Project Nursery 4.3 Review
Pros: Low EMF, 2 parent units, remote pan and tilt camera
Cons: Limited range, washed out images, hard to use, higher price
Manufacturer: Project Nursery
The Skinny
Compare to Similar Products
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Project Nursery 4.3 | |||||
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Awards | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ||
Price | $260.00 List $135.00 at Amazon - 48% off | $299.00 List $228.00 at Amazon - 24% off | $199.00 List $110.01 at Amazon - 45% off | $30.00 List | $200.00 List $187.00 at Amazon - 7% off |
Overall Score ![]() |
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Star Rating | |||||
Pros | Low EMF, 2 parent units, remote pan and tilt camera | Awesome images, face recognition, easy to use, lots of features | Internet range, great images, versatile long term use | Wi-fi capable, budget-friendly, quality images | Good visuals, lots of features, easy to use |
Cons | Limited range, washed out images, hard to use, higher price | Not baby specific, expensive, poor sound, some features require subscription | No internet / no monitor, disappointing sound | Requires internet, disappointing sound | Sound could be better, harder setup |
Bottom Line | Expensive choice with a frustrating user interface and poor video | Great video and loads of feature but the price is high for features that aren't baby specific | Great camera with versatile uses that produces quality video and sound | No frills wi-fi with good visuals and a low price | If you like Arlo products, this is a good one for long term use |
Rating Categories | Project Nursery 4.3 | Nest Cam IQ Indoor... | Nest Cam Indoor... | LeFun 1080p Wi-Fi | Arlo Baby |
Range (20%) | |||||
Sound Clarity (20%) | |||||
Video Quality (30%) | |||||
Ease Of Use (15%) | |||||
Battery Life (10%) | |||||
Features (5%) | |||||
Specs | Project Nursery 4.3 | Nest Cam IQ Indoor... | Nest Cam Indoor... | LeFun 1080p Wi-Fi | Arlo Baby |
Communication Technology | 2.4 GHz FHSS | 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac | 802.11 a/b/g/n | 802.11 b/g/n | 2.4 GHz |
Indoor Range Test | 3 Walls 54 Feet |
Anywhere You Have Connectivity | Anywhere You Have Connectivity | Anywhere You Have Connectivity | Anywhere You Have Connectivity |
Open Field Range Test | 700 Feet | Anywhere You Have Connectivity | Anywhere You Have Connectivity | Anywhere You Have Connectivity | Anywhere You Have Connectivity |
Manufacturer's Claimed Range (*buyer beware!) | 800 Feet | Anywhere You Have Connectivity | Anywhere You Have Connectivity | Anywhere You Have Connectivity | Anywhere You Have Connectivity |
Max Sound | 82 db | 86 db | 86 db | 85 db | 93 db |
Screen Size | 4.3" | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Max # of Cameras | 4 | 10 Per Home with 3 Homes Per Nest App. Log In | 10 Per Home with Unlimited Homes | Not Listed (Unlimited?) | 5 simultaneous video streams free. Up to 20 cameras with paid subscription. |
Temperature | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
Movement Detection | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Sound Activation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Talk-to-Baby | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Pan/Tilt/ Zoom | Pan/Tilt/Zoom | Zoom, Close-up tracking | Zoom | Pan/Tilt/Zoom | Zoom |
Battery Life | 10 hrs | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
EMF @ 6 Feet from Camera | 1.93 V/m | 0.91 V/m | 0.92 V/m | 0.84 V/m | 0.75 V/m |
Warranty | 1 Year | 2 Year | 2 Year | 1 Year | 1 Year |
Our Analysis and Test Results
Melisa Fluhr and Pam Ginocchio are interior design enthusiasts who wanted to help parents develop tools and find products for baby's nursery and kid-friendly projects. The Project Nursery website has grown and reaches more than 1.5 million millennial parents and design professionals. Project Nursery now has some licensed products that include nursery electronics, with a joint venture with VOXX International.
