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

Sound Clarity

The DECT SCD501/10 offers better sound than most of the sound monitor 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 your baby, the sound is impressive and hits the mark. However, the sound filtering option isn't the best, and we could hear the fan in the baby's room through the parent monitor when the fan was on the highest setting.

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.

Range

The DECT SCD501/10 offers a range distance 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 interference or if the units weren't facing each other. This distance 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 could rely on for monitoring. These results will vary by home depending on construction and competing appliances.

This distance 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 metric is crucial for many parents because the monitor won't work if the range isn't enough.

Battery Life

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

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 whole night's sleep or napping monitoring during the day.

Features

The DECT SCD501/10 offers few features and fluff without sacrificing what you 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 necessary and think many parents never use it or rarely use it after the novelty wears off. Some new parents would rather head to the baby's room than mess with chatting baby up from another space.

Other functions of the DECT SCD501/10 include:

• 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 reading is one of the lowest averages in the group.

While this is a lower EMF reading, you can further decrease the 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 put it across the room on an opposite wall.

Should You Buy the DECT SCD501/10?

If your main concern is easy to use and you want any sitter or grandma to be able to work it, the SCD501/10 is a good choice. This straightforward option with limited buttons and features is a good choice for high-quality monitoring almost anyone can maters.

What Other Sound Monitor Should You Consider?

This monitor is spendy for one with so few features. If your budget is tighter, the VTech DM111 is a good choice for simple monitoring with a more reasonable price tag. It offers a better range than the Philips, but the battery life is shorter, and it has even fewer features (however, features make things confusing).