Review on 👶 Motorola MBP33S Wireless Video Baby Monitor: 2.8-Inch Color LCD, Zoom, Enhanced Two-Way Audio & More! by Deb Wach

Careful consideration has been given to this purchase. This article[.] was of great help in identifying the features and disadvantages of most baby monitors. You want peace of mind when you buy something like this, and you want to be sure that you can return it if it doesn't work. With any baby monitor, each person's experience will be different depending on their home setup, distance between the baby cot and the monitoring station, interference devices, etc. However, in general, reviews of higher quality products are overwhelmingly positive. With this particular unit, it helped that Revain had a lighting contract, although I wasn't entirely sure I had to spend over $150. After it arrived it sat in the box for a few days while other baby items around the house were prioritized. In the end, our need to babysit from the living room prompted me to open the box and install it. Setup was easy. There were two blocks in the box - a camera and a monitor. The monitor was already paired with the camera, so all I had to do was plug the camera into an outlet and then turn on the camera. According to the user manual, the monitor needs to be charged for about 16 hours before use, but who really waits that long to use the device after opening the box? This is called a half star. The available camera angles are quite limited. The camera turns up and down, but even if we turn it all the way down, we still can't see the crib when the monitor is placed on the dresser. A couple of thick books folded under the camera didn't help either. The cot (actually a shared one) had to be pushed almost to the foot of the bed to see the baby. Every night before going to bed, the cot should be placed against the headboard. Another half of the star rang. Overall, however, the feature set of this device is pretty good. The microphone picks up a lot of sounds, so every sound the baby makes is audible. The camera can zoom 2x, but it's not continuous zoom like a digital camera - there are only two options: 1x or 2x, and the zoom is digital, not optical. Night vision is pretty good. Even if the light is off, we can see the baby clearly. The picture quality is definitely not HD, so sometimes we have to look very closely to see if the baby is awake or asleep. The device is equipped with two-way communication, so you can hear the child and also talk to him. Talking to a child means holding down a button on the monitor, like on a walkie-talkie. There are five built-in lullabies that you can play for your baby. You cannot add additional lullabies. One interesting thing is that you can turn on the monitor, play a lullaby, and then turn off the monitor, but the lullaby will continue to play. The monitor needs to be turned back on to stop the lullaby, but if the monitor turns off due to low battery, the lullaby can still comfort baby to sleep. Another nice feature is that the monitor shows the room temperature so you can make sure your little one is comfortable. Didn't think of looking for it in a baby monitor, but it will come in handy during the cold season. bottom line. I am very happy with this purchase but given the price maybe it should have had some additional features like sound monitoring, adjustable sensitivity, more camera angles, panning, optical zoom and more. UPDATE MAY 2015: So the monitor base unit suddenly stopped loading. You plug in the cable, wait for the battery charge indicator to start flashing, but nothing happens. I called Motorola support. They want the device shipped back to them before they send out a replacement. I was assured that this was a new device and not a repair. What should we do during this time? We couldn't do without a baby monitor, so we had to "buy" one at W**Ma** and return it later. In any case, the replacement process was easy to understand, albeit quite cumbersome. They emailed me a return label with USPS postage prepaid. I just had to send it to the post office. About a week later the replacement came, plugged it in, connected it to the camera and we're back in business. Lost a star (from four to three) due to this accident. UPDATE APRIL 2016: The replacement monitor has also stopped loading. In fact, it only charges intermittently and you'll have to wiggle the connector to keep it charging. As soon as you put it down, the connector moves again and the device stops charging. After reading a bunch of new reviews this seems to be a big issue, which wasn't the case when I first bought this monitor. ATTENTION TO THE BUYER. Charging seems to be a big problem. I would stay away from that. Motorola originally wanted to charge me $90 for out-of-warranty service. Needless to say I declined and the agent quickly (without my doing) offered to send another replacement free of charge. They seem to realize that this is a serious quality issue for them. I have to pay to send the product to them, call them with the tracking number, then they send a replacement. If I wanted an early replacement option, she would block my card for $150, send me a replacement first, and then I would have to return the defective unit within 28 days. The fact that two monitors have the same issue after less than a year of use is extremely disappointing. Lost another star (down from three to two). At this rate, Revane would soon have to ask for a negative star.