Reviews

This unit works OK with older TrendNet IP cameras, but is not compatible with their newer cameras using 802.11N wireless and/or newer web server firmware, such as the TV-IP512WM. According to their support people, there is no plan to upgrade the TV-M7 for comatibiity. Also, it does not appear to be able to control the camera steering on a camera such as the TV-IP422W. Altogether, a disappointing purchase.

Reviews

I researched and researched before purchasing this monitor, and I thought the pros seemed to outweigh the cons with this one, but I was wrong. I really wanted a digital monitor to reduce interference (there are a lot of baby monitors in nearby houses and our old video monitor was pure static), and one that would auto-scan between multiple cameras as I have two small children. After charging the monitor, I was pleased with the picture and sound quality, and that there seemed to be no interference at all. However, when I actually used the monitor on my children, I experienced the MAJOR problem: the auto shut off feature for the sound. I was warned about this from other reviews, but I thought I could deal with not hearing the very small noises. The first time I used it was during my 3 month old daughter's nap. I placed the camera about four feet away from her and set it on the highest sensitivity. I heard her crying from across my 1800 sq foot house and the monitor did not pick it up. Later, I tried this monitor out on my two year old son. I entered his room after an hour to find him awake and playing with toys, and the monitor never once went out of auto shutoff mode! So not only does this monitor not pick up small sounds, it doesn't pick up much at all. Needless to say, I sent it back the next day. Still looking for the perfect monitor.

Ok, first the disclosure; I don't own this product yet. I'm just like you... researching and trying to decide which baby monitor is the best. I've come to a conclusion, and I'm posting this simply with the hope that you might not have to spend 5 hours of your life doing what I just did. In other words, hours ago I wish I could have read someone's "Summary of User Reviews". So, if it helps, great. If it doesn't, sorry... just trying to help. After reading dozens and dozens of reviews at various websites (including Amazon) I've decided that this Lorex baby monitor (model Lw2002 in either white or black; thus model Lw2002W or Lw2002B) is the best monitor out there for several reasons. However, as we'll see, it's not perfect. First, the good news. PROS: 1. Very clear daylight picture. 2. Clear sound. 3. Infrared "Night" vision or dark mode that is quite clear. 4. Motion and/or sound detection triggering an audible alarm/beep/video image at the monitor. 5. Security of signal frequency hopping digital transmission. (So the neighbor's baby monitor can't see or hear your baby.) 6. Because of the signal's digital frequency hopping (1000 times per second) the device is very unlikely to interfere with, or suffer from interference from, your wireless router, cordless phones, microwave oven, etc. 7. Support for up to 4 cameras; all can be viewed on the same handheld monitor. 8. Auto-switching mode, for switching between multiple cameras (if you have more than one) every few seconds. 9. Remotely controllable (from the handheld monitor) night-light. 10. Ability to output video to a TV or video recorder. (e.g. set it up as a picture-in-picture while you're watching your favorite TV program.) 11. Ease of setup. (Simply plug it into your house power outlet - or charge and use the batteries - and you're done.) 12. Reasonably low price. Now the bad news. Although the majority of users find the product usable, and many find it ideal, the following areas are the 4 most consistently repeated of the complaints voiced by users in the countless reviews I've read. If you can live with these few product deficiencies, then this very well may be the best baby monitor for you too. CONS: 1. Automute: By far, the number one complaint that people have is that they cannot set the sound to stay on all the time. The monitor will silence itself (mute sound and turn off the screen) if there isn't any "significant" audio or motion coming from the baby's room after a certain period of time (e.g. 10 seconds) but will of course turn on again if there is a "significant" sound or motion such as a baby talking, crying or moving. Again, this feature can't be disabled. However, to the manufacturer's credit this sensitivity is adjustable, and apparently, the device will still flash red lights (from one to several - depending on the intensity of the sound) as sounds are detected, even when the monitor is muted. The device designer's idea, as stated by them, is to allow the parents to sleep without the white noise "hiss" that would exist with constant reproduction of a "quiet" room's sound. But many people find the sensitivity adjustment to be insufficient and wish that they could set the monitor to relay sound or picture ALL the time. (At the very least sound.) In fact, many feel that the suddenness of the device turning on and relaying sounds is more alarming than the constant "hiss" and/or noise of the child would be. As a result, these people find this muting "feature" to be disturbing and would clearly prefer to hear every sound and rely on their own brain to detect abnormalities in the child's environment or breathing, etc. For some, they work around this by using another traditional sound only baby monitor to listen to the child, then, if they hear something unusual, they grab the Lorex monitor and turn it on to see what the child is up to. Not so elegant, but it works. It's worth noting that this issue, which many consider to be a key design flaw, would be an extremely easy fix for Lorex to implement; simply add a "sound always on" and "video always on" setting to the setup screen. Hey Lorex, how about a firmware update!? 2. Beeping Upon Button Use: The handheld monitor beeps "loudly" every time you press any button when using it. This annoys a number of people because it wakes their sleeping spouse next to them during the night when they are using the baby monitor to check on the child. This could be easily fixed by Lorex by implementing a mute, or volume setting in the monitor's setup screen. Hey Lorex, how about a firmware update!? 3. Bad Button Placement: The relative ease with which certain buttons (e.g. specifically the power on/off button) can be inadvertently pressed. Some people complain that the buttons are just placed poorly, and shouldn't be put where they're easily and accidently pressed when picking up the device. 4. Battery Life: Although both the camera, and the handheld monitor come with plug-in AC power adapters, many people feel that the device (particularly the handheld monitor) is short on battery life. They feel that the 2.5 to 3 hours of run time (approximately) is insufficient. Personally, I feel it's on par with such a power hungry video wireless device. Of course this isn't as easy of a fix as the first two issues (which would only require a firmware update), but of course this too could be remedied by the addition of a larger more powerful lithium ion rechargeable battery. (It should be noted that the use of batteries in the camera, particularly during the dark when the camera's infrared lights will automatically turn on, is also very short. But for some reason, people intuitively seem to understand that the camera needs to be plugged in, and so they don't complain about this. Not so for the handheld monitor; instead, people think the battery in the handheld monitor should last as long as the other handheld device they use daily... specifically, their cell phone's battery... and who knows, maybe they're right.) Conclusion: Ok, now I'm placing my order. I'll try to post a useful update if I find anything noteworthy to add.

