Angelcare Baby Monitor AC401 Review - Baby Movement And Sound Monitor By Graco
The Angelcare Baby Monitor AC401 by Graco combines a quality movement monitor and a sound monitor in a single system. The movement sensor pad which is placed under the mattress, detects your baby's slightest movements, including breathing motions, even when sleeping, and sounds an alarm only if no movement whatsoever is detected for 20 seconds.
The Angelcare baby monitor also transmits all other nursery sounds and has a movement indicator light showing if movement is being detected. The Angelcare baby monitor offers an optional tic feature, it will tick if movement is detected, parents love this feature during the daytime. The Angelcare movement and sound monitor offers parents peace of mind and a good nights sleep knowing that your precious baby's breathing patterns are being monitored around the clock.
If you have any concerns about sleep apnoea or SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) then the Angelcare Monitor AC401 should ease your worries. It is the only baby monitor available (outside of the hospital system) that every parent rated it an impressive 5 out of 5.
Additional features:-
The nursery unit has a soft nightlight and room thermometer, it's temperature is displayed on the parents units, which can alert you when the temperature falls out of your preset range.
The high-tech monitor enables all the units to share data and communicate with each other, if you change a setting on one parent unit that setting will automatically be changed on the other unit.
The Angelcare Baby Monitor comes with an out of range indicator, a parent's unit locator, optional voice activation and a color LCD on each Parent's unit which displays all of the data. The new Deluxe Angelcare model operates on both 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz frequencies. Its sound monitor operates on the 900 MHz frequency so there is no interference from 2.4 GHz equipment.
The monitor has 8 channels to avoid interference and an 820' range.
Important Installation Requirements:
Sensor Pad: Place a 1/2" (6mm) masonite or plywood board measuring at least 16"x24" under the crib mattress for stability, this is essential for a spring base. The sensor pads are placed on top of the board below the crib mattress. The sensor pads work under any standard crib mattress.
Nursery Unit:
The nursery unit should be at least 38cm from the crib at all times.
Parent Unit Settings:
Only 1 parent unit needs to be programmed as the 2nd unit automatically picks up the same settings of the 1st unit.
Tic, Movement and Sound Features:
The 'tic' feature is represented by a pendulum on the parent unit which monitors movement on the sensor pads, it makes an audible ticking noise.
The 'face' represents sound being monitored from the baby's room.
The 'Waves' display are for movement. The sensor pads are very sensitive to movement. There are 5 different combinations to choose from, sound only, movement only, sound and movement, movement and tic, also tic, sound and movement.
There is also an option of continuous sound reception or voice activation.
Alarm and Vibration:
The movement sensor pads that are placed under the mattress, have adjustable sensitivity, a dial at the back of the nursery unit adjusts the sensitivity of the sensor pads. A loud alarm sounds on the parents unit and the nursery unit if NO movement is detected after 20 seconds.
The alarm is loud enough to wake even a heavy sleeper since the situation could be life threatening for the infant. Often the baby is also awoken from the alarm too, potentially avoiding a critical situation.
The movement monitor is used on average for 14 months, however the sound monitor can be used for as long as you find necessary.
There are 3 alarm settings: Alarm only, Vibration only or Alarm and Vibration.
Room Temperature Monitoring:
The room temperature in the baby's room is monitored on the parent unit, it's represented by a 'sun and snowflake' icon. It can be programmed as a temperature range - lowest temperature setting to highest, the alarm will sound if the temperature moves outside of your pre-set conditions.
Hold Feature:
To avoid the alarm going off when you pick up your baby, you must either remember to turn off the monitor or use the 'Hold' feature. The hold feature doesn't seem to be used as much as turning off the monitor, but I would suggest it's a safer alternative as it's easy to forget things as a sleep deprived new mother, like turning the monitor back on. The Hold feature can be activated by holding down the 'hold button' until a flashing 'H' appears, this allows you to pick up your baby without turning off the monitor. The parents unit will beep every minute as a reminder that the monitor is on hold..
Extra Settings:
Mute: The monitor can be muted temporarily for 2 minutes.
Reception: There are 8 different channels available to avoid static and interference. To avoid feed-back keep both the parents unit and nursery unit at least 3m (10feet) apart, however static may occur if the 2 units are too far apart, they must also be set to the same channel to avoid distortion/interference.
Paging: To locate the parents unit press the clear button on the front of the nursery unit. This is useful when you have been walking around with a parent unit and left it somewhere.
How to avoid false alarms:
Turn off nursery unit or put parent unit on-hold before picking up your baby from the crib.
Don't tuck any bedding under the mattress between the sensor pad and mattress.
Sensor pad must rest on a completely rigid surface.
The Angelcare Baby Monitor AC401 provides crisp, clear audio monitoring and very sensitive movement monitoring of your baby, you can rest easily knowing that your baby's breathing motions are being closely watched when you aren't able too, giving you that long awaited good nights rest.
The Angelcare Baby Monitor is of exceptional high quality, the next step up in quality are the hospital grade monitors found in neonatal intensive care units. If you have been considering using an 'audio only' baby monitor, I would highly recommend upgrading to the Angelcare Baby Movement and Sound Monitor Deluxe AC401, you won't regret the extra cost for the peace of mind it will give you when it comes to the health and safety of your precious baby.