Should You Choose A Digital, Analogue Or DECT Baby Monitor?
18th February 2012 by Babies No CommentsIf you’re thinking about what baby monitor you should buy, and are confused with the differing types of baby monitors on the market, this piece of writing should help you in deciding which is the best baby monitor for you.
Your first decision should be whether you need a video baby monitor or just an audio baby monitor. To be completely clear, the video baby monitor is equipped with audio so both types offer the facility to hear your baby if she is crying, but only the video baby monitor offers pictures so you also see what baby is up to. For many mothers and fathers, the power to see baby is vital but video baby monitors are usually dearer than audio-only monitors.
The next choice regardless of whether or not you select an audio or video baby monitor, is what kind of technology the monitor uses to send out it’s audio and/or video. Many mothers and fathers have no idea of the difference between analogue, digital and DECT technology so here’s what you should to know:
All three kinds of technology use radio frequencies to send and receive sounds and photographs but there are critical differences between analog, digital and DECT. Analogue baby monitors are usually cheap and use the 49mHz or 900mHz frequency - both of which are common frequencies for other in-home devices like games consoles, wireless phones and wireless routers. The top complaint about analogue monitors is they pick up interference (static) or they impede with the performance of other gadgets (like home phone). Most come with multiple channels to help in avoiding the interference issue. Another common issue with analog monitors is that they broadcast an unsecured (not encrypted) signal. This implies that if you have a neighbour with an audio or video monitor that broadcasts at the same frequency, it is probable that you'll be in a position to view and listen to what they are monitoring and they might be well placed to hear and see what you are monitoring.
Digital baby monitors are customarily dearer than analogue monitors but they offer two important differences. The primary is that all digital monitors broadcast an encrypted signal which basically means the sound and video are secure. Nobody else will be well placed to hear or see your baby. Second, digital monitors broadcast on 2.4gHz frequency which is also a typical frequency for many household devices, especially wireless routers and phones. So with a digital monitor, you may well be certain that the signal is secure but you might still run into interference issues.
DECT baby monitors are comparatively new to the market and use a frequency that few other home devices use, 1.9mHz. This indicates that you can almost be assured that there'll be no interference when employing a DECT baby monitor. The primary consideration here is that there are just a few of these baby monitors in the present market so the selection is restricted.
Jonah James Smith writes baby video monitor reviews for the website WeReviewBabyMonitors.com which can supply resources for parents attempting to find the best baby monitor.
