Babysense MaxView Review

BabySense is a family-owned, multi-national company focused on products that help deliver peace of mind to parents. Established in 1991 and rebranded in 2021, BabySense continues to strive to create and present modern monitoring options for parents and caregivers.

Performance Comparison

Audio / Visual

Audio and visuals are the meat and potatoes for baby monitors. While you might assume that video is the most important metric, we think sound is more important because sound is what lets you know you need to look at video, and a lack of sound features means you might not be able to fall asleep due to a loud monitor.

The BabySense earned a higher score than most for sound quality, clarity, and features related to sound. In our tests, the MaxView has a maximum volume output of 86 dBa. While not the loudest in the group, where several had readings over 100 dBa, it should be enough to rouse most sleepy parents from slumber. Overall the sound is satisfactory, but there were some muffled and echoey sounds during testing. This unit has noise-canceling features and sound activation that help create an almost silent monitor unless your little one is actively crying. It only had a reading of 33 dBa during testing before the baby began to cry and this was equal to the ambient noise level in the room with the monitor turned off. The cancellation feature is adjustable (low, medium, high) and can affect the quality of the sound with some distortion when the baby cries, but it is still not difficult to understand and is acceptable in our minds.

Video during the day and night are both important, but more monitors struggle with night images being clear and more useful than day. This camera is 1080p and has some of the sharpest images in the bunch. The color accuracy isn't as good as some others, but it is good enough to tell the color spectrum of all colors, even if they don't exactly match what is in the nursery. The images lack significant contrast and appear somewhat “flat,” according to testers. However, the day videos are still better than most of the dedicated monitors in the group.

The night videos for the BabySense were better than the day images (not a common occurrence), and they are more impressive than those of several competitors. The images are fairly crisp and legible, with limited “hot spots” of light, though there is a large bright spot in the center. They do appear somewhat grainy but still manage to be relatively impressive for a dedicated monitor. The images show clear visibility of the eye chart down to the second line and the ability to see if the baby's eyes are open or closed.

Range

Most manufacturers report the range as an open line of site range. Since it is unlikely that you will use a monitor in an open field or warehouse with no walls, we think these claims are largely useless, and parents should not rely on them when making decisions on what might work in their home. We test each monitor for range, considering the number of walls between the camera and parent unit and the distance. While your results will vary depending on the type of home you live in and other potential interference, we think it is more useful than the claims of manufacturers. BabySense claims a range of 1000 ft in an open field test. We got a distance closer to 830 feet, but the signal did start to struggle, staying connected close to 500 feet. For the indoor range, we were able to keep consistent connectivity up to 7 walls and 190 feet. We only had trouble when we left the building entirely, having run out of rooms.

Ease of Use

The BabySense MaxView is an easy to use monitor with a simple interface and intuitive icons with features where you need them and a lack of sub-file menus we see in some competitors. For setup, it requires unboxing, plugging in, and turning on with a manual pairing button. We didn't experience any time delay in pairing or during use. There are only 7 buttons on the parent unit, including the volume, which is a setup from others that makes you dig into a menu to find the volume. The only real complaint we have is a slight lag in the panning of the camera and relaying the image to the parent unit. However, patience is key, and the delay is short and, in our opinion, isn't significant enough to be a deal breaker. The parent unit has a kickstand for easy viewing, and it comes with mounting screws if you do not have a shelf or furniture to place the camera on for optimum viewing.

Battery Life

The BabySense has two modes: regular and Eco. The company doesn't explain what Eco means, but it appears to be an energy-saving mode that turns the unit into an audio-only monitor with LED light indicators. They claim a battery life of 20 hours in Eco mode and 12 in regular mode. In our testing, we saw a battery life of 12 hours. The manufacturer claims an 8-hour recharge time. Twelve hours is plenty of time during naps and even overnight, but we assume most parents will have it plugged in overnight to avoid losing connection from a dead battery.

Features

While the BabySense is a straightforward monitor lacking in fancier features like movement monitoring, it has plenty of features, many of which we think most parents will abandon over time. The really important ones, in our opinion, are sound activation to help keep a monitor quiet, remote control of the camera to see the largest field of view, and screen wake-up so you can quickly see what is happening when your little one cries. Other features to consider would be adding a camera if your family is growing or you have more than one child. The remaining features might be fun, but most parents see a natural decline in the use of features like 2-way talk, lullabies/white noise, and night lights.

• 6-Color night light
• Sound machine/White Noise/Lullabies
• Split screen (for multiple cameras)
• 2 Way talk
• Remote camera control, pan and tilt
• Connect up to 4 cameras
• 2 and 4x zoom
• Temperature monitoring/alerts
• Sound activation
• Screen wake-up

In the box

• 1 parent unit
• 1 Camera
• 2 Power adapters
• 1 Wall mounting screw set
• 1 User manual

Electromagnetic Field (EMF) Levels

The BabySense has one of the higher EMF levels in this lineup, with an average reading over 3 sessions of 1.91 V/m taken 6 ft from the camera unit. While it is higher than most, it is lower than many monitors of yore.

While this test might not be a factor for all parents, the results could help if you need a tiebreaker on which monitor to choose. To decrease exposure to EMF, you can place the camera as far from your baby as possible for it to still be useful, and turn the camera off when not in use.

Security

While there is less security risk using a dedicated monitor than those connecting to the internet, the camera can still be hacked if someone is near the monitor location, knows it exists, and can hack the system. BabySense uses Frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) security. It is a wireless technology that uses rapidly changing radio signals across different frequencies. The frequency changes are random and known only to the paired camera and parent units.

Should You Buy the Babysense MaxView Baby Monitor?

Yes. We think the Babysense is one of the best-dedicated monitors we've tested. This monitor is straightforward, has an intuitive user interface, has a better range than competitors, and offers good video and sound. It is a really good monitor that doesn't require WiFi, can be used by grandma, works with multiple cameras, and has a longer battery life.

What Other Video Monitor Should You Consider?

If you aren't sure that a dedicated monitor will work in your house due to distance, number of walls, or interference, then a WiFi monitor is probably a better fit. We like the Eufy S340, which has a cool 2K camera with practically perfect video images, excellent sound activation, and a swiveling camera that is remotely controlled in almost every direction. If you don't need as many bells and whistles and want to save a few bucks, the Lollipop is a good monitor, has many installation options, and has a video that works well.

Manufacturer Video