VTech Communications DM221 Audio Baby Monitor with up to 1,000 ft of Range, Vibrating Sound-Alert, Talk Back Intercom & Night Light Loop, White/Silver

We use to monitor bedridden elder who stays in room on other side of house (not huge house but thick plaster walls). Set up was effortless: the units connected automatically as soon as powered on. Sound quality is very good. Volume and sensitivity is adjustable: I can hear the bedridden one breathing, but if say, you take it to the bathroom to be SURE to be able to hear the distressed calls from the bedridden one that are SURE to arise as soon as you seat yourself - but then LEAVE the it in the bathroom and return to your another room, even at its loudest setting, you probably won't be able to hear it from the bathroom or wherever you took it. I don't count that as a fault of the product if I've moved it down and around the corner to another room and left it there, but it would be convenient to be able to add another Parent/Listening Unit so as to be able to leave one in place, and have another to walk around with (with the convenient belt clip), or to station in the bathroom or whatever other room. And while my Bluetooth headset will frequently disconnect from my cell phone if I go any distance in this thick-walled house, this Parent and Baby unit stay connected, even if I carry the PU with me across the street to the neighbor's back yard. This product does everything promised and is perfect for our purposes, though it would be a huge convenience to be able to add an extra PU after purchase, which the manufacturer says is not possible, so if you went/need 2 listening / Parental Units, you have to buy a set that comes with the Baby Unit and TWO Parent units to begin with. It's not much more expensive and would have prevented several incidents where the bedridden one was highly distressed at getting no response - and delayed response resulted in a urine-soaked person and bed to clean up. Would have definitely been worth the few extra dollars to prevent that situation, but this unit delivers all that it promises and I thought good battery life off the charger (though maybe not as much as promised - I'd have to check on that).

I use the VTech DM221 to monitor a 93-year-old with mobility and hearing disabilities, although he is generally still surprisingly agile and moves about the house between bedroom and bathroom. Using two sets of DM221 I can monitor both locations simultaneously and track him continuously when he moves about with hearing acuity approaching that of the cat which follows him around. The price point for these sets makes this a feasible approach. However, under the current technology configuration, monitors from different sets cannot be linked to the same parent unit unfortunately. Why? Having two parent units side by side presents no major problems however and, given the sensitivity of the monitors over a wide range, ensures continuous tracking within and between various locations. I found no issues at all with the range of transmission so I can take a parent unit with me into the yard or basement of the house without losing sound quality or sensitivity. The quality of the reception within the wide parameters claimed by the manufacturer is extremely good. You can literally hear a pin drop at any location/room and it is so sensitive that it sometimes picks up extraneous sounds from the adjacent street. At times I've heard that darn cat purring at a particular location when the animal must be at least 1.5-2.5 metres from the monitor. A person's normal breathing can easily be heard with monitor placed a minimum of 1m from the source. If these sounds become too much, just turn down the sensitivity on the monitor or the volume on the parent unit. VOX sensitivity level can be adjusted across 5 settings. Having a monitor that does not require the person being monitored to press buttons or even to speak (all sounds, normal and unusual, can be heard clearly) is a great comfort since a sudden stroke or accident may leave the monitored person unable to communicate verbally. With this monitor, allowing that you are attentive and able to interpret sudden and unusual changes in behaviour and patterns of sound, you will not miss a thing. I would have preferred to buy a 2-unit monitor set with a single parent unit to facilitate this configuration but only a 2-parent/single monitor set is available. Why? I normally cannot be in two places at once (although that feat is quite often necessary) and if I need to I can simply move the parent unit to a second location, with or without AC power connected. I can use the parent unit without AC on battery power which is sufficient to last at least overnight without AC power. (The monitor is permanently connected to power so no battery issues there. The parent unit should be connected to AC power most of the time to make sure the battery pack is fully charged and ready for mobile use). There must be different battery packs for different models to the DM221 or otherwise comments about lack of battery life on Amazon are just wrong. Australian customers must buy separate AC power plug adapters which are very cheaply and quickly available on Amazon AU. The units are compact, light-weight, durable plastic (although I wouldn't try a drop from a height) with fairly simple menu controls and the possibility to monitor sounds visually as well as aurally by observing LED sensors on the parent unit which register the strength of the source. The parent unit can be used to talk to the monitored person and, in my case, even if the deaf nonagenarian cannot determine exactly what is being said he does register the fact that you are there and attentive. The sound quality is so good that occasionally he understands simple messages such as "breakfast/dinner coming" and that is totally amazing given the quality of his remaining hearing capacity. There might be monitors on the market which could resolve a couple of the issues I've presented for my needs/configuration, but this product serves my purposes extremely well, most especially in terms of sensitivity to sounds on the monitor side and sound reception quality on the parent unit side. If your needs are similar, just buy it. It works perfectly well under Australian conditions.

