Monitoring your child 24/7 is hard, especially when your baby monitor does not live up to expectations.
Babies and toddlers are not yet capable of taking care of themselves. They are more prone to danger because of their little adventures even inside their rooms, climbing out of their crib for instance. One way to monitor your baby even when you’re not with them is through installing a baby monitor in their room, one of which is the Google Nest Cam.
There may be many baby monitors in the market right now, but let’s face it. Not all live up to par. So here’s a no-BS Nest baby monitor review, along with what we consider as the best baby monitors here at Strollerbuzz.
Google Nest Cam As A Baby Monitor
In its simplest form, the Nest Cam can be used as a home security camera. Its features allow you to see video footage of your home, indoors or outdoors. However, you can also use the Nest Cam as a baby monitor. You can mount this camera up on the wall in your baby’s room to keep an eye on your little one.
Google Nest Cam Advantages
No wires
With a playful baby in your household, things get pretty messy. You have to baby-proof your house to prevent any accidents from happening. Wires from your baby monitor might trip your baby when they aren’t careful enough, and that’s concerning. The good thing is, the Nest cam baby monitor is battery-operated. It has a long battery life that can reach up to 7 months, depending on the number of recorded events per day.
- If your Nest Cam records 20-25 events/day, the battery life is about 1.5 months.
- If it records 9-12 events per day, battery life can last up to 3 months.
- If the cam only records 2-4 events a day, the battery life can reach up to 7 months.
Of course, you can extend your battery life by charging it according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Crystal clear footage
The problem with most baby video monitors is the grainy image feed, especially at night. However, this is not a problem with the Nest Cam baby monitor. The camera can live stream full 1080p HD video footage to your Nest app 24/7.
The Nest cam video baby monitor has night vision, powered by 8 infrared lights to make sure you can keep an eye on your baby every time. In short, with the Nest Cam, you can enjoy crystal clear video footage of your little one even in the middle of the night.
Connect with Nest Aware
Baby monitors often have accompanying software for easier navigation. In the case of Nest cam, it’s the Nest Aware and the Nest App. Through these, you can easily download and record video footage from your Nest Cam and have them sent directly to your phone. You can also get screenshots from recorded events sent to your smartphone through Nest Aware. The only downside, though, is that Nest Aware is a monthly subscription service. But don’t worry, a subscription for Nest Aware has a 30-day trial period and a 60-day trial period for Nest Aware Plus, so you can decide whether to use the service or not.
The Nest app
You can also access your Nest Cam baby monitor using the Nest App. The app gives you push notifications whenever it detects movements and loud sounds. Also, you can see live video footage from your baby monitor, as well as review activities from past days, and activate the two-way talk feature through the Nest App.
However, some parents find it an issue that the parent units connect slowly to the baby monitor or that it takes a few seconds for the app to open. Another issue parents observed with using the Nest app is that it has no separate display. This means that when the app moves to the background, it doesn’t stream audio or video. So if you want to hear and see your baby, you have to keep your app open.
Wi-Fi connectivity
You can connect the parent unit of your baby monitor to the baby unit by connecting to Wi-Fi. This means that you can access recorded and live footage from your Nest Cam baby monitor from anywhere as long as there is a signal.
The only risk when it comes to Wi-Fi-reliant video monitors is that when the connection gets unstable, you won’t get alerts about your baby. You won’t get notified when they move or play in their room. The same thing will happen when your Wi-Fi is down.
Two-way talk function
It would be great if you could talk and communicate with your baby while they’re playing in their room. Good thing is that the Nest Cam baby monitor is equipped with a two-way talk feature. You can activate this feature by tapping the microphone icon on your Nest App. You also don’t have to worry if you have multiple Nest cams in your house because the sound only goes through the camera selected. Although you have to be careful not to speak too loudly because, it is meant to be a security camera, not a baby monitor.
More than just a baby monitor
As we mentioned earlier, the Google Nest Cam is primarily a security camera. You can mount this camera indoors or outdoors and still get the fullest quality video footage. So when you’re not using it as a baby monitor, you can use it as a security camera.
Easy Control
Through the Nest app, you can easily control your Nest camera. Remotely, you can pan, tilt and zoom as much as you need. The graphics don’t get grainy even when zoomed in because of the Nests’ 130° wide-angle camera.
In addition, you can connect your Nest camera with other services such as Google Assistant and even Amazon’s Alexa. Connecting your Nest camera to Google Assistant (and Alexa) can help you easily control your camera, even without using the app.