I bought the Lorex LW2002W after doing a lot of research. Read many reviews. I thought I could tolerate all the minuses the other reviewers listed... I couldn't! All those design flows turned out to be major inconveniences/annoyances, making this otherwise technologically sound product unusable. I used it for a month, couldn't stand it anymore. Had to return. Pros: Digital "spread" signal : no interference with wireless internet, no security problems. CONS: -Signal is not strong enough for a basic 3 bedroom apartment on one floor in wooden house. The signal indicator is a gimmick: goes from full strength to low or no signal in a moment. -On-Off button: Horrible placement - no matter how careful I handled the receiver it shuts off. And when you turn it back on again it emits loud beeps (even if you previously mute the volume) The result is at night you end up waking up everybody. ( Also imagine: you hear the baby's noise, grab the receiver to see what's going on, and this thing just shuts off!) -Receiver's connection to the charging cradle is designed very poorly. You have to put down the receiver very carefully - otherwise it is not charging. And after a couple of weeks the wire contacts in the base got bent, so there was no charging at all. Those hair-wire contacts are very fragile. - The camera stand design is very bad. No matter how you twist it it is next to impossible to aim the camera at the proper angle. Also attaching the camera is a major hassle: The base is too thick to use any clips. Screwing it to the wall does not give good aiming in my case. Tried to attach it to a small piece of plywood... C'mon, this is nonsense for $150 hi tech product. -Both chargers have very short cords. This is a major problem for camera: Extension cord is too heavy and pulls the camera off-angle. -Battery saving mode is very poorly designed and cannot be override: The unit turns on when detecting movement, but then turns off again no matter if there is more "action". -when using the camera with AA batteries: the battery life is very poor and there is no warning of "low battery power". Also cannot be used in low light while battery powered. -Some smaller issues: -The light-on button is poorly placed-will accidently switch on-off all the time. -The receiver's center of gravity is too high, so one has to be very careful when standing the unit down - it flips very easily. -The color is a joke- the picture is mostly the same as black-and-white. So the bottom line : the Cons make this unit a pain-in-the-neck. I returned it and am getting ZOpid instead.-They seemed to just put in a new firmware, which takes care of most negative reviews issues. Hope it will be better.

