The Minutiae of 2 Monitors: Motorola MBP36 & Summer Infant Touch, Motorola Digital Video Baby Monitor with 3.5 Inch Color LCD Screen Summer Infant Baby Touch Digital Color Video Monitor This review discusses the minutiae, good and bad, of both monitors. (Same review under both products). Summary: Motorola: 4 stars, SI: 4.5 stars. Both monitors are great and fit the bill for a pan/tilt monitor. It's the little details and personal preference that will determine the best monitor for you. FYI, we come from a history of owning the Summer Infant BestView-pre2011. We would have just added a 2nd camera to our unit if it were still available. Where applicable, we noted where SI has improved some things from the BestView to the Touch.
Both monitors have a 3.5" screen. The pictures in both daytime and night vision are very good. The sound and talk back on both units is good. The pan/tilt is quiet overall on both cameras. The biggest difference is how to access the features you feel are most important to you. Below are some notable differences between the two units.
Overall layout (see labeled pictures):
Video On/Off: external button on both
Volume: in menu on Motorola, dedicated top toggle on SI
Pan/Tilt: external (Left) buttons on Motorola, in a menu with touch arrows on SI
Zoom: in a menu on both
Scan: external button on Motorola, in a menu on SI
Buttons: SI wins this hands down. Unless you are awake every time you use the monitor, you cannot easily find and press the correct button, one-handed, in a dark room/semi-sleep state. For us, this design difference is what sealed the deal for SI over Motorola. We can easily find the Video On/Off and volume with tactile sense. We would have resorted to making a raised surface on the 3rd button if we chose to keep the Motorola.
SI touch screen: Many people commented that you can brush up against the screen anywhere and turn the menu on/select items. This doesn't seem to be totally the case. You not only have to have the video ON, but you also have to press on the very right or bottom strip of the picture/screen to bring up the menu. A random touch anywhere on the screen will not bring the menu up. Also of note, accessing the main functions (Video On/Off and Volume) does not require the touch menu since these buttons are located on the OUTSIDE of the unit. We are fine with going into a menu for less-common functions such as pan/zoom/scan because we will not be doing this nearly as often as turning the video on/off and adjusting volume. (And the SI volume toggle does NOT activate the touch screen so the monitor can stay dark while you adjust volume.)
Interference: we had problems with our old SI (BestView) and wireless interference. The Motorola had much less interference than the SI Touch, the SI Touch seemed to have the same interference as the SI BestView. We opted to upgrade/change routers to solve this problem instead of compromising on any monitors. A router is a cheaper electronic piece to swap out than a monitor system (esp with multiple cameras).
Camera range: we placed each camera on the same peg over the bed. The SI showed ¾ of the bed, the Motorola showed a little less than ½. For us that meant HAVING TO pan the Motorola each time to see where baby rolled. We have the camera at the max height on the wall. The camera could easily be placed at a different angle relative to the bed to avoid panning. This is just to compare how the video outputs differ relative to each other. (The specs are undoubtedly written in the manuals somewhere describing the camera lens type.)
Night vision LEDs: both the Motorola and SI Touch have 'invisible' LED lights to provide night vision. On the monitors, this looks like a spotlight with darker edges that look like they're `in the shade.' This is subtle and not really noticeable except at the lowest screen brightness setting. For reference, the old SI BestView had a circle of red LED lights around the lens that resulted in a more evenly-lit monitor picture.
Speaker: located in the back of the unit on the Motorola. The SI speaker is redesigned but still on the front of the monitor. Both units have an 8-level sound bar and each level between the 2 brands seems about equal. Several have been concerned that the volume does NOT go to zero on the Motorola. However, the speaker is on the back of the unit and makes the lowest setting almost equivalent to a mute setting. In testing it, we found that the rear speaker placement helped block the background rustling/movement that we didn't want to hear, but did not hinder us hearing the louder baby noises that we did want to hear. (Also for comparison's sake, the Motorola and SI Touch level 4 is equivalent to SI BestView level 2 so there is improved ability to adjust the lower/quieter sound levels; the quiet sounds are quieter and loud sounds (above level 4) are still loud. ...a great change for SI fans.
Cameras: The Motorola has nice rubber feet at the base that keep the camera from sliding where placed. The SI has a light plastic feel and the base is so light it feels like the camera will topple over. (But it doesn't.) We put ours on the wall (not on a shelf) since that's the best way for us to use the pan/tilt, so the padded bottom is a non-issue (although the SI vibration against the wall was loud until we placed a felt pad sticker on it).
Monitors: The Motorola monitor also has the nice rubber grips on the bottom. It stays in place on a tabletop making it easier for you to grab. And you WILL need to grab it...with BOTH hands...in order to press the correct button(s) to activate any function. The SI comes with a little saucer-like magnetic recharging base. It's so light and plastic-y that it hangs on to the monitor when trying to break the magnetic connection. Because you need adequate pressure for the touch screen, you'll need to get your hands on the monitor to work the touch screen functions. Put the fancy saucer base in the trash and just use the charger port on the left side of the monitor unit itself. Overall, the Motorola is a niiiice monitor to hold. It's thick and chunky, like a portable game unit (think psp), and you can thumb the left and right buttons very, very easily. The SI is thinner and more sleek (fake chrome cover) and less comfortable to hold. And because you need to hold it length-wise (buttons on the top of the unit get in the way...), it's a little harder to balance than a touch phone that you may be used to holding.