I recently moved my 92 yr old mother in with us after she was in the hospital for a while. We gave her the first floor bedroom and bath, and my husband and I have our bedroom and offices on the top floor. I work from home, but was afraid I wouldn't hear her if she fell or needed help during the day or night. We started with a call button, but she would set it down and forget where it was. After a long search of trying to find two way monitors, I came across these. They work great as monitors for elderly people. I purchased two sets of these monitors, as I needed one for her bed/bath and one for the kitchen/family room. My only complaint is that I wish there were an option for two room monitors. The quality is excellent. They are very sensitive and pick up even small sounds. I have one placed on her nightstand in the bedroom, and it even picks up the sound of her electric toothbrush in the adjacent bathroom. If she needs me, all she had to do is call out to me, and I can respond back and let her know I'll be right down. The parent monitor has a rechargable battery and a belt clip so that you can carry it around with you. It stayed connected even when I took the trash out to the curb last night. Great range! The room monitor has no battery and just stays plugged in. Most of the time I just keep the parent monitors plugged in at my desk. Since they are side by side, I labeled them B and K so I immediately know which room she's calling from. Great value for these monitors!

First time parents: No matter what is written you will likely be like us and never trust a baby monitor those first few hours of sleep at a time, but once you get comfortable with knowing you will be woke up, this monitor will be your best friend. WE all know what these do, so here is the best way to describe our experience (Kiddo is now 18 months old) Pros: 1) The feature that it is silent all the time unless "triggered" to send sound to the parent unit is a little worrisome at first (notice I put this as a pro), but once you are more comfortable with your baby's lungs' ability to trigger this, it is awesome, because you don't get all the little grunts and sniffs that they make. Our biggest problem was any sound we heard when we shared a room (never bed!) with our kiddo was we were waking up and holding our breath waiting for the cry. So this feature once you are sleeping in different rooms is awesome so you only get woke if there is any real sound. We keep they mic within about 15 feet of the crib and it ALWAYS gets every sounds. All cries, all babbles, and a loud sneeze maybe, but besides that we sleep peacefully as long as she is. 2) Range: Good not great. We didn't have high hopes, this is not a 5-mile 2-way radio, but we do live in the country and doing lawn chores during a nap keeps us within about 100 feet of the house. But that leads to next pro: 3) Sound- level 5 has great volume. If you can sleep through a baby crying at that level you probably have taken too many sleeping pills or need to get checked for sleep apnea! 4) Light bar that shows sound intensity when volume is muted. Once we got to the "let 'er cry it out" bedtimes, we could do other things rather than listen to a baby scream but still keep an eye on her. This is great especially if you have a partner who is trying to sleep while you worry. WORRY AWAY IN SILENCE! 5) It has lasted 18 months as still works as a receiver well, but that is the one biggest con now--- CONS: 1) This may have been our fault from being on a road trip vacation in the summer, but after being in the car for a couple days, when we got to our destination and plugged it back in (this is after having it about 6 months), the display was "burnt out" for all but a couple bars. We already had the set up all done and with the different tones when you are at max/min volumes we can still set the volume, but we are doing this by ear, not display. 2) Battery life is questionable on the parent unit. It worked great at first and one thing that makes it last longer is the PRO #1 where it doesn't always pick up background static unless there is sound from baby. But we did have a fan on in her room for the nights, and we noticed this white noise did cause the monitor to pick up sound more often, which would make sense that it would use the battery more. We keep the monitor plugged in 24/7 unless we are taking it our of our bedroom during nap time or on vacation, so I guess 18 months of use and battery that lasts a few hours is probably pretty decent. Overall good product and while some bells and whistles haven't maintained, its true purpose, which is to lower your worry and increase your sleep, has been flawless the last 18 months!

Easy to use. It works very well. I can hear my child as soon as she makes a sound. You plug one in my child’s room, and the other one can be with me, so I can hear her.

I purchased this set 6 years ago, and it has performed exactly as needed every day. I love that you can adjust the sensitivity, so you can hear every little sound or just when your kid hollers for you. It works throughout our house, and I can take it outside without issue. If it gets disconnected (which only happens to us when the power goes out), it lets you know with a beep. I thought today would be the end of one of the parent units. I dropped it, and it fell down the hardwood stairs. Yikes. Amazingly, it was absolutely fine! No breaks or cracks in the plastic, and it still works just as reliably as ever. I also love how easy it is to carry around. It fits well in my hand or pocket, has a convenient clip on the back, and the loop on top makes it easy to grab with that one free pinky when my hands are full.