After spending hundreds of dollars on various different baby video montitors and systems, I eventually landed on the Lorex. Right out of the box, it was very easy to set up and was much more solid in terms of build quality compared to the other plastic toy-like monitors out there that are horrible. I had it working in about 3 minutes after quickly glancing at the instructions (I also purchased a 2nd monitor system to go with). It works great, however is not perfect. I was impressed in that it's quiet and you really do not get any interference and I have not noticed any issues with losing internet connection, which I had on previous models. I've come to the realization that no company out there knows how to build a quality baby monitor without having it's issues.... this still remains my #1 ranking, however..... - Battery life is horrible and you will need to keep it int he cradle often. Just taking it downstairs to have dinner with my wife, I wondered if the battery would run out and don't believe they give you an option to put in AA's either - this should be improved in a future model for sure. - Navigation of the handheld unit is a bit weird and not the most user friendly, though it's not that complicated. It's annoying that every time you press a button to activate a camera or do anything the unit beeps with every press you make.... this is especially stupid considering I could not lie in bed next to my wife and check on the babies without waking her up with all the beeps of the unit - this is pretty stupid and my biggest issue with the product I think. Why on earth would they not give you the option to make it completely silent if you want to??? Night vision works great, decent sound quality (not the best), and does what it's supposed to do without frequency sounds, and buzzing, etc. I do recommend the unit, however realize none of these little things are perfect including this one.

We received this monitor from my sister-in-law as a gift. We had registered for a plain old audio monitor, but she said "You WANT this monitor!" She was right! It's great! Pros: -above all, the night vision is perfect. It's like you're looking at the baby in broad daylight (except it's in B&W) -the day vision is great too -the screen size is great, not too big, not too small -the monitor/receiver is a great size and weight. You can clip it on your belt or stand it up on a flat surface -the camera is nice- you can adjust it in many different directions, put batteries in it or even mount it. It seems like it would be unstable, but it stays up very well. -the night light feature doesn't seem like much, but when it's pitch dark in a room, it lights up quite a bit -it's nice that it turns the sound off so there's no "white noise hum" especially since we keep a white noise machine in his room -if you turn the volume all of the way down, you still have the meter on the top that lights up if there's noise Cons: -the controls are anything but intuitive, but once you figure it out, it's ok -there is no battery meter telling you how much battery is left- annoying -the monitor makes this loud beep when you turn it on- also annoying and you have to make sure you're well out of earshot of the little one before you turn it on -if you leave the monitor on, it only lasts about 3 hours which I guess is ok You can also hook it up to your TV, but we haven't done that yet. We really like this monitor overall. It's great to watch and listen to your baby and easy to carry around the house- not much bigger than a portable phone. We love it so much we're buying one for my best friend for her baby.

Reviews

I bought this camera because it stated you can use a 9 volt battery. After installing it and being excited with good range and good quality picture, I was diappointed that the battery died in 4 hours. I replaced the battery thinking I had an old 9 volt and it died again! I emailed the company and they stated that it was functioning as designed and the battery life was only for a maximum of four hours. Because I did not want to drill a hole through my brick exterior to have the AC adaptor plugged inside (I was using this as a front entrance camera), I had to return the camera. If you have an easy means to plug in the AC adaptor, I would recommend the camera. It was small and discreet and the picture quality was fairly good.