The SI comes with a cordless click-on base for the camera. It takes 4 AA batteries, advertising a 10hr battery life. The batteries do NOT come with the unit and we think that you CANNOT use the power cord to charge the base, eg rechargeable batteries need to be taken out of the unit to be recharged. This is different than stated on the Amazon description. We have not tested this, but it's directly from the manufacturer info.
Motorola has a temp gauge. Never had it before and it's a nice feature to have. The temp of the Motorola is accurate since the camera doesn't run hot (goes up a few degrees temporarily when you move the camera) unlike reviews of other brands.
Motorola has an audible beep when the battery is low. Most people like this. We do not. A flashing light is adequate. We'd be pissed if this woke us up in the night, so any monitor stays plugged in during the overnight hours for this reason. (Plus the manufacturer recommends running the battery down during the day and charging at night to keep the battery life optimal.)
SI turns the video off in 3min if not plugged in. Motorola takes longer by about 1-1.5min.
Again, both units are great for a pan/tilt multi-camera setup. What you're used to in a monitor and what makes life easier for you in daily use will tip your scales one way or the other. But you cannot go wrong with either of these choices. We hope these little itty bitty details of these two units help someone.
*UPDATE* 11/10/11 We really wanted to like the Motorola because it had a more compact and nicer camera and the monitor design was superior to SI and had a great feel to it, but the accessibility of some features won out on the SI vs the Motorola. We've had the SI monitor for a month now and everything is still behaving. The only thing to add to the above information for the SI is that the touch screen is a little better than expected. As stated above, it is activated only if you push the menu button on the right side of the unit (very inconvenient location for one-handed use) or tap along the bottom/right of the touchscreen (like old-school digital picture frames). The nice thing is that once activated, the screen is very responsive to one-handed touch when sitting upright (eg on a nightstand). It's very easy to reach over and adjust brightness or use the arrow buttons with one finger and not knock it over. The only negative is in selecting items. Once you select the menu item (eg Brightness or Camera), you need to use the arrow buttons in the popup menu to get to and highlight what you want. For example, under Brightness you cannot just tap a higher level and have it go from 2 to 7. Instead, you have to tap the arrow up incrementally. The menu items of Brightness, Scan, and Switch Camera do this. (FYI in comparison, the Motorola has the same menu system but instead of tapping on the initial menu icon you needed to arrow thru all the menu icons to get to what you want. As mentioned in the original review, the VOLUME was one of these embedded menu items so it took 3-4 button clicks to adjust volume once you pulled up the menu.) Too bad these two monitoring systems can't have a child and make the PERFECT user-friendly system. review By M Baker
Both monitors have a 3.5" screen. The pictures in both daytime and night vision are very good. The sound and talk back on both units is good. The pan/tilt is quiet overall on both cameras. The biggest difference is how to access the features you feel are most important to you. Below are some notable differences between the two units.
Overall layout (see labeled pictures):
Video On/Off: external button on both
Volume: in menu on Motorola, dedicated top toggle on SI
Pan/Tilt: external (Left) buttons on Motorola, in a menu with touch arrows on SI
Zoom: in a menu on both
Scan: external button on Motorola, in a menu on SI
Buttons: SI wins this hands down. Unless you are awake every time you use the monitor, you cannot easily find and press the correct button, one-handed, in a dark room/semi-sleep state. For us, this design difference is what sealed the deal for SI over Motorola. We can easily find the Video On/Off and volume with tactile sense. We would have resorted to making a raised surface on the 3rd button if we chose to keep the Motorola.
SI touch screen: Many people commented that you can brush up against the screen anywhere and turn the menu on/select items. This doesn't seem to be totally the case. You not only have to have the video ON, but you also have to press on the very right or bottom strip of the picture/screen to bring up the menu. A random touch anywhere on the screen will not bring the menu up. Also of note, accessing the main functions (Video On/Off and Volume) does not require the touch menu since these buttons are located on the OUTSIDE of the unit. We are fine with going into a menu for less-common functions such as pan/zoom/scan because we will not be doing this nearly as often as turning the video on/off and adjusting volume. (And the SI volume toggle does NOT activate the touch screen so the monitor can stay dark while you adjust volume.)
Interference: we had problems with our old SI (BestView) and wireless interference. The Motorola had much less interference than the SI Touch, the SI Touch seemed to have the same interference as the SI BestView. We opted to upgrade/change routers to solve this problem instead of compromising on any monitors. A router is a cheaper electronic piece to swap out than a monitor system (esp with multiple cameras).
Camera range: we placed each camera on the same peg over the bed. The SI showed ¾ of the bed, the Motorola showed a little less than ½. For us that meant HAVING TO pan the Motorola each time to see where baby rolled. We have the camera at the max height on the wall. The camera could easily be placed at a different angle relative to the bed to avoid panning. This is just to compare how the video outputs differ relative to each other. (The specs are undoubtedly written in the manuals somewhere describing the camera lens type.)
