Baby monitor reviews: How we test
Every detail is examined
We test how far the range of the monitors extends in three different environments – in a typical Victorian terraced house, a modern new build house and in the great outdoors. With the baby unit in the nursery we check reception in six rooms upstairs and six rooms downstairs, then we take the parent unit outside and keep walking. We found the monitor with the shortest range was the equivalent of half a football pitch (40m), while the greatest was 280m – that’s almost three pitches.
Battery life is tested using fresh Duracell batteries, as long as the rechargeable battery packs are removable. If rechargeable batteries are supplied then we perform a second test to ascertain their life expectancy. Rechargeable batteries are fully charged, in accordance with manufacturers recommendations, before the lifetime test is carried out.
We place the baby and parent units in separate rooms, with a standard signal of 80 decibels being transmitted to the parent unit. We then record how long it takes the parent unit to stop transmitting an audible signal (50 decibels or less, with the device volume set to maximum), and a low battery alarm is activated.