VTechCommunications 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).

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.---------------

So I’ve had this monitor for a few months now, it’s got great sound but that’s not to say you can leave it in another room and expect to hear it very well. You can adjust the sensitivity for how much sound you want it to pick up. I have mine set to the highest sensitivity so if I leave my fan running in the room my baby is in, I can hear the fan but I also can hear baby just as much. You can talk through the parent monitor and the sound comes out of the baby monitor so you can talk to your baby if they are into that. Baby monitor does need to be plugged in in order for it to turn on but the cord is long enough so it shouldn’t be a problem. I do recommend that as soon as you start setting it up, first thing you want to do is turn off the parent advisory speech it gives the parent monitor every time it gets powered on. I didn’t mind it during the day but when I’d go to work at 6am and turn it on for my mom, I would try lowering it down when it came to that part but it was quiet during that time which made the speech it gave still be loud. It took me a good few days to turn off the speech, the instructions are a little confusing on how to turn it off but I figured it out somehow. Overall it’s a good baby monitor for the price and it’s both have been dropped on the floor multiple times and they still work without problems. They are very durable.