I purchased this product four years ago before the birth of my first child, and it was used every day for over 2 years before we put it away as the children now were big enough for us to hear them without it. This was left plugged in all the time, and never let us down.

The system comes with 2 units. The base unit is left in the babies bedroom, and has a button on top that can make it light up. This was a series of little lights around the screen. They were quite blue, and made the room quite bright so we didn't use this feature that often but it was handy if you went in through the night to check on the baby. It also has on the screen a display that shows you the temperature in the room. This was something i really liked about the unit.

The 2nd unit looks identical to the first one, apart from the monitor is detachable from the base which acts as a charger, so you have further flexibility about where you want to be in the house. This was handy if my husband was working and i wanted to pop out into the garden when the baby slept, or to have a bath where i wouldn't be able to hear him. The handset also has a clip on it so i could attach it to my clothes if i wanted to while i was moving around.

The 2nd unit can then be placed wherever you want to put it. Either your bedroom or downstairs somewhere. We moved our first child into his own room at 3 months as he slept through the night, and this is when i noticed a slight problem. At first we tried having it downstairs all evening and then move it to our bedroom. This would cause the connection between the 2 handsets to break, and the handset would beep at you to tell you there was a problem. (It also does this if you have a power cut.)Not something you want to be trying to sort out late on a night. We eventually just left it permanently downstairs and relied on our ears.

The 2nd handset also tells you the temperature in the babies room, and has a handy volume control so you can adjust the level of what you hear. You might want to know the baby is crying, but if they are just gurgling or babbling, you don't want it to drown out your favourite telly programme. It also has a handy feature where you can use it like a walkie talkie and soothe your baby. It might benefit you if you want to reassure your baby by making a soothing noise, but we never used this much as mostly it was either babble or full on screaming. I am awake and you must come and get me NOW!!!!!

Once 2nd baby arrived, my oldest was now 18 months old, so again it went with the new baby. We used it till he was about 6 months old, but then decided we could hear them both without it. After this point it was only brought out when we visited the in-laws as their house is a lot bigger and we couldn't hear them over the telly.

We are about to pass it on to my sister in law, and in spite of being used so much, it has not shown much wear and tear. The only thing that shows it is second hand is that the plastic on the 2nd handset has changed colour a bit from sitting on a table near the window, so sun faded. It looks a bit yellow on the bit which sits in the charger.

Whether it would suit you depends on how comfortable you are at leaving your child. Some people prefer the ones with video monitors, but i decided this was an extravagance that was not for us. Some monitors even come with extra bits of kit. My friend had one that had a mat you put under them, and if they stopped breathing it would alert you. However, i witnessed her panic when her baby moved and it beeped, and i decided my nerves would not survive that, so i would leave it to chance and go for this one.

When it comes to it, this one provides all you need in a baby monitor in my opinion. It also looks quite attractive, and was not too bulky to have it out all the time. A good option.