Update: July 25th, 2014: I left a comment on my review and updated this on July 7th and waited to see if VTech would see and respond to my comment or my update. I assumed that they were busy and I am sure overloaded with emails to find my comment/update. So I called them today and the lady I talked to was very helpful, since I had previously called and had issues they had my number on file and swiftly took care of my issues. They are going to send me another replacement set for the one that stopped working properly. I also asked that she note on my file that when they receive my unit back that is defective if there is something I did wrong, or that I could do to keep this from happening to have them give me a call. I am going to also try a couple of things I discussed with her to see if I can make them work and if I find a solution that works for me I will be more than happy to update this review with some step by step instructions that may be helpful to others as well. Update: July 7th, 2014: Well we decided to move into a new home and the set that I was sent from VTech are actually still in the box because I bought another set. Well the other set I purchased when I unplugged them and moved them will not communicate with each other rendering them useless and in the same state as my others were that caused this review in the first place. I may have to resort to opening the replacement set VTech sent me and throw these away or put them in a box to never be seen again. I love them but not if they won't sync back up after unplugging them. Update: January 4th, 2014: After Vtech Support left a comment on this review, I called this per their request and within 10 minutes of being on the phone with them they are sending me a new system with expedited freight. So I should get them early next week, and once I get them I can pack up my current "bad" set and send it back to them. Didn't cost me anything other than the phone call. Talk about good support! Before I got their comment and talked to them I went ahead and purchased a second set because out of all of the ones I have had, reviewed and otherwise had friends complain about they are still top notch. Their quality has been great, their range has been great it was just the issue of it not wanting to link anymore. Hopefully I don't have that issue again in the future. We have been dealing with an Angelcare Sound Monitor system in between getting the new Vtech set, mainly because I bought it with the motion board setup and never used it. The Sound Monitor worked out of the box but has some major interference issues with the parent monitor. It is odd too cause I cannot identify what is causing it to have a loud audible hum.. but doesn't matter now since I have a set of Vtech's and another on the way. not going to return my second set, will just use it for travel or will take to my parents and set it up for when we visit. If your unit stops working, read the comments left by Vtech that have their 800# and call them, tell them your situation and see how well they can help you. If you are looking for a system that can be used within a house with multiple levels, our babies room will be on the upper floor and the monitor works in the basement, out by the pool and etc... the pool is stretching it but it does work. They seem very durable and the belt clip seemed pretty sturdy as well if you clip it on your pants or belt. I have banged it a few times and it never fell off. So over all I can't complain about the system especially after they have jumped in and are replacing our faulty set. -------------- my old review below: THIS IS OUTDATED IS UNTRUE AS OF JANUARY 4th, 2014. Well I purchased these on December 18, 2012 and yesterday we powered them off to take to my parents house so that we could use them there. Come to our surprise that no matter what we did we couldn't get them linked back up. I thought it may be because I only brought one of the parent unit's with me instead of both and that the one I didn't bring was like a main unit... nope. So I am sitting here, barely got a year usage out of them (considering I bought them in December and the boys were not born till March) and now the transmitter communication in the baby monitor unit has gone out.... seriously? I cannot say I would recommend them, but if you get them because of the large amount of reviews it has then I would say once they are working DO NOT SHUT THEM OFF or MOVE THEM! God forbid you try to do something like that and have them function again. ---------------

I bought this baby monitor over 10 years ago. We moved into a new house built of cinderblock and didn’t realize we could not hear our children on the second floor. They were no longer infants but the youngest was four. One of our children got frightened in the middle of the night and sat on the staircase crying, and we did not hear them. The next day I searched through baby monitors and settled on this one. I had an old set but they just didn’t quite cut it - the sound was patchy and would cut out and I couldn’t differentiate between different sounds of that distance because of the cinderblock. One unit has sat in the corner of our hallway for 10 years, with a parent unit being on the desk in our room. The only time it has not worked is when we had a power outage and I forgot to replace the batteries. The kids forget it’s there and don’t feel intrude upon it at all. We even asked them if they wanted us to take it down as they got older and it made them feel comfortable to know we were just a button click away if they needed us. Communication between the two unit is very clear even if they’re whispering. It’s very easy for both of us and them to use. This became even more important as two of our children were diagnosed with cardiac in rheumatological conditions. The kids rooms are across the house and a flight of stairs from ours- a distance many monitors couldn’t handle through cinderblock. The two way talking has been a great perk, and the sound quality is excellent. The unit sits in the corner on the second story landing but will pick up the TV from the third floor as well. The belt clip is nice when I need to go outside and one of my kids was sick or had just has surgery. I used this in conjunction with a video monitor because while it was nice to see them, I couldn’t always hear the best. Being able to adjust the volume with just a click of a button, and hearing a beep each time the volume was changed as very helpful. The moment communication is lost with the other unit, the monitor will beep to let you know there’s a problem, so I never worried that communication would be lost and I wouldn’t know it. I felt confident that with this monitor I would hear anytime they called for me, or even just whimpered. I’ve had other monitors when my children were little, including a video monitor which I really loved. However, this one has lasted the longest with the best performance. Now that we have a grandchild who was over often, we’re just going to keep it running to see how many more years it will keep going strong. I know that video monitors that connect to the phone are highly preferred, but if someone is looking for something to continuously monitor and doesn’t need a video screen, this is the first one I would recommend, and the first one I’d buy for a baby shower.