Infant Optics Baby Monitor

**April 2017 Update** We've used this camera consistently now for over a year. By "consistently" I mean that it is used at every nap and during the night, every single day. Often times we forget to turn the camera off following a nap. I would estimate that the camera is in the "on" position for approximately 15 hours a day. Every day. No exceptions (yes, we travel with it). We've easily put over 5,500 hours of use on this monitor. Since my last review update I have mounted the camera on the wall. Mounting is a very simple task that requires a small screw and a drill. No need to worry about finding a stud in the wall to mount to, the camera is extremely light and will not over stress your drywall. I have accidentally knocked the camera off its wall mount a couple of times, each time thinking I must have broken the unit. Not so. The camera seems to survive a 5 foot drop just fine. Regarding the display monitor, I notice no change in the image quality after a year. Since the camera is used for monitoring during sleep time almost exclusively the display is always in the night vision mode. Shockingly, the battery life does not seem to have slipped. Based on our routine use, the monitor usually begins to beep at us (low battery warning) at about the same time every night, usually just before we're heading to bed ourselves. For there not to be one degree of performance drop off after a year of perpetual use and a few drops of the camera, I am truly amazed. Very glad we went with this brand. **June 2016 Update** After owning this camera for about 4 months now, I'm standing by my 5 star rating. There are a few things that we've noticed that I though I'd pass along in a review update. First, when using our phones on wi-fi near the monitor, we get some feedback noise. I'm sure this could be fixed by changing the network channel, but I'm too lazy. Second, I am starting to question the accuracy of the temperature reading, but again, too lazy to conduct any tests to prove it out. Third, I really wish the monitor would provide the time. There is definitely room for it at the top of the screen. Fourth, putting a small bit of electrical tape over the green light on the camera is a smart move. While the light is subtle, I think it provided something to distract the baby with. This monitor has been in use for more than 16 hours a day, every day for almost four months. I've been impressed with it's durability. It continues to be one of the better baby safety purchases we've made. There are SO many reviews of various baby monitors out there. It was overwhelming reading all of them. Of course, different reviewers have different standards and particular things that are important to them. As I read through them all to try to get a sense of what was going to be important to me, I found myself getting more uncertain with each review I read. All the while, we were still without a monitor. I came to the conclusion that we just had to jump in, buy one and see how it worked. It seemed that none are perfect and every single one has at least several people shredding the product, while others absolutely love it. So far, after about a month, the Infant Optics is great. Maybe I had low expectations going in? The worst thing I can say about it is that you have to hold the off button down for the monitor to power down. Hardly a negative point. The night vision is clear, the volume of the microphone is good. In short, this does what you want it to do. Is the monitor high resolution HD? No. Do you need it to be? No. The picture is clear, no issues with reception. We have several brick walls in our house, this has no problem with signal. The cord on the video camera is long enough to accommodate any distance from where we have plugs placed. We generally keep the video monitor plugged in, so I can't comment too much on the battery life of that device. Though it has certainly gone a full day on a single charge with moderate use, with gas left in the tank on the charge. I've not noticed any sound from the camera unit when it pans and tilts. After having a lot of anxiety over choosing the right monitor, I'm glad we went with this one.

Update 01/24/2020: This monitor is still in use and working great, updated my review to 5 stars! :) 01/23/2015: We bought this baby monitor (along with the wide angle lens and an add-on camera to put in our other child's room) about 7 months ago. It was very easy to set up, picture and sound quality are great. Night vision is great too. Previously (for our first child) we just used the sound-only monitor, which was sufficient, but I really enjoy that this monitor does not make any of the static noise that the other one did (in addition to actually being able to peek in on the baby without having to go into the room). Also, I love that it shows the temperature in the room. Two things that happened that have caused me to give this product 4 stars rather than 5. First, the add-on camera would not pair with the display unit, it was defective right off the bat. So we returned it for a refund and have not replaced it yet; was waiting to see how the rest of the system held up before putting any more money into it. The second was, after 6 months of use, the display unit quit charging altogether. It was still working because it was fully charged before it quit being able to be charged. But as the battery began to drain, we plugged the charging cable into it, and nothing would happen, no recharging signal would show. Nothing appeared to be wrong with the display unit (like other reviewers have noted)....the charging outlet was still intact, there were no rattling noises, nothing of that nature, it just wouldn't charge. So I contacted Infant Optics customer service about my problem, and Mae (also mentioned in a lot of other reviews) returned my message and helped me get our display unit replaced. She was very pleasant to work with and the whole transaction was simple and fast. I really want to love this product because when it's working, it's great. I am just not sure how it will hold up over time. I didn't read ALL of the reviews prior to purchasing the product, and after I began having problems, then I went through and read a lot more of them, focusing on the negative ones, and it seems that the issue with the display unit's charging port is a common one that has been happening for a few years now. So, I am not sure my replacement will hold up either. If it does, I will be more than happy to update my review with the good news. I just think it's bizarre that my old crappy cheap monitor (that makes loud static noise if it's not in a good spot) has held up for going on 5 years now, but the two WAY more expensive monitors I have used were defective and quit working within 6 months of use. I should note, this is the second expensive baby monitor we have invested in; the first one we got 5 years ago, while not as expensive as this one, also quit working within 6 months of use. We just threw that one in the trash and stuck with the cheap sound-only monitor until we had our second baby when I figured I'd get a better monitor this time around. With this monitor, customer service was wonderful in fixing the issue, and is the reason why I still rate the product highly. Thank you Infant Optics!

