iBaby M6S vs Withings Baby – HD Baby Monitor Review

Remember those audio baby monitors that drove us nuts with the scratchy sound? Remember how easy it was for them to become static when placed few feet away from any appliance? Well, worry not, those days are far behind. Today, the technology provided us with an upgraded version of HD baby monitors, created to offer a whole new range of comfort and benefits. The latest ones use wi-fi and 3G/4G networks, easily operated by smartphones, while securely transmit the relevant data. This way, you can easily check up on your baby without the need to physically enter the room and disturb his sleep.

In the sections to follow, I’ve decided to present you with a review of two best HD baby monitors from different manufacturers. The idea is to gradually go through the description and features of each while providing positive and negative experiences. So, enjoy!

iBaby Monitor M6S Smart HD Baby Monitor – Our Pick

This HD baby monitor offers a 1080P full HD video resolution with additional benefit of night vision. It takes less than a minute to install it and it supports both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz dual band wifi routers. You can use it to monitor your baby while he’s asleep with 360 degree view and 110 degree tilt simply by moving your finger slowly across your smart device’s screen. The app is free and compatible with both iOS and Android operated devices and there’s no cloud storage fee. You can also use it to speak to your dearest, play lullabies or take pictures and record videos, making it a great two-way audio transmitter with echo cancellation option. The recorded material is easily uploaded on the cloud with full privacy settings.

The manufacturer added the comfort of getting real-time alerts on your smart device for any baby movement, sound and change in the air quality. You can also add unlimited number of users to the iBaby monitor M6S, making it easy for the whole family to watch over your little angel. It is very easy to stream music via your iTunes or even record your own voice. And, when it comes to monitoring your baby’s room temperature, humidity or general air quality, you can adjust the settings in the app to receive daily or weekly updates. This way if some parameter is off the track, you can make sure to implement the necessary improvements.

Fast setup

What’s more important when deciding on the quality of HD baby monitors is the speed. This model takes less than a minute to set up (the app will guide you via two simple steps) and provides fast video streaming. Inside the box you will find one iBaby monitor M6S, one monitor base with built-in sensors, power adapter and a manual. If you wish to hang it on the wall, this kit is sold separately.

I got this monitor and I decided to first measure the promised setup time. I have to add that it takes few minutes from unpacking the content from the box, up until having the HD baby monitor set up to use. It was easy to slide my finger and move the camera via the app. Most of the standard baby monitors transmit only sound or video from one angle, so this was a surprise. The night vision was fairly clear and recording videos was pretty simple. The best part is that I was not charged extra for cloud storage space for all the photos and videos.

Using the iBaby M6S

On top of that, I really enjoyed the fact that I kept receiving alerts on my phone while I was on a call. I also had fun with the option to play music through the baby monitor (even when I was tidying up and my kid was not in the room, but don’t tell anyone), and it was easy to record my voice and play it back via the HD baby monitor. It was interesting to see how my kid responded to my voice and started looking around the room to find me.

Unfortunately, if you have a slower speed internet connection, you may face some issues with the transmission time. If your video is set to a high resolution, you may have to wait a while to load – making it not so real-time notifier after all. This means that if there’s an issue with your baby, you may be at risk to be notified a bit too late. The other issue is that this HD baby monitor picks up every sound, so if you live near a busy street like I do, you’ll get an alert notification each time a car honks, which to be honest can be a bit annoying. On top of that, in order to keep receiving notifications, the app needs to be running at all times, thus slowing down your smartphone a bit.

Pros and Cons of iBaby M6S

To conclude it, I’m going to present you with a short list of defined pros and cons regarding this HD baby monitor. First, the pros:

• Option for 360 degree view and 110 degree tilt monitor by simple finger draw across your screen
• Optimized to be a great two-way audio transmitter, so I can hear my baby and talk to him too
• Taking photos and videos and use upload storage space for free with full privacy settings
• Option for baby’s room air quality monitoring
• Easy setup and simple to use

And now, the cons:

• Prolonged response time, closely depending on your internet quality
• Sometimes taking too long to load a video
• Sensors are being really sensitive and pick up every sound
• Constant need for the app to be open and running

Withings Wireless HD Baby Monitor

This HD baby monitor presents you with the option to receive instant audio and motion alerts on your smartphone, check on the room’s air quality via the built-in sensors, use it at night via the advanced infrared night vision and enjoy real-time HD video stream. The baby monitor is also equipped with a LED Lulla Light and options for different sound programs, as well as “push-to-talk“ option making it a two-way audio transmitter. Its modern design comes with two different covers (pink and blue) to fit any baby room.

