The Angelcare AC401 Baby Monitor

Across the UK, over 300 babies still die every year as a result of ‘cot death’ (also known as SIDS). According to The Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID.org.uk), cot death is the sudden and unexpected death of a baby for no obvious reason. At this point in time, there is no known cause for cot death, and it is the worry of every parent with a baby.

However, with the advent of new technology such as the Angelcare AC401 baby monitor, it is possible to greatly reduce the risk of your baby ever dying from SIDS.

The Angelcare AC401 baby monitor is a 2-1 monitor that monitors your baby to ensure that they are still moving, and still breathing. If your baby stops moving, or stops breathing, for 20 seconds, then you will be alerted. In this way, you can have peace of mind knowing that if the unthinkable were to happen, and your baby did stop breathing and/or moving, then you would be able to get to them in time to save them.

And so, what I’ll do now is take a look at this monitor, and see what components the Angelcare baby monitor consists of, and what sort of reviews people have been writing about it.

N.B.  This is my review of the Angelcare AC401 Baby Monitor. Click HERE if you wish to Compare Prices and Buy Online.

The Features of the Angelcare AC401 Baby Monitor.

When you order the Angelcare baby monitor, you will receive a number of different items. These are as follows:

1 x Under-the-mattress Sensor Pad. As the name suggests, this flat sensor pad goes underneath the mattress, and is what picks up vibrations from your baby (including the lightest breath), to ensure that they are still moving;

1 x Parent unit. This is the handheld unit that gives out the alarm, and so you keep in your room/with you whilst the baby sleeps. You can see a short video of what this looks like here;

1 x Nursery unit. The nursery unit sits on a table near your baby’s cot, and is connected to the under-the-mattress sensor pad. The nursery unit is what sends the radio signal to your parent unit if something was wrong with your baby. You can see a short video of what this looks like here;

1 x Charging cradle (for charging up the Parent Unit, which you take with you. This can also be plugged in via the charging cradle, so thus it can be powered through the mains, with it’s internal batteries as backup);

2 x AC adaptors (for the Nursery Unit, and the Charging cradle). The Nursery Unit is powered by mains electricity, but you can insert 4 x AAA standard batteries into it, to keep it powered in the case of mains power failure (e.g. during electrical storm etc);

4 x AAA rechargeable batteries for Parent Unit;

Instruction manual;

(Please note: the 4 x AAA standard batteries for nursery unit need to be purchased separately);

Here are some of the particular features of the Baby Monitor, as per the manufacturer’s specifications.

1)       There are 8 channels and 2 frequencies that you can select from, so that you can find a channel which gives you the most range, and clarity of signal;

2)       The Parent Unit has a full colour LCD display, which makes selecting options easy;

3)       The Angelcare Baby Monitor also includes a Temperature Room indicator (and it’s own alarm), so that you can choose the temperature that you want your baby’s room to be at;

4)       The Parent Unit can be clipped to your belt, so that you can monitor your baby whilst doing work around the house (e.g. outside in the garden etc);

5)       The Nursery Unit comes with a Night Light, and it can be set to either continuous transmission (where you hear your baby’s room continually), or voice-activated-transmission (where you only hear your baby’s room when they make a sound);

6)       The Baby Monitor has an inbuilt Out of Range indicator, that lets you know if your baby monitor is out of range – that way, you’ll never be caught out by accidentally being too far away from your baby.

Important Things you need to know about the Angelcare AC401 Baby Monitor.

The are a number of important things that you should know before you decide to buy the Angelcare AC401 Baby Monitor. These are as follows:

1)       All Angelcare Monitors in the UK/Ireland are specific models designed for the UK/Ireland and should not be exported or used in other countries. If they are exported outside of the UK/Ireland, the UK warranty becomes invalid. In other words, buy from UK websites (or shops).

2)      As shown in the video here, you can’t just sit the sensor pad on wooden slats (i.e. the base of most cots), but need a separate 6mm thick piece of wood to sit the pad on. However, a number of customers made use of a square piece of card which comes on top of the sensor (and is just part of the packaging), and they found that it worked find.

3)       As with any new device, it is important to read the manual. One or two reviewers mentioned that it is complicated to set up, but other reviewers just pointed out that you need to read the manual, and then it’s quite doable.

What Negative Reviews are there of the Angelcare AC401 Baby Monitor?

As time of writing this review (early December 2012), there are over 160 reviews of the Angelcare AC401 Baby Monitor on the amazon.co.uk website. The average rating of the Baby Monitor is an extremely positive 4.5 stars (out of a total possible 5 stars). There were no 1 star reviews, only 4 two star reviews (i.e. 2.5 % of reviewers), and only 4 three star reviews (i.e. 2.5% of reviewers). In other words, a massive 95% of reviewers gave this item a review of 4 stars or above (to break it down further, 124 people, or 77% of users,  gave the Baby Monitor a perfect 5 stars).

However, there were a few minor negative things that some users picked up, and as you’ll see, they were not big things (which is not surprising, considering how positive customers are about it). But these are as follows:

1)      No 2-way talkback (some monitors have this);

2)      No built in lullabies, to send baby to sleep;

3)      The Docking station is ‘a wee bit flimsy’ when device (i.e. Parent Unit) is docked;

4)      There is no audio-in Jack to connect MP3 player up (the reviewer did acknowledge that at this point they were ‘getting picky now, but a well known competitor has this function’)

5)      One customer complained that the temperature indicator on the parent unit is wrong by at least 2 degrees most of the time.  Sometimes it’s off by 4 degrees, and takes about half hour to adjust back to a 2 degree difference. They complained that it is a bit frustrating especially when we’re told that it is very important to keep the room temperature between 16 to 20C.  (in response, one customer said: All monitors with temperature gages read at least 2 degrees higher). As someone who has raised 2 children, I think that the idea of keeping the temperature within the room consistently between 16 degrees and 20 degrees is a little unrealistic – a baby can thrive in room temperatures outside that range!

