DLink DCS 825L WiFi Baby Camera Review. Are you in need of a Baby Camera? Most of the baby monitors I’ve tested on the market today are sub par. They are typically expensive and display shoddy video on a low res LCD handheld. The DLink DCS-825L WiFi Baby Camera is probably the best baby camera I’ve used to date.
The DLink DCS 825L WiFi Baby Camera is essentially a network web cam that can transmit HD 720p video to your Android or iOS smartphone, phablet, tablet or PC with excellent clarity and minimal lag. Depending on your network speed and congestion, there can be up to a second delay in the feed.
Features
The unit comes with a wall mount, post and hardware to mount your baby camera high or simply use the base if you need or like to move the camera around from room to room. It comes with a blue and pink accent ring for boys or girls and features two-way audio and a built-in temperature sensor to monitor the room’s ambient temperature. You can even set up alerts for minimum and maximum temperature for your child’s safety. Additionally the unit features a built-in motion and sound detection with sensitivity settings in case someone’s rolling around or crying out. The temperature sensor can be slightly off depending where you mount it. For example, if you mount it high up, the sensor isn’t that long, so what you’ll get is a few degree’s higher since heat rises, than the middle of the room is, so that should be kept in mind when monitoring temps.
Price wise, baby monitors are typically pretty expensive and often times only give you 640×480 resolution on a crappy handheld lcd monitor that you have to remember to keep charged and doesn’t usually last very long. The DCS-825L comes in at sub $200 and doesn’t give you any remote device; instead you use the free mydlink baby camera app from your iOS or Android device to view your baby camera.
It can also display in full color, blk & wht and comes equipped with nightvision as well. You can pinch and zoom for a close up look at specifics up to 4x magnification. Still images are captured in jpeg and video utilizes the popular H.264 compression format. The DCS 825L measures 5.4 x 3.6 x 4.2 inches weighing 4.9 oz
Registering your DLink devices to mydlink.com allows you to remote administer and monitor them all in one place, so you’d better trust whomever it is you’re giving the login information to or register the baby cam to your spouse’s email and only register the one device on that particular account. You currently do not have the ability but it would be great if you could set up multiple users with permissions to view only the devices you deem fit.
Live Video
Like the DCS-2330L or any networked webcam, you have the added ability to chime in and view live feed from anywhere you have an internet connection. Comes in very handy if you have relatives or friends that you’d like to broadcast to. You can view the baby camera feed or recordings locally on your network via the mydlink baby camera app or log into mydlink.com and register your device so you can view it from the internet anywhere.
Set Up
The UI can be rather sluggish at times; swapping back and forth between settings for instance will try your patience if you have to go in there more than a few times to changes settings from your iOS or Android device.
Setting up the device can be very slow but thankfully you won’t need to do this very often if at all unless you have a problem and need to reset the device or connect it to a different network. Other then the setup process my only other complaint is possibly the shape of the unit. While the round shape can be slightly more baby room like, it is rather clumsy to mount on a wall and adjust. Best to get it in place and pick a good position if you plan to mount it.
DLink has incorporated their Zero Configuration across the DLink products to make it super easy to set up. Just follow the step by step screens, there’s no need to be computer saavy.
The possibility of bricking your device still exists as was the case with our DCS 825L WiFi Baby Camera. We attempted to update the firmware on the device and all was well till we had a temporary power outage mid-update and bricked the Baby Camera. DLink promptly sent us out a new device but you should be aware that the possibility still exists. Our replacement unit had no issues with firmware updates.
Conclusion
When you compare the Baby Monitors on the market today, the DLink DCS 825L comes in at a competitive price. It doesn’t include a remote LCD device but your smartphone, tablet or PC gives better resolution than any handheld out there. Additionally you have the convenience of running wired or wireless, recording video to SD card, comes equipped with motion and temperature sensors. Best of all, it’s a network cam, so you can still use it to monitor areas in your home once your infant or toddlers grow up unlike most baby cams which typically end up being throw aways. I highly recommend the DLink DCS 825L WiFi Baby Camera for any parents in the market for a quality baby monitor.
DCS-825L is available for $179.99
from www.dlink.com