Setting it up

The setup is fairly easy. Inside the box you will find a home camera with a modern design with two additional covers. All you need to do is to download the free Home Monitor app which is compatible with both iOS and Android operated devices and access the settings to get notifications. Basically, you can hear what’s happening in your baby’s room, even when your phone screen is locked.

If you wish to see how your baby’s doing, just connect via crisp and clear hd video stream from anywhere. The camera features a 12x zoom with auto-enhancing, 135 degree wide angle lens and high-quality night vision. In terms of air quality monitoring, sometimes the VOC particles can pile up indoors, so having a HD baby monitor that can notify you on the air quality is not a bad idea.

Using the Withings Baby monitor

The fun part is the option to control many Lulla Light and Sound programs in the app. This means that the song you’ll decide to stream for your baby will pair with gentle LED light sequences, all designed to soothe your rascal, especially when it’s bedtime. When mentioning fun, this baby monitor offers you the option to see, save and share your baby’s activities (day or night), automatically captured each time a movement is detected. You can also get access to Withings CVR plans that allow you to go back in time of up to 30 days (for a fee).

However, as with any smart product, this HD baby monitor has some shortcomings too. Sometimes, to get a proper audio feed or solve a connectivity issue you need to make sure that the device is close to the wifi router. At times, the device was flashing red light in the middle of the night and kept waking up my kid. To be honest, the customer support representatives were nice, but I had to keep disconnecting and connecting the power cord.

On top of that, the baby monitor would often cut out randomly, day or night, and I was not even aware of it. Cases such as these pose a real threat that something may happen to my baby, while I have no idea. The camera works solely if connected via cord, and with the tech-habits today, this is really limiting. The worst part is that the camera disconnects from your phone and “loading” appears, while your kid is exposed to the red light flashing horror. So, you need to enter your sleeping baby’s room and disconnect and connect the plug and try again. In most cases, your kid will wake up and cry. If you call customer support with issues of serial disconnecting, they’ll finally admit that the device works best with the power supply of UK, EU, U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Pros and Cons of Withings

As expected, in this part I’ll conclude this HD baby monitor review with respective summarized pros and cons.

The pros:

• LED Lulla Light and Sound programs to make the most of the bedtime routine
• Lovely design and easy setup
• Automatically captured movements and access to see, save or share them of up to 30 days
• Air quality monitoring sensors

The cons:

• Use of a power cord and closeness to router required
• Device often disconnects and requires manual reset
• Red light flashes when device is not connected to your phone
• May not be compatible with power supply out of UK, EU, U.S., Canada and Mexico

The Verdict

Prior to finally concluding my opinion and satisfaction from using each model, I must emphasize that we’re talking about the need of a solid and reliable HD baby monitor to make our lives easier. And this should be taken very seriously.

To be honest, I felt more secure when I was using the iBaby Monitor M6S. It provided a better reliability, despite the device’s over-sensitiveness and picking up every sound. True, the video resolution was worse than the Withings Wireless Video Baby Monitor’s resolution and it was definitely less fun, but it did not disconnect randomly. Most importantly, nothing kept flashing in my baby’s room.

Being a single parent often doubles the effort around the house, so I at least need to feel assured that my kid will be well monitored at all times while I am not in the room. It also means that he won’t wake up in the middle of the night and cry due to any light and sound disturbance. Heck, I need to sleep too!

Regardless of both products, make sure to read through the reviews prior to making your purchase, because at the end it really depends on what kind of features you are looking for and what is your monitoring style.

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