In-depth reviews guided by a Pediatrician

Project Nursery 4.3 Review

A pricey option with a frustrating menu and disappointing images
Project Nursery 4.3
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Price:   $260 List | $138 at Amazon
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
By Juliet Spurrier, MD & Wendy Schmitz  ⋅  Aug 1, 2019
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44
OVERALL
SCORE

RANKED
#16 of 16
  • Range - 20% 3
  • Sound Clarity - 20% 4
  • Video Quality - 30% 5
  • Ease of Use - 15% 4
  • Battery life - 10% 6
  • Features - 5% 5

The Skinny

The Project Nursery 4.3 is a disappointing competitor. It offers 2 parent devices, including a mini watch option, and it looks pretty snazzy coming out of the box, but unfortunately, that is about as cool as this monitor gets. The Nursery 4.3 has disappointing sound and even worse image quality that leaves a lot to be desired and generally disappoints in almost every way compared to the competition. So, while it does offer many desirable features like talk to baby, lullabies, and temperature sensor, it doesn't really do any of them well enough to merit the high price tag. Given the low scores in every metric, including range and ease of use, and the washed-out images of the baby, this video monitor is one we don't recommend.

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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.

Licensing Brand Names
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


With the camera placed at least 6 ft from baby the Nursery 4.3 has the lowest EMF reading for dedicated monitor (non-Wifi) in the group.
With the camera placed at least 6 ft from baby, the Nursery 4.3 has the lowest EMF reading for dedicated monitor (non-Wifi) in the group.

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.

This daytime image on the Project Nursery 4.3 parent unit doesn't look bad at first but the details of the eye chart crib sheet and baby's face are blurry and hard to decipher.
This daytime image on the Project Nursery 4.3 parent unit doesn't look bad at first, but the details of the eye chart , crib sheet, and baby's face are blurry and hard to decipher.

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 night vision on the Project Nursery 4.3 is worse than the daytime images. The details are now completely washed out and some are gone altogether.
The night vision on the Project Nursery 4.3 is worse than the daytime images. The details are now completely washed out and some are gone altogether.

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.

While the Project Nursery 4.3 comes with a "mini" monitor it is small and the buttons are not that useful. This 2nd unit feels more like a marketing ploy than a useful addition.
While the Project Nursery 4.3 comes with a "mini" monitor, it is small and the buttons are not that useful. This 2nd unit feels more like a marketing ploy than a useful addition.

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 Menu options on the Project Nursery 4.3 are not as intuitive as they appear at first blush. With several features being 2 or more button pushes deep it can be frustrating to mess with when you are sleep deprived in the middle of the night.
The Menu options on the Project Nursery 4.3 are not as intuitive as they appear at first blush. With several features being 2 or more button pushes deep, it can be frustrating to mess with when you are sleep deprived in the middle of the night.

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.

The Project Nursery 4.3 comes with a variety of accessories that include 4 ways of carrying the parent units.
The Project Nursery 4.3 comes with a variety of accessories that include 4 ways of carrying the parent units.

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.

The smaller image on the Project Nursery's mini monitor only makes it harder to see what baby is doing. The smaller size monitor is probably not worth the decrease in image quality.
Even when using the 2X digital zoom feature on the Project Nursery's mini monitor it is still hard to see baby's face or tell if he/she is awake.

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.

The mic on the nursery 4.3 is on the back of the camera facing away from baby which may be part of the reason it is hard to hear baby's cries clearly. The speaker is on the front so hopefully baby can hear you better than you can hear her.
The mic on the nursery 4.3 is on the back of the camera facing away from baby, which may be part of the reason it is hard to hear baby's cries clearly. The speaker is on the front, so hopefully baby can hear you better than you can hear her.

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