This outdoor camera was not as useful as I expected. The image is not of the best quality and in trying to mount and adjust it, the antenna which is just a piece of very thin plastic coated wire, broke off. While trying to adjust the camera on the "base", it came loose from the base and I couldn't get it back together. It would be good for a front or back door entrance with lighting, but not that great in unlighted areas. It is also a decent camera for monitoring a sleeping baby or child. The signal for sudden sound seems to work fine and can be adjusted. On the positive side, I did contact the company about my problems with the antenna and the base and they sent me a new camera at no charge so I would rate the customer service as great.

While my husband was ill with dementia he needed constant supervision. As I also needed to take care of our home and myself I had great peace of mind knowing that I could keep the hand held moniter with me at all times so I always knew how he was doing. I highley recomend the Defender Phoenix 1, wireless video camera.

I wanted this for trying to catch our neighbors doing things in our yard but it is worthless at night. It has a light that pitifully tries to capture night vision but if it is more than a few feet out, don't count on seeing it. Although it wasn't its intended use... we use it now in our back yard to watch the kids playing and making sure they aren't getting into too much trouble. We have alot of issues with interference, we have alot of electronics in the house but no more than others. it would be nice to have a stand for it because instead of mounting the camera, we move it around depending on what room we are in so we can see the kids. Some of the baby monitors I have seen do a better job of what we are using it for.

I've had this for about a month now. Setup was easy enough and worked great at first. Now we just started the Winter season, with rain that turns to snow and then back to rain again. The camera got foggy a few times. I unpluged the camara for about a half hour and it seemed to help clear it up...but have to do this every once in a while. So be aware the weather does seem to effect the camera. I'm going to keep this unit, because I can put up with the short falls of it. I use it to view my driveway from my living room, so I can see any vistors arriving before the doorbell rings. I would recommend this to others, but want them to know the camara is effected by wet weather. Thank you

Reviews

It's a baby webcam that you can watch and control from your computer, consisting of a camera and a USB dongle that needs to stays plugged into your computer. By simply installing the software on my computer you can see your baby and set the camera to record and/or e-mail you when movement is detected, what a great idea! You can password protect your camera feed which is helpful and is a great feeling to know the video is protected, while still allowing friends/family to watch. This setup is so affordable, keep in mind you could use it as a nanny camera, too. I would recommend this to everyone its a must have!

the marketing images for this product are misleading. the images would have you believe you would have a high-definition video of your child, even in the dark with its so-called "night-vision" capacity. this is false. even with most optimal brightness/contrast settings, you still have a gray, fuzzy image. i can see my child sleeping, but she is a sequence of blobs that only a mother could recognize. and forget night-vision--there is only a dark screen. so, it is virtually worthless as a baby video monitor.

Reviews

I am very happy with the system and it has provided us with reliable 24 hour service that we could not otherwise afford. It gives us peace of mind and security in knowing that help is always available if needed.

Reviews

The first monitor stopped working after one day, contacted company and without hesitation, sent a new one. It seems to be working fine.

After a lot of research and reading customer reviews I chose this one. It arrived ahead of estimated time and would of been a snap to install but I have a Cadillac CTS with a full liner in the trunk lid and a double walled lid to drill the half inch through and as per the instructions I was careful to make sure I avoided wiring but not careful enough. After repairing the damaged wiring (my fault) the rest was simple. The unit is very complete and works great! cts

I've been using this camera for a couple weeks or more now. This system consist of three main parts. The LCD screen, The wireless transmitter, and the camera (with extra long cable built-in) Everything needed to set it up is included. The camera's resolution seems good as well as the resolution of the lcd screen. The LCD screen is handy since it has a mono speaker built in to be used with another video source. The screen is a little hard to see in bright sun / heavy glare but not too bad. The wire for the camera is a very good length and connects to the transmitter with a 3 pin connector (not RCA). The transmitter has a another 2 pin connector to attach to the power wire which has to be spliced into the reverse light. The LCD screen has two inputs, the first being the wireless transmission, and the second being the video + audio input via an included wire. The LCD screen automatically detects the transmitter when the transmitter begins transmitting. The LCD screen can automatically switch to the transmitter's backup camera and will automatically go into a power saver mode when no signals are detected ( GREAT features! ) The biggest problem I've seen is that this wireless transmitter actually interferes with other devices that handle wireless. The first couple of days of using it, my wireless network "coincidentally" started failing, it turns out it was the transmitter from this camera system. I suspect any 2.4GHz wireless device (including bluetooth?) will be interfered with when the transmitter is activated. The wireless transmitter was about 30 feet away and behind many walls but it still caused interference. The system is good, but imagine if everyone had wireless devices that randomly interfere with the 2.4 GHz, no wifi (and bluetooth?) would be reliable. As a side note, I was able to convert the transmitter to include a RCA input so that I could use the LCD screen (with an attached 12v battery pack that I put together and is not included) wirelessly with any video source (no wireless audio though), However, the interference becomes a bigger issue since you may want to use it frequently.

