I did a lot of research when I was pregnant trying to find the best monitor to suit me. I heard a lot about cot death when I was pregnant and so i decided to get Angelcare movement & sound monitor for my peace of mind. I purchased it from Amazon for about £56 which I though was a bargain as they are selling at Boots and Mothercare for about £90.

This monitor is excellent and would not have a negative thing to say about it. My daughter slept in her own room since she was 12 weeks old and suffers with astma and used to cough in her sleep a lot when she was baby and so I used sensor pad every single night up until she was over a year old, she sleeps in a cot bed but even when she rolled over from the pad, it would still detect her breathing movement as mat is so sensitive. Monitor starts beeping loudly 20 seconds after no movement is detected when sensor pad is on.

Monitor has different settings/features such as:
1. tic sound and movement - this means that the "tic" sound tells you when movement is detected, you can hear it ticking when sensor pad its on
2. Sound and movement - when sensor pad its on along with the sound
3. Tic and movement - just sensor pad is on and ticking to tell you that movement is detected, no sound on so you would not hear baby cry through monitor
4. Movement only - again just sensor pad is on but no ticking and no sound
5. Sound only
6. Colour digital display which displays room temprature
7. Volume control.
8. Out of range indicator which will beep when you have gone too far from nursery unit, however i am able to use this monitor in our garden and still stay in the range. It has nearly 300 meters range distance.

Monitor has 3 parts: sensor mat, nursery unit that stays in babys room and portable recharchable parent unit that can be carried around the house. Monitor can be used without using the sensor mat if you preffer it. Another good thing about it is that the main base has built in nightlight and option to set sensitivity from 0 - 5.

Sensor mat can be used with cots, cotbeds or moses basket. It is placed directly underneath the matress, you will require thin peace of plywood or similar to put otn the top of the matress base and underneath the sensor mat. Mat is very thin so will not bother baby under the matress, it is in a shape of a square roughly 25x25cm big.

Both parts of monitor are mains or batteries operated. Both parent and nursery unit will require 3xAAA batteries (not included) if you wish to use them without mains. This feature actually came very handy to me when my daughter was about 3 months old, we were left with not electricity in the house for couple of days due to some roadworks but I was still able to use monitor and nighlight with the batteries. I have never changed batteries and still using the ones I originally put in however I alway use mains so can not really comment on how long do batteries would last.

I would recommend this monitor to any parent or parent to be, it gave me reassurance and good night sleep without worrying about your baby.