Vtech Video Monitor Review

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of VTech Communications. All opinions are 100% mine.

When I had my first baby, I had a plain old monitor.  The kind where you hear the baby cry and that's it.  I *might* have been one of those moms who thought video monitors were unnecessary.  Well, then I decided it was time to move my little one to a toddler bed.  At the next consignment sale, I bought a video monitor!  I bought the Summer brand infant monitor.  It was nice, but there were several features I felt like it was missing.  I would have loved to have a monitor that could pan and zoom (especially now that I have two little girls in one room on opposite sides of the room.  I also wished it had a handheld set that I could take with me around the house. 

So needless to say, I was thrilled to be offered the opportunity to review the Vtech VM333! 

This camera can pan up to 270 degrees and has 2x zooming capabilities.  It also has high video resolution and sound quality up to 1000 feet!  (I haven’t tested the 1000 feet yet…it’s quite snowy outside, but it’s worked great all through our house!)  It has a 2.8 inch video screen and an intercom system that allows you to soothe your baby (or tell your toddler to lay down and go to sleep!) without having to enter the room. 

In trying this monitor, I was glad to have something to compare it to.  It really is a nice little monitor!  The panning function is fantastic and the sound works great.  It is SO nice to be able to see both girls when they’re trying to go to sleep at night.  I can see who is sleeping, who is playing, or even who’s getting out of bed to play with toys.  My girls can hear me when I talk to them and I can hear them loud and clear if they’re awake…even if they’re trying to talk quietly.  If I hear a sound in the night, I can turn on the video and check to make sure they’re both okay. 

The Vtech VM333 also has some neat features I haven’t had in other monitors.  It has an option for the monitor to vibrate when there is sound which is pretty neat since you don’t always want to be hearing the white noise that’s going on in the baby’s room.  It also displays the temperature and you can set it to alert you if the temperature in the room is too high or too low. 

As far as the video function goes, I’d give it an okay rating.  It’s not terrible video, but compared to the Summer monitor I was using, it’s lacking quite a bit.  The screen is smaller (okay since it’s on a handheld set!) which causes some of the blurriness, but it is also a pixelated.  I definitely wouldn't call it high-resolution.  I don’t know that I could tell if my daughter was laying there with her eyes open or closed if I wanted to.  Also, the zoom function is pretty much useless.  It makes it so blurry, you really can't see much at all.  These things really don't bother me in my situation, but might bother some people, especially if they are expecting images like the ones shown in the advertising.  I've included a couple pictures to show you what I mean.  Granted, these photos are definitely worse than how it looks in real life, but they give you a closer idea of what you'll see with this monitor.  

 

Here, you can see my 2 year old's crib.  I can tell that she's laying down and not moving around, but I can't really tell if she's asleep or not.  

Here, you can see my 3 year old in her toddler bed.  I could tell she was sitting up.  I could also tell she'd removed her pajamas.  I was able to use the intercom function to tell her to get her jammies back on and go to sleep!  

Overall, I’m very pleased with the functionality of this monitor.  I’ve definitely fallen in love with the ability to see my daughters’ entire room and watch both of them during bedtime!  If you’d like to learn more about Vtech products, I’d encourage you to Follow VTech on Facebook and Like VTech on Twitter.