6)      One reviewer complained about the battery life on the Parent unit, that it did not last very long, by which they meant it could not do through a whole night without running out of charge. In response, another reviewer said that ‘my parent unit sits fine in it’s cradle. Battery life brilliant – I have it on for 4 nights running without needing to recharge the battery. Maybe your one was faulty’. However, another reviewer did also notice that battery life reduced over time: ‘we’ve been using ours about a year now and if the unit is not on charge during the day, it wont last through the night’.

7)      One reviewer, who had a particularly small premature baby (3lb 13oz) said that the sensor pad did not seem to be able to pick up her tiny breathing (by which she meant that the alarm went off 15-16 times, even though the baby was breathing and moving). She seemed to have concluded that it was not sensitive enough for the tiniest baby. However, this particular reviewer acknowledged that a friend of hers (with a larger baby) had been able to use it successfully.

Positive Reviews of the Angelcare AC401 Baby Monitor.

As I mentioned earlier, over 95% of the 160 or so customers that left reviews on amazon.co.uk (as at December 2011) gave the Angelcare AC401 Baby Monitor a rating of 4 stars or above. This gives it an average rating of 4.5 stars (out of a total of 5). Massive.

And so it’s no surprise that people were very happy with what they got. These are some of the positive features that they mentioned:

1)      It works! As you’ll be able to see further below, in the section on what people had to say about the Baby Monitor, people are genuinely satisfied that the device works as promised. When you’re talking about a device that could potentially save your baby’s life (and thus give you peace of mind in the process), what more do you really need?

2)      Great sound quality;

3)      The multi-channel/frequency choices help to cut down on interference from other devices e.g. from wifi;

4)      The movement monitor is overwhelmingly considered to be brilliant (see some of the comments below);

5)      The upper/lower temperature monitor is also considered really good, and the alarm sounds when either upper or lower limit is reached;

6)      The choice of being able to monitor the sound/movement/ticking of your baby – all three, or any combination of them;

7)      The nightlight is also seen to be a strength;

8)      Great volume control.

It’s no surprise that so many people are positive about this device. I mean, here is something that can radically reduce the risk of your child dying from SIDS, for under 60 quid. No wonder people are so positive about it!

What other people are saying about the Angelcare AC401 Baby Monitor.

Here are some of the positive reviews that people have written up on amazon.co.uk. I thought I’d reproduce them, for the sake of completeness, as it will give you a good feel for how people find the device.

Review #1:

‘What a task finding baby monitors is!!!! I did so much research but I really feel it paid off with this monitor. Firstly, who the hell needs a monitor with video? It’s just insane to assume that you’ll sit there all night looking at a 3 inch screen when you might as well just stand by the cot all night. The Angelcare saves you on this one because the movement sensor pad will tell you if there’s something you need to deal with quickly. I was worried about false alarms, but after 3 weeks of using this we’ve not had one false start. I even ran some hardcore tests where I literally just stroked my fingers over the surface of the mattress and this thing picks it up. I then got paranoid and thought if it was this sensitive then surely it might mistake someone playing music loudly downstairs for heartbeat movement in the cot, so I did some jumping up and down next to the cot and it didn’t pick that up – perfect, despite how dumb I looked at the time!

The handheld is nice and slick with a good user interface and shows the room temperature (not that I pay much attention to room thermometers – you know if it’s too hot for crying out loud). It also doesn’t constantly monitor the audio (which in other monitors means you sit in your living room listening to static hiss all night). This is clever by only playing audio when it detects baby crying. If the baby stops crying it will leave the audio channel open for a minute afterwards. You can also set alerts for if the temperature drops below or goes above a certain point (which you set yourself).

I’ve read some reviews moaning about build quality but honestly I don’t get it; all these things feel a little bit ‘Fisher Price’ if you ask me, and actually I think these are well made compared to the competition – oh and don’t worry about thick walls as the range on this is great (I got half way down the garden when testing).

The only thing some people have moaned about is that you can’t sit the sensor pad on wooden slats (i.e., the base of every cot) and you need a 6mm thick square of wood to sit the pad on. When you unpack the box you’ll note there is a square piece of card which is on top of the sensor (just part of the packaging) and I use that and it works fine.

I’ve actively recommended it to friends because I think this is the best monitor you can buy and it won’t break the bank.’ (Si, from amazon.co.uk).

Review #1, one year on:

Over 1 year in and still not one false alarm!! Will stop using soon though as at 13 months I don’t feel the need for a baby monitor is as important at this age. (Si, from amazon.co.uk)

Review #2:

Out of all the stuff we have brought for our new arrival this has been the best, I would happily pay triple for this product and the peace of mind it gives. (Customer on amazon.co.uk).

Review #3:

‘Ours did save my tiny sons life when he stopped breathing on a few occasions in the first 6 months.’ (H Gommersall, amazon.co.uk).

If you want, by all means check out some other reviews from amazon.co.uk (or other such sites). Having looked round, I think the above are fairly representative of what people are saying about this particular baby monitor.

In Conclusion.

The Angelcare AC401 Baby Monitor is truly a life-saving device. With the incidence of SIDS still at unacceptably high levels (although when is the death of a baby ever ‘acceptable’?), this device is one incredibly helpful tool that parents will be able to deploy to help reduce the risk of SIDS in this country. And at a very affordable price, too. As a parent of a baby, can you have peace of mind without such a device?

 

(Disclaimer: Although every effort has been made to provide accurate and helpful information, the author of this website does receive commissions from the products that he promotes on pages such as the above).