At a glance:
Our panel of mum testers loved being able to see their baby when they were sleeping on the large screen of the Motorola MBP50 Digital Video Baby Monitor. Despite being a fantastic monitor, our mums felt it was a little expensive and wished there was a way to attach it to the cot in a safe way without having to buy extra kit.
Take a look at some more of the best baby monitors chosen by our mum testers
What they say:
"The Motorola MBP50 Digital Video Baby Monitor comes with a five-inch colour LCD parent unit, that lets you enjoy a 270-degree view of your baby’s room in real time. You can pan, tilt and zoom the camera remotely to see your baby when they are sleeping. With two-way communication, a temperature sensor and integrated lullabies, this monitor has it all."
Tested by mum Claire Taylor for the Mother & Baby awards 2018:
Would you recommend this to other mums?
I would yes! The camera monitor is a fantastic idea – being able to see your baby when you aren’t with her is brilliant and offers a lot of peace of mind. The screen on the parent unit is lovely and big and the quality of the picture is fantastic. The monitor is easy to use and it’s great that you can move the camera about – I plugged it all in and it was ready to go!
How did this product make your life easier?
This product was a fantastic tool for giving me peace of mind that my baby was safe and comfortable when she was on her own in her cot. I felt like I could keep an eye on her without having to disturb her by rushing in every time she made a noise.
Would you choose this product to win?
I loved this monitor! I would never have considered buying a video monitor before, but now I wouldn’t want anything else. To be able to keep an eye on the baby when you aren’t with them is fantastic, and offers a lot of reassurance. The screen was lovely and big and the video monitor itself had some great features.
What changes would you make to this product?
The only thing I’d possibly change is longer battery life – I am terrible for remembering to plug things in. That said, I don’t really have any faults with this monitor and I really enjoyed using it.
Tested by mum Rachel Lindsay for the Mother & Baby awards 2018:
Would you recommend this to other mums?
Yes I would – it’s easily portable and easily charged. The screen is large, the image is clear and the device is very easy to set up and use. All the buttons to move the camera, zoom, change volume, show screen etc can be used directly on the parent device without having to go to the menu, making it super simple to use. You can also use the two-way talkback function to comfort and reassure your baby without going into the room.
How did this product make your life easier?
This product allowed me to monitor my baby in his cot through both sound and video. The small and compact design of the camera allowed me to place it very close to my baby’s sleeping area, allowing me to get a really up-close picture of him – I could even see him breathing! This really relieved mine and my partner’s anxieties and stopped us having to go into the room to check on him with risk of disturbing his sleep. The fact you can use the parent screen to pan and zoom the camera is fantastic – this allowed us to follow him when he rolled over. I cannot emphasise enough the peace of mind this device gave us!
Would you choose this product to win?
I have an Angelcare monitor at the moment, which is in the same price range, however I would vote for the Motorola to win. It is so much simpler to use and the image is much larger and clearer.
What changes would you make to this product?
If I was being very picky, I found that the sound and video had a one second delay – so I could hear my baby in his room before I heard him on the monitor. The audio lights are also very sensitive and pick up any background noise; we play white noise to our baby and the light showed a loud noise in his room all night. It would be better if the lights only lit to fully red when the baby was crying.
Tested by mum Salma Wilson for Mother & Baby awards 2018:
Would you recommend this to other mums?
I would recommend this product to a fellow mum for a number of reasons. I loved how easy it was to set up and use straight-away without having to refer to the instructions. The parent unit connected quickly to the camera and I didn’t have any issues with either losing connection. The remote zoom and tilt function is extremely useful if you have a baby that moves around their cot while they are sleeping and the sound quality is excellent.
How did this product make your life easier?
Having a video monitor has definitely made my life easier – I can now put my baby down to nap in her cot and get one with the things I need to do whilst keeping an eye on her. It has also been really interesting to be able to watch what my baby does when she wakes up, as sometimes she is able to settle herself back to sleep. Without a video monitor, I was sometimes too quick to go into her nursery to pick her up and now I can watch for a few moments to see whether this is needed or not.
Would you choose this product to win?
I’m not sure I would choose this monitor to win as although there were a lot of great features, there were a few little things I wasn’t too keen on. Firstly, unlike some of the other baby monitors on the market, there is no way of attaching the camera to the cot. Secondly, the battery life on the parent unit was a little disappointing and required charging every day. Finally, there is no way of adjusting the volume on the sounds you can play remotely, which is automatically set too loud.
What changes would you make to this product?
Overall, this is a good baby monitor that does a great job of allowing you to keep an eye on your baby from anywhere in the home, with a sleek design and some useful features. I’d love to be able to attach the camera to the cot in a safe way as I don’t have anywhere to place the camera near my baby’s cot. I know there is an option to buy a separate stand, but for this price I think they should offer a solution to this problem as part of the product.
Tested by mum Devon Anderson for the Mother & Baby awards 2018:
Would you recommend this to other mums?
I would recommend this product to other mums because of the large parent viewing screen that is really clear both during the day, and at night. The ability to move the camera using the parent control is a bonus if you have a particularly wiggly baby. It’s also really easy to transport the monitor to different places and has really clear sound.
How did this product make your life easier?
The Motorola MBP50 Digital Video Baby Monitor was fantastic to use. Before I was using a different, cheaper brand and the screen quality was not as good as it was on the Motorola. Being able to move the camera is brilliant, as you can still see your baby even when they move in the cot. Another bonus is that the monitor tells you the temperature, so you won’t have to worry about the temperature in your baby’s room.
Would you choose this product to win?
I would choose this product above others as I found it easy to use and I liked the large screen where I could see my child. I do think that the product is a bit on the expensive side, and this may deter me from buying it, however I liked the design and the moveable camera.
What changes would you make to this product?
If I could change one thing about this product, I would change the price as I do think that £159.99 is quite expensive for a baby monitor, particularly as there are cheaper monitors on the market.
Tested by mum Jessica Gray for the Mother & Baby awards 2018:
Would you recommend this to other mums?
There are two key features to this product which would make me recommend it to a friend – the screen size and the pan, tilt and zoom feature. My daughter is incredibly fidgety and moves around a lot in her sleep which means she can go out of view – the rotating camera means I am able to check on her without needing to go into the room to move her. I also like the screen size as I can just glance at it and see that she is ok.
How did this product make your life easier?
A video baby monitor is fantastic when you finally make the step to move your baby into their own room. It’s an emotional time and having a video monitor gave me an extra sense of security as I’m used to my baby being by my side all the time. My daughter does not cry a lot and is relatively quiet, therefore the video monitor is great as I can tell when she’s awake by looking at the screen – this prevents me from going into her room and disturbing her when there’s no need.
Would you choose this product to win?
I would not choose this product above all others simply because of the cost. I am able to find similar products that fundamentally do the same job for half the price, although obviously the selling point with this one is the tilting, moveable camera.
What changes would you make to this product?
I really struggled to get sufficient signal in my house (a small Victorian terrace), although I’m not sure if this is the product’s fault or the thick concrete walls in my house!