We bought this monitor last year when our 2nd daughter was born. The units are very easy to use and I get a briliant reception on the parent unit. One of the reasons that I picked this model is that it has the temperature guage on the from of both the parent & child units, this is handy for making sure you have enough covers or your baby. The parent unit can be taken off the base and carried about with you - I have never had a poor reception yet and picks up every noise in my babies room. There is 9 channels that you can select from, so that you pick the best reception. The parent unit has a button that will activate a light on the baby's unit - the light is quite subtle and when activated I have never disturbed my baby. There is also a talk button, once you press this you can talk into the monitor to settle your baby, I have listened to my husband speaking through the parent unit to the baby unit and its very clear. Both units are plugged into the mains, the parent unit is charged up when on the base and then uses battery if you are carrying it about with you - the battery last for a good few hours and then makes a beeping sound to alert you that it needs charged. There is also a volume on th eparent unit, which is handy if you have the unit in another room and watching TV etc, you can turn the vloume up so that you can hear it, and then when you go to bed you can turn the volume down a bit. Hope you find this useful.