This is the first Amazon review I've written, which is a shame because I'm a bit Amazon-obsessed. I'm writing this review though, because of recent experiences, it's well worth it. I've had my DXR-8 for 14 months now and really really love it. We bought it the month before our baby was born and have been using it ever since. We use it all the time, including when we travel. I have ours mounted on a screw right above the middle of her crib, looking down with the cord securely mounted above. I plan on moving it to a corner of the room when she gets a little older and switch to the wide-view lens. PROS: * The picture is really crisp and clear. * I can zoom in enough to actually see my baby breathing (ever so slightly...but enough to make me relax). * I love how I can pan around the space. Babies can move around a lot in the crib and I appreciate being able to move when she moves. Panning around the space is smooth and intuitive. * The range on the monitor is great - I can be in the front or back of the house and still be within range. * Although it might run a little high, I do like the temperature gauge; especially living in MN where temperatures can get extreme. * I like how I can see at a visually how loud the sound is. At times, our baby would mumble to herself getting comfortable to sleep and since we keep the volume off (all of the little noises would drive me crazy), seeing at a glance whether or not she was in distress was a must. * CONS: * Sometimes it goes out of range for no obvious reason (20 feet away from the baby's room), but it always comes back fairly quickly. I could turn off the notification if I was annoyed enough. * The mini-USB port broke after 14 months of use (2 months after the warranty). THIS is the reason I was prompted to write a review. Suddenly one day, we couldn't plug in the monitor and therefore, we couldn't get it to charge. The whole system then was essentially useless without a working monitor. You can buy a replacement monitor for $110...but we could get a different baby monitor for that price + I wasn't willing to do that time and time again after 1 year of use. I came back to Amazon and it turns out there are a lot of reviews of the DXR-8 talking about this exact issue. The good news is that I called customer service and even though I'm slightly outside of the warranty, they said I had a "defective monitor" and they would be sending me a replacement. That made my day. It sounds like the engineers have fixed the problem now, though, so hopefully this is an issue that won't impact any new purchases. That is why I ultimately gave it 5 stars -- I spent 2+ hours researching a potential replacement and I did not see a monitor that would have satisfied our needs the way this one did!