Night vision LEDs: both the Motorola and SI Touch have 'invisible' LED lights to provide night vision. On the monitors, this looks like a spotlight with darker edges that look like they're `in the shade.' This is subtle and not really noticeable except at the lowest screen brightness setting. For reference, the old SI BestView had a circle of red LED lights around the lens that resulted in a more evenly-lit monitor picture.
Speaker: located in the back of the unit on the Motorola. The SI speaker is redesigned but still on the front of the monitor. Both units have an 8-level sound bar and each level between the 2 brands seems about equal. Several have been concerned that the volume does NOT go to zero on the Motorola. However, the speaker is on the back of the unit and makes the lowest setting almost equivalent to a mute setting. In testing it, we found that the rear speaker placement helped block the background rustling/movement that we didn't want to hear, but did not hinder us hearing the louder baby noises that we did want to hear. (Also for comparison's sake, the Motorola and SI Touch level 4 is equivalent to SI BestView level 2 so there is improved ability to adjust the lower/quieter sound levels; the quiet sounds are quieter and loud sounds (above level 4) are still loud. ...a great change for SI fans.
Cameras: The Motorola has nice rubber feet at the base that keep the camera from sliding where placed. The SI has a light plastic feel and the base is so light it feels like the camera will topple over. (But it doesn't.) We put ours on the wall (not on a shelf) since that's the best way for us to use the pan/tilt, so the padded bottom is a non-issue (although the SI vibration against the wall was loud until we placed a felt pad sticker on it).
Monitors: The Motorola monitor also has the nice rubber grips on the bottom. It stays in place on a tabletop making it easier for you to grab. And you WILL need to grab it...with BOTH hands...in order to press the correct button(s) to activate any function. The SI comes with a little saucer-like magnetic recharging base. It's so light and plastic-y that it hangs on to the monitor when trying to break the magnetic connection. Because you need adequate pressure for the touch screen, you'll need to get your hands on the monitor to work the touch screen functions. Put the fancy saucer base in the trash and just use the charger port on the left side of the monitor unit itself. Overall, the Motorola is a niiiice monitor to hold. It's thick and chunky, like a portable game unit (think psp), and you can thumb the left and right buttons very, very easily. The SI is thinner and more sleek (fake chrome cover) and less comfortable to hold. And because you need to hold it length-wise (buttons on the top of the unit get in the way...), it's a little harder to balance than a touch phone that you may be used to holding.
The SI comes with a cordless click-on base for the camera. It takes 4 AA batteries, advertising a 10hr battery life. The batteries do NOT come with the unit and we think that you CANNOT use the power cord to charge the base, eg rechargeable batteries need to be taken out of the unit to be recharged. This is different than stated on the Amazon description. We have not tested this, but it's directly from the manufacturer info.
Motorola has a temp gauge. Never had it before and it's a nice feature to have. The temp of the Motorola is accurate since the camera doesn't run hot (goes up a few degrees temporarily when you move the camera) unlike reviews of other brands.
Motorola has an audible beep when the battery is low. Most people like this. We do not. A flashing light is adequate. We'd be pissed if this woke us up in the night, so any monitor stays plugged in during the overnight hours for this reason. (Plus the manufacturer recommends running the battery down during the day and charging at night to keep the battery life optimal.)
SI turns the video off in 3min if not plugged in. Motorola takes longer by about 1-1.5min.
Again, both units are great for a pan/tilt multi-camera setup. What you're used to in a monitor and what makes life easier for you in daily use will tip your scales one way or the other. But you cannot go wrong with either of these choices. We hope these little itty bitty details of these two units help someone.
*UPDATE* 11/10/11 We really wanted to like the Motorola because it had a more compact and nicer camera and the monitor design was superior to SI and had a great feel to it, but the accessibility of some features won out on the SI vs the Motorola. We've had the SI monitor for a month now and everything is still behaving. The only thing to add to the above information for the SI is that the touch screen is a little better than expected. As stated above, it is activated only if you push the menu button on the right side of the unit (very inconvenient location for one-handed use) or tap along the bottom/right of the touchscreen (like old-school digital picture frames). The nice thing is that once activated, the screen is very responsive to one-handed touch when sitting upright (eg on a nightstand). It's very easy to reach over and adjust brightness or use the arrow buttons with one finger and not knock it over. The only negative is in selecting items. Once you select the menu item (eg Brightness or Camera), you need to use the arrow buttons in the popup menu to get to and highlight what you want. For example, under Brightness you cannot just tap a higher level and have it go from 2 to 7. Instead, you have to tap the arrow up incrementally. The menu items of Brightness, Scan, and Switch Camera do this. (FYI in comparison, the Motorola has the same menu system but instead of tapping on the initial menu icon you needed to arrow thru all the menu icons to get to what you want. As mentioned in the original review, the VOLUME was one of these embedded menu items so it took 3-4 button clicks to adjust volume once you pulled up the menu.) Too bad these two monitoring systems can't have a child and make the PERFECT user-friendly system. review By M Baker
