In Depth Baby Product Reviews Led by a Pediatrician
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An impressive monitoring system that rivals more expensive competitors, but not without some quirks related to vitals tracking
While the camera and your smartphone use WiFi for connectivity, if you plan to use the smart sock, it also needs to connect to the base much the way a dedicated monitor works, which will limit the range.
The Eufy Smart Sock S340 Movement Monitor is a combination video, sound, and vitals tracking monitor. It tracks heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, movement, and more. It works with a base station and an app on your smartphone for setting and receiving alerts. We like how easy it is to set up, how the volume and thresholds are somewhat adjustable, and how it sends alerts in multiple ways. Unfortunately, the alerts are not that loud, and the ones we could hear left us wondering if deep sleepers might not wake up. However, if you aren't a deep sleeper and you find more information to be anxiety-reducing, not inducing, then the Eufy S340 could be the right fit for your monitoring goals. It also has a long life as you can continue to monitor your little one with video and sound long after they outgrow the sock.
REASONS TO BUY
Adjustable base station volume
Easy to put on sock
Different sock sizes
REASONS TO AVOID
Requires Bluetooth and WiFi
Larger sensor
Alerts not loud enough
Potentially inaccurate vitals
Lack of alert adjustability
Not a Medical Device
The Eufy S340 is not a medical device and should not be used as such. If your child has a medical condition that requires monitoring, you should discuss your options with your child's doctor. This monitor should not be used to treat or track a medical condition.
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Our Analysis and Test Results
Anker Innovations is an electronics company in the United States with several brands. One of them is the video security company, Eufy. Eufy promotes smart home technology, creating products like vacuum robots, security systems, and monitors.
Performance Comparison
We tested the Eufy in multiple metrics and think it has many features parents will want.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Expected Reliability
It can be challenging to say how reliable products of this type are because, during any testing period with a healthy child, we could get no false alarms or even real alerts. We test in-house with real babies, and we do extensive online research to see what other real parents are reporting.
The Eufy scored below average for expected reliability. Most reports include inaccurate vital readings and vital readings or alerts when the sock is not being used. During our testing, we experienced notifications to our phone about blood oxygen saturation and heart rate information for a sock sitting on the desk.
The Eufy smart sock is easy to put on, but the sensor is larger than similar competitors and some report it can cause skin irritation.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
While not necessarily a deal-breaker, it did call into question if the vital readings we were getting on the baby were to be believed. The other concern is the push notifications about vital alerts are not persistent and only come through about every ten minutes. If there is a serious problem in the nursery, 10 minutes is far too long. Last, while the camera connects via WiFi and you use your smartphone to monitor video and sound, the sock connects to the base station and the base station using Bluetooth. This means there could be connectivity issues if the parent's room is too far from the nursery.
The Eufy comes with a camera, three socks, a base station, and mounting accessories.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Set Up
Setting up the Eufy is relatively easy if you are good with tech gadgets, apps, and understand certain things about your WiFi router.
The Eufy comes with a sensor, multiple socks, a power cord, a camera, and a base station. Setting up the sock and vital tracking part of the monitor requires only a few steps. The manufacturer provides pretty good instructions once you download the app, which is good because the manual is limited and makes certain assumptions about the user's knowledge.
The Eufy base station has icons, lights, and sounds to provide a variety of prompts or alerts.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
The process takes 10-15 minutes to complete, not including charging the sock. You must have a 2.4GHz WiFi router to complete the setup. While this is stated in the app during setup, if you don't know much about technology, this could be a problem.
If you hope to travel with your movement monitor, this might not be the best option, as some monitors cannot use an open WiFi network for privacy reasons.
The Eufy user interface on the app is relatively straightforward with icons that are intuitive.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Ease of Use
This monitor is one of the easiest options in the review to use, especially for those familiar and comfortable with regular app usage.
The user interface is intuitive and information rish. It provides an initial snapshot of the measured data and is organized well. The sock base station has unique prompts and colors for different events. It provides information like movement, heart rate, and blood oxygen saturation levels.
The Eufy sock sensor charges when place on the base.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
While this monitor is small and portable, whether it will work in new locations is WiFi-dependent, as is whether it is 2.4GHz and non-public. We were able to get the sock and base to keep a connection via Bluetooth through 7 walls, so at least this part of the setup will work.
The Eufy comes with a remote-controlled camera that monitors video and sound, as well as the vitals and movement tracking of the smart sock.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Monitoring Capabilities
This monitor is a video and sound monitor and a vital and movement tracker. In our tests, the Eufy earned one of the highest scores for monitoring capabilities.
