Since 2016, Nanit has been assisting parents by utilizing cutting-edge technology to give them greater peace of mind regarding the wellbeing of their children, especially in the early years.
The newest video baby monitor from Nanit, which has enjoyed great success with parents who value a little extra security and peace of mind, is the Nanit Pro. Iona, one of our MNHQ parent testers, tried it out at home over a few days and shared her initial impressions and favorite features. With her son who is six months old, our other parent tester, Cat, tested the Nanit Breathing Band.
What is a Smart Baby Monitor?
Like it has with many other facets of our life, smart technology has made its way into the nursery. “Smart” (which is sometimes an acronym for “self-monitoring analysis and reporting technology”) devices connect to various networks and pair with other devices to “talk back” to us and even help guide our behavior. Consider how your smartphone and smartwatch learn your typical usage patterns or how a smart TV suggests shows and movies based on what you’ve previously watched.
I can track my baby’s sleep patterns with the help of the Nanit baby monitor app and make adjustments to promote better sleep for him.
Who’s It For?
Although you can use it at any age you like, the Nanit Pro is best suited for parents of infants or young children up to two years old.
It’s definitely at its most useful in the early days of putting your baby down for a nap in a different room, or when you eventually move their cot into a nursery. And it’s particularly handy with a first baby when many parents need some extra reassurance.
The Nanit Pro can also be used to check in on your baby, see them go to sleep or wake up, and even let them hear your voice from a distance if you or your partner occasionally travel away from home for work.
At First Glance
The Nanit Pro has quite the hefty price tag for a baby monitor, so we were keen to see whether it would live up to our expectations.
You can already tell that you are getting more for your money with this monitor than with a typical, everyday monitor without even opening the box. The Pro came packaged neatly in a single box, with each piece nestled in sturdy black foam, and we tested it with the floor stand. As well as the stand and the monitor itself, the bundle included a small-sized Breathing Band (more on this later), which is one of the features we think really sets the Nanit Pro apart from the crowd.
If you are already familiar with the first Nanit Plus, Nanit has made some changes for the Nanit Pro. The first improvement is the image quality, which is significant given that it was already pretty good. We also like the monitor’s night vision, which many monitors, even those at the top of the market, struggle with.
It is now possible to reset and turn off the emergency alarm more easily thanks to the new status light, which is now separate from the nightlight. There is also a new reset button. So that your baby is not rudely awakened, an ambient light sensor also enables a more seamless switch from day to night mode. Overall, it is marginally smarter, smoother, and slicker than its predecessor.
Set-up
Setting up the Nanit Pro is very simple, requires no special tools, and can be completed by one person. It’s available with a wall mount (£299 for the camera and mount) or a floor stand (£379 for the camera and stand) and it was the floor stand we enthusiastically tried out.
The tubing’s components all fit together with a single click or turn. A bracket secures the stand in place behind your baby’s crib in the middle. If you’d prefer, it also functions as a freestanding unit, giving you more freedom to move your baby’s cot around your house or put him down for a nap somewhere else.
Once the stand is put together, the camera clicks into the top and can be rotated to point precisely where you want it to. The tubing at the bottom takes the wire to the mains without leaving any cords free to trip you up on nighttime jaunts to the nursery.
The camera is also simple to set up. Once it’s clicked into place, you just download the Nanit app and pair it with your camera. The app asks you for a few details, like the name and age of your child, but after that, it will walk you through setting up the camera’s position and establishing your child’s “sleep zone.”
The wall mount appears to be equally simple to assemble, though we didn’t test it during testing. You can also buy handy accessories, such as a multi-stand so the camera can be used anywhere it’s plugged in as well as a travel case to keep all the monitor parts together.
Stand-out Features
Nanit Insights
The Nanit Pro offers lots of features you won’t find elsewhere and chief among them is a free subscription to Nanit Insights (£50 value), which offers useful additions such as a sleep analysis to track your baby’s sleep patterns as well as the ability to save and share memories with family and friends.
It’s important to note that this subscription is only free for the first year; thereafter, you must pay a monthly fee that increases depending on the features, data, and memory you require. The fee is one of the main downsides we spotted. Even though it only costs the price of a fancy coffee per month, you must pay extra to access many of Nanit’s features after paying almost £400 for the monitor.
Breathing Band
However, Insights’ features are really excellent. The monitoring system for the Breathing Band will be the main attraction for anxious parents. There are many monitors that connect to mats or other devices to track your baby’s breathing, but they can be a little unreliable, sending you running to your child’s room in fear of the worst only to discover that they’ve simply rolled over.
Nanit’s solution is considerably more complex. The included Breathing Band attaches below the baby’s shoulders with Velcro. Following that, the camera reads the band’s black pattern to connect with the app and begin live breathing monitoring of your child.
An alarm will sound either on your phone or the camera itself (or both) if the camera detects no motion for 20 seconds. It’s quick and simple to remove it from the app if you can see that it was fired in error. By clicking the lung icon on the app’s dashboard, you can also view your baby’s breathing being tracked.
