Marpac 980 users -- how loud is it?

[Dyonia]

I'm >thisclose< to getting the Marpac 980 white noise machine for DS. My only hesitation is whether the noise will be sufficiently loud. He sleeps in our bedroom, so currently when he is sleeping we run the vent fan in the master bathroom. (It's quite loud!)

We already tried the Sound Sleeper from BRU -- forget it, too wimpy...when this kid hollers, he drowns it out. Colic sucks:banghead: He calms down when we run the bathroom fan for white noise.

From all the things I've read, the Marpac units sound like a fan, so I'm hoping that someone can tell me if the 980 adjusts loud enough for us? We really need a white noise machine that has some oomph to it.

Thanks,
Donna

[jhrabosk]

Sigh...I love my Marpac. Both of them. :)

When you've got it cranked all the way up, I personally think it's pretty loud. I run mine across the room and on the lower setting and it still covers most of the noise from my noisy upstairs neighbors.

If you're going to buy something, I think this is the one to buy.

[Aishe]

My baby was relentlessly colicky for the first five months of her life so I feel for you. I have no experience with the Marpac units, but I thought I'd offer another suggestion: we played (loudly!) a disc of ocean waves sounds, which my daughter responded to pretty well. It was just the waves, no music or other sounds. I don't remember which exact cd, but this one (made for babies, no less) looks pretty similar:

http://www.amazon.com/Ocean-Waves-Calming-Sounds-Bedtime/dp/B000JK8PS0/

Good luck!

[mom to little e]

Ours has two settings and a kind of a volume control - meaning you can adjust the vents to make it softer or louder even with the two switch settings. I think it can go prett loud. I use it on the softer switch and save the louder switch for nights I know if might be storming or windy or if we noisy neighbors or company (uh, really never, too tired!). To give you an idea of the level of "noise" with ours set as described - if the children open the door to their bedroom, I can hear the machine around the corner into our bedroom.

I am very happy with ours. I bought one and then immediately kicked myself for not getting two. I purchased a second, and now, wish I had a third.

DH and I think they are great. Hope this helps.

[KHF]

We are also a 2 Marpac household. One for my husband (who sleeps in his own room because he snores loud enough to peel the paint off the walls), one for my daughter and I have a Brookstone alarm clock with sound. I got the Brookstone before I found the Marpac. Like the Brookstone, but the Marpac is less than half the price!

Ours also have the loud and soft settings, so you can really adjust it to your (or your DC's) liking. We have even taken ours with us when we travel to drown out hotel noise, etc.

Kirsten

[LexyLou]

I have one in both of my girls rooms-and both girls were colicky...

When turned up loud it's pretty loud but I never used it for colic reasons, I started using it after colic as a sound barrier because my oldest is a super light sleeper. I started using it with my second because it soothed her and it makes me feel better since our toddler is so loud.

I think it would work as a white noise if turned all the way up and placed very close to the crib.

I really do love these though and we never leave home without them.

[tny915]

Hijacking the thread a bit, but what makes the Marpac better than say those sound machines from Homedics or those more pricey sound machines from Sharper Image and Brookstone? I've always been curious about the Marpac machines and what makes them so wonderful. I'm in the market for 1-2 more sound machines now, so would love if someone can help answer this. I've had both the Brookstone and Sharper Image in the past and they worked well for us.

Thanks!

[brookemd]

I was researching the Marpac units a year or so ago and saw a review on Amazon where someone had gotten a gauss meter and measured the EMF that these put off. They put off some crazy high amount of EMF that is much higher than what is considered safe. He said that it went down to 0 once you got 6 feet away from the unit. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but it scared me enough to not get one of these units (since it would have gone right next to the baby's crib). I ended up with a Sound Soother 20 from sharper image, which we like. I have a feeling that the Marpac makes overall better "white noise" but I just didn't want to take the chance of exposing the baby to super high levels of EMF. If anyone has one and a gauss meter, I'd be interested in hearing what it registers...

[Dyonia]

I was researching the Marpac units a year or so ago and saw a review on Amazon where someone had gotten a gauss meter and measured the EMF that these put off. They put off some crazy high amount of EMF that is much higher than what is considered safe. He said that it went down to 0 once you got 6 feet away from the unit. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but it scared me enough to not get one of these units (since it would have gone right next to the baby's crib). I ended up with a Sound Soother 20 from sharper image, which we like. I have a feeling that the Marpac makes overall better "white noise" but I just didn't want to take the chance of exposing the baby to super high levels of EMF. If anyone has one and a gauss meter, I'd be interested in hearing what it registers...

Yeah, I saw that too -- read this discussion at ARS technica openforum http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/770002407831/m/922007428831

The first several replies are quite relevant to the Marpac question -- the the rest veer off :) I found them very interesting, though, and quite entertaining. (But that's me :ROTFLMAO: )

Basically, the reviewer on Amazon that measured the Marpac EMF doesn't really know what he is talking about.

No worries about Marpac EMF emissions for me.

Cheers,
Donna

[KHF]

OK, I don't know if I'm allowed to copy and paste messages from other boards here, but this one just killed me...from LordFrith:
-------------------------------
EMF's dangerous to humans: Sure.

Proper safety precautions:

1) Do not sit in an operating microwave.
2) Do not sit in an operating oven.
3) Do not sit in front of a visible-light laser of high power.
4) Do not fall asleep for multiple hours under a UV light.
5) Do not work in an X-ray machine.
6) Do not eat gamma sources.
-------------------------------
I think those are all guidelines I can live with :-)

However, if anyone is worried about the Marpac EMFs, I've found that it is a little too loud to put right next to my DD's crib anyway. It sits on her dresser across the room and is still very effective for keeping my light sleeper out for the night.

I made sure hers was across the room because I used to have my Brookstone sound machine next to my bed and I found that it was bothering my ears. I don't know if it was too close, too loud or what, but now it's across the room and I'm much more comfortable.

[brookemd]

It isn't something that I know a lot about but I just didn't want to take the chance. And the postpartum paranoia of a first time mom definitely doesn't help. I'm more relaxed this time around, but figured I'd toss the info out there...