: Angelcare Movement & Sound Monitor AC401

Rating: - Peace of Mind
The angelcare baby monitor provides real peace of mind. It monitors sound, movement and temperature. As a new first time Mum it allowed me to go to sleep safe in the knowledge that I would be woken if there were any problems. You can adjust the sensitivity of the unit and the temperature range. I give it 5 stars for this reason - it is a brilliant product which has given me peace of mind.

BUT.....

The instructions aren't particularly thorough. The unit is set with a temperature range - if the room temperature strays outside it then the unit alarms continually. This isn't particularly helpful. If the temperature is too high or too low in the room then you still want baby monitored (it isn't always that easy to control room temperature - I try and manage the temperature by putting more (or less) clothes on baby). You can adjust the temperature range - but the instructions (at least the instructions I had) do not tell you this or how to do it. Similarly the instructions say that you can adjust the sensitivity between 0 and 5 (or 1 and 5 - I can't check right now as baby is sleeping!) - but it doesn't tell you whether 0 or 5 is the most sensitive! Fairly irritating gripes, but they don't detract from the fact that this product has made me a more relaxed parent at night.

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Rating: - After 7 years of use, this is STILL Literally a "Life Saver"
I first became aware of this complete unit 7 years ago when my son was born 3 months premature. I was living in America at the time and he received the best of care but was inevitably put on several monitors in the intensive care unit. He suffered many episodes of Apnea whilst in the baby unit which scared the living daylights out of me. Like most parents of preemies, I was extremely worried about how I would cope once he got home, with not having the monitors to rely on. After searching the internet, I found this unit and bought it immediately. At that time, it was well over £100.

Unfortunately, my son developed Cerebral Palsy and has no speach. He is quaridplegic too. Without this unit, I would never have slept for fear of every parents nightmare coming true. Thanks to this unit, I could put my head on the pillow and managed a peaceful nights sleep, knowing my baby was safe and that I would be allerted if anything should happen. (We have had a couple of scares but thankfully the Angelcare monitor alerted us in time)!!

We first used a moses basket with the sensor pad, then his cot and finally moved him into a full sized single bed. The sensor pad it situated in the middle of the base unit underneath the mattress and works perfectly. The pad is amazing, it works brilliantly with all forms of beds. Granted, my old Angelcare from the States started playing up 4 years after purchasing but I immediately bought another one from Amazon which had the new features this one has. My old one did not have the temperature gauge or the night light. However, to be perfectly honest, I think the sensor pad is far more important!

As I stated in my review title, my son is now 7years old and we STILL use this unit. With a severely disabled child, who has no movement or speach, this unit has become my lifeline for his safety and our peaceful nights sleep.

Personally I think these units should be given FREE to every mother when they leave maternity, it would certainly help to reduce SIDS. Perhaps someone could campaign for this from the government but in the meantime, I don't see how any parent could be without this fabulous monitor.

I would also pay 10 times the price of this unit because when it comes to your baby, What price can you put on a life?

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Rating: - Excellent
An excellent monitor that has given us piece of mind. Very good sound quality, useful night light and temperature alarm. We haven't had any false alarms and have used the Angelcare in both the moses basket and now cotbed. Would highly recommend this product.

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Rating: - Good monitor but a few quality issues
We bought this monitor because like many parents we are very afraid of SIDS. The good news is that this monitor really does what it says on the box! If it does not detect any movement the alarm stars beeping within 20 seconds. So far we haven't had any alert except when we took our little one out of his cot and forgot to turn off the monitor. The not so good news on the other end is that the quality of the other features of this monitor are not very impressive.
- The temperature indicator on the parent unit is wrong by at least 2 degrees most of the time. Sometimes it's off by 4 degrees and takes about half hour to adjust back to a 2 degree difference. This is a bit frustrating especially when we're told that it is very important to keep the room temperature between 16 to 20C.
- The parent unit does not seat properly on the craddle. It's very wobbly and many times ends up falling down.
- The battery life on the parent unit does not last very long. You cannot take the parent unit off the craddle for one entire night, it will run out of battery which is a bit of a shame.

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Rating: - Quality and peace of mind
I bought this model a few days ago following a couple of disaster purchases (esential video monitor.)Being a 1st time parent, it's important to have faith in the monitor you choose - The sound quality on this model is superb (zero interference)and this has so many great features over and above the movement sensor - such as temperature alarm, also the choice of sound activated monitoring or continuous. The night light is lovely also, just enough to see my daughter without disturbing her putting extra lights on - I would recommend this to any parent.