Our old Fisher-Price monitor broke so we sent it back and got a new one. See my review below of our new one.
A good choice plus advice on monitor shopping, April 23, 2011
Summary: This monitor, redesigned in 2010, is a solid basic monitor with two receivers and has clear sound quality. We have had four monitors with our three kids. Here are six pieces of advice I would give after buying this fourth monitor.
(1) Baby monitors, which are on every night and for naps during the day for years, tend to wear out so it is worth keeping your receipt in case it breaks. With the continual use, it is perhaps understandable that they wear out faster than phones and other electronics.
(2) The documentation on this unit says “copyright Graco 2010” and all of the Amazon reviews are from 2011. This suggests to me that this was redesigned in 2010 so that those who review this unit and say things like, “We had this unit years ago and it broke” are probably talking about an earlier version of the product. Here’s hoping it has been improved. It seems solid so far.
(3) This is a basic audio monitor with two receivers. It is simple. You set up the transmitter near the baby and then you have two receivers with which to hear the baby. We put one receiver in the kitchen and one in the parents’ bedroom but of course you can put them anywhere and move them around wherever. The receivers also light up and vibrate to notify you the baby is awake but in my experience parents rarely rely on these features. Most all the products have at least the lighting feature.
(4) A basic audio monitor is probably all you need but I would probably get a video monitor today if we were having our first baby because as a new parent you want to see what the child is doing in the crib. Back in 2005 when we had our first baby, video monitors were more expensive and rare.
(5) In addition to this Graco model, Sony, Fisher-Price, The First Years, and Safety 1st have similar audio monitors with two receivers for a similar price on Amazon. (Motorola, Philips Avent, Angelcare and Levana all have basic monitors that come with a single receiver on Amazon).
(6) From my perusing of the reviews, all of the monitors receive mixed reviews–half very good and half very bad. The manufacturers acknowledge that phones, cell phones, radios, televisions, microwaves, wireless networks, and neighbor’s electronics can interfere with the monitors. We have all these sources of potential interference and none of our monitors have had problems with interference. If the monitor you get has interference problems, I would send it back and try a different manufacturer and see if you have better luck. It seems to me from the reviews that all of the products sometimes have these types of problems. I would try to judge the products based on other issues besides interference since the reviews seem to be so contradictory on this issue.