Summer Infant Baby Pixel Review
Pros: Easy to use, longer battery life
Cons: Higher price, shorter range
Manufacturer: Summer Infant
The Skinny
Compare to Similar Products
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Summer Infant Baby Pixel | |||||
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Awards | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ||
Price | $200.00 List $266.00 at Amazon | $299.00 List $230.00 at Amazon - 23% off | $199.00 List $124.00 at Amazon - 38% off | $30.00 List | $200.00 List $187.00 at Amazon - 7% off |
Overall Score ![]() |
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Star Rating | |||||
Pros | Easy to use, longer battery life | 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 | Higher price, shorter range | 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 | Spendy monitor with only average visuals and sub-par range | 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 | Summer Infant Baby... | 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 | Summer Infant Baby... | 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 | 4 Walls 65 Feet |
Anywhere You Have Connectivity | Anywhere You Have Connectivity | Anywhere You Have Connectivity | Anywhere You Have Connectivity |
Open Field Range Test | 750 Feet | Anywhere You Have Connectivity | Anywhere You Have Connectivity | Anywhere You Have Connectivity | Anywhere You Have Connectivity |
Manufacturer's Claimed Range (*buyer beware!) | 1000 Feet | Anywhere You Have Connectivity | Anywhere You Have Connectivity | Anywhere You Have Connectivity | Anywhere You Have Connectivity |
Max Sound | 101 db | 86 db | 86 db | 85 db | 93 db |
Screen Size | 5.0" | 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 | 11 hrs | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
EMF @ 6 Feet from Camera | 2.66 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
In 1985, William Lockett III wanted a safe place to put his newborn while he tended to other things. Under the name of Summer Infant, he developed the first bouncy seat for babies. Summer Infant continues to create a variety of products for babies at reasonable prices. This gear includes strollers, cribs, bathing products, and monitors.
Performance Comparison
Range
The Pixel has a shorter indoor range than much of the competition. During testing, this unit maintained a connection between the nursery camera and parent device up to 65 feet and through 4 walls. If your house is larger, and depending on your home's construction, the Pixel may not work.
Audio / Visual
The sound clarity on any monitor is important because that is what draws your attention to the parent device. This monitor has a maximum decibel level of 101 dB. This unit has no sound activation or sound sensitivity adjustment to help keep the unit quiet. The sound is a little hollow and bright and distorts as the volume gets higher. Without adjustability, the audio is always on which could be a problem if you are a light sleeper.
The daytime images for the Pixel are crisp, but the colors are washed out and not true to real life. The Pixel video quality with night vision images that are grainy. These black and grey images are hard to decipher, and the zoom feature makes it worse. While you will be able to get the gist of the scene, you won't be able to see if your little one's eyes are open or not.
Ease of Use
The Pixel is relatively easy to use. This monitor links automatically straight out of the box and is easy and quick to set up and get running. We didn't experience any time delay between action in the room vs. action on the monitor. Meaning you get a reliable picture of what is happening in the room.
The menu button on the parent device brings up the monitor options on the touchscreen which works well. The icons are intuitive and straightforward to use. The unit has separate buttons on the top for zoom, pan and tilt operation, and the nightlight.
Battery Life
The Pixel battery life is better than average. It has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. In our testing, the Pixel parent device ran for 11 hours. This duration is long enough to make it through the night.
Features
The Pixel has a variety of features.
This video monitor includes:
- 2-way talk-to-baby microphone
- 5" touchscreen monitor
- Sleep zone boundary alert
- Nightlight
- Temperature sensor
- Voice activate screen wake up
- Moonliteâ„¢ Night Vision Boost for in-color night images
- 3X digital zoom
- Wall mount hardware
- Remote camera
Electromagnetic Field (EMF) Levels
The average EMF emissions for the Pixel during our testing was 2.6 V/m at a distance of 6 feet from the reader. This level is higher than all of the wi-fi options and slightly higher than most of the dedicated options. While the level that reaches your baby can be less by moving the unit further from your baby, the camera can only be so far before it becomes virtually ineffective. The parent unit emits 2.71 V/m at a distance of 3 feet, the average space between a sleeping parent's head and a bedside night table.
Manufacturer Video
— Juliet Spurrier, MD & Wendy Schmitz