Update: (6/11/21) We have reached the 28 month mark of having this baby monitor and it has officially gotten to the point of having to buy a new monitor. The charging port on the monitor has been giving us issues for about two months now. I've been having to use a hair tie to keep the cable at just the right angle or it won't charge and finally as of yesterday even with two hair ties and lots of fiddling I could only get it to charge with one specific cable at just the right angle. (I know it's not the cables because I have charged other devices with those cables just fine.) We got the new monitor in today and it paired with the old camera just fine. The new one has a different charging port (not USB) so hopefully this one won't end up with the same problem that the last one had. Overall I would still highly recommend this monitor. It took a lot of abuse in the 28 months we used it and the monitor itself never got any cracks or visible damage the only issue was the charging port which will hopefully be resolved with the change that they made. I've included pictures of the old monitor and the new one so you can see how well the case has done over the 28 months of use. We have been using this monitor for fifteen months at this point and it is still going strong the only issue that I’ve had so far has been that the original rechargeable battery stopped holding a charge about a month ago. The good news is if this happens to you, you can replace the battery for a grand total of twelve dollars and some change after taxes. So, let’s get into it. Why do I and so many others love this baby monitor so much? Pros: Video Quality The video quality on this monitor is amazing, both the night and daytime are high enough quality that if I focus in on my son’s stomach I can see him breathing while he sleeps even with the camera about a foot above the rail of his crib. The fact that the night vision quality is so good was a huge plus for me because the majority of the monitors use was and still is for when he’s sleeping which means the lights are off and it’s dark in his room. Signal Range The signal range is great. We have a two-story house and the master bedroom is on the ground floor while the other bedrooms are upstairs. This means that the camera is always upstairs while most of the time the monitor is downstairs. Our master is on the opposite corner of the house from our son’s room and we don’t lose signal when in the bedroom. Temperature Sensor With a two-story house the battle to keep the downstairs and the upstairs equally comfortable feels never ending. During the winter trying to keep the downstairs warm enough that we weren’t piled under blankets all day occasionally meant that the upstairs got a little warmer than intended. Being able to glance over at the monitor and see that it was getting warmer in our son’s room than would be comfortable even while we were downstairs meant we knew when to go upstairs and turn on his fan or close his vent to keep him from getting too hot. Battery Life The monitor comes with a rechargeable battery and we usually get four to five hours before we are down to one bar and need to start charging. We do get the ten hours that they claim it gets is if the video display is turned off because that’s about the length of time it has lasted on the nights I’ve forgotten to plug it in before going to sleep which is the only time we turn off the display when the monitor is on. Durability I’m going to be perfectly honest with y’all I’m a massive klutz, the trip on a completely flat surface kind of klutz and I have the bruises on my legs to prove it. On top of that I’m also a butter fingers (there’s a reason that every smart phone I’ve ever owned has always had a durable case) I drop things a lot. Including this monitor and even on two occasions the camera itself. The monitor has been dropped on carpet, tile and hardwood, it’s been knocked off counters and tables. It has survived fifteen months of my klutziness and still works just as well today as it did when I first turned it on. The camera has been knocked off of a foldable tray table twice onto a hard wood floor while vacationing at my parents house and has been knocked off of the crib by both me and my son onto the carpet on three occasions and still works just as well as it did when first turned on. Neither the monitor nor the camera has any dents or visible damage to them. Talk Back Function This monitor lets you talk through it to whoever is in the room. Right now, we don’t really use this feature a lot unless my husband and I are trying to scare each other or be goofy. Despite living in a two-story house it’s pretty easy to just yell down and be heard by the other person plus if one of us is in the room the monitor is typically off. I do thing that as my son gets older and can communicate better we will probably make more use of this feature as it will be a great way to communicate with him without having to yell if we’re unable to get upstairs right away. Audio Quality The audio quality on this is really good. Our sound machine is across the room from the crib and we never turn it up really loud but you can still hear it after turning the volume up to only two, which is typically where it stays for us. If you have the video display turned off the sound still comes through loud and clear and they even have light indicators on the side that light up green through red when noise is detected depending on the volume level detected. Low Battery and No Signal Alarms This monitor also features an alarm that you can turn off or on that will beep if the battery is critically low or the monitor loses signal. The alarm has a high and low setting, personally I find the low setting to be more than loud enough, it’s woken me up in the middle of the night to tell me that the battery was dying when I forgot to plug it in on several occasions. Remote Pan/Tilt You can pan and tilt the camera remotely with the monitor and the range is excellent. We currently have our camera mounted to the wall about a foot above the crib at the corner and the camera can pan and tilt to cover the entire crib, so our son is never out of sight. Cons: Signal Interference One issue that I’ve noticed with this monitor is that you cannot have it next to a laptop or game controller without it losing the signal. If I’m on my laptop or playing a game I have to make sure that the monitor is on the side that is closest to my son’s room and it’s about a foot away from either electronic and the antenna is up or it constantly loses it’s signal. This is isn’t a major issue for me since the solution is as easy as never have a laptop or game controller between the camera and the monitor. Occasional Signal Loss in Master Bedroom Our master bedroom is on the first floor catty corner to our son's room so it is the farthest location in our house from the camera which also makes it the place where we tend to have the weakest signal (typically three or four bars rather than five) and the occasional loss of signal. It doesn't happen very often and is usually fixed by simply raising the antenna and moving the monitor a little further away from my cell phone, which is charging on the nightstand near it. As I noted above laptops and game controllers can have an effect on the signal so it's possible that my phone is a part of the issue but it doesn't seem to affect the monitor at other times so I do think distance is the main factor. Again, this isn't a constant problem and has always been easily solved in the past so for me it's not a deal breaker. That’s it, that’s literally the only complaints I have about this monitor and I definitely plan on buying another camera to use for the next baby we eventually have.

