This is a guest post by my friend skippee. She has previously guest posted about her favorite photo apps, and her son’s first birthday party.
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One of my all-time favorite baby items actually isn’t a baby item at all! It’s a home security camera called Foscam that we use as our baby monitor. Here’s the link for one camera and the link for a pack of two cameras. Lots of friends have asked us about the camera so I wanted to be able to have the info in one place to point them to!
Here’s a page of monitor screen shots I made for a photo book…
Pros
-Motion Detector. You can set it up so it’ll email you photos when the camera detects motion. We use it as a security camera when we’re out of town.
-Zoom. This one is huge for paranoid parents out there. I zoom in to check on Joy’s breathing!
-Move! You can actually move the camera around. Perfect for when your baby starts rolling around, sitting up and walking all over the crib.
-Sound. There’s a sound sensor alarm so you can set it to alert you when the sound goes above a certain level.
-It Talks! Not only can you clearly hear sound~ you can actually talk into the camera too! There were times when we saw my younger daughter Joy with her face flat down so we would tell her to lift up her head and she would do it without waking up! We also use it to talk to my older son Evan to tell him to get back to bed. It makes it easier than having to go up and down the stairs multiple times to say the same thing.
-Access Everywhere. We have it set up on our iPhones, iPad and computers. I love being able to see the kiddos when I’m not home. I don’t have to ask if they’re sleeping because I can just check for myself. My husband can also check from work!
-Photos! I’m a bit obsessed with taking screen shots on my phone of them sleeping.
-Quality. The quality is so good especially considering that most of the time I’m viewing rooms that are pitch black.
-Dual monitors. I love the fact that I can see both monitors on one screen.
Cons
-Glitches. As with all technology, there are glitches. They aren’t problems with the actual camera but with the apps and programs that use it. It’s just like your cell phone though~ sometimes you don’t get good reception but you’re fine with it because the benefits greatly outweigh the negatives.
-Setup. The setup is a bit difficult. Any moderately tech savvy person could do it though!
I love our monitor so much~ I recommend it to all of my friends who are having babies. Everyone has a smart phone these days so it’s super convenient! I got one for my bil/sil so they could see their baby when they’re at work. Even though I’m a SAHM so I’m home most of the time, I still find it so useful. This thing makes my old baby monitor seem so ancient!
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papaya / 10560 posts
That is super cool! I have been on the fence about a video monitor…I might have to take the one I have on my registry off. My question is (and i don’t know much at all about monitors), it looks like most standard monitors come with 1 camera and then one screen to watch on. this looks like it is two cameras? i am a little confused about that.
admin / watermelon / 14210 posts
@lydg: many video monitors have the option to add a second camera so you can watch two separate rooms.
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
I am planning on getting this before baby #2 comes. So happy to hear your glowing review, yay!
papaya / 10560 posts
@mrsbee ah, i think i’m unclear. where do you watch from on this camera? is it iphone/ipad etc., only?
admin / watermelon / 14210 posts
@lydg: ah you can view it online, so you don’t need to have an iphone/ipad to watch!
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
We got the motorola with an extra camera! After seeing this post last night I asked DH where the boxes for the monitor and camera were.. (I always keep boxes in case I want to return something).. HE THREW THEM AWAY.
Good thing I guess cause we have to keep our current. I know DH would have given me grief if I wanted to return it and get something else. The set up would probably have annoyed him.. ALTHOUGH. He travels so I know he’d love to be able to see her from his hotel room too..
LOVE our motorola monitor, but we have the camera mounted up on the wall about.. 12-15 feet from LO. It’s really grainy, but she’s at an age where I don’t need to see whether she’s breathing or not, so all good!
anyway
loooooong comment!
papaya / 10560 posts
gotcha! I just wanted to double check. so super cool…i may have to switch!
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
SO cool
bananas / 9357 posts
My DH and I were looking at this exact same camera as a baby monitor! So glad that you like it. You’ve definitely convinced me it will be worth it.
grapefruit / 4049 posts
this was on LA Groupon last week for $80. I didn’t buy it because we are doing fine without a video camera at all! But I was tempted.
