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Summer Infant’s slick, new Complete Coverage Color Video Monitor ($300) has all the bells and whistles. It has a large, seven-inch color screen that really shows every detail. It swivels and can be easily mounted upside down under a cabinet, so it’s perfect for the kitchen. As I write, my one-year-old son, Egan is sleeping with his arm hanging out of the crib and I can see his fingers move! The colors are washed out and the white walls look greenish, but the clarity in both daylight and nighttime modes is remarkable. The colors are more accurate when the lights are on in the room. It also includes a useful, portable color monitor that can operate on batteries and clip to your belt. The portable screen is tiny (1.8″) but is also in color and it works well, even some distance from Egan’s room — the company says the range is 350 feet.
The monitor’s night-view camera mode is automatic and works beautifully. It appears that it’s shining light on the crib, but it’s still pitch black in his room. (I checked!)
Both receivers have a handy snooze-button-type switch for a quick look at the baby. It’s nice to be able to turn off the screen and sounds at night, then push the button for a peek into the nursery. Colored lights indicate noise from the baby if you have the sound all the way down. The Complete Coverage Monitor comes with AV cables so you can watch from your TV.
All in all, this is an expensive but really comprehensive monitoring system. I plan to move mine to the playroom when the boys are big enough to play together while I’m out of the room, so we’ll get lots of years of use out of it.
– Kristen