Excellence is in the details, and this product is _not_ excellent. It is quite good, though. Here are some notes that might help the picky consumers out there make a final decision, if this is a contender for purchase. - My absolute biggest peeve with this product is that there is no clock!!! It drives me up a wall that when the baby cries in the middle of the night, I have no idea what time it is, unless I look at another device (phone, for example). And there's room on the screen for it!! Just don't know why the designers of this product chose to leave it out!! - The picture quality is good when in night vision and very good when in color, but that requires a LOT of light to achieve. Not a huge deal, but would be nice to see color when she is just playing in her crib with the curtains open or her lamp on, or both. - The sound transmission is good, but the loud white noise coming from the unit is, to me, pretty bad. Some people may like white noise... We have an audio monitor ( Philips Avent DECT Baby Monitor with Temperature Sensor and Night Mode ) we got for our baby shower that we had used exclusively, up to the point that baby started turning by herself on the crib. Once she was turning, we decided to get a video monitor to be able to check on her if we heard noises coming from her room. Our idea was to "retire" the audio monitor and use just it for travel. But now we use the two monitors at night... We leave the DXR-8 on mute since the noise is loud, and use the Philips one just for the sound (or silence, depending on how you look at it! hehehe) - Horrible design of the (original) charging cable. Not sure if they are still packaging these "dumb" cables or not, but we had to get a replacement monitor that came with new cables with much better design...The problem with the original cables was that if you had the monitor on its little kick stand, it was very hard to charge the unit at the same time. The cable was such that it would cause the monitor to tilt over. Our solution was to either bend the cable a little to be able to keep the monitor standing or place the standing monitor on the edge of the furniture. I believe that the design of this original cable was what caused our unit to eventually stop charging due to the jack getting lose. - Very good customer service! As I mentioned, our unit started having issues charging due to the jack getting lose. This was in the beginning of July. We purchased the product in February. We had to put a rubber band around the unit to hold the cable at a very, very, very specific position so that it would charge. Comical at times, but mostly annoying... After a couple of weeks of the jack just getting worse, I contacted customer support, which was very helpful. Their process is a bit on the slow side since they seem to have a very specific protocol to follow as to ensure they figure out what replacement part they need to send, and to make sure I actually have their product and am not just trying to get a "freebie"... which is understandable. From first contacting the company, to receiving confirmation that the replacement was being shipped, there were 7 days of emails back and forth, with them answering once a day only. Not bad, but not the fastest either, especially considering they know, I suspect, about the issue with the jack getting lose due to the cable design... So, now we have a new unit AND new cables, with a different design, which does its job perfectly without interfering with the standing monitor's balance. Overall, this product is very good, but not excellent, as I said. I don't consider myself a "power user" of the product (if there is such a thing for baby monitors) but all the settings and features I've used, other than the ones I "complained" about above, seem to work fine. Nothing mind blowing, but not crap either.

UPDATE: I just wanted to add my recent experience with customer service to my review, because these folks are amazing! I had contacted the company about the parent unit no longer charging. I was wanting to purchase another parent unit but was unable to find it available for purchase here or on their website, so I contacted them to see how to place an order for one. Renee got back to me rapidly, and assisted me in troubleshooting to ensure it was the unit and not the power cable. She was able to look up our original unit and explained that it was out of warranty, which I knew. Then, she offered to send us a one-time replacement free of charge. The only hiccup was that we had to send back the defective unit before they could send out the new one (completely understandable, in my opinion). Renee did tell me that if I was able to send her the receipt with tracking information and/or a photo of the package, she might be able to get it out before they actually received it. On a Friday morning I dropped of the defective parent unit at the post office and emailed her the proof of it being mailed. By 6:30 that evening, I received an email from Renee stating that the replacement model was on its way and she was able to upgrade the shipping so it would arrive my Monday- still at no cost to me! After two years, we are still happy with this monitor- great picture and sound and it switches automatically between rooms for both of our kids. It's even easy enough that the grandparents can use it with no trouble when they babysit. We bought this to replace a Motorola video monitor that suddenly lost all sound during nap time one day after a year and a half of use. There were a few minor issues we had with that monitor so we researched and decided to purchase the Infant Optics DXR-8. We have only had it for a few months at this point, but already love it more that the first monitor we had! It seems to suffer less from interference, the stand to have it upright is much more sturdy than the other one, and we love the interchangeable lens! The fact that we can move the camera to get a better look at him if he is in the corner of the crib is very nice. The thing that really sold us was the battery life. This monitor only needs 7 hours to fully charge, as opposed to our last one, which needed a ridiculous 16 hours! The sound is perfect for us- you do get a bit of the 'white noise' sound if the volume is all the way up (which I actually prefer), but if turned down a few notches you can definitely still hear the kiddo when he makes noise and not have the background noise. The parent unit feels very sturdy and the camera is easy to position in our son's room and in the extra room when he goes to visit grandparents. We are expecting a second child this summer and plan on getting another camera so we can have them both on the same parent unit!

