Monitor with Intercom Feature

[Cathy CK]

Can anyone recommend a monitor with an intercom feature (which allows the parent to talk to the child through the monitor)? We have purchased (and returned) 2 of the Constant Care 3000 monitors by Evenflo and have had the same problem with each -- a persistent pulsing sound coming from the parent receiver. Thanks.

[momentofclarity]

I don't have recommendations because I haven't bought a monitor yet. But I do have a question. Do I NEED an intercom feature? Is it useful? I've been reading the Phillips reviews and they all seem so say that folks don't use the intercom much. If anyone has used an intercom feature & recommends it, please speak up. Otherwise I may just get the cheaper model.

One use I can imagine is for my partner and I to be able to communicate if one of us is with the baby and the other is somewhere else in the house. I'm a little hard of hearing, so it might cut down on some of those frustrating "I can't hear you" exchanges. ;)

What do others think?
Lucy

[egoldber]

We have the Philips monitor, but only got it recently, so I have never used the intercom feature. I can see where with a newborn and you are nursing a lot, it could be useful (honey, I need water, NOW!), but not sure how well that feature actually works.

HTH,

[Marisa6826]

We have the Philips monitor and love it. Can't say that we've used the intercom feature, if for no other reason than I couldn't get it to really work well (and couldn't be bothered to monkey with it).

As far as the back and forth dialog thing goes, if I'm in Sophie's room and Jonathan's in our bedroom, I basically call him (or tell him what I need) and he brings it. I honestly don't think that I need to hear his response. Either he comes into her room or he doesn't ;)

I can definitely say that the Philips monitor is worth the money though.

And FWIW, the Discovery stores sell them now (at the time we bought ours I really had to hunt it down).

Good luck

-m

[vpalmer]

We have the Phillips Monitor and we really like it. We do use the intercom feature quite a bit. My husband and I mostly use it to talk to each other rather than talking to the baby. Ironically, I thought the usage would be vice versa before our daughter was born. It is great for talking to my husband because I don't have to talk very loud and he can still hear me, especially useful if you are trying to get a little one to go to sleep. I have found that when I use it to talk to the baby, she is usually making too much noise to pay attention to the faceless voice in the room. :-)

The only "glitch" we have noticed with the intercom feature is that you have to talk for about 3 seconds before the feature is activated.

Hope this helps,

Veronica
Mom to Eva born 6-12-03

[momentofclarity]

All these responses were very helpful. I'm tempted to get one pre-baby just so I can stop yelling down the stairs to my partner!

Thanks,
Lucy