The Project Nursery Baby Monitor is a high-end, high-definition video monitoring system that includes a 5” HD monitor as well as a 1.5” mini monitor for busy parents. For $299, you get a superior baby monitor system with a few exclusive features and some fairly minor drawbacks. You can purchase yours directly from Project Nursery today.
As soon as you open the shipping box, you know that you’ve purchased a high-quality baby monitor. The packaging is thoughtfully designed and the unboxing experience appears to have taken some cues from top electronics brands such as Apple. Thankfully, the design and features of the baby monitor inside the packaging does not disappoint.
This baby monitor is packed with a ton of convenient features for parents, including remote pan/tilt/zoom, secure 2.4 GHz digital wireless transmission with a range of approximately 800 feet, room temperature sensors, clear IR night vision, two-way audio intercom, the ability to play Rockabye Baby lullabies or white noise for your baby, the ability to record video or save photos to a microSD card, and the ability to pair up to 4 cameras and view them all at once using a quad-view mode.
The monitor also features a power-saving mode that activates the video screen when your baby makes sound, however the audio will always be transmitted unless you turn the volume all the way down.
Inside the box, you’ll find the following:
- One camera that’s cable of panning, tilting, and zooming remotely using the monitor.
- The 5” HD LCD monitor
- The 1.5” mini monitor
- Wrist strap for the mini monitor
- Clip for the mini monitor
- Lanyard and carabiner for the mini monitor
- Two AC power adapters (One with 2 USB ports)
- Three high-quality nylon braided microUSB power cables
Setup was a breeze, as the camera came already paired with the parent unit, so all I had to do was plug in the camera and charge the monitors. As soon as I powered the monitor on, I was impressed with the clarity of the image I was receiving. The Project Nursery baby monitor has the best video clarity I’ve seen on a baby monitor…and I’ve tested around 10 monitors both personally and for Gear Diary. The menu system is fairly simple, although the screen is not a touchscreen, so you’ll need to use the arrow buttons and OK button to the right of the screen to navigate.
The front of the monitor houses the 5” HD screen, navigation buttons and OK button, power button, menu button, talk button, and video on/off button. There are also four LEDs which signify how much noise your child is making, which is helpful in case you have the volume turned down. However, these LEDs can be bright during the night and there is no option to disable them. We have a white noise machine in our child’s room, which occasionally lights up the lowest LED light, and is bothersome. On the back of the monitor, you’ll find the excellent easel-style kickstand. It’s a durable metal kickstand that has a long base so you’ll be confident that your baby monitor will not fall over. It also allows for multiple viewing angles, which adds to the monitors ease-of-use.
The video on/off button is of great use when the monitor is in power-save mode. This allows you to quickly check on your child and turn the screen back off when you’re done. My biggest complaint with the usability of the monitor, however, is that in order to pan, tilt, or zoom, you have to navigate two menus deep. This is an inconvenience if your child moves as much as mine does during the night.
The mini monitor is a very nice feature that I haven’t seen on any other baby monitors I’ve tested. It allows for parents to keep tabs on a sleeping baby while being able to move freely around the house doing laundry or doing the dishes. You can strap the mini monitor to your wrist like a smart watch or clip it to your belt. Impressively, the mini monitor has all of the same features as the parent unit, so you can pan, tilt, and zoom the camera, talk to your child, play lullabies, and more.
While Project Nursery touts “best-in-class” battery life at 16 hours for the parent unit and 8 hours for the mini monitor, we found that we needed to charge the parent unit daily to ensure the juice didn’t run out during the night. While 16 hours of battery life may be about right, we had found that our Levana Willow baby monitor lasted longer while using a similar power-save mode as the Project Nursery baby monitor. This may not be a deal breaker for you, but charging the monitor often is an inconvenience. That said, 16 hours of battery life is still good in the video baby monitor sphere.
Minor faults notwithstanding, Project Nursery’s Baby Monitor is one of my favorite baby monitors on the market today. If you can afford the $299 price and you’re looking for a high-resolution video baby monitor packed with convenient features, you’d do well to strongly consider it.
You can purchase the Project Nursery Baby Monitor at shop.projectnursery.com.
Source: The Project Nursery Baby Monitor was a manufacturer provided review sample.
What I Like: Excellent video clarity; Mini monitor is a convenient touch; Premium features; High-end build quality.
What Needs Improvement: Battery life; LED brightness/settings; High-end price point.
