Philips Avent DECT SCD501/10 Review

Philips, a Netherlands company, is primarily a health technology company striving to improve health and healthy living. Their first product in 1891 was incandescent lamps and small electrical products. When Gerald's brother Anton joined his brother and father, they quickly became the leading producer of light bulbs. Over time they diversified into other electronics including lamps, tvs, radios, shavers, and x-rays.

Performance Comparison

The DECT SCD501/10 has impressive sound clarity with no distortion or static.

Sound Clarity

The DECT SCD501/10 offers better sound than most of the competition.

The parent unit for this monitor has a maximum volume of 101 decibels. At this volume, the sound is crisp, clear and bright. At 85 db, the sound is clear with no distortion and easy to hear. If your only concern is hearing baby, then the sound is impressive and hits the mark. However, the sound filtering option isn't the best and we were able to hear the fan in the baby's room through the parent monitor when the fan was on the highest setting.

The DECT SCD501/10 only has power and volume adjustment buttons on the front making it simple and easy for parents to use in the dark while half asleep.

Ease of Use

The DECT SCD501/10 is one of the easiest options to use in the group.

Easy to use often goes hand in hand with few features, something true of this product. With only a power button and volume adjustments, there is almost no way to make a mistake or press the wrong options in the middle of the night. Setup is also easy with a less than one minute process that includes unboxing, plugging in, and turning it on.

While not the longest range in the review the DECT SCD501/10 has an adequate range suitable for most houses.

Range

The DECT SCD501/10 offers range compared to the competition in this category.

The manufacturer range claim is 984 ft and our tests revealed a distance of 1320 ft. The last 100 ft had a fairly choppy connection and would lose signal with any kind of interference or if the units weren't facing each other. This is a line of sight measurement outside without walls. Indoors the manufacturer claims 164 ft but our tests showed only 90 ft through 5 walls. The connection started getting staticky at 75 ft and was completely unreliable after the 6th wall. It was still trying at 8 walls and 110 ft, but it wasn't a connection you can rely on for monitoring. These results will vary by home depending on construction and competing appliances.

This isn't the best range for a larger home or a home with a floor between rooms or more walls than 5. However, the best monitors worked at about 100+ ft and 8-9 walls. This is a crucial metric for many parents because if the range isn't enough the monitor won't work.

The battery life on the parent unit of the DECT SCD501/10 is 19 hours, which is less than the high for the group of 46 hours, but still adequate for most monitoring needs.

Battery Life

The DECT SCD501/10 has below-average battery life compared to the other options we tested.

This monitor has 1.5V R6 AA alkaline non-rechargeable or 1.2V R6 AA rechargeable batteries with a claimed run time of up to 24 hours depending on use. Our tests showed a run time of closer to 19 hours. This is a reasonable amount of time and more than enough for a full night's sleep or napping monitoring during the day.

The main features of the DECT SCD501/10 are sound activation and a small nightlight and some parents will feel the lack of two-way communication is a dealbreaker.

Features

The DECT SCD501/10 offers few features and fluff without sacrificing what you really need for a sound monitor to work.

The DECT SCD501/10 has one of our favorite features of sound activation. We like this feature because it keeps the parent unit silent when the baby is silent which can help parents get a better night's sleep. Unfortunately, it is missing what many parents consider to be a necessity, the two-way communication feature so you can soothe baby from another room. However, we aren't convinced this feature is a necessity and think many parents never use it or use it rarely after the novelty wears off. Some new parents would rather head to the baby's room than mess with chatting bay up from another space.

The DECT SCD501/10 has a small nightlight on the baby unit.

• Nightlight

• Low battery indicator

• Out of range alarm

• Mute

• Sleep mode

• Sound level indicator

EMF

This Philips average EMF reading at 6 ft away from the unit is 0.95 V/m. This is one of the lowest averages in the group.

While this is a lower EMF reading, you can further decrease baby's exposure by placing the baby unit farther from your baby. This high-quality option will still be able to pick up all baby sounds even if you place it across the room on an opposite wall.

Other Versions

The Philips company makes several baby monitors. We also tested and reviewed the Philips Avent DECT SCD570/10, which scored well and earned an Editors' Choice award with high marks for sound clarity, range, and battery life. The Philips Avent SCD630 video monitor earned an Editors' Choice award in our video monitor review.