Infant Optics DXR-8 Video Baby Monitor Review
EXCLUSIVE REVIEW --- THE INFANT OPTICS DXR-8 VIDEO BABY MONITOR
Total Monitoring with the Infant Optics DXR-8 Monitor
Looking for a quality monitor that does it all, yet won’t cost you a fortune? The Infant Optics DXR-8 Video Baby Monitor is one of the most popular on the market today - and with good reason. It’s feature-rich, easy to use, sets up anywhere, and provides real-time assurance to parents that their little ones are just fine during nap and sleep time.
As a loving parent, you want your baby to sleep soundly and for everyone in your home to be able to enjoy relative peace of mind, all night long. Infant Optics have been making the baby monitors since 2011 and in that relatively small window - they've sold a ton of these devices and have commanded thousands of reviews - averaging as of this writing - a solid 4.4 ranking on Amazon.
What's In The Box?
- Camera
- Display Monitor
- Printed owners manual
- DC wall charger for the camera
- One standard and one zoom lens
- Rechargeable ion battery for the display monitor
- USB style wall charger for the monitor with two different charging cords
In this short article, we’ll take a closer look at the Infant Optics DXR-8 Monitor to see if it’s a good match for you and your bundle of joy.
Infant Optics DXR-8 Video Baby Monitor Design Details
Like most monitors, there are a couple of different components - the camera and the monitor. Both are lightweight, easy to set up at home, or to take with you whenever you travel. Focus the camera on your little one’s sleeping area and keep the monitor with you. It makes keeping a watchful eye and open ear on your little one at all times, a breeze.
What stood out immediately to me was the 3.5 inch LCD screen. It’s a full 1 inch larger than most of the competing models available. And frankly, this larger screen does make a difference - especially went your eyes are drawn to it while half asleep.
Another standout feature on the Infant Optics DXR-8 Monitor is that it comes with two interchangeable, optical lenses. One is a standard lens and the other - a zoom lens. There's also a wide-angle lens that's available at an extra cost.
With this compact camera unit, you can remotely pan, tilt, or zoom in to alter your view at any moment. This ensures you can clearly observe your child, without setting foot in their room and possibly causing a disturbance. And there's a built-in retractable antenna to improve the range when used in different areas of your home.
It's ready to use right out of the box and although some people up some opt for the wide-angle lens, it's certainly not necessary. Having a wider view is probably more useful to those with toddlers who tend to move around a lot more than a baby.
Designed for multiple applications, the DXR-8 camera can be securely mounted to a wall, or simply placed on top of a dresser or shelf in your baby's room. It’s a self-contained unit that’s different from those Wi-Fi enabled baby monitors. This one doesn’t require a reliable connection at all. What it provides is instant video footage and real-time audio - without any delay.
Daytime video images are clear and in full color. At night, the camera automatically switches to invisible infrared night vision. At this point the image shifts the black-and-white. But you can still clearly see your baby and all their surroundings. Built into the monitor is a remote temperature display, so you can monitor the temperature inside their room, to make them as comfortable and cozy as possible.
You can remotely control the pan, tilt, and zoom features from a distance - smoothly and quietly - so it won't disturb your sleeping infant.
There’s a built in alarm function let you know when your battery is low or your camera has gone out of range. With older models, this apparently was a huge problem due to the volume of the sound. But the manufacturer has since made adjustments and now there’s an option to toggle the alarm sound off altogether.
As you can see, there's no shortage of useful features that any mom (or dad, for that matter) would find particularly helpful.
PROS and CONS
Why Parents Love The Infant Optics DXR-8 Monitor With Interchangeable Optical Lens
You can sleep soundly knowing that your baby is safe. The remote in room temperature display helps keep tabs of the comfort level in the room. You can monitor the audio constantly, without having the screen on and extend the use you get from a single charge.
There's a set of LED lights that allows you to visually observe the sound of your baby's voice. With this option, you’ll know if you need to check on the baby or let them fall back to sleep on their own - without actually hearing the sound. For work at home moms like me - this feature is worth its weight in gold.
The DXR-8 makes it easier to monitor your child at any point, day or night, from any area of your home. just take the monitor with you to the kitchen, laundry room, or your home office - wherever you happen to be. You can even take it out in the yard or on the deck and be able to keep an eye on your little one.
When the Infant Optics DXR-8 Monitor is operating in power saving mode, the screen turns off while the sound remains on. So you can constantly hear them breathing. And lets face it - that sound is a beautiful thing. You can also set this devise up where the LCD display is sound activated. With this setting, the screen will instantly come on when the baby makes a sound.
PROS: Infant Optics DXR-8 Video Monitor
Here in list form are the most common things other parents like most about the Infant Optics DXR-8 Video Baby Monitor:
- Clear, crisp color images in daylight and reasonably good IR visuals at night
- Easy to operate - just set it up, plug it in and turn it on
- Picks up sounds well
- Range is generally very good (so you can use this one in various areas of your home)
- Decent battery life - you can charge it at night and pretty much use it 24/7 (It charges relatively fast - even while you're using the device)
- No Wi-Fi required
- Temperature monitoring feature is a nice add-on
- Two times zoom let you get up close
- Standard USB means it can be recharged via any USB cable or back up battery
- Strong signal strength
- Camera movement (pan and tilt feature) is quiet enough to keep kids sleeping
- You have the ability to control it so it doesn’t blind you in the middle of the night - you can dim the visual display which is helpful for light-sensitive sleepers
- Can easily move the camera lens around to monitor the entire room
- It's easy to add additional cameras to monitor multiple kids
- Interchangeable lenses gives you options
- Screen is large enough that you can view a good portion of the baby’s room - without using the wide-angle or pan/zoom feature
- Excellent talk feature - clear sound (as though you're in the room with your child)
- Monitor comes with a sturdy kickstand - so it doesn't tip over easily
CONS: Infant Optics DXR-8 Baby Monitor
- Below is a summary of the most common things parents don't like or say needs improvement about the Infant Optics DXR-8 Video Baby Monitor:
- Beeping alarm when it's running low on batteries can be annoying
- In time, the power cord doesn’t fit as snugly into the monitor, making it difficult to recharge
- Signal can be interrupted when near a cell phone
- Over time, the battery seems less able to hold a charge (although, this can usually be helped by disconnecting the battery for 30 minutes and plugging it back in)
- Camera’s built-in thermostat may not be precisely accurate
- Wide-angle lens must be purchased separately
- Audio is always on (while this is a plus for some, it may annoy others
- the blue light that shows the “fully charged” status of the monitor is bright
- No split screen functionality (you can only view one camera at a time, or set up the scan mode to cycles through each camera at regular intervals
MORE PRODUCT IMAGES
Infant Optics DXR-8 Video Baby Monitor, Our Verdict
For keeping tabs on your baby as you get on with your day (and so you can sleep soundly at night), you need a monitor you can count on. You want something that performs consistently and reliably - delivering crisp, clear visuals and picking up sounds exceptionally well.
In my experience, this is exactly what the Infant Optics DXR-8 Video Baby Monitor does. It’s up to any child monitoring task a parent could ask of it and therefore it’s worth considering. That’s not something I can say about a lot of monitors out there today. The DXR-8 is not the cheapest unit on the market. But it is one of the best. My baby is worth it - and yours is too.
Infant Optics DXR-8 Video Baby Monitor; see our ratings for price, quality, safety and our verdict below.
Price: MEDIUM | Quality: HIGH | Safety: HIGH | Our Rating: 4.7 out of 5
We hope this Infant Optics DXR-8 Monitor review helps you with your search for the right baby monitor for your child.
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