With the amount of idevices and laptops we have, we just FaceTime or Skype between different rooms if needed.
cherry / 133 posts
Our baby touch just crapped out so I bought this to replace it. I really liked our baby touch. Hope this one better since we can view it virtually anywhere on our iphone/ipad!
apricot / 370 posts
that’s cool it has night vision.
guest
If you use this at night for kids on another floor, how do you hear them if its only on your iphone, ipad or internet? Is there anything to wake me up to tell me they are crying, etc? Looks great for night use when I’m awake but what about when I”m asleep and need to wake up for them?
pomegranate / 3053 posts
That set sounds similar to the Motorola video monitor except being able to view it online. Motorola doesn’t have that feature. Does this one have a parent unit if you don’t want to carry your iPhone/iPad around? I do like that you can see it remotely though!
blogger / nectarine / 2010 posts
This does sound really similar to the motorola that I absolutely love. We tried several before setting on it. But I love the feature to use it as a security cam when you’re away. If my motorola ever breaks…
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
that’s so cool! i feel so behind on the times now. i’ll keep this one in mind in case our current monitor ever breaks down on us.
guest
I was looking at this camera online. It looks like you have to download an app on your ipad or smArtphone in order use it with those devices. Which apps have you tried and which do you recommend?
pea / 18 posts
@NYCaliMama: I didn’t know this was on LA’s Groupon! I would’ve totally gotten one since I’m planning on getting this for my friend’s baby shower. That’s so cute you guys use FaceTime or Skype between rooms! =)
@Rachel: When you’re sleeping you can set your phone/iPad/computer to alert you when the sound goes over a certain level. You set it so it stays quiet until it gets to point when you want to start hearing the sound — like when the baby starts crying!
@erwoo: I heard people love the Motorola monitor too! I love this one for the online feature. It doesn’t come with a parent unit~ just the cameras since you can use your computer/smart phone/iPad. I always have my phone with me so I like the fact I don’t have to carry an extra monitor handset around with me!
pomegranate / 3053 posts
@skippee: Yeah, that’s true. Good to know there’s an alert for your phone and that it’s silent until it comes on. Thanks for posting about it. Always good to know about great products out there!
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
Love our Foscam too. Best purchase ever.
pea / 18 posts
@chopsuey119: If you got it from Amazon you might not need the box to return it! =P I have a feeling your hubs would love being able to see M and baby #2 when he’s traveling. Whenever Andy is away he loves being able to see the kiddos. He’ll take a look right before he goes to bed and it’s such a wonderful feeling to see your babies tucked in and sleeping peacefully even though you’re thousands of miles away. =)
kiwi / 540 posts
I’m definitely considering this “baby monitor” and so glad you wrote this! I was wondering if the video camera could be turned off remotely, or if I’d have to go into the room and switch it off?
pea / 18 posts
@cranberryapple: I looked at mine and I don’t think you can turn it off remotely. Same as with a regular baby monitor~ you’d have to go in the room to turn off the camera. I think you’ll love it! There are times I use it more for my 3 year old than my 10 month old~ so it will definitely last you way past the baby stages. =)
pear / 1946 posts
How/where did you mount the camera? Do we need to buy mounting hardware?
pea / 18 posts
@BeachMama: For my daughter’s room we have it on the crib and for my son’s room we just have it standing on a bookshelf. It comes with a stand so it’ll stand alone. It also comes with a mounting piece that allows you to mount it to anything~ like a crib or wall. We didn’t have to buy any additional mounting hardware.
hostess / watermelon / 14932 posts
@skippee: @looch: hoping you guys can help me
I just got my foscam today and I’m having so many problems setting up! I got wireless working okay..but audio is nil, and I cannot figure out remote access. help?!
pea / 18 posts
@sorrycharlie: Hope you get it all figured out so you can really start enjoying it! You need to enable the port forwarding for remote access. It’s a little complex — you usually need to log into your router to configure the port forwarding. The Foscam website has detailed instructions on how to set it up (and even for each specific type of router).
http://foscam.us/tools-support.html
As for audio, it depends on which app you use to access it. Most of the free apps don’t have audio. I use Live Cams Pro. It’s only $1.99.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/live-cams-pro-ip-camera-viewer/id428145132?mt=8
Hopefully @looch has some better tech advice? I’m not very techy so the set up wasn’t that intuitive for me.
hostess / watermelon / 14932 posts
@skippee: what about audio on the computer? it says to download a plugin, but when I do, it still doesn’t register it.
the thing with the port forwarding is that the website Foscam gives you to register on is no longer free – so I’d have to pay for a domain to use my phone
pea / 18 posts
@sorrycharlie: Sorry~ I’m not sure what the problem is with your audio. I don’t really use our computer for the monitor~ mostly on my iPhone and iPad.
