Owlet Cam Video Monitor Review

Owlet Cam Video Monitor

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The Owlet Cam Video Monitor is a unique style of baby monitor that connects directly to your smart phone rather than to a parent unit monitor. Though a handy concept, it has a few drawbacks that we’ll dive into later on.

Owlet Camera Products

There are two styles of Owlet video monitors, the Owlet Cam Video Monitor and the Owlet Cam 2 Video Monitor. The Owlet Cam 2 is an upgraded version of the original and comes in a few color options: white, bedtime blue, dusty rose, and sleepy sage.

Owlet is a brand trusted by many parents. They are very popular for their dream sock technology that allows you to keep an eye on baby’s oxygen levels while they sleep through products like the Owlet Dream Sock. This can be linked under the same app, the Dream App.

How it Compares:

Specs

Testing and Research

The Owlet Cam Video monitor is one of sixteen top-rated travel friendly baby monitors we purchased to compare and test. We included sound only monitors, video monitors, and camera to app security style monitors. We put each monitor to the test, comparing their battery quality, features, audio and video quality, range, and usability in an effort to determine which was the best baby monitor.

We were a little disappointed with some of the Owlet Cam’s test results, which we’ll talk about more below.

Common Complaints

While testing our baby monitors, we read the critical reviews for each product so we could compare them to our experience while testing. We found that we agreed with some of the critical reviews, while others we did not experience.

Customer Complaint	Our Experience
Delay between audio and video	We did notice a few second delay
Doesn’t include crib mount	It does not come with a crib mount, but we didn’t think that was an issue
Expensive	This is a pricy product compared to some others we tested
Bad camera quality	We thought the camera quality was decent
Glitches	We didn’t notice any glitching
Poor set up instructions	We did think the set up process could have been easier

Related Reading: Babysense Split Screen Monitor Review

Features

The Owlet Cam does include some handy features, like two-way audio to communicate with your baby. There is also a room temperature display to help you monitor the comfort of your baby’s room.

Though there is not a constant live parent unit like most baby monitors, the Owlet Cam does provide sound and motion notifications to alert you when baby is active or crying and you’re not in the app. We do like the notifications, but wish there was the option to have a parent unit in addition to smartphone use.

There is also a feature to allow camera’s audio to play in the background while you are using other apps on your phone. This way you can still keep track of your little one while using your phone for other things. This was a unique feature that we like.

The Owlet Dream Sock can also be paired to track sleep trends and can also accommodate multiple cameras.

The baby unit did have the highest EMF emissions of all that we tested, somewhat mid-range for the app’s recommended numbers. Though we don’t know of any specific guidelines related to EMF emissions, some research has been done on the topic.

Here’s where the Owlet Cam placed in Radiation Emissions:

Usability

Because it is a WiFi monitor, the Owlet Cam was a little bit of a process to set up compared to other monitors that we tested. The first time we unboxed it, it took us several minutes of troubleshooting to get it set up. The monitor can only be set up with a 2.4 GHz connection, and we had to sit close to the router for the units to link up the first time. This isn’t a very practical process if you are planning to keep the camera further away from your wireless router.

Generally, we prefer a monitor that does not require WiFi, such as the KAWA Video Monitor, rather than a WiFi monitor.

Here’s how long it took to set up the Owlet Cam compared to other monitors:

The Dream App itself is easy enough to set up and add a device to. Navigating the app is also pretty easy, with options to change the video quality, set notifications, and adjust the audio.

The camera does not have remote pan/tilt/zoom features, any adjustments to the camera angle have to be made by hand. Parents can zoom from the app through pinch to zoom, with up to a 4x zoom.

Here’s how the Owlet Cam scored in the usability category:

The overall quality of the camera unit is pretty good. It is solid and heavy enough to keep from tipping over and has a magnetic base. There are openings on the back to allow for wall mounting. The cable to the camera is several feet long, so you will need to make sure it is secured so that baby doesn’t play with it. Cable guards are included with the monitor to help secure and cover it.

Range

The aspect of range is unique for something like the Owlet Cam, as it is not dependent on two units on a shared signal, but rather your independent WiFi signal. Both the camera and your smartphone app need to be on the same WiFi to first set up the monitor. However, once set up, you can access camera feed from anywhere via your smartphone, provided that the WiFi the camera is connected to remains functional.

This is very helpful for parents who want to monitor their sleeping child while outside doing yard work or check on their baby while they’re with a sitter.

Because the connectivity is dependent on your WiFi, this was a little more difficult to practically test than other monitors, however, once the monitors were set up, we felt that they stayed connected pretty well. The camera unit does not have a battery, however, so if you unplug it to relocate, you will need to resync to the app.

Video

The Owlet Cam monitor has up to 1080p HD resolution, but can be adjusted to standard definition (480p) or low definition (360p) if you prefer or if your WiFi can’t handle the higher definition. Under the “auto” setting, the app will manually adjust the definition based on your WiFi strength.

The image can be as large as your smart phone screen. The feed plays at the top of the app’s screen, but can be expanded to full screen on your smartphone.

The image isn’t perfect, even at the highest quality, but it’s still pretty good. Certainly enough of a clear view to see any details you need to as you monitor your baby’s sleep. Just keep in mind that there is about a three second delay between actual movement and what you see on the screen.

The Owlet Cam had a decent score in the video category:

The Owlet Cam does have a decent night vision mode that maintains color pretty well. There is a little bit of pixelation, but you can still see everything you need with a fairly clear view. It was better than some other night vision settings we tested on other monitors, like the eufy Security Spaceview.

Sound

The Owlet Cam also had decent sound quality. We did note that you need to be careful if you have the app pulled up in the same room as the camera unit, as you will receive a lot of feedback noise.

We do like the addition of the two-way audio feature, as well as the ability to set an audio-only feature to have the audio playing in the background while using other apps.

We wish there was some kind of background audio eliminator like some monitors, such as the Infant Optics DXR-8 PRO have. However, we were impressed that we could still hear baby well over nose when we played music in the background.

Keep in mind that your smart phone’s speakers will impact the quality of the sound as well, so an older or damaged phone may not provide as crisp a sound quality as a newer model.

Battery Life

We were not able to perform our standard battery testing for the Owlet camera since the parent unit is the app within your personal device. To maintain a longer battery life while using the Owlet, you may want to close out apps that you are not using at the time and avoid using your phone when not necessary.

Hacking and Security

Because this is a WiFi monitor, there can be some concern for hacking. Owlet has done their best to ensure safety at all times while using their device. This includes AES 128-bit encryption, as well as TLS (transport layer security) WiFi connection, which further helps encrypt the data and protect your little one.

The security features are the cause for needing to the 2.4 GHz connection.

Is the Owlet Cam Worth It?

Owlet is a popular and trusted brand among parents as they work to make sure their children are safe, happy, and healthy while they sleep. But is the Owlet Cam your best choice for a baby monitor?

We like that the monitor is easy take on the go with your smartphone and that you can get notifications to monitor your little one. However, generally speaking, we do prefer a monitor with a parent unit that can be running at all times without taking total use of your phone.

There are some things we would change about the monitor if we could. The pairing process is a little complicated, especially the initial set up pairing. And though we love the ability to check the monitor from anywhere, we prefer non-WiFi monitors for additional security.

The Owlet Cam is a good camera and a good setup in particular if you plan to pair other Owlet devices like an Owlet Dream Sock under the Dream App. However, for the cost, if you aren’t planning on using an Owlet sock or additional Owlet camera and you only want to use the camera to check in on your little one, you can get a pretty similar camera for a lower price by purchasing another product, like the Wyze Cam v3.