Recently the video baby monitors that I had been given (second hand) gave up the ghost so I had to purchase a new set. I decided that I didn't need a video one again or one with any other fancy gimmick on it (one that plays a melody etc), I wanted a nice basic and reasonable cheap monitor just so I could hear when she wakes up in a morning etc.
After looking online at the hundreds of monitors available (most of which are very expensive) I found the Tomy Walkabout Classic Advance and after reading a couple of reviews I decided that this one should do the job just fine.
Whats in the Box? In the box you get a set of instructions whish tell you how to get started and how to use all of the various features these monitors have, you also get two baby monitor unit, one is the baby unit and one is the Parent Unit and you get two mains adaptors (one for each unit)
The Units The units are quite a nice size (about 8cm wide and 20cm tall inc aerial) and are made from a very sturdy plastic, the main
body is white and the aerial (a rubber material) and various buttons are a light blue colour.
On the parent unit you have the power button on the top and next to it you have a talk button this allows you to talk to you child if necessary, it works like a walkie talkie, you just press and hold the button and talk into the unit (the talk back function also has adjustable volume).
On the front of the unit you have eight lights (five green and three red) these will light up when your child starts to make a noise, the first couple of lights if the baby is just chatting and they go up into the red if the baby starts to cry or scream.
On the back of the unit you have a belt clip which allows you to walk around with it attached to you, there are also the volume buttons which has nine settings, I find the second setting is more than loud enough to hear the little one.
The baby unit is the same size as the parent unit but has different features, you have the same power button on the top but on the front you have a blue coloured circle which has four blue lights set into it, when both units are turned on you can activate the lights by pressing the power button on the parent unit, this acts as a night light, you can turn it on before you enter the room and it allows you to check on the little one without having to turn the main light on and disturb them. The light also fades out after five mins so if you forget to turn it off the unit will do it.
You don't have any volume buttons etc on this unit as it is all operated by the parent unit, although inside the battery compartment of the baby unit is a switch that activates the Sound Activated Transmission feature, if this is turned on the parent unit will remain silent until you baby makes a noise, it will then turn itself on so you can hear your child. This feature means that you are saving power which is handy if you are running it of batteries all of the time.
Both units take AA batteries, the parent unit needs three and the baby unit needs three AA batteries.
What do I think? Overall I am very pleased with these baby monitors, they are a nice compact size so don't take up to much shelf room, both units can run off batteries so if you don't have a socket nearby it's not a problem and both seem to be very sturdy so if you are clumsy like me and drop them they tend to bounce rather than break.
Some of the reviews I read said the units had a constant interference and the range of them was terrible, I have had neither of these problems, you do get a low white noise type of sound coming from the parent unit but if you have the volume set low then you can hardly hear it & you get used to it, or do as I have and set it to the sound activation feature, the units are then silent until your child makes a noise.
As for the range of these monitors I have also had no problems, I live in a three bedroom house and in a evening my little girl is in bed upstairs and I have the unit on downstairs whilst I watch TV and as yet I have had no problems with loosing connection.
Only downside to these is they tend to go through batteries very quickly even if the power save mode is used, as yet I have not managed to get these to work from rechargeable batteries. I tend to leave the baby unit and parent unit plugged into the mains and the parent unit is put on batteries when I go to bed.
These units cost £35 from Amazon so they are one of the cheaper units around and I think for that price they are well worth buying.
Great cheap baby monitors that I think are well worth the money
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Tomy walkabout Classic Advance Baby Monitor combines really practical and useful ... more
monitoring features and is one of the UK's best selling baby monitors. Talk Back feature is rare on Baby Monitors at this price making the Tomy an excellent item of child...
Oct 8th, 2009
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