Video Monitors

Can anyone help me with video monitors? I was wondering if they are worth the added expense. We are expecting our first child in May and my wife and I are trying to weigh the benefit, if any, to the cost. I've heard that some monitors actually pick up the babies breathing, is that true? As I'm sure you can tell, I don't have a lot of experience so any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Friends of ours have one, and they really like it. It has come in handy on nights when their little one is fussy; they can tell by looking at the monitor if she's awake and begging to be "let out" or if she's lying there just whining.
The other night, it came in pretty handy when they heard her wake up around midnight, crying. They normally would have let her cry for a while to see if she would go back to sleep, but instead they turned the monitor on. Sure enough, she had vomited all over herself and the bed.
We registered for one, figuring if someone got it for us, it would be a great addition, but if not, no big deal.

We bought a video monitor for our baby to be and have tested it out ourselves. The picture quality is great at night and in the day (although the clerk at babysrus warned us they do get a lot of interference and they have had many returned due to this, we live out of town so don't have a problem with this). The only drawback we have is that when you have the auditory monitor turned on to hear the baby up it buzzes really badly and therefore would be hard to use at night when we are trying to sleep. I have ordered a separate auditory only monitor to compensate for this, but that does get expensive.

My husband and I could not live without our 900 mghz safety 1st black and white video monitor. It is definately worth the added money. Of coarse, checking on your little one in person is always best, our son LOVED to get up numerous times in the middle of the night and just play. So, instead of getting up every 5 minutes we were able to roll over and watch him via monitor. My sister in law and girlfriends all loved mine so much, they went out and bought one too. I do not recommend the color handheld video monitor. The picture was WAY too small to even see the baby, the 2.4 ghz technology experienced way too much interference and static, and the "color" feature stunk. You could not make anything out. Good luck and congratulations!