Lastly, you can install multiple cameras in your baby’s room or around the house. You can buy multiple additional cameras and set them up through the app. You can also control the cameras through the Nest app. Very convenient and easy.
Google Nest Cam Disadvantages
Not all products and baby gear are perfect. This is the same with the Nest cam. Here are a couple of the Google Nest Cam disadvantages in addition to those mentioned before.
Audio
Despite the Nest Cam’s excellent video quality, its audio performance is not as great. The Nest cam has poor noise detection despite its adjustable sound sensitivity. You can still hear ambient noise in the background such as snores in your video feed.
Security
With its Wi-Fi connectivity, there is a security concern. We all know that Wi-Fi is not the most secure way to stream audio and video. This means that there is a possibility that strangers can hack into your router and eventually your baby monitor. However, Nest cam solves this by making the Nest system one of the most secure among Wi-Fi-reliant baby monitors.
Subscription
Certain features of the Nest Cam are not available without the subscription. And because the company offers a free 30-day subscription with your purchase, you may not find out which features are linked to the subscription until after your return period expires. These features include filtering of minor movements so that you don’t get alerts for every bug that flies past, and storing the footage for more than three hours. The general consensus from customer reviews is that you need to account for the subscription when you buy this product – because without it, it loses a lot of functionality.
Comparable Baby Monitors
There are other great baby monitors for your household, others worth considering are the Infant Optics DXR-8 and the Nest Cam IQ.
Infant Optics DXR 8
Equipped with night vision, two-way talk, and alarms, the Infant Optics DXR-8 makes sure that you can keep an eye on your baby at all times of the day, even when your baby’s sleeping. This baby monitor can support up to four cameras through its scan mode. You can also pan, tilt, and zoom the wide-angle cameras of the Infant Optics DXR-8.
It also has a remote temperature feature so you know how warm or cold your baby’s room is. The downside, however, the Infant Optics DXR-8 has a relatively low battery life compared to the Nest cam. The rechargeable battery on the Infant Optics DXR-8 lasts up to twelve hours on audio-only mode and eight hours with a live video feed.
Nest Cam IQ
We’ve mentioned before that you can use the Nest Cam as a baby monitor, despite it being a security camera. However, the Nest system also has another camera with a touch of AI.
The Nest Cam IQ is smart, with Google Assistant already built in. It is also equipped with infrared LEDs so that you can see your baby’s room crystal clear even in the darkest of nights. Like the Nest Cam, this camera has 1080p quality video so you can monitor your child clearly. Lastly, this camera has noise cancellation and echo suppression features so that you can hear your baby loud and clear, for a faster response to your baby’s needs.
Unfortunately, the Nest Cam IQ has been discontinued but you can still pick them up second hand. Google promises current owners of the model “ongoing feature support, software fixes, and critical security updates”.
Who is Google Nest?
Google Nest, formerly called Nest Labs, offers a line of smart home products such as thermostats, security cameras, and smoke detectors. It was founded in 2010 by former Apple engineers Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers. In 2014, Google acquired Nest Labs and merged into Google’s home devices unit in 2018.
Currently, Google Nest has a wide variety of smart home devices, all of which are capable of being managed through the Nest App. You can add and remove devices from your home, or create another home through the app, just be wary of the maximum number of products on the app.
Google Nest promises to continuously develop smart and innovative products to make your home a smart and safe space for you and your family.
Is The Nest Cam Safe For My Baby?
Before you purchase or add any product to your life with a new baby, you have to assess it for safety first. Obviously, this applies to your choice of baby monitor. The Nest Cam baby monitor is safe for your baby.
As we mentioned before, the Nest cam gets its power supply from batteries. This means that you won’t need to plug it into sockets, and therefore, no need for additional wires or cords. We all know that these cords can become safety hazards for children when placed in unsecured places in your child’s room. They may trip over the cord, or even get electrocuted. However, with its batteries, the Nest cam highly reduces the chances of these instances happening.
Always remember to keep the Nest Cam out of your baby’s reach and adjust the distance as your child grows, as recommended by the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA).
The Verdict
You must keep an eye on your baby all the time, even when you’re not with them, to make sure they are safe and secure. Monitoring your child may become troublesome, given that you can’t always be with them, and that’s why baby monitors are an important addition to your baby gear. Just make sure that the baby monitor can give a clear live feed of your baby all the time.
Your baby monitor should also be able to give you notifications about your child’s activities, and of course, must have a reliable parent unit. So in the case of the Google Nest cam baby monitor, we found its pros outweigh the cons.
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