as clear but usually in black and white night vision. Pearl’s room is pretty dark so I can actually see her more clearly through the monitor than in person. Even at 12 months old I still get paranoid about her breathing so often zoom in to check, it’s so detailed you can see the rise and fall of her chest when in the closest setting which is reassuring.

One of the functions that have been really handy for use at night are the Sleepzone Virtual Boundary alert – Pearl is a wriggler and a climber so I’ve set a boundary to ensure she’s always within the bars of her cot. The monitor creates a zone and will sound an alert if Pearl crosses these lines. So far she hasn’t managed to climb out her cot, but I have a feeling it won’t be long until she does so hopefully this will give me a heads up to go and rescue her!

Other functions I find handy at night time are the temperature display and time which are always displayed on the screen – great for waking up in the night and a quick glance at what is going on without having to get up!

THE VERDICT

The Summer Baby Pixel Zoom HD retails at £199, which as monitors go is on the pricey end of the spectrum, but it really is an all singing, all dancing baby monitor that does everything you’d expect it to do, and more. It’s perfect for parents like me, who wake up in the night an want to see their baby breathing immediately or check the temperature of the room at a glance, having that peace of mind, the price is just priceless.