Last week we published an article on How to Choose A Baby Monitor.  It included all the bootcamp basics you need to know to buy the right baby monitor for your needs.

After writing the guide, we had the opportunity to test out the new iBaby Monitor M6 .  The M6 is iBaby’s top-of-the-line monitor and can be classified, according to our How to Choose A Baby Monitor article, as a WiFi type monitor.

A WiFi monitor is one that allows you to access a live feed of your baby from anywhere in the house…or even in the world.  It is secure through digital encryption and gives you a private glimpse into your child’s crib.

The iBaby is one of the most unique baby monitors on the market due to it’s shape and flexibility of the camera.  It kind of looks like a snowman sitting upon a platform.  It’s ball shape allows it to rotate the camera 360 degrees as well as tilt 110 degrees so you can see around the room completely as well as up or to the  floor.

Set-Up

The set-up process includes using a USB cable to plug your phone directly into the iBaby M6.  You will need to know your WiFi password to ensure the connection goes through.

Unfortunately, when you type in your long password, you cannot see what you’ve typed in, so you need to watch every single character to ensure you got it right before submitting.  If it doesn’t work, you need to individually type in each character all over again.

But unlike other WiFi monitors we’ve seen, the iBaby M6 has all the bells and whistles you’d want in a baby monitor.

The iBaby M6

The iBaby M6 has an impressive set of features…

Features:

• Has the capability to rotate 360 degree and tilt up and down by 110 degrees
• 720 HD camera
• Two-way speakers for listening and speaking
• Ability to play included  lullabies or your own mp3’s straight from your phone/tablet
• You can capture HD video and high resolution pictures to easily share on Twitter, Facebook, and Wechat
• Set up alerts to receive motion and sound notifications
• Comes with night vision
• You can set up an unlimited amount of monitors (phones/tablets) or users who have the ability to see what you see
• Easily add more cameras to view off in the iBaby app

I tested the night vision camera…from 20 feet away, it works great.!

Pros:

• The iBaby M6 has everything you would need in a monitor, they’ve thought of it all
• When you pan and tilt the camera to look around the room(using your finger on your phone screen), it is very quiet, it won’t wake the baby
• Night vision works fantastically – you can see very well at night
• You can record your own lullabies or story readings (using your phone’s sound recorder) to play for your baby while away
• Add additional cameras to keep track of other kids, the dog, the front door, or even a view into the backyard
• I have tried moving the iBaby around the house.  As long as the WiFi is strong, it works great.  All I had to do was unplug it from one room and plug it in within another room, no reconfiguration with the phone was needed
• I love that the iBaby M6 offers two way communication, a great way to soothe to baby without having to go in and let him/her see you
• Can play the included 13 songs or your own mp3’s, (including volume control)

Cons:

• Reliability of the stream is hampered by poor performing WiFi.  Ensure the WiFi signal is strong in your baby’s room
• The sound alerts work well, but you can’t turn them off unless you switch over to the iBaby app on your phone/tablet.  If you’re at the office, ensure your phone’s volume is down or your alerts my interrupt your business meeting.  You have the option of being alerted for a high amount of noise or low.  I found low works best when a baby/child is playing (more noise) and high works best when you want to be alerted when baby has just wakened.
• There are times when all I see is a churning circle, meaning there is some kind of WiFi connection issue.  However, I found that by closing the app altogether and entering back into it, a good connection occurs.
• It does not work with Windows phones/tablets and Android tablets
• It is priced on the higher end of the monitors on the market

The free iBaby M6 app is available in the Apple iTunes Store and Android Play Store for phones.  iBaby is currently not available for Windows phones/tablets.  You can purchase the iBaby Monitor M6 is available through Amazon for $199.95 including free shipping.

A Mom’s Perspective

The iBaby M6 Monitor is a great nearly all-inclusive baby monitor that will cover all of your baby monitoring needs…and then some!  the iBaby M6 is one of the best monitors you can buy on the market, offering excellent night vision, two-way communication, photo and video recording, and the ability to monitor baby from a remote location.

 

The only monitoring the iBaby M6 doesn’t offer is a movement sensor which tracks if the baby hasn’t moved after a certain point.  But quite frankly, this feature isn’t needed unless you are hypersensitive to this area of monitoring.

Aging Parents