Tomy Baby Monitors

What THEY Say...

Tomy's award winning baby monitors allow parents to stay close to their baby and contain a host of innovative features to really make parenting easier - from guaranteed privacy and 2 way talk-back, to remotely controlled nightlights and vibration alert.

Developed with parent lifestyle and environments in mind, we have developed a range of monitors to cater for different needs and expectations with around the clock reliability and interference-free transmission.

So for quality, reassurance and peace of mind, trust Tomy...

... the UK's favourite baby monitor brand

Website: www.tomy.co.uk

Tomy Baby Monitors

What WE Say...

A decent baby monitor is one of those items of baby equipment that I, personally, would put on the ‘Essential’ list. Of course, that doesn’t mean absolutely every new parent is going to want or need one and much of the decision will be influenced by the size and shape of your house plus the usual domestic background noise. Our house is ‘L’ shaped, making it difficult to hear a crying-but-should-be-sleeping baby when you’re busy tidying up the kitchen….

When Jacob was a baby we used an older Tomy monitor, very basic but functional nonetheless. There was a small wish-list of things that would’ve made it more useful and it looks like Tomy heard me because their latest range of monitors tick more boxes.

We have been trying out two of their walk-about models; the Walkabout Classic Advance and the top-of-the-range Walkabout Platinum Digital. I liked them both but, for me, the better is the Platinum.

The Walkabout Classic Advance works very well, doing the job it has been designed to do, very nicely, thank you. The clarity of sound is great (especially during those moments when you think you heard sleeping baby make a strange gurgling noise and you have the parent monitor pushed so close to your ear it nearly gets stuck in there…..). One slight, unexpected problem for us is that our electric garage door opener (oooo, get us!) stops working when the monitor is switched on… weird. One thing about the Walkabout Classic that I LOVED, as an improvement from the old model, is the clip-that-swivels-to-a-stand. Fantastic!

The Walkabout Platinum Digital has all the handy features of the Classic Advance (but not the swivel clip but it does have a stand-upright base) and more. The look-Ma-no-aerial is good and the maximum-minimum room temperature display on the baby unit is very clever, like that a lot we do. The recharging docking station for the parent unit is wonderful and means you don’t have to be scrabbling around for replacement batteries or setting up the power lead at the last minute when baby is sleeping, baby sitter has arrived and your once-in-a-blue-moon-night-out restaurant booking is in danger of being given away.

Now, there are some little quirks about these monitors that I personally didn’t warm to. The possibly-too-bright blue nightlight on the baby unit was not required but I’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve accidentally turned it on via the parent unit, the button is just too darn easy to hit accidentally (*** Laura chimed in here and insisted I add that she uses her nightlight button pretty much every night, and loves it – bright enough to change a nappy or find a lost bed buddy with, but not offensive and blink-worthy at 3a.m.). The two-way talk facility is also not used because the one-and-only time we tried it, Ben freaked at hearing this disembodied voice. Personally, in my experience, if a child is in need of comfort in the night (or nap time), they are going to need you to be there along with your voice (*** he wasn’t alone, Ella is utterly terrified of the disembodied voice too. But Laura does very occasionally use it to holler at older-boys-in-bedrooms).

Another small quirk that bothers me is that the baby unit screen lights up blue (not as bright as the nightlight but still, quite bright) when the parent unit is switched off. This means that each night I have to creep-tiptoe across Ben’s room to switch off his unit. It’s such a hardship too because I just HAVE to plant a very gentle kiss on his sleeping head as I pass…

However, swiftly moving back to the positives; the battery-fullness indicator is an inspired idea. No more do we have to rush around, mid-film, for the charging base unit because we can tell, at the start of our evening, whether it’s got enough juice left in it.

And now for my favourite feature on the Walkabout Digital Platinum; the feed timer! This little gizmo is very very useful in a way that I would never have realised if I’d never had it. Being able to time baby’s feeds is great. No more do you have to try and remember what time they last guzzled, just click the button on the back of the monitor – no matter whether the monitor is actually being used at the time, it’ll keep on timing if the monitors are switched off. Now Ben is older and is a boy who enjoys his sleep as much as his food, the feed timer is essential for his daytime naps. See, given half a chance he’ll sleep ALL afternoon and still want to play at bedtime when he really should be settling down. So, we have a strict 2 hour limit on his day time naps and the feed timer on the monitor stops me from getting far too engrossed in work while he sleeps on.

So, if you want a decent baby monitor with a few extra useful gizmos to help your life-with-small-person go a little more smoothly, you can’t go wrong with either the Tomy Walkabout Classic Advance or the Walkabout Platinum Digital.

Website: www.tomy.co.uk