HelloBaby HB6550 Review

Audio / Visual

The HelloBaby earned one of the lowest scores for video quality in the group, and the audio quality was almost as disappointing.

The HelloBaby includes an auto-detect feature that turns the parent device screen on when it detects a baby's cry. This can be helpful in the middle of the night when you're sleep-deprived and want to quickly assess the situation.

This monitor is one of the quietest in the group, with a max volume of 68 dB. It doesn't get loud enough to wake sound sleepers, even with the sharp twinge of the baby's cries. While we can tell the sounds are coming from a baby, they aren't clear, and the tone and quality are often “off.” The sound is piercing and sharp, and it feels like the speaker is training to do its job.

This monitor is never truly silent (unless VOX is on), but the white noise it gives off isn't terrible and doesn't interfere with the baby's crying. With sound activation, the screen is black, and the white noise disappears, which is perfect for better sleep. When the baby cries, the sound and screen are activated quickly. Setting sound activation is a pain because it offers sensitivity levels, but it isn't clear which level is most sensitive.

The video quality here could easily be the worst in the group, even in the daytime. The patterns on our visual chart are blurred, with a rainbow edge and an overall blue look. We couldn't read multiple lines on the eye chart, and the coloring is very dark, with more shadows than in real life. Our bear looks like an entirely different shade of brown, and his black eyes are not distinguishable from his face.

At night, the video gets worse, a very washed-out image with a white band of light across the middle. The bottom of the eye chart is hard to see, and the patterns are reduced to a single blur. While we can kind of see a baby's eyes, we can't tell if they are open, closed, awake, or crying. Overall, it is very, very grainy and blurry.

Range

The HelloBaby had connectivity up to 176 ft and 7 walls. It started to cut out and get choppy around 99 ft, but maintained a reasonable connection up to 176 ft before losing it entirely. This was 7 walls deep.

Ease of Use

The HelloBaby is one of the hardest options to use. In large part, this is a result of fewer physical buttons on the parent device and a ridiculous menu setup that will have you clicking around forever, guessing where features and functions might be hidden.

We wish more of the features you use daily were on the parent unit's face rather than in menus. Even in the menus, the icons and selections are not intuitive, and we struggled to consistently select the right menus for what we wanted. Sure, in time, most parents can sort this out, but why should they have to?

One of the worst mistakes, in our opinion, is that the volume adjustment is not on the parent unit and is buried inside the menu, requiring at least 2 clicks to access. Tired parents don't want to fumble around with this in the middle of the night.

Setup is really the only easy thing about it, with a plug-and-play design that auto-pairs and requires little effort.

Battery Life

The HelloBaby has one of the longest battery lives we've ever seen at 25 hours and 35 minutes in our tests. The manufacturer claims 30 hours in ECO mode and 16 hours in regular mode. We did our test with the screen continuously on at full brightness and the sound at 50%.

Features

The HelloBaby is pretty bare-bones but includes the most important features, like sound activation (VOX) and noise cancellation.

This monitor can be paired with up to 4 cameras to monitor multiple children, rooms, or areas.

Timers can be set for feeding or other needs.

You can set room temperature alerts to notify you when the room is above or below your desired range.

The HelloBaby has some baby-centric features, such as the ability to play lullabies from the parent unit that the baby can hear in their room, and 2-way talk to baby.

Electromagnetic Field (EMF) Levels

The HelloBaby EMF emission is 1.21 V/m on average when measured at a distance of 3 ft from the camera. While not the highest in the group, it is better than average, though some are closer to 0.25 V/m, so if this is important to you, it might not be the best choice. Other ways to reduce exposure include placing the camera as far from the viewing area as possible without compromising functionality.

Security

The HelloBaby is a dedicated monitor, so it is more secure than those that use WiFi.

Should You Buy the HelloBaby?

Nah. It is fine, but terrible at the same time. It is straightforward, but the video is bad. The sound activation works well, but cheaper models do too. While it does the job and might have been a good option in 1999 (in our opinion), it is dated and overpriced for what you get. We used to consider it to be a good value when the price was lower, but alas, those days are in the past, much like this technology.

What Other Video Monitor Should You Consider?

If price is a concern and your budget is tight, the GoodBaby SM663 is a similarly simple dedicated monitor with similar features, menus, and sound activation. It offers slightly better (and we do mean slight) video, better sound and noise cancellation, ease of use, and a better range. The battery life is shorter, but still plenty long enough for overnight monitoring without a plug. It costs about half of the asking price for the HelloBaby and is often on sale for even less. While not a standout, the price-to-value makes better sense.

Manufacturer Video