Nice idea, but wait for something better

I'll admit that I ignored a reliable magazine's review of baby video monitors saying that they just weren't up to snuff.

I chose the imonitor for it's size, the rechargeable battery, it's claimed range, nightvision and colour screen. I thought the product was a good idea so that I didn't go into my son's room unnecessarily if he was just playing around in his crib late at night.

After unpacking the device, and spending about 20 minutes trying to get the electrical connection to work for the monitor, I certainly questioned my purchase decision. I elected, since I got the imonitor to work finally, to try it out for a week - it continuously disappointed me. The claimed range is 600 ft, but it didn't work even outside of my son's room window (less than 10ft). Inside the house, reception was spotty and nothing more than 30 ft or closed doors. The microwave oven cut the signal as well. I expected (to some degree) that if the picture wasn't available, the sound would be - WRONG! I gather that the sound and image are carried on the same signal, so if the picture isn't there, the sound isn't either. I take it that the signal band range is also responsible for poor reception as it's used by many other devices such as portable phones. I live in the busy suburbs, and the imontior may work better in a rural setting where there's fewer interfering signals. The picture quality is murky at best, the nightvision isn't any better/clearer. The rechargeable battery lasted about 2-3 hours tops and that's with the screen closed and the video portion off. There is no option to put in a set of regular batteries either.

Thankfully, I was able to return it to the place of purchase for a full refund. I now have sound monitor made by Safety 1st (don't know which model offhand), which works much better than the Graco imonitor.