GD Star Rating
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Digital Baby & Child Monitor
Available from www.boardbug.com £79.99
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About the reviewer: Father
Short Title: not bad
Review:
It’s not a bad product but it could do with some improvements like directional arrows so you can be pin pointed to the other unit. They should also take the manufacturing process to Japan! My watch fell to bits within half an hour of opening it, so I am sending it back, whether for a replacement or refund I haven’t decided yet
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About the reviewer: mum to one
Short Title: Very disappointing
Review:
It is just possible that I received a faulty model. I am not convinced of this however and blame the design. I found even the time keeping function unreliable as the watch lost its settings twice in the 7 days we kept the unit. Using this device in place of a baby monitor you do not get to hear the small noises your child makes. You will be alerted once the noise level is equal to a full blown yell. In my size of house you can hear that through the walls!
It is possible to set the length of time a child cries before a repeat alert is sounded – but the only way to vary the threshold level of sound is to move the device closer to the child. I had presumed I could put the child unit on my daughter’s wrist as illustrated however this is not acceptable in a young baby – the unit must be kept out of their reach.
The toddler functions are possibly more useful and this is where the product is unique. My personal feeling is that I found it fiddly and trying to adjust settings and silence an alert would take my eyes off my child at a critical moment. I returned mine for a refund.
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About the reviewer: Mother of toddler, baby and expecting
Short Title: must have for mums of active toddlers
Overall Verdict: A great gadget that does a brilliant job
Best Feature: The sense of reassurance it provides
Worst Feature: There isn’t one
Tested for: 1 month
Review:
The boardbug is a simple device basically like a watch, but can be taken out of the strap and popped into a bag or pocket. You wear one unit and your toddler wears another. It comes with full instructions but basically it has two modes (toddler and baby) and in toddler mode you can set the range, so if you know that your toddler is safe (ie in a large room), you can set mid range or far. If you want your toddler within 5 metres of you, say in a crowded shop, you can set the range to near.
You can easily and quickly change the range to adapt to the circumstances simply by pressing a few buttons on your unit. There is also a panic mode on both units, so that if you need to call or alert your toddler you can use your panic mode and his/her unit will beep and lights flash so they will know that you want them to return to you. They also have a panic button on their unit, however as my little boy is only 2 he did find the button hard to press, so this may be more useful for an older toddler.
There is a tamper mode which can be set so that if the child unit is taken off (the strap is unclipped) an alarm will sound on the parent unit so you know that the child is without their unit. The parent unit not only has an alarm which is a high pitched beep, but it also vibrates, so if it is on your wrist or in your pocket, it is easily felt even if you are in a noisy environment and wouldn’t hear the beep itself. My little boy loved wearing his watch out and about and was quite happy to have it on, although if your child won’t wear it, it can be easily clipped to an item of clothing or an inside pocket.
The second mode on the unit is baby mode, and again it is simple to switch from one mode to another simply by pressing a few buttons. This is intended to replace the need for a monitor and has a temperature sensor and a sound sensor, therefore alerting you if the room is too hot/cold or if the baby is making noise. Either of these can be turned off, so in the summer if you know it is going to be hot, you can disable it to prevent the alarm disturbing you. The only difference between this and a plug in monitor is that you can’t actually hear the baby and for those who like to press their ear to the monitor to check that the baby is breathing this may result in a few trips upstairs to listen in! If, like me, you are not too bothered about hearing every little sound or murmur, you find you still get a reassuring but slightly more restful evening.
The alarms can be put on snooze, so if you can see your toddler when out of range, or know that your baby is dreaming loudly, you can snooze the alarm and it will only go off again if the toddler does not return to within the range or the noise from your baby continues.
Finally the parent unit has a watch function, so you can do away with wearing your own watch and still keep your eye on the time. Although not the most stylish item in the world, it is quite modern and didn’t look too out of place when worn on the wrist. The unit is more bulky than a standard ladies watch, but not so bulky that it was uncomfortable to wear.
This would have been ideal for me even before I had the baby as my little boy is constantly escaping wherever we are and I only have to turn my back and he is off. Any door he sees, he wants to go through and in places where you can’t always see your child, such as large play areas or even in a friend’s house it is ideal to know that your child is within range. There have been instances in other homes where he will go out of the front door, even my own if left unlocked for a minute, and where he has wandered out of play areas. It is more difficult to keep an eye on a toddler if you have a small baby but with the unit I was alerted when my toddler left the specified range, which then gave me the chance to see where he was and get him if necessary.
I found this ideal if the baby fell asleep in the buggy and had to be left in another room, or in my mums, where she keeps doors closed to make sure her cats can’t get into certain rooms, so I would not be able to hear the baby cry when he woke up. I simply set the unit to baby mode and left the other unit in with the baby. We were not then straining to hear if he was crying as we were simply alerted when he woke up and cried.
Although we didn’t try it, you can also add bugs to the parent unit so if you have two toddlers you can use a unit for each of them. From what I remember about my son learning to walk, I think this is a fantastic idea as it is likely that they will both be running off in opposite directions at the same time!
The bugs can be easily turned off so if you drop your child off at preschool and realise that he/she is still wearing their unit you can switch it off from your unit so your alarm wont be going off all the time. They can also be switched back on from your unit so you have full control and can still use the watch function even if not with your child without the alarm going off.
If everything goes to plan, I will have 3 children under 3 in ten weeks time and this product will be a godsend to me. At
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