Over Christmas we tested out the Motorola MBP36 wireless video baby monitor by Binatone. We used it both at home and away from home to get good feel for its portability and ease of use. Past experience tells me that sound quality or advanced features are usually sacrificed for the quality of the video image but the MBP36 doesn't seem to sacrifice anything; it has all of the features I look for in a baby monitor, great sound quality and the clearest video picture I have yet to see in a remote, infra-red camera.
The parent unit is wireless with a rechargeable battery so you can take it with you around the house; We found the battery to lose its charge faster than we would wish and I was glad that I took the power cable with me on Christmas night as the charge only lasted a couple of hours without it. I like the big 3.5 inch screen and I find the parent unit compact and lightweight. The colour reproduction when the lights are on in the nursery is (as is often the case) washed out but the image is incredibly crisp and clear both in daylight and in darkness.
The single most impressive feature of the MBP36 is the pan and tilt functionality. From the video unit I can move the camera up, down and side to side which is perfect for us right now as Holly often wakes herself up by banging her head on the top of the cot (even though she is put to sleep at the bottom).
I found all of the basic controls easy to use as the buttons are all on the front but I was VERY frustrated by the fact that you could only turn the sound down by entering the menu mode and selecting the volume - it required too many button presses for me to do this and I think it would be far easier if there were buttons dedicated solely to volume. The same went for the music mode - I absolutely love having a baby monitor on which I can remotely request for lullabies to be played in the nursery but I'd rather not have to go into menus and select this, I'd rather be able to do it using one or two presses of a dedicated button. Surprisingly, the MBP36 does include a button which will switch the screen display off in one touch.
Quite unusually for a video monitor, there is a talkback functionality which is something I really miss when I don't have it. I found the nursery temperature to be very accurate and, although I personally don't use it, I know lots of tech-savvy parents like the ability to output the image to video or PC.
I would say that this is the best quality video baby monitor that I have tried to date and I am sorely tempted to get one; in fact, if the button functions were improved, I think I probably would replace my existing baby monitor with the MBP36.
The parent unit is wireless with a rechargeable battery so you can take it with you around the house; We found the battery to lose its charge faster than we would wish and I was glad that I took the power cable with me on Christmas night as the charge only lasted a couple of hours without it. I like the big 3.5 inch screen and I find the parent unit compact and lightweight. The colour reproduction when the lights are on in the nursery is (as is often the case) washed out but the image is incredibly crisp and clear both in daylight and in darkness.
The single most impressive feature of the MBP36 is the pan and tilt functionality. From the video unit I can move the camera up, down and side to side which is perfect for us right now as Holly often wakes herself up by banging her head on the top of the cot (even though she is put to sleep at the bottom).
I found all of the basic controls easy to use as the buttons are all on the front but I was VERY frustrated by the fact that you could only turn the sound down by entering the menu mode and selecting the volume - it required too many button presses for me to do this and I think it would be far easier if there were buttons dedicated solely to volume. The same went for the music mode - I absolutely love having a baby monitor on which I can remotely request for lullabies to be played in the nursery but I'd rather not have to go into menus and select this, I'd rather be able to do it using one or two presses of a dedicated button. Surprisingly, the MBP36 does include a button which will switch the screen display off in one touch.
Quite unusually for a video monitor, there is a talkback functionality which is something I really miss when I don't have it. I found the nursery temperature to be very accurate and, although I personally don't use it, I know lots of tech-savvy parents like the ability to output the image to video or PC.
I would say that this is the best quality video baby monitor that I have tried to date and I am sorely tempted to get one; in fact, if the button functions were improved, I think I probably would replace my existing baby monitor with the MBP36.
