Owlet Baby Monitor and Camera Review – Why it’s Essential for our Peace of Mind
When I brought my newborn daughter home from the hospital, I was overwhelmed with joy – but also fear. How would I protect her in that oh so fragile newborn stage?
Sadly, my family has experienced the loss of a child due to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) before. My older brother, my parents’ first born child, died from SIDS at only 6 weeks old. Hence, there was some lingering fear around the subject.
Prior to my daughter’s arrival, I was convinced we don’t need any technology to check on her while sleeping. I thought it would drive me crazy to worry about the numbers I’d see. I also knew there could be false alarms.
Nevertheless, once we were home from the hospital, I woke up countless times at night trying to check if she was breathing. And during her naps as well. And it drove me crazy.
That’s when we decided it might be worth it to invest the money into a baby monitor such as the Owlet Dream Duo* which features the Owlet baby monitor and camera.
And we couldn’t have been happier.
If you want a quick review: the monitor worked great, we finally had peace of mind and never had any false alarms.
For an in-depth review, this blog post will discuss the Owlet’s features, benefits, and drawbacks.
About the Owlet Baby Monitor and Camera
The Owlet baby monitor offers advanced technology that helps parents track their baby’s vital signs and sleep patterns.
The device uses pulse oximetry technology to measure these vital signs and send the information to a base station that displays the readings in real-time.
The base station also sends alerts to the parent’s smartphone if the baby’s heart rate or oxygen levels fall outside the preset range.
Owlet also offers a camera that works with the app. The camera can detect sound and movement and can send notifications via the app to the parents.
It also measures the room temperature and humidity and together with the baby monitor provides an overarching overview of the baby’s room conditions and its well-being.
Features
Baby Monitor
The Owlet baby monitor is embedded in what looks like a sock and is designed to be worn on the baby’s foot. From there it can track the baby’s heart rate, oxygen levels, and sleep patterns.
The device comes with 4 socks, two each for the right and the left foot, in different sizes. It can be used up to 18 months of age.
You’re encouraged to switch the side on which baby wears the monitor once a week, and clean the socks in between.
Base Station
The Base Station is the docking and charging station for the monitor while not in use.
The round base lights up in different colors, which mean different things. E.g. while the monitor is docking on the station, the light is white. When the monitor is being worn by the baby, the base station displays a green light. A red, orange, or blue light indicate an issue.
When these lights appear, the base station also uses a sound signal to notify the parent. Just like it uses different colors for different issues, it has different sounds as well.
This makes it easy to distinguish between an actual alarm that baby is not doing well and an alert that the sock might have come lose.
Camera
The duo bundle comes with the Owlet camera. And this camera is actually pretty great. It has good night vision, zoom, a wide angle lens and tracks elements like temperature and room humidity. It can also alert the parent via the app if it detects any movement or sound.
App
The app unites the features of the baby monitor and the camera in one dashboard.
Both products, the baby monitor as well as the camera need to be set up via Owlet’s app. And in the app, it lets you track a lot of data.
Besides checking on your baby’s vital signs, the monitor generates a report that shows how long the baby slept and how often they woke up during the night.
The Owlet app also shows the video stream of the camera and lets you watch and save specific clips (if you set it up to alert you when baby is moving or crying).
Benefits of the Owlet Baby Monitor and Camera
The Owlet baby monitor offers several benefits that made it indispensable for us.
Peace of Mind
First and foremost, the monitor provides peace of mind by allowing parents to monitor their baby’s vital signs in real-time. This feature is especially useful for parents of premature babies or babies with medical conditions that require close monitoring.
Understand Baby’s Sleep Patterns
In addition to tracking vital signs, the Owlet baby monitor helps parents understand their baby’s sleep patterns. By providing detailed sleep reports, parents can identify patterns and adjust their routines to ensure their baby gets the best possible sleep. The device’s app also offers tips and resources to help parents improve their baby’s sleep.
Easy Set-Up
Another benefit of the Owlet baby monitor and camera is their ease of use. The devices are simple to set up and use, with clear instructions and user-friendly interfaces. The app provides real-time updates, so parents can quickly and easily check on their baby’s well-being at any time.
We also love that both devices work seamlessly together in the app. This way, we only need to use one app to check on the baby and there is no need for a separate camera monitor.
Drawbacks of the Owlet Baby Monitor and Camera
While the Owlet baby monitor and camera offer many benefits, the devices also have some drawbacks that you might want to consider.
Cost
One of the main drawbacks is the cost. The device is relatively expensive, and many parents may not be able to afford it.
False Alarms
Additionally, there is the potential for false alarms. Some parents have reported receiving alerts for low oxygen levels or high heart rates that turned out to be false alarms. While the device is designed to be accurate, there is always a chance for error, which can be stressful.
Luckily, we never had any false alarms. The only alerts we were getting from time to time is if the sock became lose and the monitor couldn’t get readings.
Network Connection
The last drawback for us was how difficult it was sometimes to get the device connected to Wi-Fi.
When we were traveling, we did not always have great Wi-Fi available for us to use. The device we had could not connect to 5G networks and also could not connect to open Wi-Fi networks, such as the ones you often have in hotels.
At home however, once connected we didn’t really have issues. Every once in a while it lost the connection but that usually just meant we had to restart the router to get it back online.
I would also consider this as only a limited drawback because even though you might not be able to use the device with the app without a Wi-Fi connection, the sock is still connected to the base station.
And the base station will alert you if something is wrong, even if there is no network connection. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about the baby’s well-being even if the device is offline.
Conclusion
Overall, the Owlet baby monitor and camera duo* is a powerful device that offers many benefits to parents. It provides real-time monitoring of the baby’s vital signs and sleep patterns, which helped us in having peace of mind while our daughter was asleep.
It can also help parents identify potential issues early on.
However, the device is relatively expensive and may not be accessible to all parents.
Additionally, there is a chance for false alarms, which can cause unnecessary stress.
Despite these drawbacks, both the Owlet baby monitor and camera are a worthwhile investment for parents who want to ensure the safety and well-being of their little ones and one we don’t want to miss for our next baby!
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