Okay, this is my fifth video monitor. Sixth, actually, because I replaced a Motorola one. I started with the Wi-Fi baby monitor, which my friends have liked. When I set it up it was easy but the camera wasn't very good. Also I needed a phone or some kind of device to check on the baby which didn't make any sense to me once I got it out of the box, because you want to monitor going all the time. So I returned that and I did a lot of research and ended up with the Motorola. The Motorola had a very good camera but it said pan and scan on the box and it was just a manual pan and scan. It had a temperature reading which I liked, and lullabies which is stupid. The reason the Motorola ultimately failed is the battery life And more importantly, the USB cable stopped charging that the damn thing. The connection was bad. So I returned that for another one, and that took even less time for the USB port to fail. Then I got a Summers infant wide angle camera, And the picture on that was truly craptastic. Maybe it was good for getting a wide angle of the room but you could make out almost no detail at all on the night vision. It was like watching my baby without my glasses on and I need my glasses. So finally I ordered this product and I also ordered one other video camera called easy at home. The easy at home camera was a lot cheaper; it was only $100 but it didn't have the temperature gauge which I decided I liked and there was a slight buzzing from the parent unit. That might've been solved with figuring out the interference, but then I realized I didn't need it once I opened this infant optics camera. So far I love this camera. It's got two lenses which is very cool, the pan and scan function is automated and can be controlled from the parent unit which is excellent. Before, with the Motorola, if the camera wasn't quite pointing at the baby, we would have to sneak in the room and move it and this one I can just do from the comfort of wherever I'm sitting. It's got the temperature function in the picture is very very very clear. The menu items and functions on the parent unit are very intuitive, and even better, so far it has a very excellent battery life. The Motorola, honestly, lasted about half an hour when not plugged in. This one I haven't tested to its limits but it's goes an hour or more without losing a bar. Plus, smartly, this one comes with a second charger, so you can leave two plug-ins in different places in the house where you normally will be in leave the thing plugged in all the time. The only thing that worries me about this one is it also has a USB micro charger, and that was such a disaster with the Motorola that I am wary, but hopefully this won't be a problem with this one. So I hope this was helpful for you. There are so many options out there and as parents we always want what's best for our child, but it's helpful when a product actually works and isn't garbage.