As for the port forwarding, check out this link~
http://foscam.us/blog/foscamipcameras/setting-up-dyndns-make-your-routers-external-ip-static/
It says no-ip.com is free! Also, my husband says that if you know the address of the router you don’t even need to use those sites. You can just use the IP address. So basically those sites are just to get you an easy name to remember and also keeps the IP address linked to the name if it changes. Hope you already got it all figured out!
hostess / watermelon / 14932 posts
@skippee: thanks! I figured out how to use the browser on my phone to see the camera. but I still can’t figure out audio so I’m getting so frustrated
do you use a certain app on your phone?
also – do you have the same cam that you linked to? I cannot for the life of me figure out how to zoom it, lol. I googled and it says it doesn’t zoom..so I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. sigh!
pea / 18 posts
@sorrycharlie: Sorry for the late reply! I use two apps on my phone – CamViewer and LiveCams Pro. If one is being slow then I’ll just check the other one.
For zooming I just use the same method that I use for zooming in photos on my iPhone. Some apps don’t have the zoom feature so it’ll depend on which app you choose!
GOLD / papaya / 10166 posts
@sorrycharlie: I was reading a review of the product that had and issue with the sound and it looks like the solution was to make sure the camera’s IP was added to your trusted sites.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R3VFZSXX7JKSQW/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B006ZPWS4U&nodeID=502394&store=photo
I hope that helps. I’m planning on getting this so let me know if you get it worked out.
hostess / watermelon / 14932 posts
@BabyBoecksMom: unfortunately, nothing I tried worked
I was so bummed because aside from that, I loved it! Do you use a Mac or a PC? If I had a PC I would have kept it in a second. I just returned it last week and ordered the Motorola one, which is depressing because it’s 2x as much..ugh. but..sound is sound. lol.
guest
What app can I use for this on my iPhone or iPad? What app are you using in here?
pea / 18 posts
@Arlene: I use LiveCams Pro on both my iPhone and iPad! I also have CamViewer which I check if the other one is being slow. I can’t remember which one I used for the photos here but it was one of the two! =)
guest
Thanks Skippee! I will check those apps out. I just got my foscams yesterday. One of the reasons why I bought them is because of this blog. I read it can zoom (awesome for checking if baby is breathing or not) but I can’t seem to find out how. I tried searching on google but it says that zoom on the FI8910W is not supported. Do you have the same foscam as linked to amazon (single and 2 pack) above?
pea / 18 posts
@Arlene: Yup, I have the same 2 pack! The zooming is done through the apps. So when you open up the app you can zoom in like you would in a photo. I love our Foscams and still use them every single day! Hope you love yours too! =)
guest
@Skippee: I bought the LiveCams Pro app and it doesn’t let me zoom. Are you sure? I’m reading on forums that the foscam doesn’t support zoom. =(
pea / 18 posts
@Arlene: It works fine on my iPhone and iPad. I think the forums are probably referring to the fact that the foscam camera doesn’t physically zoom. The app is where it allows you to zoom. The app website says “zoom in and out of the image by pinching” — http://www.eggmantechnologies.com/foscam.html
Hope you’re able to figure it out!
guest
@Skippee Ah! That’s what I was doing wrong. There is a + and – magnifying icons so I thought that is what you need to click to zoom but it wasn’t working. The pinching works =) Thank you!
grapefruit / 4213 posts
I know this is an old post but just wanted to say thanks! We are looking into nanny cams and it’s between this Foscam and the Motorola. Great to read this comprehensive review.
guest
I’ve been thinking about it and I’ve been looking for the best baby monitor. I was actually unsure about the real usefulness of it but based on your review, it looks like a nice cool toy to have. I love the motion detection which can automatically send you an email. I guess there’s one more cool reason for me to talk to my hubby about getting one now.