Project Nursery does not make Project Nursery the baby monitor. We think it is important to point out to potential buyers that the product is made by another company that then pays for the right to use the "Project Nursery" name. This practice is similar to stroller manufacturers that pay to use the names of well-known products to give consumers the illusion that the strollers will be of similar quality to the product whose name they share. Two common licensed brands we have seen are Jeep and Schwinn. Stroller manufacturers apply the well-known brand names to their products even though they are not designed or manufactured by Jeep or Schwinn and have nothing in common with the traditional products associated with those brands.
Performance Comparison
Range
The Project Nursery monitor has a very limited range with test results below the competition. This unit barely works through 3 walls and 54 ft in our indoor house test. Project Nursery claims a line of sight range of 800 ft, which is different than indoor testing, but our field test results only show 700 ft, and that was touch and go coverage.
Audio / Visual
This monitor has below average sound clarity with a bright and somewhat echoey sound. It is not super clear at any volume, and it isn't as loud as the competition. It does offer sound sensitivity adjustment and background noise reduction, but it doesn't do either very well.
The Nursery offers below-average video with sub-par picture quality. It looks washed out and strangely stretched like it is trying to fit a screen wider than it needs. The daytime colors look muted, and the zoom makes the image fuzzy. For night vision, things don't get better. The picture is washed out, and the bottom part of the eye chart disappears. The clarity it has during the day disappears in the dark.
Ease of Use
The Project Nursery is challenging to use compared to the competition. It comes in a cool box, and the presentation makes you feel special like you've purchased something akin to an iPhone. Setup is easy with pre-paired components. However, after setup is where things take a turn. The overall usability and day-to-day experience are challenging compared to the competition.
The buttons and menus are not intuitive, and you need to select options inside options inside options to accomplish the simplest of tasks. This design means a lot of button pushing in a sleepy haze. You also have to repeat your steps to get back out of the menu, which is annoying if your baby is crying. The zoom button is the only easy button to use, and it works the camera movement as well. Pan and tilt for the camera require holding down the zoom button until the arrows appear, but movement can be herky-jerky and slow.
Battery Life
The Nursery best test result scame in battery life, but it still isn't anything to write home about. This monitor has a lithium-ion battery in the parent unit that lasted 10 hours in our tests. The manufacturer claims 8 hours for the mini monitor and 16 hours for the larger parent unit when using the sound-activated power-saving mode. While our results don't match the claim, they should get you through a regular night's sleep.
Features
The Project Nursery comes with everything you need including a mini parent unit you can wear as a watch or clip on with a carabiner or belt clip. Unfortunately, you can NOT use both parent units at the same time, so mom and dad can't watch baby from different rooms. The Nursery standard parent unit has a 4.3 in screen and will work with up to 4 Project cameras.
While the idea of the mini monitor is fun, it isn't easy to use, and the smaller size isn't worth sacrificing image quality. During daylight (above left) the baby all but loses his face, and when using the zoom at night (above right) his mouth is missing, and you won't be able to tell if he has his eyes open or not.
This camera offers a temperature sensor, but in our tests, it reported a temperature 4 degrees cooler than the room, which is misleading if you are trying to create the optimum temperature suggested to avoid SIDS.
This monitor also features:
- Two-way talk to baby
- Sound / motion activation
- Auto screen wakeup/sleep
- 2X zoom
- True camera pan and tilt
- Night vision
- Recording on Micro SD
- Three lullabies
Electromagnetic Field (EMF) Levels
The Project Nursery has the lowest average EMF readings for a dedicated monitor, but the readings were not as good as the Wi-Fi monitors. With the camera 6 ft from the baby, the readout is 1.93. The parent unit will be closer, as most parents set this by their bed, but many parents have fewer concerns for themselves than the baby. With the parent unit 3 ft from the reader the average EMF was 1.24, and over 6 with the unit within 6 inches.
Manufacturer Video
— Juliet Spurrier, MD & Wendy Schmitz