I’ve purchased this monitor and camera kit twice. I’ve purchased additional cameras stand alone. I’ve also purchased extra lenses. I’ve used the monitor for about two years. As an electrical engineer, I feel confident in saying this product has a major design flaw that if I could go back in time, I would buy a different brand. Problem #1) The primary problem is the Micro USB charging port. The internal prong is poor quality plastic and breaks easily. Once it breaks, it renders the monitor unable to charge and useless. Given the portable nature of the product, taking it from room to room in the home, it is unplugged and plugged in at least once a day, but possibly more. We used our first monitor for about eight months when it broke. The manufacturer refused to replace it (explained later). Since we had purchased additional accessories like additional cameras and wide angle lenses, we felt we had too large a larger portion of money invested in this monitor to start over from scratch. We bought a second monitor. Like the first, the exact same port broke again after about 7 months of usage in the exact same way, rendering the monitor unable to charge. The manufacturer replaced the second monitor, but not without some hassle. With respect to their customer service, it is not the most accommodating. When I contacted the manufacturer about the broken port on the first monitor, they would not replace the product even though we had only used it for about eight months when the product broke. Admittedly the item was over a year old because we had received it as baby shower gift months before our daughter was born. I guess given the nature of the product (eg baby shower gift) and that it was unused for so long, it was disappointing they wouldn’t honor the warranty. They replaced the second monitor, but it was a hassle because we had to pay for shipping and we were without a monitor for about two weeks. I bought a cheap audio only monitor from the thrift store to get us by until it was replaced. I understand that since it is a USB connector, it provides flexibility to go from charger to charger and from room to room without needing a special charger. But being that the prong is of poor quality plastic, it is a moot point in my opinion. At the very least, they could have installed a reinforced metal prong, much like those found in modern mobile phones. Even then, I’ve known phone connectors to break too. It is my personal opinion that a standard cylindrical DC input connector should have been used since they’re much more capable of being constantly plugged in and out and since this is for charging only. I am unaware of any capabilities to transfer data via the Micro USB connector and therefore don’t think it should have been used. As a side note: when we received the replacement for the second monitor. I built a junky looking case for the monitor. You can see it in the pictures I’ve included. The intent of this case is to prevent cable movement in the Micro USB port, which I guessed was the cause of the broken prong. I know it looks stupid, but so far it works. Problem #2) Poor quality control in the cameras. We bought a second camera shortly after beginning use of our first monitor. When we paired and first started to use the new camera, there were about five or six vertical lines appearing in the video feed. Switching back to the original camera confirmed the problem was not the monitor. We contacted the manufacturer and at first they didn’t believe me when I explained the problem and were kind of rude. I was eventually able to get them to replace the camera, but I still had to pay shipping to get it replaced. It basically added $10 to the purchase price of a new camera and meant waiting for several weeks for the replacement (so much for two day shipping with amazon prime). Problem #3) Rechargeable battery goes bad after about 1.5 years. As an electrical engineer, I know it is the nature of rechargeable batteries to eventually go bad and refuse to hold a charge. After getting the second monitor, we put the first’s battery in the second monitor to keep the second’s batter new and unused. It lasted about 1.5 years before refusing to hold a charge. We’ve now switched back to the second monitor’s original battery. As a side note: when they replaced the second monitor, they would not replace the battery. This meant we had a brand new monitor with a rechargeable battery that had already been used for several months. I expect the second battery to go bad after about 1.5 years like the first. Problem #4) Only one monitor can be used at a time. Even though the first’s micro USB prong broke, occasionally if I held the charging cable in just the right spot I could get the monitor to power on until I let go of the cable. After purchasing a second monitor, I attempted pair a camera to both units. Unfortunately, you can’t pair a camera to two monitors at one time. This isn’t that big of a deal I guess since it wasn’t advertised as a capability. But I could envision that purchasing a second monitor (aside from the broken port problems) would be beneficial since you wouldn’t need to carry it from room to room in your home. In summary, other than the problems listed above, I’ve been pleased with the capabilities of the unit. The color, resolution, and audio are of good quality. If I didn’t have problem #1 listed above, I would probably rank this product 3 stars out of 5. If I didn’t have problem #3 listed above, definitely a 4 out of 5. We hoped this monitor unit and cameras would last us through multiple children, but it appears to only last at most 1.5 years due to the rechargeable battery going bad and maybe even less when the Micro USB port breaks. Given that the Micro USB port is such huge problem, I can’t give this product anything but a 1 star.

