VTech DM221 Audio Baby Monitor with up to 1,000 ft of Range, Vibrating Sound-Alert, Talk Back Intercom & Night Light Loop, White/Silver

I love this product. It is so simple and easy to use!

Obviously since I bought an audio-only baby monitor, Im not looking for anything too fancy. This monitor definitely works for what we need. Ive actually been impressed at how well it modulates the sound so that if we have white noise running it fades to the background, but we can still clearly hear when baby makes noise. The battery life on the parent unit isnt fantastic, so we do have to charge it a lot even though we dont use it a whole ton. My other big complaint is that if you move the baby unit (in our case, baby sometimes sleeps in a nursery and sometimes in our room), the next time you turn on the parent unit it makes a LOUD safety announcement. Not great if you forget and turn it on within 15 feet of the baby you just spent a long time rocking to sleep.

The sound is very clear, good quality!

I have been using this for over 5 years to monitor my child, who is prone to seizures, but gets an aura or warning before they escalate. It has literally been a life saver. The only issue I have had is with the charging cord. Over time, they are prone to fray near the plugs. Anyone who recalls the old chargeable calculators back in the day might remember this issue. If you move your receiver often, your cord will eventually fray. Its not an if, its a when. In order to hopefully prevent this on my new unit, I purchased a set of Cable Protector Spiral Phone Charge Cable Savers for $5.99 here on Amazon. As you see from the pic, the fit seems nice and it should prevent the cord from bending near the plug. Hopefully these work. Also in the spirit of keeping your unit for multiple kids/grand kids, the batteries are replaceable and are the same as in portable land-line phones, naturally also available on Amazon.

Church nursery workers wanted to be able to hear the sermon. Instead of wireless speakers (bad reviews) or running wires (not really feasible) these work great. These are placed approximately 90 ft apart and the sound is amazing.

I bought this to be able to hear my elderly Mother at night as she is getting frail. Exactly two nights after setting it up she had twisted herself in bed and was falling. I heard her struggles through this monitor and helped her reposition thus preventing injury. I can talk with her through the intercom to check on her. This is priceless safety insurance.

We use a security camera as our video monitor instead of an actual baby monitor. We cant keep the video feed live all night so we got a sound monitor for our room (if she makes a noise, then we check the video monitor to see if shes actually awake). We originally got the cheapest monitor we could find at Target since we were mainly concerned with the video feed and that was a big mistake. The static was terrible. After a few weeks of our horrible monitor, I went to amazon to find one with good reviews. This was the one with the most positive reviews and I have to say, I agree with them. Compared to our other sound monitor, this one is amazing. No static whatsoever, which makes it way easier to hear when she makes a noise (and way easier to sleep when its on). When ordering, I had the choice of getting 1 or 2 parent units. I opted for 1 because it was cheaper (obviously) and figured I could just take it downstairs with me instead of leaving 1 upstairs and 1 downstairs. I wish I had bought 2 units. The battery life is not that great on the parent unit and it even loses charge when its turned off. When I unplug the unit and take it downstairs, it lasts a few hours no problem. But if I dont plug it back in to charge, I cant use it for her 2nd nap (even if Ive only used it the 1st time for a few minutes and I turn it off immediately after Im done using it). It will say it has a full battery when I turn it off, but when I turn it on a gain it will say low battery and continue to beep until I plug it in. That is annoying to me, but not a deal breaker. Overall, great monitor but not a great battery.

Love this monitor! We always run white noise in our nursery and were looking for a monitor that would filter out that background noise better than the video monitor we have. This one does that quite well. There is a little static in the background because of our white noise machine but it is relatively quiet. It picks up our babys noises from the background without issue and amplifies them so its easy to hear him. I havent tried the feature where it alerts when there is a sound. I just keep the monitor on whenever my baby is asleep and turn it to the volume level I want so I can always hear whats going on. Range is good. Battery is quite good. I only charge it at night. Highly recommend!!

First time parents: No matter what is written you will likely be like us and never trust a baby monitor those first few hours of sleep at a time, but once you get comfortable with knowing you will be woke up, this monitor will be your best friend. WE all know what these do, so here is the best way to describe our experience (Kiddo is now 18 months old) Pros: 1) The feature that it is silent all the time unless triggered to send sound to the parent unit is a little worrisome at first (notice I put this as a pro), but once you are more comfortable with your babys lungs ability to trigger this, it is awesome, because you dont get all the little grunts and sniffs that they make. Our biggest problem was any sound we heard when we shared a room (never bed!) with our kiddo was we were waking up and holding our breath waiting for the cry. So this feature once you are sleeping in different rooms is awesome so you only get woke if there is any real sound. We keep they mic within about 15 feet of the crib and it ALWAYS gets every sounds. All cries, all babbles, and a loud sneeze maybe, but besides that we sleep peacefully as long as she is. 2) Range: Good not great. We didnt have high hopes, this is not a 5-mile 2-way radio, but we do live in the country and doing lawn chores during a nap keeps us within about 100 feet of the house. But that leads to next pro: 3) Sound- level 5 has great volume. If you can sleep through a baby crying at that level you probably have taken too many sleeping pills or need to get checked for sleep apnea! 4) Light bar that shows sound intensity when volume is muted. Once we got to the let er cry it out bedtimes, we could do other things rather than listen to a baby scream but still keep an eye on her. This is great especially if you have a partner who is trying to sleep while you worry. WORRY AWAY IN SILENCE! 5) It has lasted 18 months as still works as a receiver well, but that is the one biggest con now--- CONS: 1) This may have been our fault from being on a road trip vacation in the summer, but after being in the car for a couple days, when we got to our destination and plugged it back in (this is after having it about 6 months), the display was burnt out for all but a couple bars. We already had the set up all done and with the different tones when you are at max/min volumes we can still set the volume, but we are doing this by ear, not display. 2) Battery life is questionable on the parent unit. It worked great at first and one thing that makes it last longer is the PRO #1 where it doesnt always pick up background static unless there is sound from baby. But we did have a fan on in her room for the nights, and we noticed this white noise did cause the monitor to pick up sound more often, which would make sense that it would use the battery more. We keep the monitor plugged in 24/7 unless we are taking it our of our bedroom during nap time or on vacation, so I guess 18 months of use and battery that lasts a few hours is probably pretty decent. Overall good product and while some bells and whistles havent maintained, its true purpose, which is to lower your worry and increase your sleep, has been flawless the last 18 months!

Perfect to help me know if my older Mom needs help at night or simply falls.