While we don't review the video and sound here we do test and discuss those in our video monitor review. Needless to say, the Eufy was a top performer for both video and sound.
Sensor Concerns
In our online research, we discovered multiple reviews expressing concerns about the sensor on the sock and its potential to damage the skin where the sensor sits. While we did not experience this during testing and cannot remark on the incidents specifically or how the damage came to be, it is worth mentioning so you can check for irritation and return the monitor if it occurs.
This monitor is a sock wearable that uses a hook-and-loop connection around the baby's foot with a sensor on top. The sensor tracks movement, blood oxygen levels, heart rate, sleep time, and sleep status. The vital tracking component of this monitor works using the base station, sock, and phone. You do not need to use or set up the camera to use these features. The monitor also includes the ability to track room temperature and cry detection when using the complete kit. The sensitivity settings on this monitor are adjustable, and those adjustments are easy to find and alter.
Light sleepers might find the lights on the Eufy base station useful for increasing the chances that they will respond to prompts.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Alerts
The Eufy earned a relatively high score for our alerts metric, but depending on your goals and how deeply you sleep, there are some things to consider.
Eufy calls its alerts “prompts” and “push notifications.” The prompts occur via the base station, and the notifications are sent through your smartphone, much like other notifications.
The prompt on the smart phone for something outside the preset thresholds for the Eufy is about 68 dBa, making it louder than some competitors, but it is something some deep sleepers might still sleep through.
Credit: Sentry Kelly
The pluses here are the multiple different types of alerts and the idea that if one doesn't alert you, perhaps another will. The prompts are a light color change on the base station and an audible alarm via the base station. The alerts can be adjusted for sensitivity and volume. The secondary alert comes via your phone with a notification. This monitor has no in-nursery alarm and relies heavily on a parent responding to the alert; this can be a plus or a minus, depending on how you look at it. A false alarm only wakes you, but a quiet genuine alarm of distress in the parent's room can't startle a baby in need to encourage movement.
The Eufy base station alert/prompt that something is wrong is so quiet that it didn't register on the decibel reader.
Credit: Sentry Kelly
The cons are the push notification is only a ding sound that parents could easily sleep through. The base station alert we were able to test only had a maximum volume of 66 dBa, and we aren't sure if all of the alarms have the same maximum volume. After discussing it with Eufy customer service, they also seemed to have no idea how loud the alarm is. We worry an alarm this low won't wake heavy sleepers or sleep-deprived parents. Also, the base station alert can be “snoozed” to give you time to get to the nursery and check on your baby. However, it can also be snoozed, allowing a parent to go back to sleep without heading to check on their little one. It certainly degrades the level of urgency, that the alert can be turned off without assessing the baby's situation and reason for alert. The inability to turn the volume higher is a bummer, in our opinion. Why not just make it louder to improve the likelihood that parents will wake up? When we asked Eufy how we might test this without using a distressed baby, we were told there was no way.
The Eufy sensor has one of the group's lowest EMF emissions levels.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Electromagnetic Field (EMF)
The EMF readings at the sock is what matters most for EMF and movement monitors. Because you can only use this part of the monitor on the baby's foot, we took an average of 3 readings to determine how much EMF it emits. In our tests, the EMF reading was 0.244 V/m.
Lower EMF is better, and this option is one of the lowest in the group, including lower than other sock-type monitors.
The icons on the Eufy base station help inform what the prompt or alert is about, which is a nice feature for sleep-deprived parents in the middle of the night.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Should You Buy the Eufy Smart Sock?
We really like the Eufy Smart Sock and everything it has to offer. This option has multiple different alerts, with sound and light alarms at the base station and push notifications to your phone. We like the vitals it tracks and how easy it is to put the sock on the baby and set up the monitor. The Eufy also has some of the best videos with 2K resolution and a full swivel remote-controlled camera, so you won't miss a thing. While this monitor is app-driven and requires a smart device and account setup, it is still easier to set up and use than some competitors, and we think it has a budget-friendly price for a camera that does it all.
What Other Movement Monitor Should You Consider?
Because the sensor on the Eufy can sometimes provide erroneous vitals when the sock isn't in use, this gives us pause on the sensor's accuracy. Alternatively, the highly rated Owlet Dream Duo 2 Smart has a medical-grade sensor with fewer reported false alarms and inaccurate vitals. This sock has a significantly smaller sock sensor and works well. It is the most expensive option in the group and this level of information can create anxiety for some, but if you want the best for monitoring vitals related to sleep comfort, then the Owlet is a great alternative.