Top tier product. Extremely well thought out and designed. We have had ours for 6 months or so. I did a ton of research and review reading before we chose this monitor to include separate stand-alone video cameras and monitors with separate audio monitors. Here’s a summary of the best elements and why you would do well to buy this one. My brother bought a stand alone HD 1080p video quality camera to monitor his kids. However, you must have a WiFi connection to set it up on. They also needed a separate audio monitor solution with the setup they chose. Also, they have to monitor the camera with an app, which based on our real-life experience with the DXR-8 would no longer be a consideration for us. Having a self-contained system in the DXR-8 is absolutely the simplest and best option for a number of reasons in our opinion. Firstly, it is stand alone and does not require WiFi, it communicates directly from the camera to the monitor. Also, you don’t need to have an app on your phone which is soooo nice, because you can have the monitor up and listening to audio at all times and still have your phone free for all the things you do on there. Having this self-contained system is awesome, when we go to the Lakehouse or to a hotel when traveling the DXR-8 is small and a snap to pack up and set up in the new location - no trying to get WiFi access. It is - quite simply - effortless. Also, I cannot think of a practical need for a higher-resolution monitor (screen) for monitoring your baby while they sleep or play. The primary things we watch for is 1) are they breathing, 2) how are they positioned in the crib, 3) are they sleeping or fighting going to sleep. The resolution on the DXR-8 is more than adequate for all of those things. Plus, and one of the most exceptional feature - is the zoom feature. While they do have several different lenses you can put on the camera (which is awesome), we found that the standard lense works best for us BECAUSE OF THE ZOOM OPTION! So we can set the camera on the corner of the crib with some Gorilla tape underneath it to hold it in place, or we can set it across the room and zoom in and still see everything we need to see. Then of course you can pan left and right and tilt up and down, so you can do everything you can possibly conceive of with this system. Also, and we didn’t realize this being new parents when we bought this - most of the time, and throughout the night - audio cues are primarily what you will be paying attention to. You can flip on the camera anytime, and it has settings for staying on 3min or 5min before the screen blanks, or until you click the button again to turn the image off again. Having the camera off extends the battery life. If you need to keep the audio turned off, any sounds the baby makes will still register a color scale on the left side of the screen from red (low volume sounds) to green (high volume sounds) so you can still monitor audio activity without having the volume up. My spouse and I take turns having the monitor every other night, and if our son wakes us up initially with a sound, we can turn the volume off and continue to monitor the audio level with the led register. Also you can dim the screen, we have it on full dim at night so it doesn’t completely light up our bedroom in the middle of the night if we check on him. It brightens plenty to see it outside during the daytime as well. And I could write more great details on the night mode as well as day mode. Also, the camera pan and tilt is not noisy as I had read in one review. While it may not be completely silent, it it definitely not a significant source of sound and has never had an effect on our sleeping child. And on top of all that, their customer service is absolutely top-tier. Gladys has helped us twice since we’ve had the product. We have had a battery start to have issues with not holding a charge and they rapidly got the replacement process started the same day we reached out to them. I don’t know if you’ll get Gladys, but whoever you get will be as excellent as her I’m sure. There are real people in the support department and they treat you like a person; you’re not just another number feeling like getting real support help is more theoretical then it is practical with these guys. So, highly recommmend from A to Z. Don’t think you can go wrong with this! Also you can pair up to 4 cameras to the one monitor. We just move the camera around during the day, but you could install one in the nursery, on in the living room, and wherever else you like - and switch between them all with one monitor. Hope this has helped if you’re a research nerd like I am. I had to read multiple reviews in multiple different locations to make my final decision on what to buy. Hopefully this review has been thorough enough to help you learn all you need to know about the DXR-8. Maybe it’s not what your looking for, but I would be hard-pressed to imagine any scenario where another product could serve its purpose any better. As for us, we are happy, happy campers. :)

InfantOptics is one of the best manufacturers of baby monitors. This is the second InfantOptics system I've owned, and I've been reasonably pleased with both the DXR-5 and now this DXR-8. That's not to say that they are perfect (hence, this not being a five-star review), but I believe they generally meet the needs of most parents with babies and young children around. Let's start with what this system is. The InfantOptics DXR-8 is a closed, standalone color video baby monitoring system. The default package comes with one camera and a dedicated receiver. When you unpack the system, you plug in both the camera and the receiver to pair them. This is a pretty straightforward process. If you bought additional cameras, those can be paired now or at a later time, as needed. From there, you can view a specific camera or rotate through them in a loop, spending a few seconds on each camera before moving on. The receiver UI is pretty easy to use, but there are a couple of shortcuts called out in the manual that make certain functions faster/easier than paging through the menus (e.g. changing the volume). The color reproduction is reasonable in well-lit conditions, but don't expect an HD picture. Then again, it's not like you're watching TV on this