When I was pregnant, I wanted to buy everything straight away as I was so excited. I found this Tommee Tippee monitor on offer at £35 in Asda which I thought was a really really good price. It is a slightly old model now (I bought it in May 2009) but still retails at approx £50 and is still quite widely available. I chose this mostly as it came with a motion detector, but also as it is a well known brand which I trust. Ironically my dad later told me that when I was born (1987) Tommee Tippee was considered cheap, like the own brand version of stuff. Nowadays it is considered to be one of the best brands.

The monitor promises 'Suresound technology' which is supposed to give 'crystal clear sound' and minimal static. This was another top factor in our choice of monitor, and we thought we would get an amazingly clear monitor relatively free of static. How wrong we were...

The monitor comes with power supply, baby unit (as in, unit to be in baby's room), parent unit and dock (aka listening unit), instructions and sensor pad. The instructions are clear and easy to follow, and setting up the system is very easy. You simply plug in the baby unit somewhere in baby's room, plug in the parent dock and select the channel that gives you the best sound. You also need to install batteries into the parent unit (not supplied). The sensor pad plugs into the baby unit and is placed under baby's mattress. We used this with both her moses basket and cotbed and it worked brilliantly with both. It is suitable for cots, cribs, moses baskets, toddler beds etc... but it is NOT suitable for hollowfibre or memory foam mattresses. We have used it in her travel cot too and it worked fine.

---THE SENSOR PAD---

The sensor pad is a white square shape and fits neatly under baby's mattress. It is quite thin and doesn't push up baby's mattress or anything. You can adjust the sensitivity (it has 3 settings) which means it can pick up even the lightest of movements, ideal for a newborn. If no movement is detected after 20 seconds, an alarm will sound and will not stop until it is manually switched off either by baby moving again or parent switching it off. It detects movement and breathing but is not specifically a breathing sensor - it merely detects movement which includes breathing. We found that the alarm falsely tripped a LOT and it took a lot of fiddling to get both the sensitivity and the position of the mat right, as if baby isn't in range then the mat won't pick up her movements. It tripped quite often which led to many moments of panic, and this is one of the reasons we decided to change monitors. Having said that, when it does work, it provides brilliant reassurance. A green LED light flashes on the parent unit with every movement, you can also set it to beep but I found that irritating and unnecessary.

---THE BABY UNIT---

The baby unit is an oval shape with a thin tab that lifts up to turn on the unit. It provides a soft amber night light which is a nice glow, and this can be turned on or off as desired via a switch on the base. When the tab is flipped up, the unit is on - to reset it or turn it off, you simply push the tab down. You don't need to unplug it or press any switches. There is a switch to turn the sensor pad on or off, as well as a button to change channel frequency. There is also an LED temperature display - we have found this to be very accurate, as accurate as her normal room thermometer and our handheld central heating control. It can be mains or battery powered and will revert to batteries in the event of a power cut. We never used this on batteries, we just left it plugged into the mains.

--THE PARENT UNIT--

The parent unit is a small oval shaped control with a grey rubber ariel. Unlike newer models, this does not charge in the docking station which is REALLY annoying, as it means you are constantly replacing batteries or recharging them and putting them back in. This monitor eats batteries like no tomorrow! We used the monitor for 2 hours in the day and then 13 hours at night, and we were lucky if the batteries lasted for that amount of time. When they run low, the unit will beep at intervals and a red LED will flash until the batteries are replaced. This wasn't something we knew upon purchase and in hindsight I wish I had never bought it! There are LEDs on the front which indicate the volume of baby, so even if you mute it, you can still 'see' how loud baby is being. There is a green LED at the top which flashes with every movement, it then turns red when the alarm goes off and remains flashing red until the baby unit is reset. This is handy as it means you always know if the alarm has been off. The unit is small and lightweight and easy to carry around, I often used the belt clip to clip it on my trousers when hanging out the washing. The range is good but not brilliant - I have a very large garden and the monitor beeps out of range before I get to the bottom - with my new monitor it does not.

--USING THE MONITOR--

The monitors allow you to select the channel on the baby unit and then the parent unit will automatically match it. The signal is digitally generated to ensure privacy and no interference.

I must say that I hated this monitor with a passion. Despite it's technology and promises, and despite several channel changes, this was SO noisy and the static was so bad that it soon got on my nerves. At night time it was virtually impossible to have it on as even on the quietest setting it kept me awake due to the static. That, combined with the alarm falsely tripping, made me decide to bin it and buy an Angelcare monitor within a few months. Tommee Tippee's careline advised me to move the monitors so they were further apart - but I live in a large 4 bed detached house, they couldn't have been further apart, and it didn't resolve the problem so I dread to think how bad it would be in a smaller house!

It is good for the price, but I absolutely would not recommend it unless you love static.

I must add - no baby monitor can replace adequate parental supervision, you shouldn't rely on it. In addition, it does not prevent injury or cot death, it merely alerts you as soon as possible so that you can provide first aid or get help as soon as possible. You should always check your baby yourself.

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