The app provides detailed instructions on how to safely attach the band to your baby, and the band is extremely simple to set up. Although you must be cautious to avoid fastening it too tightly or placing it above the shoulders, it works well and provides accurate readings all night.
In addition to larger sizes of the breathing band, there are 100% cotton Breathing Wear, pyjamas sleepsuits, and swaddles available, all suitable up to 24 months. Even though a small size Breathing Band (0 to 3 months) is included in the box, if you want to use the breathing monitor frequently, you’ll need to purchase an additional band (£19.99), or a few swaddles or sleepsuits, that is suitable for children from three to 24 months.
Sleep Tracking
We love the sleep tracking feature on the app, which works a bit like a Fitbit, telling you when your baby went to sleep, when they woke up and how many times they woke in the night.
You might argue that the last thing you need after a bad night with a wakeful baby is an app rubbing your nose in it, but it’s actually really encouraging to look back and see how much your baby’s sleep has improved over time.
Sharing Memories and Updates
We also enjoyed the video clips, especially the heat map videos that display your baby’s movements throughout the entire night. They’re just a little bit of fun, but they’re great for sending to grandparents or other distant family members via social media or messaging.
It’s also a really nice way for them to stay in touch and feel like they’re not missing anything at home if you or your partner must spend the night away. Users can be added to your Nanit app for simple sharing of videos and memories.
Image Quality and Reliability
Despite how entertaining all these cute little features are, the core capabilities of a device like the Nanit Pro are what matter most. The Nanit excels in a number of areas, including the monitor’s dependability and the image quality, which is really excellent even in low light.
The instructions state that the camera should be placed no farther than six meters from the wifi router, but we used it flawlessly two floors up and across the house from the router. There is a very slight delay in the feed, especially with the sound, but it is only a few hundredths of a second, so there is no real problem.
Sound Options
The white noise and nature sounds, in our opinion, are also a nice touch and will likely be well received by parents who are short on sleep. Much more civilized than a tinny rendition of Brahms’ Lullaby abruptly ending is the ability to gradually lower the volume of the waves or wind before gradually dimming the nightlight.
Nanit App and Camera Quality
The infrared LEDs for night vision are still on when a Nanit camera stream is turned on and off via the app; the camera itself is not completely turned off. The app can also play natural sounds like birds, waves, white noise, and wind through the camera in addition to two-way audio, though they don’t sound great over the tinny integrated speaker. The ability to hear what the camera is recording even if the app is closed is something we really like. It’s worth noting here that there’s no separate audio/video monitor for the Nanit—you need a smartphone or tablet.
The app has a night mode that dims your phone’s screen if you leave it on for monitoring—your phone won’t go into standby as long as you’re viewing the stream. This is a lifesaver if you keep your phone by your bed at night for monitoring purposes. By using the Local View option via your home Wi-Fi, you can continue to be monitored even if your internet connection is interrupted.
In comparison to the 960p Nanit Plus, the 1080p camera on the Nanit Pro offers a small improvement. The difference is fairly negligible—I set the two up side by side and couldn’t see much of a difference. Excellent streaming image quality is provided by both cameras. The view during the day is vivid and colorful, and it appears that night vision has improved, which is interesting given that the Nanit Pro camera actually has fewer infrared LEDs than the previous model. In contrast to many other models we’ve tested, the switch to night vision results in hardly any click as the infrareds turn on and off.
Let’s Talk Money
It cannot be denied that this baby monitor is not an inexpensive choice. The Nanit Pro is £299 with the wall mount and £379 with the floor stand, and the extras don’t come cheap either.
However, Nanit does provide a 10% discount on a trio of items that includes travel accessories and breathing wear, which could easily save you three figures and lessen the overall cost.
Happily, the Nanit Pro comes with a 45-day happiness guarantee, so if you like the way it looks but aren’t sure if you want to buy it, you can do so with confidence knowing that you can return it hassle-free for a full refund. Additionally, a one-year warranty is included.
Final Verdict
The Nanit Pro is a superb piece of equipment with a ton of helpful safety features and extras that make it enjoyable to use. We haven’t seen anything quite like it on the market; lots of models have some of the features the Nanit offers but none quite go the whole hog.
As we’ve already mentioned, the one drawback is that so many of the features require a subscription to Nanit Insights. As a result, you must carefully consider how much you’d use features like the video clips, sleep history, and customized sleep tips, as well as whether you’d be willing to pay on a continuing basis. The basic package is free for the first year, but after that, it costs £5 per month or £50 per year for the basic access, increasing to £10 per month or £100 for the Premium access with 30 days of storage and all the bells and whistles, or the Ultimate with unlimited storage for £30 per month/£300 per year.
The parent community on the app is another feature we like, but we found it to be underdeveloped at the moment. Hopefully, as more users sign up, it will grow over time.
Taking everything into account, we were only left with one straightforward question: what would the cost of complete peace of mind be? The Nanit Pro truly provides comfort if you’re a nervous parent or are parenting for the first time.
It truly feels like having a hand to hold, which, in our opinion, can only be a good thing. From being able to see your baby’s breathing movements being carefully monitored to having sleep tips customized for you delivered straight to your phone.