thing. You just want to be able to see whether Junior is sleeping or playing, and hopefully not climbing up the furniture. There's also a night-vision IR mode enabled by default which provides a grayscale image when it's dark. Any motion will be a bit jerky regardless, as the frame-rate isn't terribly high. The volume can get pretty loud for noisier situations, and is controlled by the receiver globally--not for each camera, which is a good thing. For those coming from the DXR-5, you may miss the "Vox" feature, where the receiver would auto-mute the audio when it was below a certain decibel. That feature is not available on the DXR-8. I found it a bit annoying at first, especially since I had the camera plugged in near a sound machine, so there was constant sound coming over the speaker. I got used to it eventually, but it's still what I would call a minor annoyance. One change in the DXR-8 line that I did appreciate was the ability to separately control the "alert" volume for events like "low battery" and "lost camera signal." The DXR-5 would emit highly alarming beeps when those events occurred, which were rather startling. The DXR-8 allows you to disable those beeps altogether, or set them to either a low or high volume level, which is much more palatable. The beeps themselves are somehow more pleasant as well and not quite as jarring. I haven't used the interchangeable lens feature of these cameras beyond playing with it a bit upon setting things up for the first time. I didn't need the included zoom lens. There is an additional wide-angle lens available for purchase, which would've been nice in my case where I had two children sharing a room, but I didn't care to spend the extra cash to purchase it. Since the cameras support panning and tilting, I just focused the camera on the child I primarily wanted to see and then just spun the camera around if I wanted to see something else. I do wish the lens supported zoom rather than needing to physically attach the desired type, but I'm sure that wasn't included in order to keep costs at a reasonable level. The DXR-8 cameras also have temperature sensors included, which is nice so you can ensure your children aren't freezing during the winter. You can view the temperature in Celsius or Fahrenheit, but switching between them is another one of those special shortcuts you'll need to know. (IIRC, you hold the "OK" button to switch temperature units.) As I said, I'm quite happy with this system and would generally recommend it to other parents. I was upgrading from the DXR-5, and I did research other options in both the "baby monitor" and "home surveillance" (e.g. Nest, Arlo, etc) categories before deciding on the DXR-8. I will also say that the InfantOptics customer service is excellent--second to none. Any time I've called them, I generally get a human that picks up within seconds. I can't ever remember waiting. I haven't needed to call often either--the systems have been very reliable overall. In one instance, my DXR-8 receiver stopped working suddenly. I was well outside the warranty period of my purchase, and the company offered me a one-time courtesy replacement free of charge! I was not expecting this when I called, even though I knew there might be a hardware issue. I appreciate a customer support team that wants to ensure their customers are totally satisfied with the product. I do want to point out a few caveats (and the reasons that I only give this four stars vs. five). First, let's talk about connectivity. The system uses a closed-loop signal that does not connect to WiFi. That's an important distinction of which potential buyers should be aware. On the one hand, that means your camera setup isn't internet-accessible, so it can't be hacked and accessed by someone halfway around the world. If anyone were to gain access (which is highly unlikely), they'd pretty much have to be sitting in your driveway. On the other hand, that means you personally need the dedicated receiver in order to see your child. Personally, I wish that InfantOptics had chosen to use WiFi as the connectivity medium so that the cameras could be accessed via PC or mobile app in addition to their dedicated receivers. Again--this is probably a cost / complexity tradeoff, so I get why they didn't. But...it would be nice. There are a few issues with the hardware. For one, the firmware on the units doesn't seem to be user upgradable, so if bugs are found after you receive the unit, there's no way to apply fixes. I've run into a few bugs with my unit (both the old DXR-5 as well as this DXR-8). There have been occasions where the system froze and needed to be recycled (e.g. battery pulled). There've also been times when the receiver wouldn't turn on while being plugged in, and needed to be unplugged before starting up. Weird stuff like that. Nothing that would be a deal-breaker by any means, but definitely things that probably got fixed by the firmware team at InfantOptics and I would've loved to install. The receiver also feels a bit sluggish when switching cameras or navigating through menus, etc. I don't know whether that's a software performance problem or just limitations of the hardware. Again--it doesn't really bother me, but is just something to be aware of. In terms of power, the DXR-8 cameras use a round, semi-proprietary connector. If you bought the system prior to 2019, the receiver used a Micro-USB cable for its power, which was fairly nice, because many people have plenty of Micro-USB cables lying around. In 2019, InfantOptics changed the receiver to also use the round connector. I really don't understand this, given the recent spread of USB-C as the universal standard for charging and connectivity. In my opinion, moving everything to USB-C is a no-brainer. Overall, there are few minor annoyances: the UX isn't as polished/refined as it could be, there's no zoom option beyond manually swapping lenses, there's no auto-mute option for audio, and there's no internet connectivity (which may be a plus, depending on your perspective). In conclusion, the DXR-8 system is very good, but might not be for everyone. I hope this review will help you make the right purchase. I can't imagine anyone being unhappy with the InfantOptics system, but just be aware of the limitations. Happy monitoring!