Solves the problem of hooking to trailer- works like a charm. Not difficult to install on my 05 Tundra. Transmitter needs to be in trunk- I have a fiberglass cover on the bed, so this works fine, otherwise, wires would have to be cut and legenthened to install the transmitter in the cab.

I installed thr backup camera on a 2001 Ford Ranger super cab for hitching a bass boat trailer on. I put the transmitter inside of the bed, behind the tail light housing in a protected area, and tie wrapped it on the bed brace. The install was staight forward with no surprises.I mounted the monitor on the center of the floor and permanatley wired the harness to the fuse panel. Am very satisfied with the performance, especially the cost. Have purchased items from Amazon previously and give them an A+ and UPS has delivered items before the scheduled arrival date. One bad factor, the monitor tries to light up on accasion. Talked to Ken at tech support. The receiver frequency is very close to security devices. Ken states that by pulling into a bank, the monitor get a picture. Would I buy again, yes, has a very good picture. Just have to turn it off when not in use.

Reviews

To start off with this product did what I expected. I did call tech support and they explained that this is designed to transmit on an average of 15 feet; basically it is designed for cars and SUV's. Something about the FCC and the legal range. I have an F250 and I was worried about the last two reviews. It made sense that it would not work in a bus or trailer, it's not made for that. Install was easy, the included Scotchloks worked fine. Yes the wire was a bit thin but they included the red ones for small wire, I just doubled up the camera power wires. My kit included a long lead to power the monitor in case of interference and the Tech explained that in some areas there is more then other. I had a VR3 product before and they wanted $19.95 for the same lead. The camera is also metal, my VR3 camera cracked in a few months. They also included special anti theft screws so no-one can just take the camera. The monitor has a swivel base so I mounted it next to my rear view mirror. Ran the power wires to the fuse box and I was done. I do not get the flickering, but every now and then I can see someone else's camera from a house or security camera. I had this with the VR3 piece too. I am guessing if it was 5.8Mghz it would see other 5.8 stuff too ??? The camera had a much better viewing angle then the other and the night vision helps a lot too because the back up lights on my truck are useless. I can also see my hitch with no problem at all. There is a little static but not bad. We put one in a 4Runner and that one works great. For the price I am happy with it.

This is 100% junk, Tryed it in a bus....all snow.....tryed in it in the truck, hey look snow with a picture. The thing can't seem to get a signal worth anything to look at on the screen. Called tech support and boy what a waste of time that was. I dont think the guy on the other end had even seen the product.

First off, let me say I never got this system to work. The camera hookup is supposed to use the included a vampire taps to get power and ground off the reverse light without any soldering or wire cutting. Just one problem, the wiring on the camera is WAY to thin to work with the vampire tap included. Instead of piercing the shielding and making an electrical connection, it just pinches the insulation and never goes completely through. This is just poor design on Audiovox's part and shows they don't test their final products. It's a shame. The TV and camera operate on 2.4Ghz. Never did get the camera to fire up, but the TV already picks up ALOT of flickers of static in my driveway and while driving around the neighborhood. I can imagine it would be very difficult to see what was going on with as much static as there is. 5.8Ghz would have been a much better solution. I don't want to hack apart my truck's OEM wiring for an accessory that might not last a year so this one is definately going back.